Bread Makers - NEW QUESTION

Marc

Marc

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Right, I'm getting fed up with doing the weekly shop then having to go back to the supermarket a couple of days later just because I want some nice. fresh, crusty bread to go with some soup I'm making so I'm thinking of getting a bread maker.

I'm sure I've heard some people rave on about them here so can anyone tell me their experience of them and what to watch out for. I don't want to get one that's too expensive in case it ends up like the sandwich toaster did, sitting at the back of a cupboard gathering dust after the novelty wore off! I've seen a few for around £50, any of these any good?
 
can't comment on the different models but both at home and at Uni we have a bread maker

they're awesome - nothing like waking up to a nice fresh loaf and the sandwiches/toast are better than store bought any day

if making packet mix you may need to add extra salt, water, butter or yeast still depending on your exact machine - we've had two of the same model and they made totally different loaves despite supposedly being identical

If you're making your mix yourself don't be afraid to try different flour and yeast combinations - we had some that even without salt added it caused the loaf to taste salty


Once the experimenting and tweaking is over you'll never go back to store bought again
 
dont use pre-mixed packets - they work fine but cost/loaf is high

water salt butter flour, dried skimmed milk, yeast

sometimes added poppy and/or pumpkin seeds to white flour

I found Allinsons very Strong White flour the best

they do Wholemeal and Multi-seeded flour too

should get a basic manual with the breadmaker - got mine at Comet - a ''Breville''
 
I looked at loads of breadmKers and in the end bought a basic TESCO one so I could see if we used it thinking at least we wouldn't waste too much if we didn't.

It's been really good so far, but only with the recipes in the manual. A bit basic, but works well enough. We tried a packet mix and it was a disaster :lol:
 
My wife has just purchased the Panasonic SD 257 bread maker. She says its easy to use and makes excellent bread. The setting she used it takes about 2 hours from putting in the mix to finish. You just add the flour-salt- dried yeast and water and leave it to work its magic. All I can say is I have never tasted bread so nice, far better than shop bought.
Having read a lot of reviews the cheaper ones don't seem to have very good write ups.

Realspeed
 
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When looking for one of these use your loaf and spend your dough wisely
 
I also have a Panasonic and can highly recommend it and use it regularly. Last night I used it to make pizza dough for a home made pizza.

Unlike some of the others I like some of the bread mixes, expecially the ciabatta (Wrights I think) and you get two loaves from this mix as you only use half a packet at a time, the sunflower seed and tomato is good as well. I have also made chocolate bread (only once as the whole loaf disappeared in one sitting between the two of us, not good for the waistline). I occasionally use it to make dough for rolls but normally for loaves - a milk loaf is very nice as well, as is a spicy current loaf. As I say, I use mine quite a lot :D
 
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Another YES for breadmakers. I have the Panasonic. Got it very cheap from someone who bought it for gluten free bread but didn't like the results. We had pizzas last night, honey & sunflower seed bread the night before and I'm now about to load it up for a lunchtime crusty white loaf.

Mmmmmmm, delicious!!
 
Another yes for breadmakers, I used to use mine religously, it was setup before going to bed so that when I woke up there was the fresh smell of bread in the flat and a fresh loaf ready...

I used to bake a loaf a day as I would take the rest into work after making some sarnies and the gannets in the office would polish the rest off :)

Can't go wrong and it tastes a load better than the shop bought stuff...
 
I have a cheap Cookworks one (which I think is Argos's own brand).
Didn't want to spend too much in case I didn't use it, and it's a nice compact size to sit on the kitchen worktop.
Unfortunately the model I have is now discontinued, but I'm perfectly happy with it. It does everything that I'd want it to do.

Re: Packet mixes. I also prefer bread made from scratch, but don't write them off completely. They have a long shelf-life so it's always handy to keep a couple at the back of the cupboard in case you don't have all the ingredients in to make your own recipe. I can pick them up for about 70p a packet and get 2 small loaves out of one.

