Breadmaker Advice?

papoosue

Hi there everyone. Since the price of bought bread is so ridiculous, I am thinking about making my own on a regular basis. What I was wondering is - is it cost effective to buy a breadmaking machine or to bake in the oven - or would it just end up costing as much as buying bread? Does anyone have any idea?

juliapenguin

Hi

I know lots of people have success with their Morphy Richards Fastbake, but I don't recommend it - the texture of the bread just isn't as good as from the Panasonic (not sure which model - it's my friend's). I've tried absolutely everything to overcome the sort of doughiness - it's nice when it's absolutely fresh but by the time it's cold I don't like it. My friend paid more for her Panasonic and her bread is fantastic - the only problem is eating too much of it, it's so delicious, with a beautiful light texture.

Hope that helps - although I'm sure other people will have different experiences.

Julia

juliapenguin

Sorry - forgot to comment on cost effectiveness - as long as you use the thing, it's much cheaper than buying good quality bread in the shops...although if it's really good you'll eat loads more and need bigger knickers and everything else.

dont_want_to_be_in_debt

We bought a panasonic bread maker. It works out at 35p per loaf and the bread is great. We also make pizza dough and bun dough. The breadmaker has already paid for itself in just a month and we have never had a single bad loaf - the most important thing is to make sure you measure accuratly and remember to turn it on ( I forgot this morning)
good luck:rotfl:

ravylesley

I wouldnt be without my bread machine but it seems a lot of people dont like the texture or taste of homemade bread.So I would recommend that you find a friend/relative that has a bread maker and ask to try the bread before purchasing one and potentially wasting your money.

As for cost effectiveness there are six of us in our household and I bake bread every day and it costs me about £2 per week for ingredients so I'd call that cost effective

Lesleyxx

angie_loves_veg

papoosue wrote: »

Hi there everyone. Since the price of bought bread is so ridiculous, I am thinking about making my own on a regular basis. What I was wondering is - is it cost effective to buy a breadmaking machine or to bake in the oven - or would it just end up costing as much as buying bread? Does anyone have any idea?

I wonder how much bread you / your family eat?

If you bought the panasonic (marvellous thing - this is what I own and would hugely recommend IF you can afford the investment), it would cost you about £100 (although I have heard they are selling the previous make for less - worth checking out)...

....so for the first 100 loaves, you would be paying 35p per loaf ingredients plus £1 per loaf machine cost. (£1.35 per loaf - I wonder how this compares with the bread you choose to buy?)

.... from then onwards, you would have paid off your machine, and would be making bread at cost of ingredients only - about 35p :cool:

If you ever buy 'other bread products' you will find that it recoups its cost even faster..... I also use it for... pizza bases, garlic bread, bread rolls (for lunchboxes), occasional cakes, foccacia dough, pide dough, pitta bread dough, raison / fruit bread, french sticks etc etc...

Hope that helps....

papoosue

Thanks for all your replies everyone - very helpful! I'm still thinking about a breadmaker, I'm so fed up buying that horrible bread at the supermarket and paying a fortune for it.

The only thing that concerns me is how much electricity a breadmaker would use? I imagine I would use it every other day, perhaps more at weekends etc. I just worry that my electric bill would go up even further.:question: :think:

papoosue

Thanks to everyone for your replies, they are really helpful. (I did post a reply already but I somehow managed to get it in the wrong place - sorry). I'm still thinking about the breadmaker but I think I will hang on and maybe get one in a sale if I'm lucky. The only thing I'm unsure about is how much electricity breadmakers use? I'm just concerned that my bill will jump up ifI was making bread every day/every other day. Thanks again. :-)

kippers

I've haven't even noticed an increase in my electric bill since i started using a breadmaker 7 years ago.

I make 12 good sized cobs every time i use it and i when i worked it out about 7 years ago they came to a total of between 35-40p (but i use cheapest ingredients.

They are lovely to eat, freeze well and i know what i am feeding my family!

lfabargain

papoosue wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for your replies, they are really helpful. (I did post a reply already but I somehow managed to get it in the wrong place - sorry). I'm still thinking about the breadmaker but I think I will hang on and maybe get one in a sale if I'm lucky. The only thing I'm unsure about is how much electricity breadmakers use? I'm just concerned that my bill will jump up ifI was making bread every day/every other day. Thanks again. :-)

From memory the panasonic one I have uses 500W. So having it on for 2hrs would be one unit of electricity (2 x 500 = 1kW) which for me in Northern Ireland works out at 11.11pence for electricity. So basically for the Panasonic SD254 it uses half a unit of electricity every 1 hour it is on. Hope this helps ?

chocolate.orange_2

I have just brought my Breville fan assisted bread master out of retirement
But the largest loaf it makes is 1lb

Think i will have to see how i go with it but might end up investing in a panasonic one. 100's of OS 'ers can't be wrong

I never noticed me using more electric when i used to use it daily. Everyone is right shop bought bread is a silly price now.