Bread Maker - worth it?

code-a-holic

Most definatly the best thing in our kitchen! Have not bought a dough based item since getting the Panny(Panasonic) in December. Now have home made pizza bases which are the best pizzas ever.
Feel good knowing exactly whats in the bread and can sneak in healthy bits for the kids. We actually finish loaves before they go stale and mouldy now - actually a loaf a day now!

StressedSteph

About three months ago I had the same questions Dubgirl. I was spending over £30 per month on bought bread (£1.10 per loaf :mad: )

I eventually went for it and bought a Panasonic SD254 at Amazon (Through Pigsback ) for £65. The next model up (SD255) was £100 but all I would have gained was a fruit/nut dispenser which I don't think is worth an extra £45 :eek: .

I have since been making two loaves per day for my family. One that cooks through the night ready for morning toast & Sandwiches. I then put another on thats ready for lunchtime. Perfect fluffy gorgeous bread :T

I also make a nice fruit loaf in there thats perfect toasted with butter on

I have done a vague calculation and think with me buying Tesco own Strong white flour, each loaf costs a max of .35p each :j :j

Just think of the savings, I think I have virtually worked back the outlay cost of buying the machine.

Go for it girl. Be careful what machine you buy though, because my mum has a Morphy Richards and her bread comes out like bricks. I think a good 75% of people on this forum vouch for the Panasonics.

Let us know how you get on xx

bootman

I got my Panasonic SD 255 the first of Feb. I have not bought any bread since. It stays fresh for a couple of days and my son loves it. I have had no failures with it at all.

The Viennese bun recipe in the book is just the best!

angelavdavis

I work most of my time at home, so load up the bread maker and allow it to do its thing while I work and I then have some fresh bread for lunch.

I also make up rolls weekly for my OH.

As there are just two of us, we only really use it twice a week, but I have worked out for a bag of flour, I get 3-4 loaves of bread. Recently, I paid 49p for bread flour from Lidl on special offer. Yeast and milk powder last forever and a dash of sunflower oil and sugar is just pennies. I reckon we must get 4 loaves (or 48 rolls) for less than £1.

I haven't bought shop bought bread since we started using the breadmaker and its so nice to be able to make different breads to go with stews or pizza bases whenever you want and while I am working too.

dan1979

Since getting a loaf tin I have not bought a loaf of bread :cool:

Churchmouse

dan1979 wrote: »

Can't see the point of them myself when you consider how much they cost, with practice doing it by hand isn't much trouble.

If you have severe arthritis in your fingers, and if you don't have freezer space to make more than one loaf at a time so would be heating an oven to that very high temperature for one loaf, a BM has quite a few points in its favour;) I must say that having used the dough-setting I do now know I hadn't been kneading the bread enough when I made it by hand, although it was still edible, and better than shop bought pap.:D

dubgirl

Well, just seen that this thread has continued and had to say that I got a breadmaker, it was a birthday present and one of the best pressies I've ever had. Its been great and we've had lovely bread and I think it has worked out cheaper.

Sunnyday

dubgirl wrote: »

Well, just seen that this thread has continued and had to say that I got a breadmaker, it was a birthday present and one of the best pressies I've ever had. Its been great and we've had lovely bread and I think it has worked out cheaper.

Which one did you buy in the end?

We got the panny SD254 in November and it`s fantastic, i chuck the flour etc in at night and wake up to the lovely smell of baking bread
It`s worth its weight in gold and my last one which was an old cookworks one couldn`t even come close.

I make a loaf every night and sometimes pop a rapid bake one on during the day as well if we are running low.
If it broke i`d get another exactly the same.
SD

dubgirl

Hi Sunny day, mine BM is a Cookworks, OH got it from Argos, he is not up on the different makes and bless him probably bought the first one he saw that he could afford, but its the thought that counts and it seems to work just fine.

Sunnyday

Sounds smashing, todays breadmakers seem so much better than the old ones. I can`t remember how many years ago it was that i got my first but it was a long time ago.
I used to make my own before but found i wasn`t having much spare time and i have a bit of arthritis so the bm made things much easier.
I still have the old one and i have the instruction book somewhere so think i need to dig it out and see if it makes anything else besides bread - maybe it could be used for jam or something else.
Happy baking dubgirl!
SD