I am in love with my Panasonic breadmaker

Ellidee

I got the £40 one from Amazon before Xmas too. Have enjoyed all the loaves so far but last time tried 2 teaspoons of salt instead of the 1 +1/2 they recommend and I thought it tasted better for it. HTH

JoeyEmma

What toaster do people use for their Panny?

We have a rubbish toaster- its not tall enough for xl slices to fit in. It also spends ages heating up and so dries the bread out before it toasts it, if you get what I mean.

I'd like to buy a new toaster, but when I look for reviews they either all vote for the Dualit toaster or are mainly full of 2 slice toasters (eg Which review and Good Housekeeping).

I'd like a cheapish toaster that takes 4 slices (ideally in 2 rows of 2 so it can fit the bigger slices from the XL loaf) and that toasts quickly.

Any recs from my Panny loving chums?

Jammygal

Geenius wrote: »

Hi guys,
Apologies for my first post being a request for assistance, but having taken up the PS254 for £40 before Xmas, we've not been getting the results we expected.

We've only just got around to making our 3rd loaf in the machine today, and all three haven't had that fresh bakery type smell or taste. They look fine. They feel fine. They smell and taste... bland. We've tried the White and the Wholemeal on fast bake, and just now the Wholemeal on full time of 5 hours or so. No difference at all. We've even used Allinson's best quality bread flour this time.

We're using the recipes from the instructions booklet. Are you guys using different recipes? Is it just our bread machine is faulty? Are our noses not working properly? When you all comment on the 'fantastic smell' of the bread, is it just like walking past a bakery in the good old days? How many more questions can I fit into one paragraph? Sorry!

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

G

Perhaps you should try using some different flour........I recently changed flour and my loaves were not as good...........so I have now switched back to my original choice.

Secondly you have not mentioned the yeast you are using......is it in date????? Has it been kept airtight?? Check as I used some old stuff the other day and the loaf was stodgy and only fit for the birds.
I find the panny recipe book a godsend and would not question the recipes....check the troubleshooting guide in the back and see if you can identify the problem..........
I would also get to grips with the white loaf first and then start experimenting........Good luck;) and keep persevering it will be worth it:D

Skyegirl

Geenius wrote: »

Hi guys,
Apologies for my first post being a request for assistance, but having taken up the PS254 for £40 before Xmas, we've not been getting the results we expected.

We've only just got around to making our 3rd loaf in the machine today, and all three haven't had that fresh bakery type smell or taste. They look fine. They feel fine. They smell and taste... bland. We've tried the White and the Wholemeal on fast bake, and just now the Wholemeal on full time of 5 hours or so. No difference at all. We've even used Allinson's best quality bread flour this time.

We're using the recipes from the instructions booklet. Are you guys using different recipes? Is it just our bread machine is faulty? Are our noses not working properly? When you all comment on the 'fantastic smell' of the bread, is it just like walking past a bakery in the good old days? How many more questions can I fit into one paragraph? Sorry!

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

G

Thats strange, mine smells lovely but only in the last 30 mins of baking really and the taste is gorgeous too. I don't tend to use the fastbake setting though, I used it once and the results weren't as impressive as the 4 hour bake. You say your using good flour, so thats a start, what about yeast? is it in date? If you think its bland, it could just be that your pallette needs time to adjust, my kids werent that keen on the HM bread at first, but have now got used to not tasting the chemically taste of an ordinary sliced loaf from the shop. You could maybe try increasing the salt by 1/2 tsp see if that makes any difference?

Bear with it, you will get the results you want, have you tried different types of bread? The French rustic is lovely.

Good luck and don't give up;)

jaybee

JoeyEmma wrote: »

What toaster do people use for their Panny?

We have a rubbish toaster- its not tall enough for xl slices to fit in. It also spends ages heating up and so dries the bread out before it toasts it, if you get what I mean.

I'd like to buy a new toaster, but when I look for reviews they either all vote for the Dualit toaster or are mainly full of 2 slice toasters (eg Which review and Good Housekeeping).

