@jeremycherfas Yes, that’s my problem - I have an old (late 1980s), large, inefficient electric oven which I’m very reluctant to use for nearly an hour to bake a single loaf. But a bread maker takes up a lot of kitchen space and is not very flexible as to the sort of loaf I produce.

As an aside, I’ve seen your photos of the bread you bake and if I thought I could reproduce those loaves I’d definitely opt for the manual option 🙂