If you're making up your own recipe don't be afraid to play around a bit with the ingredients until you find what works for you. For a lighter loaf I find that replacing 1/5 of the strong bread flour with normal self-raising flour gives a good result.

Features to look out for :
- A "dough-only" setting is essential if you want to make rolls / pizza bases rather than a loaf.
- A delayed start timer is great if you want to bung everything in before going to bed and wake up to the smell of freshly cooked bread.
- If you want to make fruit / nut breads, make sure that the machine has an indicator to tell you at what point in the cycle to add those ingredients - or an auto-dispenser built in.
 
Get a panasonic. It's about the best one there is. Most of them have a quick loaf setting so you can get one within a couple of hours. I know several people with them and they all say the same. You can get one with nut/raisin dispensers so you can add bits in if you want a change.

I usually make my own bread by hand but it is hard work and I always forget to start it early enough!
 
Another vote here for making your own pizza dough with a breadmaker.

It took a few tries to get the sauce right (two fussy eaters here, only one of whom is a child! ;)), currently using a mix of 3/4 pasta bake sauce and 1/4 tomato ketchup - and don't put too much on.

If you want to try something by hand, try naan bread. Quick and easy to do and only requires grilling not the oven. Plus people are very impressed you've made your own! :)
 
We got one of these - Panasonic SD255 - about 6 months ago. Thought it would be a but of a fad and end up at the back of the cupboard, but it's stayed out and we probably make 3-4 loaves a month. Nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh bread at the weekend.
 
We got a relatively cheap bread maker, it is good, when we use it.

I would advise getting the largest one you can. A 1lb loaf isn't that big.
Packet mixes are great, they can produce some really nice and different loaves, just add water :)

Doing pizza dough in them is good too.

However, once you have finished playing, you want to be able to make bread once a week (Wednesdays?) so as you don't have to go back to the supermarket again?

Question is whether you will be doing this regularly or not?
If not, then you might as well use the bread-maker completely. Just remember to take the paddle out prior to cutting the bread (especially if you have a bread slicer, woops). Replacement paddles seem to be quite easily available for some reason.

If you are intending on making a loaf once a week then I suspect that you might not use the bread maker for making the bread in its entirety.
I would set the machine up to auto-knead the dough, to finished Tuesday afternoon/evening. I would then transfer it from the bread-maker to a real bread tin, and set the cooker to auto-bake it to finish Wednesday morning.

The reason I suggest this, is that I find the bread-maker baking the bread makes it a tad heavy, whilst when it is in the oven, it is slightly fluffier.
 
I think mine is the 255, a few years old now

Not only should you remember to remove the paddle, you should also remember to put the ingredients in the bowl, not directly into the machine itself as it does not like it much (RIP the 233 model), somehow I managed to do this a few times
 
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I too am just starting out with a bread maker.

The best source of information on these can be found on the MoneySavingExpert forum site.

The Panasonic seems to be the Bread Maker of choice and apparently delivers the best quality bread by far. Although the Pana is not cheap!

Visit:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=147549

Which is a thread with links to ALL the bread making threads. There is a wealth of information including recipies.

Good luck and have fun!
 
Thanks for the reminder here Fabs, the wife is off to the shop this morning so I want to try and do some doughnuts in mine today :love::love:
You realise that the one you are going for has no USB conectivity and there is no firmware upgrade for it :(
 
Another vote for Panasonic Marc (although i think the you need no more convincing on that).

Watch your waistline if you get hooked though as it is quite calorific :lol: and remember it doesn't stay fresh long !
 
Marc I'm not a fan of bread makers but just remember to spend your dough wisely!!!
 
I had one.. Gave it to the removal man, hated it. got a kenwood food mixer and use that to mix and kneed my bread, and i use it alot.
 
No it does not have to be butter. Use margerine. Some suggest using cooking oil. Used to make mine by hand, and followed mother's and grandmothers' instructions- they always used lard for the dough. Have used 2 different breadmakers over last 8 years, and what they produce comes very close to handmade bread. When making by hand the kneading on a table is hardish, but you sweat a bit, and it drops off your brow into the dough, giving it extra flavour !
 
