Are breadmakers really money saving??

bottlered

I just chuck in the ingredients (in the order listed in the recipe),then let the machine get on with it...

I've got a morphy richards (£35 for refurb one with full guarantee,ebay) & its brilliant.

To make a white loaf I currently use 1/3 bag cheap white flour (29p bag,asda) and 1/3 sachet of yeast (59p for 6 sachets,asda) = 15p a loaf !!
Plus its a nice white loaf, cheap, but definately not nasty

The plan is to gradually increase the % of wholemeal flour per loaf-just dont tell the little ones

Nikki

I borrowed a BM from my friend 2 weeks ago (she hasn't got the time or space for it at the mo)and i've used it everyday since. The only problem I have is slicing the bread, not that good at it but kids don't complain about wonky sarnies. Tastes much better and also I know exactly what's in it. No more nipping up the shop because I've run out of bread. I have now ordered one of my own, got one with the jam making prog as I fancy having a go at that and kids eat loads of jam. Made brioche in the BM the other day, will try a few others this week as kids are off school.

Curry_Queen

Newbird wrote:

Kicking myself, as there was a Panasonic on a boot sale that I half wondered about for £15...

OMG! what a bargain!!! :eek:

They usually sell for around £70-£80 so I'd have bitten their hand off had I seen it! What a shame you hadn't already made a decision to get one when you spotted it. Car boots are good places to keep an eye out though

gravitytolls

I don't always use my breadmaker, but I ony paid £20 for the cookworks variety in Argos. My husb bought me an expensive one a few years ago when they first came out, and this cheapie is no different in terms of the results.

I reckon I about break even in terms of baking as opposed to buying, once you take into consideration teh odd one that goes wrong. I.e when I forget I've got one on and go out. Still, even if goes slightly soggy from being in too long after teh stay warm has finished, a few mins int he oven sorts it out.

I only buy sliced when it's on special offer, cos the basics are often full of e no.s and don't taste of much. Also there are 9 of us in this household, and the freezer capacity simply can't store enough for a week. The breadmaker is cheaper than a second freezer.

I'm not always keen on teh crust result though, so I prefer to use teh dough setting, and pop it inthe oven myself.

gravitytolls

Ooh, and teh fruit bread is GORGEOUS, you're supposed to put the fruit in when it beeps, but we quite like it for breakfast so I put it on tikmer, which pretty much mulches the fruit and it's similar to a malt bread. Mmmm yummy.

toozie_2

I always slice my HM bread with an electric knife (a 24 year old one!), at least you don't get uneaven hunks, and the loaf lasts a little bit longer.

I use the electric knife quite often, i.e slicing HM Bara Brith, all sunday roast meats inc. chicken, and sometimes something frozen, that I want to half, cook one side and keep the otherside frozen.

Nikki wrote:

I borrowed a BM from my friend 2 weeks ago (she hasn't got the time or space for it at the mo)and i've used it everyday since. The only problem I have is slicing the bread, not that good at it but kids don't complain about wonky sarnies. Tastes much better and also I know exactly what's in it. No more nipping up the shop because I've run out of bread. I have now ordered one of my own, got one with the jam making prog as I fancy having a go at that and kids eat loads of jam. Made brioche in the BM the other day, will try a few others this week as kids are off school.

cath-w

mows wrote:

How do breadmakers work out in terms of cost of electricity to run? I currently have the oven on twice a week and make bread, cakes, biscuits, a stew / casserole, pie/ pasties, a flan, a rice pud etc all during the same oven session to try and keep fuel costs down - would a breadmaker be cheaper than the way I currently do things?

In short "No". I have done a lot of calculations on wattage and power consumption as we are looking at installing solar panels. Although it is hard to work out how much electricity an oven uses.

- Making your own bread is cheaper than buying from a shop
- Making a single loaf in a breadmaker is cheaper than making a single loaf in an oven
- Making a single loaf in a breadmaker is dearer than making several loaves in an oven
- Making a single loaf in a breadmaker is much dearer than batch cooking lots of stuff at the same time and using an oven (I also do this).

With a breadmaker you are paying electricity for the kneading, mixing and proving time all of which are free when you make bread by hand. Also there is the cost of the machine iteself which will have a shorter life span than loaf tins.

C.

Magentasue

I bought a cheap breadmaker from Asda a few years ago and, once the novelty wore off, hardly used it. The white bread was OK, wholemeal, granary etc less good. Then I got a reconditioned Panasonic from www.unbeatable.co.uk in April and haven't bought bread since. As CQ said at the beginning, it does seem to make a difference which one you have.

My standard loaf is granary - I have a plastic container into which tip a bag (1kg 90p) granary flour, wholemeal flour (cheaper) and a little 27p Smartprice Plain Flour. I mix it and use 5 scoops which is 600g. If I was to use only granary, it would workout more expensive than Asda.

I add a teaspoon each of salt,sugar and butter. The yeast has been mentioned - I get mine from Lakeland for99p a box. The box is fiddly when there's not much left so I tip it into a little glass jar with a screw top lid - keeps ages.

Electricity - if I'm around, I put the breadmaker on dough setting. This takes 2h20m, then I make it into rolls (family prefer these) and bake for 20 mins. I try and use the oven for other things at the same time. Otherwise the breadmaker does it all.

Pizza dough comes out much better than made by hand or mixer and I make foccaccia, fruit bread on a less regular basis.

As for slicing, I'm the only one who can do it without this gadget from Lakeland. I paid about £10 for mine from the bargain shelf, looked longingly at it for months at £15 before I found one reduced.

Disadvantages? You have to think about what bread you need 4+ hours in advance. You need to check the dough for your first couple of batches - so long as you have at least a teaspoon of yeast, salt and sugar, the crucial thing is the amount of water. My recipe book suggested too much so I had to add flour the first couple of times - now I have found an old mug that holds EXACTLY the right amount.

Numptie

Use mine to make dough for pizza, again if you make them yourself you know whats going in them. Mine is just a cheap one from Sainsburys (Mellerware) about two years old, the outside of the unit seems to have some sort of coating (not painted) and it seems to be discolouring and splitting probably due to the heating/cooling when you make anything in it. Still works fine but would you be better of spending more on a better named model?

Petal_3

Hi there

I have the Panasonic SD253. I've probably had it about 3 weeks and haven't bought a loaf since. I do find that I always have to put 20ml less water in than the recipe says otherwise it's a bit too doughy. I set mine to be ready for when I wake up....it's lovely.

Good Luck!
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