Facing The Bread Aisle

Since my birthday last year, I have been making bread, rolls, and pizza dough at least once a week.  Some weeks, I've made all three, others I haven't made any.  But we can safely say I've used it at least 52 times in almost a year.

I've been really pleased with the quality of the breads and doughs, but recently, I noticed there were some scratches on the inside.  This is completely preposterous because I have made super sure to NEVER touch it with anything sharp or with any metal.

And I don't need to because the dough or bread just falls right out every time.

I clean it with a sponge only.

I follow the directions religiously.

And most recently, I noticed this.

At the bottom of the baking pan, both sides have some serious rubbing going on and what looks like rust but might actually be bread crumbs.  This does not please me, mostly because I want to know where the coating has gone!  Have we been eating it?

My sister has the same breadmaker and it's almost 2 years old.  She has some scratches inside that she knows she made because of some silverware being tossed into it in the sink but she has no signs of this rubbing and she also makes bread or dough at least once a week.

I checked the paddle to see if it's rubbing and from what I can tell, it's not.  I don't even put nuts or other ingredients in that could do this rubbing.

So, I made the call and explained my dilemma.  Since it was a gift and I don't have a receipt, they aren't too happy, but  JUST THIS ONE TIME, they will look at it and most likely send me a new one.

In the mean time, I, like most of you, have to actually buy bread in the grocery store.

There's no way I am going to make bread the old fashioned way, kneading and punching the dough every 2 seconds.   Come on.  I am no pioneer, here.

Now, before anyone gets crazy, let's talk about the grocery store in the US vs France.  In France, the grocery store generally has a stinky smell.  I never know if it's the meat, the fish or the cheeses, but it's not an olfactory pleasure to go to the grocery in France.   Not even in the "hypermarche" which is like Costco or BJs, where you'd think the space would just allow the smells to vanish.  It all pretty much smells like a bathroom.

In the US, most grocery stores don't have a particularly awful smell when you walk through the door, but I can't be alone in noticing the smell of each aisle.

Produce smells like vegetables.

Florist smells like plants forced to grow with a million chemicals.

The potato chips, crackers and cereals aisles smell like cardboard.

The canned good aisles and the juice aisles don't really have a smell that I can recall.  Shocking!

The deli smells like a deli, usually like roast chicken because they are roasting chickens right on site.

The meat sections usually smell like blood, especially when they are cutting meat.

The pet food aisle either smells like cat litter or dry dog food.

The chilled section smells cool.

The bakery smells like frosting or baking bread.

But, the trauma of the bread aisle was almost too much last night.  Because do you know what's in the bread aisle?

The smell of bread.  And not the good kind like you smell when someone's cooking bread.  Oh no.  It's the smell of store bought bread in a bag.  The smell that is almost making me gag as I type this.   The smell of untoasted English muffins.  Have you ever tried eating an English muffin that wasn't toasted?  The foulest taste you can imagine.  And the smell never leaves my nose.

I can smell the bread aisle from 3 aisles away.  I used to be able to avoid it but they rearranged the store and all of the baking needs are on one side of the aisle and the bread is on the other.  So, whenever I need flour, sugar or something else to bake with, I have to face the bread aisle.  And it seems to be the narrowest aisle in the store.

And last night, I had to actually choose bread to purchase in that bread aisle.

It's going to be a rough couple of weeks until I get my bread pan back!

Linking here:
http://www.thewonderingbrain.com/2013/10/this-mommas-meandering-mondays.html
http://www.thewonderingbrain.com/2013/10/turn-it-up-tuesdays.html 
http://www.myturnforus.com/2013/10/freedom-fridays-76.html