Clunk, clunk, whir…

Yes, the Stonehead hoodoo has struck again.

We had a loaf of bread in the breadmaker today, but midway through the kneading cycle the noise changed from a rythmic thwack, thwack to a series of a clunks and whirs.

A quick glance inside was not particularly revealing as the dough blade was still moving, so I crossed my fingers and decided to let the breadmaker finish the loaf.

An hour later and what did I tip out of the tin? Something that had the texture, weight and looks of a lump of congealed lava.

Further inspection of the breadmaker revealed that the dough blade was worn out - it has a D-shaped socket that sits on a shaft, but the D was now more of an O (oh!). And that means the dough blade is flapping about instead of knocking the dough into shape.

While it is yet another breakdown to add to our ever-growing list, this one is not a complete surprise even if the timing is unfortunate.

The breadmaker, a Panasonic SD-253, has been used at least once and sometimes twicea day, every day, for the past three years. That's hard usage for a machine that I suspect most people would use only a few times and then stick in the back of the cupboard.

We'll have to get it repaired (unless the cost is close to the price of a new breadmaker) because while I enjoy making and baking bread by hand, it can be quite time consuming to make a good loaf every day. And no, I'm not going to do a batch once a week and freeze the loaves as I much prefer the taste, smell and texture of really fresh bread.

As for the Stonehead jinx, I sometimes think we should save a lot of time and hassle, and simply apply a blowtorch to couple of £20 notes every day!