Breadmaker with folding paddle-any good?

cattom

Hi. I have a breadmaker here which I use regularly and its fine, makes good bread. but it leaves a 1 1/2'' hole in the bottom of the loaf where the paddle goes. so I'm thinking of getting one with a folding paddle. 
does anyone here have one of those, and is it worth the extra money? thanks in advance.

ka7e

I had one years ago and I'm not sure what the mechanism was that made it fold down, but it was only successful 50% of the time. When it worked, it still left quite a big imprint in the bottom of the loaf. It was a bit of a bind, but I worked out exactly when the 2nd knead finished and then I manually removed the paddle. The result was just a small hole where the spindle was.

During lockdown I started making bread the old-fashioned way and apart from the 10 min knead it's not as difficult as I imagined.

cattom

erm ok thanks for that. you have now opened up another thing for me to look at, thats what I like about these forums. thanks.

goldfinches

If you're not keen on the kneading and rising aspect of bread making you could try soda bread as an alternative. I made this loaf not long ago Quick Carrot And Walnut Bread Recipe - olivemagazine and found it a very easy recipe and the results were delicious especially when toasted. 

maisie_cat

I have one with a folding paddle and it works most of the time.
I bought an extra paddle with the machine and a couple of weeks ago the original broke.
If I hadn't done that I'd be stuffed as Sage never seem to have spares for their products.
We do use the machine for dough and finish in the oven as well, so no paddle dent.

GDB2222

I haven’t used one with a folding paddle, but comments elsewhere have made the point that you still end up with an indent in the loaf. It’s just wider, but shallower.