I am in love with my Panasonic breadmaker

Jo_anne_2

shopndrop wrote: »

How much honey do you use?

I used 2 tspns, but you might get away with less

aytch

Can I ask does anyone use normal flour, rather than bread flour, and with what kind of results?

:beer:

debbiedebt

:j :j
Just to let you all know that I have made 2 perfect loaves with my new panny since I bought it on Friday.

saturday morning we woke up with the smell of baking bread and I couldn't wait to get up to peep and see what was happening.

We scoffed that first loaf while it was still warm - each slice was about an inch thick!!!!!!!!!

Must not keep doing that or will get even fatter!!

I am reading this thread for ideas but I made my bread with Tesco flour, hovis yeast and used oil instead of butter.

I am going to try half and half today.

I am soooooooo happy

Farway

debbiedebt wrote: »

:j :j
Just to let you all know that I have made 2 perfect loaves with my new panny since I bought it on Friday.

We scoffed that first loaf while it was still warm - each slice was about an inch thick!!!!!!!!!

Must not keep doing that or will get even fatter!!

I am going to try half and half today.

I am soooooooo happy

50/50 is delicious, looks like an inch thick slices afternoon coming along :rotfl:

Jo_anne_2

aytch wrote: »

Can I ask does anyone use normal flour, rather than bread flour, and with what kind of results?

:beer:

Only for pizza bases, when I use plain flour or 50/50 plain flour and bread flour. For making loaves you need proper bread flour as it has more gluten in, which as I understand it, the bread needs to rise properly.

Sola

I'm about to order the SD254; had a Hinari years ago which wasn't very good. Wonder if anyone could answer my questions please before I take the plunge?

EDIT: I've gone ahead and ordered it from Amazon, but would still appreciate any answers - thanks.

1. Should I get ordinary dried yeast or fast action yeast? Can I use fresh yeast in it? Which have people found the best?

2. Am I right in thinking loaves baked to finish in the BM will be rounder, taller and shorter than shop-bought loaves? Do I have the option of taking the dough out and finishing in the oven in a loaf tin?

3. Can homemade loaves be sliced and then frozen okay? We don't eat a huge amount of bread, so DH needs easy access to sliced bread in the morning for work sandwiches.

4. Does it come with a recipe book?

5. What is the best white and wholemeal flour that people have found?

Jo_anne_2

hawkwind wrote: »

One other thing, how long does it take for the beep to add the raison/fruit from starting the baking process.
Thanks.

I have just discovered how to find out how long it is until the raisin beep goes off on the SD 254, apologies if this has been posted before. If you press the Timer button after you've pressed Start then the time until the additional ingredients need to be added is displayed. I wish I'd found this before as I keep missing the raisin beep

Farway

Sola wrote: »

I'm about to order the SD254; had a Hinari years ago which wasn't very good. Wonder if anyone could answer my questions please before I take the plunge?

EDIT: I've gone ahead and ordered it from Amazon, but would still appreciate any answers - thanks.

1. Should I get ordinary dried yeast or fast action yeast? Can I use fresh yeast in it? Which have people found the best?

2. Am I right in thinking loaves baked to finish in the BM will be rounder, taller and shorter than shop-bought loaves? Do I have the option of taking the dough out and finishing in the oven in a loaf tin?

3. Can homemade loaves be sliced and then frozen okay? We don't eat a huge amount of bread, so DH needs easy access to sliced bread in the morning for work sandwiches.

4. Does it come with a recipe book?

5. What is the best white and wholemeal flour that people have found?

1 I use fast action and have used fresh, but fesh needs to be creamed with warm water first to get it going

2 Yes loaves will be taller & shorter, but as many have done you can set it to "dough" and then finish off in oven

3 Yes

4 Yes

5 Flour is personal choice, I find Lidl white is good, other,s swear by Doves. I go with what is readily available to me without faffing around, and Hovis wholemeal, which sometimes come on special offer in Morrison's where you get free pack of Hovis yeast as well. Currently Asda have Hovis bread mixes 2 for £1 if you want to try them out

nell2

I would definitely vote for Dove's flour. I use their yeast as well in the orange packet. You can get it in Tesco or Lakeland. It lasts for absolutely ages in the fridge.
On the freezing bread thing, I slice it before I freeze it and then you can just get a couple of slices out rather than a whole loaf.
HTH.

Ishtar

Another vote for Doves flour, both white and wholemeal (which is on offer at 60p in our local Tesco at the moment).

On the rapid programme I tend to use Doves easyblend quick yeast, but when I do the full 4 hour programme I use Allinsons standard dried yeast, which seems to work very well and gives a slightly yeasty flavour. I don't pre-mix with water, just add it as you would the easyblend yeast - I find a teaspoon is enough, but haven't experimented with reducing/increasing this.

D.