Durabrand BM - any good?

Queenie

:eek: Oh no!!!!! ((hugs))

Are these fruit cakes or sponge?
Pity I didnt' see this earlier, you don't need to buy one, you could still have salvaged something in time for the party - icing can hide a multitude of sins.
Hope you haven't thrown out your disaster cakes ... when you come back, let me know whether they are fruit or sponge and we'll sort something out so that all your hard work isn't completely wasted ((hugs))

wizzkid_3

I bought a Durabrand from Asda last month. You need to always use the lightest crust as that is just a bit too much, but appart from that, the only disasters I have has are when I have forgotten an important ingredient........like the yeast!

I make a half and half loaf overnight like this.

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, splash sunflower oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, desert spoon runny honey, 2 cups white flour, 2 cups wholemeal flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast. I then let it mix for 5-10 mins to make sure I have added enough water, then I stop it and set it (wholemeal prog) to finish cooking 1 hour before we expect to get up. We usually have a lovely risen loaf.

JailhouseBabe

Queenie wrote:

:eek: Oh no!!!!! ((hugs))

Are these fruit cakes or sponge?
Pity I didnt' see this earlier, you don't need to buy one, you could still have salvaged something in time for the party - icing can hide a multitude of sins.
Hope you haven't thrown out your disaster cakes ... when you come back, let me know whether they are fruit or sponge and we'll sort something out so that all your hard work isn't completely wasted ((hugs))

Thanks queenie! They were sponge cakes. I kept a bag of broken sponge bits for me & dd to nibble on (we have very sweet teeth). I hacked at the other 2 sponges (cut the burnt bits off, cut the top off the edges so they were the same height as the sunken middles). Covered it all with white ready to roll icing, but didn't have enough time to decorate as had intended.
Just wrote the boys names on - and bought a spiderman cake.
An expensive start to my promised May grocery challenge. :mad:

Shez

I havent tried the lightest crust setting, ive only used the medium and so far that has been fine. Ive done basic white loaf (bit cakey), then sandwich loaf (better), havent tried the jam or other bread setting yet.

JailhouseBabe

I've made 2 loaves now, the basic white and white sandwich (DD only eats white, so knew these would be the ones most often made).
I'm very disappointed.

I've used good quality ingredients, but both loaves have tasted like the cheapest supermarket ones. They're really stodgy, totally unappetising for sandwiches and very poor even as toast.

I wasn't keen on the fact that all measurements are given in cups and spoons (provided), and the instruction book is very badly translated, with very few recipes in. I'd already invested in electronic scales when I borrowed friend's panasonic BM (which came with loads of recipes); that now seems like a wasted investment - although I'm sure it will get used, we had managed for years with old manual scales.

Friend's BM also asked for yeast to be added first, then flour etc with wet ingredients last - the durabrand requires water first, yeast last. Could this make a difference to the quality of the loaf? And would the BM still function properly if this was swapped?

I've got 3 weeks to really make my mind up on this, but I think I'll be returning it. We've ended up throwing away more bread than we've eaten.

Shez

jailhousebabe - oh sorry to hear about that - I dont know why? when I made mine I put the water in first, other ingredients then yeast last and they come out fine. I did try it the other way round once because it said to do so with wholemeal bread, but that didnt come out right, so reverted back to the usual way and everything seems to come out fine!

I too find that the white loaves come out abit too "cakey" in texture,and my family prefer the shop sliced hovis loaves - but for the wholemeal bread and ive done a multi grain bread which was v.nice, they seem to be nice enough in the BM.

like I said, I dont know whether the texture varies if you have a panasonic or whether it still comes out cakey/stodgy texture in there too?

sidwyn

I had a Morphy Richards that produced loads of loaves just like you described. I can't tell you how many times I used it, but rarely got an edible loaf. I tried all kinds of flour, yeast, etc. Stuck to the recipes. Always yuk.

I was really sceptical that there would be a difference but finally invested in the Panasonic (£74 from Amazon) and have been so glad I did! It is used daily and we haven't bought a store loaf since. The bread is amazing, not stodgy and very much like (but better) than bakery bread. Dh used to groan when I got the breadmaker out but now he's upset if there isn't a fresh loaf waiting for him in the morning!

I'd return the ASDA one and save up until you can get a Panasonic.

Good luck, ~LynnMc

Shez

Sidwyn - thanks for the info on the panasonic, can i ask what the white loaves turn out like? how do they compare with a crusty bloomer from the shop?

my white loaves rise ok, the sandwich setting seems to be the best, but still comes out on the heavier side compaired to obviously the hovis loaves.

sidwyn

The white loaves taste about the same (or even better) than ones from the bakery. My dh is really picky about bread and hated the bread from the MR, but loves the bread from the Panasonic SD253. There is a French bread setting that gives a really flaky, crusty loaf. Yumm!!

This is one of those gadgets that truly gets used daily, sometimes more than once! I am so glad I bought it.

~LynnMC :')

cozzie

FYI - As far as I know Durabrand is the cheap line for Bush......eg

Bush stereo....http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5128224.htm

and anyone who uses Asda will probably have seen their own (Durabrand), which are identical excepting that the cassette player is missing.