Bread Maker Recommendations (merged with "Thoughts on...")

rchddap1

I've been looking at getting a breadmaker recently and I'm very tempted to pick one up this weekend, or at least buy one over the net. I've come across a Morphy Richards 48280, which seems to have some good reviews, but I wanted to know what you lot thought:-

• Bakes a 1lb, 1½lb and 2lb loaves.
• Choice of 12 settings including jam and cake settings.
• Light, medium and dark crust setting.
• Fastbake setting bakes a 2lb loaf in under 1 hour.
• Programmable timer for overnight baking.
• Cool wall.

Its priced at £39.99 at Argos. I don't intend to use the fastbake, but the important bits for me are the max of 2lb loaf, the settings...including jam which I may try, and the timer. One problem is that it doesn't have a facility to add nuts or saltanas part way through the programme, but I assume I can just add those at the start.

Thoughts, help, advice.....

Debt_Free_Chick

I've got an older model and it's served me well for over 2 years now. Mine is nothing fancy but does all I need, which is wide range of doughs & breads.

re adding nuts - I think you'll find there's a buzzer/bleep about 30 mins into the programme to tell you to "add the nuts now!"

rchddap1

I guess I'll just have to be careful with which nuts I add...:D There's also a comment about loaves and my OH, but I won't go there...for now at least.

Thanks for the reassurance.

sleepy

I've got that one and I love it. I've never even tried the fastbake setting as reviews indicate that it gives awful bread, as bread really needs more than 1hr to rise. I've only had mine 2 months but I've got so much use out of it. I would highly recomend it.

MATH

Many Ol'Stylers rave about their bread makers. I've got one n the garage gathering a nice layer of dust. We get through so much bread that measuring and fillinf the thing would be like having a second job - so I don't use it.
I can buy cheapo bread for toasting at Tesco for 19p and nice fresh farmhouse bread from my local baker for 50p a loaf so for me a bread maker is an expensive, time waster.:o

Lucie_2

I am the complete opposite to MATH - we eat so little bread that a breadmaker is a waste of time.
I buy rolls/baguettes etc as I need them & keep a cheapy loaf in the freezer so that I can take out one or two slices if I need them for toast.

rchddap1

Now I'm getting all confused. Mind you, better to be certain that it would be used, than to spend the cash for it to sit in a cupboard. I think I will have to consider this one a little bit more.

millie

we dont use our either my other half eats white bread and I only eat wholemeal, and as the bread only seems to stay fresh for a day or so its a waste of time even the smallest loaf is too big.

Pooky

I don't have that particular make - just a cheapy hinari one that I got about 4 years ago...I think I only payed about £24.99 for it but it's been a godsend. I have carpol tunnel syndrome in both wrists and doing any kind of kneading and mixing by hand is absolute tortue - I just don't have enough power in them.

I'd say that I use it more often for making dough than loaves, I normally make 2 or 3 batches a week for pizzas, rolls, bread sticks, filled loaves and either bung it in the fridge till I need it or freeze it down in sections. That way I've always got a quick easy meal to hand, the dough for a pizza takes about 30 mins to defrost which is normally the time it takes me to heat the oven and slice all the toppings and set the table...handy if you're late home.

I'd not be without mine now - it's got it's own little worktop all to itself.

megasaver

Have a look at these questions rchddap1 and see if the answer is yes to any of them:

would you like to make your own pizza/pizza dough? - takes about 10 mins to prep machine and 10 mins to add the topping

would you like to make your own malt loaf? - takes about 10 mins max the whole thing

would you like to make your own nan bread ?- takes about 10 mins to prep machine and 5 mins to roll out dough for about 3

would you like to make breadsticks? - takes about 10 mins to prep machine and 10 mins to roll them out

I love my breadmaker. I use it every day, if not twice a day and am constantly looking for new recipes

What makes me laugh is everyone was conviced that my breadmaker would be resigned to the garage after a few weeks just like Maths. Well three years down the line I am on my second one (gave the first to my friend!)

What people forget is that most of the time you simply add the ingredients to your machine and off you go and do other things, even leave it overnight - you do not need to be there for the 3 or 4 hours it takes to make a loaf. It does it all for you and best of all NO mess.

By the way I hate weighing the flour for my dough/bread so I simply have several bags each with the right amount of flour already in them (eg 500g) so when I make my bread/dough all I have to worry about is getting the teaspoons of salt/sugar/yeast right and the correct amount of liquid. This last bit takes a couple of minutes to do! I even have my most popular recipe printed and stapled to the front of my bread recipe book in case of amnesia. This last tip saves me so much time as I am always in a hurry.

The other thing is you can make the bread and freeze it for when you need it!

My breadmakers have paid for themselves hundreds of times over in the last three years. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to eat value bread, why not have the best at a fraction of the cost in the shops?

Sorry to be soooo enthusiatic, but if you haven't given them a go you really don't know what you are missing. Maybe Math could sell you the one in the garage

rchddap1

I would like to try it. And I can see us doing our own pizzas, as we do like them. We actually only tend to eat fresh bread as and when we can get our hands on it. Actually have a loaf in the freezer at the moment. Don't touch the pre-packed value rubbish with a very large barge pole.

We do however eat soup at least once or twice a week and will always find some fresh bread rolls, or sliced bread to go with it. Again, once a week we will pig out on a fresh loaf, some cheese and some ham. Eat lots of toast.

I do like to cook when I can. My OH doesn't like me to cook, as I'm nice and generous and leave the washing up to him. Its bad I know, but he doesn't mind really.