Are breadmakers really money saving??

KittyBoo_2

lala1974 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I have to say that you've really inspired me to take wipe the dust off my BM which is currently lurking at the back of the garage. Not sure how DH will take the news - I dug out the slow cooker at the weekend too! The OS forum is so addictive.

Anyway, my one problem that I found with the BM (aside from bread being too sweet - should be able to fix that), is the hole that the blade leaves! Doesn't everyone else have that problem?

Lala

I get that too.
I just try and take loaf out of machine ASAP but there is still the hole.
Bit awkward when slicing for sandwiches but bread still loads better than shop bought stuff.

MrsCook_2

my machine is a morphy richards and yes get the hole problem.

other machines have the blade retracting down at the end i think before it bakes so dont get the problem (but i could be imagining all that)

there is a fantastic thread on hand baking.....better results so perhaps you want to consider that method?

lala1974

MrsCook wrote: »

my machine is a morphy richards and yes get the hole problem.

other machines have the blade retracting down at the end i think before it bakes so dont get the problem (but i could be imagining all that)

there is a fantastic thread on hand baking.....better results so perhaps you want to consider that method?

Guess I could get as far as making the dough in it and then finish it in the oven! Might be worth giving it a shot!

cooking-mama

1/2 price bread makers in Argos...anyone got either of these 2?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4228039/Trail/searchtext%3EBREAD+MAKER.htm Delonghi ..or this Rachel Allen one?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4228022/Trail/searchtext%3EBREAD+MAKER.htm

quite a few on special offer too,any recommendations for any under £50 please?

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?pp=20&s=Price%3A+Low+-+High&storeId=10001&catalogId=1500001801&langId=-1&q=BREAD+MAKER&x=12&y=6

Lady_Aitch

Hi, just started to re-use my "panny". I now find the loaf has a lumpy and uneven top. Can any-one rectify this prob for me. I have been using block butter rather than soft spread as it was on offer and I have loads in the freezer. Would this make a difference?

jb5

Does this site help?

lapis_lazuli

My brother is wrong, but I can't prove it!

I flat with him and his girlfriend, and we've been using a breadmaker to make 3-4 100% wholemeal loaves per week for sandwiches. We go through roughly half a loaf per day. The breadmaker takes 3 hours 45 minutes to bake a loaf from start to finish.

My brother says that the efficiency for him is that he spends five minutes measuring out the ingredients and then the breadmaker does all the rest. In addition, he has four things to wash up: the tin, the measuring jug, and the teaspoon and tablespoon to measure the oil and salt. In comparison, doing two loaves by hand takes 10-15 minutes to measure everything and knead the first time, plus another (albeit shorter) kneading later, then there's the longer rising time, the faff with the oven and finally he's got two tins instead of one to wash up in addition to everything else.

I say that this is inefficient. Whilst it is doubtless true that he barely has to do anything, I think that the extra time spent kneading and the ability to make more than one loaf at a time offsets the time saved by the breadmaker. Plus the oven is on for one hour versus the breadmaker being on for nearly four hours. I would be quite happy to make four loaves' worth of dough on Friday evening, let it rise overnight, knock it back and let it prove the next morning and have all four loaves baked by lunchtime on Saturday. Then there's the benefit that there won't be a hole in the bottom of the loaf which makes slicing difficult (the paddle can't be removed, unfortunately). We can then use the breadmaker for emergencies if we run out of bread mid-week.

Please, which one of us is right? :rotfl:

honeythewitch

lapis_lazuli wrote: »

My brother is wrong, but I can't prove it!

I flat with him and his girlfriend, and we've been using a breadmaker to make 3-4 100% wholemeal loaves per week for sandwiches. We go through roughly half a loaf per day. The breadmaker takes 3 hours 45 minutes to bake a loaf from start to finish.

My brother says that the efficiency for him is that he spends five minutes measuring out the ingredients and then the breadmaker does all the rest. In addition, he has four things to wash up: the tin, the measuring jug, and the teaspoon and tablespoon to measure the oil and salt. In comparison, doing two loaves by hand takes 10-15 minutes to measure everything and knead the first time, plus another (albeit shorter) kneading later, then there's the longer rising time, the faff with the oven and finally he's got two tins instead of one to wash up in addition to everything else.

