Bread maker - some ideas and help please

impster

We have a cheap and cheerful Swan breadmaker which we bought for about £12 ! (thanks moneysavingexpert forums!).

It's not perfect, but once we found a nice bread recipe, it turns out lovely 3/4 size loaves which last a day or so.

One day, we'll spend 50-60 on a Panasonic maybe, but for now, our cheap machine works wonders.

My tips for good bread in a machine:
use fresh(ish) flour.
Use olive oil or veg oil instead of butter
use some honey mixed in with the sugar
be as accurate as you can with your water and flour measuring

We also tried all of the settings (bread cycles) on our machine sticking exactly to the same recipe. Once we found a good setting, it was then that we started adapting the recipe.

Wholemeal bread in our machine is awful. wholegrain is ok.

Standard white bread is delicous.

impster

shown73

Dixons is showing the SD254 as sold out, I'm afraid.

tallmum

Another one with the Panasonic (SD-255) - was on offer at £87 at Argos recently - makes fabulous bread so last thing at night I load it for the next morning, set the timer for bread to be ready in time for breakfast. Fresh bread in the morning is fab (especially cinnamon and raisin) - it doesn't keep well, but there again it doesn't last in my household

shopndrop

I regularly use the timer on my Panasonic 254, often setting it before I go to bed so we have fresh bread in the morning or if I forget overnight then I set it so that it we have the smell of fresh bread when we get in from work - delicious.

property.advert

Thanks for all your help.

Seems that just as I decide the jump from zero to £50 or so is worth it, I miss out on the Panasonic at £67.75. I wish Argos prices weren't so far away from the mark though and I can't see me paying an extra £25 for a raisin putter inner !

As someone pointed out, what with just me and the toddler, we might have to freeze some but that will be fine for toast. I guess you could even go the supermarket and bakery way and stuff it full of things which mean it will last a week !! The thought of it !

So I reckon we'll hang on for a Panny reduction. We can wait a bit and the Xmas / New Year sales might produce a result if nothing comes along before then.

readalot_2

property.advert wrote: »

Thanks for all your help.

Seems that just as I decide the jump from zero to £50 or so is worth it, I miss out on the Panasonic at £67.75. I wish Argos prices weren't so far away from the mark though and I can't see me paying an extra £25 for a raisin putter inner !

As someone pointed out, what with just me and the toddler, we might have to freeze some but that will be fine for toast. I guess you could even go the supermarket and bakery way and stuff it full of things which mean it will last a week !! The thought of it !

So I reckon we'll hang on for a Panny reduction. We can wait a bit and the Xmas / New Year sales might produce a result if nothing comes along before then.

This is now back in stock in Dixons, I have just placed an order using Quidco.

JoeyG

Favourites always seem to come out as the Panasonic or the Morphy Richards... main difference is Panasonic is twice the price

I've been making bread once or a twice a week with a Morphy Richards for the last 2.5 years, never had a bad loaf, and i've no intention of ever going back to buying loaves for 4 or 5 times the price.

The thing that seems to catch people out with the Morphy Richards is the recipes/quantities in the manual are way out, but theres a thread on here dedicated to it which has some great recipes.

property.advert

readalot wrote: »

This is now back in stock in Dixons, I have just placed an order using Quidco.

Nope, sold out again !

rhubarbcottage

Hi,

We had a bread maker (can't remember make). Once made the mistake of leaving the bread in there after it had cooked AND WE COULDN'T GET IT OUT! Family members lined up to have a go but it was well and truly stuck. Had to chop it up to get it out, ending up making a load of breadcrumbs that I really didn't need.

We also got a bit sick of every loaf having a paddle hole at the bottom, and they were square. Ended up using the machine to mix and prove the bread, then we'd get it out and cook it in the oven in a proper loaf tin. That worked the best for us, especially for Ciabatta bread that we set off to mix and prove before going to bed.

I say "we had" a breadmaker because my parents borrowed it and I never got it back (something about "we gave you life so give us the flippin' breadmaker!")

You can't win that argument, can you? :rolleyes:

ca1980

OP why not check out freecycle in your area? You never know you may be able to get a panasonic one for free!