Breadmaker - convince me !

krisskross

got my panny last July and haven't bought bread since.

Allinsons bread flour is only 62p at Asda at the mo, use by date not til October. I have stocked up, the bread is only costing about 35p a loaf so the BM has paid for itself and the bread is just so yummy.

jcr16

i have 2 bread makers they get loads of use but i very rarely make a loaf of bread. in fact i can't remember last time i did.

Mine gets used for making pizza dough bases, garlic bread bases, Dough for D&DD famous apple braids and savory braids, also dough for iced fingers, Bread roll's.

Although i've not tried it yet my bread maker makes jam and cakes. so when your thinking of a getting a bread maker i would say don't just thnk about bread, think of what else u can make. your soon fall in love with it.

Churchmouse

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

I make hand-made bread because I love to cook If you have time to make bread, kneading bread dough by hand is very relaxing. Having said that, bread takes a long time to make well, but as most of that is allowing the dough to rise, the amount of time you spend actively doing anything is small IYSWIM

Take a look at some of my creations in this thread - you can't do them in a BM

I work part-time so find a BM is great to make fresh loaves for sandwiches and toast during the week, when I don't have time to make fresh bread by hand. thriftlady and I agree to differ on this I'd rather have fresh bread from a BM, than defrosted bread I made earlier in the week.

Penny. x

:T :T :T I'm so pleased to find someone who agrees with me:D Hate, hate, hate previously frozen bread. Love freshly baked, whether BM or by hand. But BM is more moneysaving when you are only baking one loaf;)

And I have a Panny SD 254 bought for £39.99 on offer from Amazon just before last Christmas (2007). It doesn't owe me a penny!!!!!

Churchmouse

RHYSDAD wrote: »

Hand made all the way. An infintely better loaf than a machines effort. IMO of course......

Aaah, but unless you have personally tested all the most popular makes........

then we are talking theoretically:D I have a friend who despises BMs. She has eaten bread from my BM which she thought was handmade (:whistle: :whistle: ) and declared it far superior to any shop-bought rubbish or BM muck:rotfl: :rotfl:

Sam37

As an Old-style and BM newbie I can't tell you how things will look in the long term.

but..

I am very impressed with my cheapo BM from Lidl, and I can't see the point of ever buying a loaf again. Being in control of the ingredients and freshness is more important to me than the moneysaving (if I can say that here...).

As a busy, more than full time working person there is no way I would make my own bread regularly without a BM. And it does add to feeling cosy at home when I can be home. Win win win situation I think!

MrsMW

I'm on my third BM, but I don't use it all the time now because we often get reduced bread at the local Co-op. I know it's not as nice but it's so cheap. Last week I got large sliced loaf for 20p which lasted nearly a week used for toast.
I use flour from the local mill which is quite expensive but so good and I just make dough in the machine and then bake in the oven.. I also make teacakes every week.
When DH was working he used to get orders for me for and I would churn out 4 or 5 loaves a day and charge double the ingredients cost. I made about £15 a week which paid for my Panny.

nibs

hi, i bought a bm about ten years ago and tho it was ok i was never that impressed with it but reading this im starting to fancy home made bread again!
Have they improved much over the years as maybe i need to try a newer model.I know that there is much more choice of ingredients in the supermarkets now. I take it the panasonic models are very gd.

Churchmouse

nibs, when I first tasted BM bread baked by a friend (probably about 10 years or so ago) I didn't like it, finding it a bit "cakey". Now whether that was down to the recipe she used or the model of BM, I have no idea All I can say is I got "caught up" with the enthusiasm for the Panny on another thread, bought one, and have never regretted it:D

kal25

Hi , I have a morphy richards breadmaker that I have had for about 5yrs. Used it quite a bit when first had it and although it sits on my side, only use it on occasions.
However, last week we were on a real tight budget and I had got all my breadmaking stuff in the cupboard. I made a loaf everyday:T and working out that we normally use the majority or all of a shop brought loaf in a day.....we saved £1.60 x 7=£11.20....:eek: Can not believe we spend so much just on bread but that is if I use the shop down the road rather than in town. So for the cost of flour, milk powder, sugar, butter and yeast I think it works out pretty cheap especially as yeast and milk powder last ages, sugar and butter always in anyway and flour costs about 70p (and makes about 3/4 loaves).:A
Now if I could just work out how to cut down the milk we r using:A
Kal25

FairyElephant_2

Miss_Scarlett wrote: »

Frugal, inspired by this board I went out today and bought a bread maker. I got a panasonic one. I'm so delighted I can't even tell you, my first loaf had come out perfectly and it was delicious. I cooked it on fast bake because I was too impatient to wait 4 hours for the first one, it was really lovely. My DH said he never wants to eat shop bread again, how's that for a thumbs up!

Hiya,

We actually find that we prefer the texture of the fastbake white loaf to the 4 hour one!

DH was not at all convinced about BM's, and also didn't like my HM bread either - he loves the bakery bread from our local ASDA (which I have to agree is pretty good).
He finally gave in to my pleading and bought me the Panny 255 for Christmas, and I have converted him! The fastbake white loaf is just like the ADSA one he likes, and I've made several different loaves which have all come out perfect - made Fruit Malt loaf at the weekend which went down a treat!

Only one has come out a bit wierd, and I was wanting to ask advice? - Made a wholemeal on 'wholemeal fast bake' 3 hours yesterday - used the yeast I have been using all along, and Doves Organic wholemeal flour which everyone seems to rave about...it rose very unevenly - one side was perfect but the other didn't rise as well and was solid at the bottom like it hasn't mixed properly - anyone else had a similar problem?

Also, where do you get the cheapest bread flour? Been using Lidl's but it seems to have just jumped in price....

Happy baking!

FE