I say that this is inefficient. Whilst it is doubtless true that he barely has to do anything, I think that the extra time spent kneading and the ability to make more than one loaf at a time offsets the time saved by the breadmaker. Plus the oven is on for one hour versus the breadmaker being on for nearly four hours. I would be quite happy to make four loaves' worth of dough on Friday evening, let it rise overnight, knock it back and let it prove the next morning and have all four loaves baked by lunchtime on Saturday. Then there's the benefit that there won't be a hole in the bottom of the loaf which makes slicing difficult (the paddle can't be removed, unfortunately). We can then use the breadmaker for emergencies if we run out of bread mid-week.

Please, which one of us is right? :rotfl:

Most of the time in the breadmaker is resting not cooking, so it is not really "on" for four hours.
In terms of electricity there probably isn't that much difference but I would rather have the loaves fresh each day from the breadmaker.
You could save even more time, money and electricity by buying yellow sticker bread and freezing it, but it is hardly the same thing.

ash28

lapis_lazuli wrote: »

My brother is wrong, but I can't prove it!

I flat with him and his girlfriend, and we've been using a breadmaker to make 3-4 100% wholemeal loaves per week for sandwiches. We go through roughly half a loaf per day. The breadmaker takes 3 hours 45 minutes to bake a loaf from start to finish.

My brother says that the efficiency for him is that he spends five minutes measuring out the ingredients and then the breadmaker does all the rest. In addition, he has four things to wash up: the tin, the measuring jug, and the teaspoon and tablespoon to measure the oil and salt. In comparison, doing two loaves by hand takes 10-15 minutes to measure everything and knead the first time, plus another (albeit shorter) kneading later, then there's the longer rising time, the faff with the oven and finally he's got two tins instead of one to wash up in addition to everything else.

I say that this is inefficient. Whilst it is doubtless true that he barely has to do anything, I think that the extra time spent kneading and the ability to make more than one loaf at a time offsets the time saved by the breadmaker. Plus the oven is on for one hour versus the breadmaker being on for nearly four hours. I would be quite happy to make four loaves' worth of dough on Friday evening, let it rise overnight, knock it back and let it prove the next morning and have all four loaves baked by lunchtime on Saturday. Then there's the benefit that there won't be a hole in the bottom of the loaf which makes slicing difficult (the paddle can't be removed, unfortunately). We can then use the breadmaker for emergencies if we run out of bread mid-week.

Please, which one of us is right? :rotfl:

It depends on whether you like to make bread by hand or in a machine.

And whether the bread you make is comparable or better than the bread produced in the breadmaker. And how well it keeps - in my experience homemade doesn't keep as well as bought bread, so 4 loaves at once might be too many, it certainly would be for us. One at a time is enough, though of course you could make the dough cook one loaf and freeze the rest of the dough and defrost and use some every day.

In most breadmakers you can make the dough.....I do in mine, I put the ingredients in and set it to pizza - which is the dough setting on mine, then when it is done mixing I switch off the machine and leave the dough in the breadmaker through it's first rise. Warm and draft free! Cost of electricity around 1p.

Which did a report that said the average breadmaker used 0.034kwh of electricity for a cycle for a whole meal loaf....works out around 5p. So it would cost 20p to make 4 loaves of bread.

You would need to work out what your oven costs to run for an hour....an electric oven will be somewhere around 3p to 4p......I haven't got a clue how much a gas oven would be...but obviously less. Potentially you could save around 3p per loaf or a bit more if you use gas.

Then you have your time. IMHO, a breadmaker is cheap and efficient way of making bread.

lapis_lazuli

Thanks everyone. I have scored at least one one point with my brother: I made up two batches last night and on cutting the first one open he exclaimed, "Is that 100% wholemeal?!" "Yep, I promise." He says he was surprised because the texture was so nice and not stodgy at all. Now to find a way to mix 1.5 lbs of wholemeal flour regularly without breaking my Kenwood 201...