The Best $10 You'll Ever Spend

It starts out as a Christmas gift or a wedding gift, its owner is thrilled at the possibilities this appliance holds. She lugs this 15 pounder home, she may set it out on the counter, but inevitably she will tuck it into the cupboard where the Kitchen Aid mixer, blender, and crockpot are. She uses it once, maybe twice, and thinks, "that's neat." Eventually its owner forgets about it, and it collects crumbs and dust, as it sits neglected in the cupboard. Years, perhaps months later, the owner brings home a quesadilla maker, and decides the 15 pounder is taking up too much space and belongs at the garage sale.

Brand new this thing is sold for $50 to $60. The owner sells it for $10 (or better offer!). I spot this humble, deserted treasure, and excitedly take it off the owner's hands. I return home and begin to crank out homemade cinnamon rolls, warm buttery dinner rolls, the best pizza dough, the perfect buns for any sandwich, and, of course, hot-fresh bread, with chewy crust outside, and soft on the inside. My guests praise me, saying "where did you get these, they're delicious!!!" And I say, "they're homemade." Then my guests are humbled and amazed at all the hard work, my slaving away in the kitchen, and my talent for making something so heavenly................when the truth is, it only took me a total of 6 to 10 minutes, thanks to my bulky treasure I found at the garage sale. The treasure? A bread machine.

Bread machines everyday are being thrown out at garage sales and Goodwills everywhere, their owners never accessing their true potential. You would be the perfect new owner of a bread machine if you...

-like bread, or dough creations

-like knowing exactly what is in your bread (or dough), and using natural ingredients

-feel like you never have enough time

-don't like cleaning (I rinse out the bread machine pan with water maybe once a month. After each use I just brush out the crumbs.)

-love all the reward without the effort

So here's how a bread machine works. Step 1: put the ingredients into the bread machine. Step 2: select what you want the bread machine to make. Step 3: push start. Move on with whatever you were doing in your life. And in an hour and a half you have dough for pizza, buns, rolls, etc. Or, 3 hours later you have piping hot fresh bread.

Never pay more than $10 for a bread machine, if you do some bargain hunting at garage sales this summer you are bound to find one. Here's my trusty bread machine which I bought for $8 at a garage sale 2 years ago. Below the pic you can find a great recipe we use for homemade pizza dough.

The Very Best Pizza Dough:

1c water, more or less

2 1/2c whole wheat flour

1c bread flour

1T sugar OR 3T honey

1t salt

3T olive oil

1 3/4t yeast

TIP: After you roll out the dough, bake it in the oven for about 5-8 minutes before putting toppings on. I usually bake my pizza at 375 or 400.