Bread Maker - worth it?

gailey_2

oh in a quandry now it ends tommorow its been iused 3times no instruction book 14.99.
Got offered one for fiver at carboot but looked anciant and knackered.
I qyuite liek making by hand but for quick convineiance might encourage hubby to eat less shop brought altough imagine its same recipie as by hand.

Emm-in-a-pickle

I love mine, but rarely use it as working full time and the biggest bread-eater here (DS) only likes soft sliced bought bread. Still worth having it though, as occasional treats like Olive bread or Herby bread do go down well, make the house smell good, and make a lovely gift of fresh bread when my dearest best friend comes to visit.

marmiterulesok

silligilli wrote: »

Thanks for that, where did you get your Tefal one from? I've seen the easiyo but remember with affection the little glass pots with my '70's one. Do you think I could use it with soya milk?

Hi,I don't live in the UK,so don't know where it's available.My instruction booklet has a helpline for the UK:0845 602 1454 or Ireland:01 677 4003;maybe they have a list of stockists.
It's quite a compact machine,the pots hold 140g and are dinky!

I think you can make soya yoghurts,using a yoghurt starter and soya milk.I'd like to try this,but haven't got round to it yet.There's a big thread on HM yoghurts,you'll find it if you type in HM yoghurt in the search box.

rachbc

if your hubby won;t eat your hm bread he probs won't eat bm bread - my hubby didn't like it - but I've finally found a hm bread recipe he likes...

fssjt

Hi,

Just wanted to add we did have a cheap breadmaker (several years ago) but the results weren't consistent. I just thought I was not very good at using it! Then I had bread at a friends and it was amazing - like proper bakery bread (not the stuffed full of additives & fast baked supermarket bakery variety). So we bought the same one. It's a Panasonic SD-253 (the nut dispenser one) that we have had for 3yrs now (we got cheap from Ebay - they were pretty pricey new). After reading a bit more about them I really wanted this particular one because it was a 'Which?' magazine recommend, for the variety of bread it can make & the possibility of adding things into the bread.

I have never been disappointed (we have now tried every recipe in the book - rolls, pizza, naan bread, foccacia etc...). It consistently makes perfect bread - except for user error (when we forget to add yeast or water!). We never use the quick bake program as I had read somewhere that the gluten in yeast doesn't break down properly as it does when bread is cooked over time making it hard to digest - not sure if this is true (but we have a 1yr old so didn't want to chance it)?

When this finally breaks down (which I hope isn't for years and years) we are going to have to get another (hopefully just like it).

I have never attempted making bread myself (& probably never would have prior to owning this machine) but might consider it some day! - I think it would be to hard (we don't have anywhere warm to proof the dough & with my puny arms I am not sure I could to the kneading bit ;-) ).

ginnyknit

Had a crappy Bm a few years ago and it was utter rubbish just been bought a Tricity for my birthday and its wonderful. Made gingerbread yesterday and its was perfectly yummy - even sticky on the top like it should be. My friend has used hers everyday for 6 or so years and its just died so she bought another which is even better. I think you just have to keep trying recipes till you find the ones that suit you and yours.

pinkmami

Im been thinking a lot about buying one. But would I really gain something int he end? I paid £1.45 for a loaf of Warburtons this morning - 10p dearer than 2 days ago!! :eek:

If I did buy a breadmaker what type of loaf would I get. Bearing in mind we're a family of 5 and love toast, kids have sandwiches to school etc I can easily go though an 800g loaf a day.

Is the flour & yeast expensive? I'm sure an expert here can point me in the right direction of an existing thread!!!

foxgloves

Hi,
There's only 2 of us, but we wouldn't want to be without a breadmaker. You can shop around for flour & find big differences in price like anything else. If your family likes white bread, then Lidl bread flour is good, the loaves rise well and it's 50p a bag (or it was when I last bought it...I buy 10 bags at a time). I think we get around 3 loaves from a bag. We have a Panasonic breadmaker and usually set it to make the large sized loaf as we struggled to get slices from the extra-large into our toaster. I can't remember what the brand of yeast is that we buy but it's in a little orange bag & you find it for around £1.15 a bag, again it varies according to where you shop. You only need about 1 & a quarter teaspoons of yeast per loaf, depending on the recipe so it's not something you are having to buy every 5 minutes. You also use tiny amounts of salt & sugar and most recipes have some oil content which can be a tiny bit of butter or marge but I've used sunflower oil or not bothered at all, it doesn't make a lot of difference. The only other ingredient is water. You can also make bread dough in the breadmaker to cook in the oven. I use it to make pizzas and also if I want to make a meal stretch to fill more people, I often make a big foccaccia bread & top it with onion & rosemary before baking it in the oven. With standard loaves, we bought a cutting guide from Lakeland as we found we were eating big chunky doorsteps & we do find we can get more slices from a loaf using that. If you are on dual tariff electricity, where it is a lot cheaper at night, you can set the breadmaker to make your loaf overnight. Hope this helps a bit x

pinkmami

That really is a big help! Thank you! I always thought the strong flour needed was expensive. Don't know why though as flour is pretty cheap overall! I've seen a few in Argos which have good reviews for about £30-40. Which I'm willing to pay. I think I'll have to go for it....can't justify paying £1.45 a day for a loaf!!!

I have a Lidl & Aldi and the other major supermarkets close by and I'l also look on the websites for flour/yeast prices. thank you!!

nykied

I was looking at a breadmaker for Christmas and a lot of people (A LOT) say not to buy a cheaper one and to wait until you can afford a good one, like the latest Panasonic or the Kenwood BM450. There are quite a few threads on here that I looked through.

Luckily, I got the Kenwood breadmaker for Christmas and the loaves it makes are absolutely fantastic!