What?
Lékué silicone bread maker is a flexible silicone cloche. A protruding lip at one side feeds through a corresponding slit on the other, fastening the whole into a lenticular baking basket.
Why?
Because the main ingredients of bread are flour, yeast, faff and regret.
Well?
My name is Rhik Samadder and I am a bread pervert. Give me a hot minute to explain. I’m looking at a Lékué kit that makes big claims: a one-stop bread shop that lets you mix, knead, proof and bake all in a single bowl. In theory, a game changer. No more surfaces thick with flour like the aftermath of Pompeii. Say bugger off to bannetons, baking trays and basins full of washing-up. Despite its confidence, the gadget is spineless, flopping around like some basic, sea-based invertebrate. (Depending how you hold it, it also resembles an oversized conchiglie pasta, or German army helmet.) Can you mix in it? Certainly. Can you knead in it? There’s the rub. I love a good knead: the slapping, throwing, massaging of dough. Its purpose may be to develop gluten, but it’s also sensual, quasi-sexual, a coaxing forth of life itself. I get carried away. I’m Ryvita Frankenstein! I’m Carbohydrate Casanova, making a bread baby with you!
Sadly, none of this is possible within the dimensions of the Lékué. It’s cramped. I can’t hit my stride. With a sticky dough, the whole thing lifts off the counter. My terrible knead leads to a limp rise. As for the baking, I’m interested in the semi-closed design, which allows a crust-generating steam to circulate. But when I took it out, there was moisture at the bottom of the loaf. Who wants to tap a soft bottom? (Why have I put my own hand up?) The overall result was a block of bread denser than a Beckett novel, and harder to get into. I dropped it on the floor and voided my contents insurance. Occasionally, time and space-saving isn’t for the best. Yes, there was less washing-up, but a lot more frustration. I ended up with a bun in the oven, but what about the foreplay? Sometimes you have to make a mess.
Redeeming features?
It actually shapes a beautiful bread roll, albeit one with a crumb of pure granite. (If God gave rock’n’roll to us, she can bloody well have it back.)
Counter, drawer, back of the cupboard?
Bread bin. 2/5
- This article was corrected on 7 September 2016 to amend the spelling of “silicon” to “silicone”.
