Long before the pandemic had everyone making sourdough bread, I’ve been a fan of homemade loaves. Once upon a long time ago I had a bread machine, but when we decided we were heading off cruising, I realized I needed to learn to rely on the non-electric variety of loaf generation. I followed Lin Pardey’s recipe in The Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew, heated up my oven, and have largely never looked back.

Bread machines have not evolved that much from the early 1990s. At their core, they are a one-trick pony that promise nirvana in a few swift steps, all while taking up counter space and chewing electricity. I can make better tasting bread with a multi-purpose bowl and a loaf pan. So why on earth are we even contemplating having one on board? We’re still sailing on a small boat where storage space is at a premium!

There are 2 main reasons. Self-sufficiency (hear me out) and heat. Both have to do with the stove.

I love our stove. It’s a 3-burner, oven and broiler, propane-fueled Force 10 stainless steel unit that is the workhorse of the galley, in use at least 2 (and often 3) meals a day. The biggest problem with it is that the oven is essentially uninsulated, meaning when you use the oven, you put out a huge amount of heat into the cabin. That’s great if it’s cold out (other than the condensation challenge that arises), and less wonderful when it’s already 90 degrees in the shade. Given that we’re planning to cruise in the warmer parts of the world, on a budget that leans toward the “make my own bread” side of the equation, finding ways to actively reduce heat generation is a good plan.

Propane is also one boat item that you can’t manufacture yourself. There’s no “propane maker” like there is a water maker, no solar panels that produce natural gas. If you’re depending on propane, you’ll need to source it wherever you are when you run out. According to more than a few people we know, filling propane tanks around the world can be one of those cruising challenges most people back home will never believe. It’s not as simple as driving to the local 7-11 and exchanging a tank.

Among the upgrades to the boat are a new lithium battery set up and a 1200 watt inverter, plus the solar panels we’re busy creating the support structure for. Power generation, check. Plus, we’ll have a small generator as a back up way to charge the batteries. Not that we’ll be running around the anchorage offering up spare electricity to other cruisers, mind you, but we should have plenty of juice.

So we’ve bought a bread machine. It’ll live stashed up front, pulled out when we need bread (or I don’t have the oven already going for something else). If it turns out that we don’t use it, it’ll get passed along to someone else. If, though, we fall in love with the convenience and lack of heat-generation down below, it’ll be a really good purchase indeed.

I’ll keep you posted.