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

Curry_Queen

I'm another Panasonic convert and I'd never go back to using my old one now!

It is expensive compared to other machines around but IMO the extra money spent is justified by the sheer quality of the bread it turns out, and is well worth the investment if you're going to use it regularly. I would go as far to say that if for some reason you didn't like it (can't for one moment imagine that though) and wanted to sell it you would recoup most, if not all, your money on Ebay they are so popular.

If however, you only want to make the occasional loaf then by all means go for a cheaper model, or even buy a cheap 2nd hand one off Ebay, which is what I did, and see how you get on with it

elona

I just got the Morphy Richards fastbake for £39.99 with free postage from Amazon and am delighted with it - daughters rave over my home made pizza and hubbie drools over home made bread - I have not tried the settings for jam or cake yet!:j

Magentasue

Curry_Queen wrote:

I'm another Panasonic convert and I'd never go back to using my old one now!

It is expensive compared to other machines around but IMO the extra money spent is justified by the sheer quality of the bread it turns out, and is well worth the investment if you're going to use it regularly. I would go as far to say that if for some reason you didn't like it (can't for one moment imagine that though) and wanted to sell it you would recoup most, if not all, your money on Ebay they are so popular.

If however, you only want to make the occasional loaf then by all means go for a cheaper model, or even buy a cheap 2nd hand one off Ebay, which is what I did, and see how you get on with it

I would agree with all of this. I had a machine from Asda that made fairly ood bread. So long as it was wholemeal or granary, I could never make a good white loaf. Anyway, somehow the lid got damaged and had to be weighted down. It still worked OK although sometimes the top came out wrinkly. But even when it was brand new, the bread was never better than fairly good.

The Panasonic has produced perfect loaves every time. It takes an hour longer (4 hours instead of 3) for a basic loaf but it makes a better loaf. The dough hook certainly moves faster and it's very quiet but otherwise it's hard to see why there's such a difference in loaf quality.

Since I got it, I haven't bought a loaf. Even the white loaves are as good as Asda's and I've got into the habit of putting it on timer at night so we have bread ready when we get up.

Maybe the Morphy Richard is as good?

Loadsabob

Hello,

I've been happy with the Morphy Richards Fastbake. I did a lot of research at the time, and it seemed well rated. I was also impressed by a longer guarantee than most others I looked at.

One problem I had, after about a year, the tin just seized up. The paddle wouldn't go round at all, though the motor was working. Very odd, it wasn't wet or anything, didn't seem just stiff, but absolutely would not turn round. Anyway, I didn't think much of it, and decided to make bread by hand instead...then I stopped making bread so often, because of the time involved.

SO, I bought a replacement pan (having let myself go outside the guarantee), for something like £8 delivered, and am fine again.

I make bread every week. When I make wholemeal, I just use the machine for the dough, then knock it back, fold it into a conventional tin, let it rise and bake it in the oven. I do this because my wholewheat loaves in the machine were always too dense and quite flat, but I bought a book which says that's because breadmaker tins are often too wide to make a good wholewheat loaf (they should be under 5 inches wide, I think it was). The white bread is fine. I've not used it for cakes and jam - I prefer to do those the conventional way.

I have read that with regular use, any machine will exhaust itself within a few years, so I figured getting a very reasonably priced one was probably better, and when its life is over, those which are currently more expensive will have come down in price, and so on...

Happy breadmaking when you get yours!

Anna

squeaky

You'll have noticed from the new title that I have merged today's thread on Breadmaker Advice with an older one on the same subject.

I hope I haven't confused you all, and that you find the extra posts useful

rchddap1

elona wrote:

I have not tried the settings for jam or cake yet!:j

I have tried the cake settings once. My partner was obsessed with trying out a cake recipe in it when we got the breadmaker. So he bought a madeira packet mix for breadmakers. And it turned out rather nice.