I have bought a breadmaker on the promise that i'd be able to make a
pizza dough with it. As it went, I tried making bread and thought I'd
do the pizza later on. Anyhow, my attempts at making bread were not
successful though I followed the instructions to the letter (the bread
didn't rise well, was too solid, didn't taste good). I was also
dissatisfied with the amount of bread I could make in the breadmaker,
seemed too little. I also wasn't sure that it was economical if i
considered the costs of having a ~500w machine running for a few hours
on frequent basis.

I'm now considering making bread by hand. I like that the skill won't
be dependent on a machine, and I could make a larger quantity of bread,
as much as I could fit into my oven, which should be more.

I'm concerned about it being too time and effort consuming, but if i
make bread in larger quantities, for example if i do it once a week, it
could perhaps be worth it. I don't mind putting it in the fridge. I
could also sit on the floor in the living room with the large bowl and
listen to some audiobooks while mixing it by hand, or whatever. I'm
also concerned about the results being uneven, but I guess it will take
time to master any such manual skill.

Has anyone here moved from a breadmaker to doing bread by hand? What
was your experience?