Bread Maker - worth it?

bertiebots

rabbitwarren wrote: »

I am thinking about ordering a Morphy Richards 48280 Breadmaker from ipoints. Does anyone know if its any good? Or should I just get a shop voucher from them and go and choose my own one from Currys etc.
I was just browsing this thread and its making my mouth water.
Thanks.

Well I only got mine (mr 48280)yesterday and its so easy to use...No. 4 loaf is baking as I type:j . I am really impressed with the machine and was worried it would be hard to get right for the first few times but every loaf has been good so far. I have just used the basic bread recipe without milk powder so far but cant wait to start experimenting:D . Went and got some ingredients this morning:o . I think there are loads of people on here who would agree with me...I was going to save up for the panasonic but at more than double the cost I really dont see the point for a first machine and being on a budget it will soon have paid for itself!(I know loads love their pannys sorry!!)

mandy_moo_1

sara_501 wrote: »

How does the kenwood chef work? and how do i tell my bm to only mix/knead in the case of stuff like pizza dough instead of going through a whole cycle?

put all your ingredients in the bread pan....wet first , then flour then yeast, and just set it to the "dough" setting....on my MR i just press menu button till it gets to number 8

the dough setting takes 1hr 30min. i use it all the time to make dough, and then i shape it into 8 balls, leave somewhere warm to rise, then bake in the oven for about 20min

frosty

Hi,I made french bread today in the bread machine and it turned out really well.I managed to buy a french bread baking tray off ebay,it makes two french sticks at a time.We eat a lot of french bread and with the prices going up all the time in the supermarket I am hoping it will save me money in the long run.While the french bread was baking in the oven I also made Twinks hobnobs to make use of the oven space.

SouthernSoftie

Hi, I've heard lots about breadmakers but never had one, and with the cost of bread going up am thinking about getting one.
MIL has one and I poo pooed her when she got it, but think I may have to literally eat my words.... and pinch hers lol.
Will try on Freecycle obviously.

What flour do you use, ie can you use value flour? Is it strong enough?
Any tips about yeast?
Does the bread actually come out bread shaped (if you know what I mean lol)
Can they do other things?

Does it actually trun out cheaper with electricity etc?

Thank you, and apologies if this is all written elsewhere, I did look!:o

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

I would have a go at making bread by hand before you buy - I do mine once every ten days or so now, and freeze. If you take away rising time, it takes half an hour at most. You'd just need to invest in a loaf tin or two.

You can use value flour - I have in my handmade bread - but it doesn't give you much flavour and it can be unpredictable. Not sure if it would work in a BM.

Dried yeast is fine, but you can buy fresh yeast from a bakery if you prefer! I can't say it makes a difference myself.

I make loaves using spelt flour (costs around £1.70 for 1.5kg), free range egg, honey , real butter etc, and a standard size loaf works out to about 65p for me - I could make it far cheaper than that. It really does reduce your costs.

fallen121

My sister has been making bread using a breadmaker for years, and I'm just about to start myself and buy a breadmaker. Her advice to me was to buy the most expensive you can afford, and she recommended the Panasonic range to me. The reason for this is that they take a lot of punishment. My sister started breadmaking about 5 years ago on the advice of a friend who makes their own bread because they are gluten intolerant, and this friend has had the same Panasonic breadmaker for about 6-7 years.

The Panasonic range apparently lets you make the bread overnight and also to add ingredients such as fruit, nuts etc. The SD253 and the SD255 let you do this automatically part way through the bread making process, rather than waiting for a beeper to go off like on some other models and then adding them manually - not very convenient if you're making bread for breakfast and the beeper goes off at 3am in the morning!

I also spoke to my Father-in-law about this. He bought a very cheap breadmaker and it wore out after less than a year. He then bought another cheap breadmaker and that lasted even less time. He then gave up on breadmaking entirely. The silly thing is, the cost of the two cheap breadmakers worked out more expensive than the Panasonic.

I am currently looking at the Panasonic SD254 which is £79.99 on Amazon (after consideration I don't think I would use the raisin/nut feature on bread I'm making overnight as my family wouldn't eat it, and it does have a raisin beep for me to use if I'm making bread during the day). There's a newer SD255 but it doesn't seem to offer much in the way of extra features other than the auto rasin/nut dispenser and it's £95.99. I have earnt enough Amazon vouchers through doing QNA surveys for this not to cost me anything, plus I can get cashback on Amazon through Greasypalm, who unlike some other cashback sites will give cashback even though you pay for the order using vouchers - some other sites I have tried (i.e. Nectar) won't give cashback unless the entire Amazon order is paid for using a credit/debit card.

I was a bit confused about what yeast to use in breadmakers - presumably they come with instructions?

angchris

i also recommend the panny sd254, if you want a breadmaker this one is fab. if you cant afford it now dont go out and buy a cheapy as i did (and consistently got bad bread) as the panny is well worth saving for....excellent loaves every single time without fail, just throw the ingredients in the tin..close the lid and press a button and 4 hours later hey presto a perfect loaf :j

marygoodwife

Hi there, ive got a mr fastbake that was about 38 quid from costco and a team breadmaker that i got from aldi years ago for about 15 quid, i use all the cheapest flour and stuff and never had a problem i bake nearly evryday,pizzas, rolls, garlic bread even doughnuts.......i always make double and freeze one lot.....ive saved a fortune over the years. good luck whatever you buy...happy baking

Alexelisey

I have the Panasonic SD253 and just this week worked out my entire costs for a loaf of bread:
Flour 600g - 20p
Yeast 1.75 tsp - 8p
Sugar 1.5 tbs - 5p
Salt 1.5 tsp - 1p
Milk powder 2 tbs - 5p
Butter 25g - 10p
Water 400ml - 1p

Total ingredients cost 50p

I then used an Ecosaver plug-in thingy and my entire rapid cycle used only 5p in electricity and that's with it on a high tariff (think I used the default 24p) because ours is a two layer tariff *rhe* unhelpful of E.on, that!

So total cost is 55p for an 800g loaf - and that's with Mr M's strong white flour.

BTW I'm new, hi everyone!

fallen121

Great to hear there are other Panasonic users on here. Could I ask what brands of flour and yeast you are using and where you buy them?