Morphy Richards here but have to be honest haven't used it in months - the loaves are rather small but it was good bread so must get it out again.
 
Panasonic always seem to get good ratings, although I have a Prima.
No problems with the 'kits', although you do need to match quantities with your pan size.

We seem to use ours in fits and starts, once it gets put away it get forgotten about until we decide to give it another bash.
 
looking at the size of those loaves of bread we would have to do 2 a day minimum
when shopping we buy two brown four white and a pack of rolls each week
how much would that lot cost to make plus the cost of the breadmaker
we just stick it straight in the freezer in the garage and it tastes no diferent
 
We've been thinking about getting one but I do wonder if it's whether these bread makers make amazing bread or we've just got used to the "bread" that the supermarkets sell. I suspect it's a bit of both! Having said that there is something very,very appealing to walking into a kitchen that smells of baking bread in the morning.
 
terryuk said:
looking at the size of those loaves of bread we would have to do 2 a day minimum
when shopping we buy two brown four white and a pack of rolls each week
how much would that lot cost to make plus the cost of the breadmaker
we just stick it straight in the freezer in the garage and it tastes no diferent
Click to expand...

Are you buying the instore baked loaves or the packaged sliced ones? I have to say that the difference between the packaged and freshly baked couldn't be more apparent to me.
 
fabs said:
Anyhoo, been out and done the deed.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/panasonic-sd-257wxc-breadmaker-06299244-pdt.html

Ended up getting the more expensive one as that allows you to do fruit/nut bread using the timer. So it ended up costing twice as much as planned, bit like buying camera gear! :D
Click to expand...

Well done you will not regret it. I have had a Morphy Richards, a Russell Hobbs and now have a Panasonic SD254 which is the best of the 3.
It does not have a timer for adding the extras but I just put them all in at the start, they get a bit more chopped up but it still tastes great.
I do not use mixes and have found Dove Farm Organic Bread Flour the best for me. I also use Bertolli Olive spread not butter, I don't know what your recipes will be like but I have adjusted the wholemeal one which I use all the time, I put in 20g of Bertolli not 15g which makes the bread a bit lighter and 290ml of water instead of 280ml which stops the bread collapsing, especially in hot weather.
My normal loaf is a seed one, about 30g-40g of mixed seeds - mainly sunflower & pumpkin but also linseed, poppy, sesame.
Sun Dried Tomato is very good, half a jar per loaf. Unbelievable toasted :D
Walnuts, I use 100g which is about four times what the recipe says!
Olive, half a jar per loaf with the brine rinsed off.
Cheese, whatever ones you have and adjust quantities to suit.
Banana
etc


Play and enjoy. :)
 
Suvv said:
Well done you will not regret it. I have had a Morphy Richards, a Russell Hobbs and now have a Panasonic SD254 which is the best of the 3.
It does not have a timer for adding the extras but I just put them all in at the start, they get a bit more chopped up but it still tastes great.
I do not use mixes and have found Dove Farm Organic Bread Flour the best for me. I also use Bertolli Olive spread not butter, I don't know what your recipes will be like but I have adjusted the wholemeal one which I use all the time, I put in 20g of Bertolli not 15g which makes the bread a bit lighter and 290ml of water instead of 280ml which stops the bread collapsing, especially in hot weather.
My normal loaf is a seed one, about 30g-40g of mixed seeds - mainly sunflower & pumpkin but also linseed, poppy, sesame.
Sun Dried Tomato is very good, half a jar per loaf. Unbelievable toasted :D
Walnuts, I use 100g which is about four times what the recipe says!
Olive, half a jar per loaf with the brine rinsed off.
Cheese, whatever ones you have and adjust quantities to suit.
Banana
etc


Play and enjoy. :)
Click to expand...

I'm dribbling here! :lol:

Going to test it out this evening with the seeded wholemeal loaf recipe (will time it for tomorrow morning. Will try the extra Bertolli as I like it on the lighter side.
 
Very interesting thread as we've also been thinking about getting one. Anyone have the sort that has the in-built viewing window?

Di
 
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