Breadmaker - £14.99! Quick!!

lynsayjane

oh i dunno what to do now, i want a bm :eek:

anniebooklover

Read the thread about what goes into a shop bought loaf :eek: and thought maybe now would be a good time to buy a breadmaker so came across this thread.

None of my local Argos stores have one in stock.

Since I am not buying the bargain Cookworks one from Argos, can anyone recommend a good brand? Panasonic has been mentioned a few times as well as Morphy Richards but I have no clue as to which brand would be better. Help, please?

beachbeth

Well I have got the Panasonic 253, which is supposed to be award winning and so far I am really pleased with it. Made a lovely sandwich loaf, wholemeal loaf and my daughter has made some dough for croissants which we haven't eaten yet but smell gorgeous! So I would definitely recommend this brand.

Lots of recipes included, plus a small plastic measuring jug and a plastic measuring thing with a spoon at each end, one for a teaspoon and one for a tablespoon so you just can't get the measurements wrong. Was going to make a raisin seed cake today which is good for pms and menopause (I have the former!:( ) but just haven't had time today. I am definitely going to try it though.

This was also £79.97 with free delivery from Amazon and £99 everywhere else I looked.

RubyMurray

Thank you so much OP, I've just reserved one online for pickup tomorrow at my nearest store. Very excited!

Jazzy_B

I picked mine up this morning, and have made a white loaf and some pizza dough. I regularly make my own by hand, but I've been converted in a day.
I also used free fresh yeast from Asda without any problems. For the white loaf I used the recipe that I've used for years, and it was great. The kids loved the pizza too.
If there are still some out there I think this is a brilliant buy.

Glad

BrandNewDay wrote:

I just bought a cheap bread maker at Asda, since my husband is an employee. We paid £20. I figure it's good to try out a cheap one to see how I like making bread. If I love it, then I'll get the panasonic one when/if the cheap one breaks down.

I've got the one from asda, had about 2 weeks and it's great, got a granary loaf in at the moment

Jazzy_B

If anyone wants more recipes , you can download the manual for the Panasonic SD253 here
There are loads of them, and they look as if they'll be useable in the Cookworks one.
I haven't had a poor result yet, though I usually scrape down the pan with a plastic spatula about 5 mins into the second kneading, as there's usually flour lurking in the corners.

Spirited_2

I found that that I had less problem with the flour sticking when the butter I was using was spreadable - i.e. not straight from the fridge (and tend to use own brand butter substitues (like can't believe it's not butter).

A short term answer seems to be putting in the water element of the recipe in before the flour. This makes sure that anything that does get stuck in the corners later isn't completely dry and unmixed.

Congrats on the good loafs first time around, please don't be disheartened if you have a few bad ones - it took us along time to get consistantly good loaves. I also tend to eat most of ours whilst it's warm, it will take a bit of time before it replaces our regular loaves (at the moment it is a semi-regular treat).

We currently use ASDA own brand strong or (accidentally but it turned out fine) self raising flour and Hovis yeast sachets. But we are out of yeast (grrr) and I'd be interested to try blagging free yeast from ASDA bakery as some here have suggested - do you need to use fresh yeast any differently to dry stuff?

Spirited

Jazzy_B

Spirited wrote:

We currently use ASDA own brand strong or (accidentally but it turned out fine) self raising flour and Hovis yeast sachets. But we are out of yeast (grrr) and I'd be interested to try blagging free yeast from ASDA bakery as some here have suggested - do you need to use fresh yeast any differently to dry stuff?

Spirited

I mix a tsp of sugar in warm water,add the fresh yeast, then wait 5 - 10 mins for it to start bubbling. I make up the liquid quantity up to the recipe amount, and deduct 1tsp from the sugar in the recipe (usually that's all I use) I put the liquid in first, and add the salt last. Because I've had good results, I'm reluctant to change anything, but I'd be interested in what others do.

RubyMurray

Spirited wrote:

We currently use ASDA own brand strong or (accidentally but it turned out fine) self raising flour and Hovis yeast sachets. But we are out of yeast (grrr) and I'd be interested to try blagging free yeast from ASDA bakery as some here have suggested - do you need to use fresh yeast any differently to dry stuff?

Spirited

I got hold of my new breadmaker this morning and went to Asda to stock up on flour and blag some free yeast, no such luck though. They said it was chargable and I was given a piece about the size of a quarter pack of butter and was charged 47p for it, and they said it had to be used up in the next 2 days. I suppose they must have had an influx of OS'ers wanting free yeast lately!

As for the BM, the first white loaf came out looking quite pitiful and tasted a bit gluey and doughy, but I have a wholemeal loaf on the go at the moment and it looks 100 times better than the first attempt, so onwards and upwards I guess!