>>22265384Bread machines are for convenience, ease, and speed. Using them is easier, especially if you're making smaller amounts of bread for yourself. As for handmade bread being simple, the trick is not fucking it up. You have to make the dough properly and handle the yeast properly. You have to not burn it or dehydrate it in the oven, so it's recommended to use a dutch oven or container with an airtight cover like foil.
When doing sourdough with a live yeast jar, you have to be careful not to let mold grow in there, and you can't leave it unattended for so long that the yeast gets sour. Using storebought yeast packets can get around these requirements, but they won't have the same flavor as a live yeast culture. Most people will fuck up at some point, but practice turns it into an automatic routine.