I'd like a cheapish toaster that takes 4 slices (ideally in 2 rows of 2 so it can fit the bigger slices from the XL loaf) and that toasts quickly.

Any recs from my Panny loving chums?

I admit to having a not very MSE Dualit toaster. It was my 'gift' to me when I retired after years of deliberating. I don't regret it for one moment - it makes great toast (!!!!). Not only that - it will last for ever. I got soooo fed up with having to replace toasters every few years for whatever reason.

JoeyEmma

We have a Dualit toaster at work. Maybe I'll take a very large handbag to work one day!

Glastowinebar- Yes, its still the best. Salt does add to the flavour. You only need 1 tsp per loaf, which is far less than you will find in a shop bought loaf.

shopndrop

Geenius wrote: »

Hi guys,
Apologies for my first post being a request for assistance, but having taken up the PS254 for £40 before Xmas, we've not been getting the results we expected.

We've only just got around to making our 3rd loaf in the machine today, and all three haven't had that fresh bakery type smell or taste. They look fine. They feel fine. They smell and taste... bland. We've tried the White and the Wholemeal on fast bake, and just now the Wholemeal on full time of 5 hours or so. No difference at all. We've even used Allinson's best quality bread flour this time.

We're using the recipes from the instructions booklet. Are you guys using different recipes? Is it just our bread machine is faulty? Are our noses not working properly? When you all comment on the 'fantastic smell' of the bread, is it just like walking past a bakery in the good old days? How many more questions can I fit into one paragraph? Sorry!

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

G

I haven't had a shop bought loaf since I got my Panny before Christmas. I use Sainsburys own white or brown strong flour and use the Sainsbury's own sachets of yeast. Every loaf has been delicious. The first one I made was the fast bake one, tried both brown and white, but much prefer the sandwich bake which takes 5 hours or even the French bread which tastes 6 hours but delicious. I have tried various other makes of flour but still keep going back to the Sainsbury's one.

Geenius

Skyegirl wrote: »

Thats strange, mine smells lovely but only in the last 30 mins of baking really and the taste is gorgeous too. I don't tend to use the fastbake setting though, I used it once and the results weren't as impressive as the 4 hour bake. You say your using good flour, so thats a start, what about yeast? is it in date? If you think its bland, it could just be that your pallette needs time to adjust, my kids werent that keen on the HM bread at first, but have now got used to not tasting the chemically taste of an ordinary sliced loaf from the shop. You could maybe try increasing the salt by 1/2 tsp see if that makes any difference?

Bear with it, you will get the results you want, have you tried different types of bread? The French rustic is lovely.

Good luck and don't give up;)

Thanks for the info.

This is the second type of flour we've used (previously Harvest Gold), and this time is also some fresh yeast (use by 09/2010 I think, certainly a long date). We've used a bit extra salt and less sugar in this one, as the first was too sweet and lacked flavour. It's not just my taste and smell that haven't yet adjusted, as walking past bakers shops are so much more inviting than walking past this machine. I realise it only bakes the bread during the last 30 minutes but even then it's just nothing. I might try one in the oven and see how that smells - the recipes are slightly different, but at least I can tell if it's me or the breadmaker.

Cheers guys - more testing to be done (and i promise I'll try the French rustic soon)

edit:

I use Sainsburys own white or brown strong flour and use the Sainsbury's own sachets of yeast. Every loaf has been delicious.

Thanks. I'll be passing a Sainbury's tomorrow, so will try that out

Geenius

Thanks shopndrop,
I bought Sainbury's own bread flour and yeast and made a plain white loaf today and it's easily the best so far. Not 100% what i wanted before I bought the machine, but much much better, and a great starting block for me now to advance to other flavours. I used a little less yeast, extra salt and less sugar in this one (trying to adapt for suggestions received).

Once again, many thanks:beer:

Jammygal

Geenius wrote: »

Thanks shopndrop,
I bought Sainbury's own bread flour and yeast and made a plain white loaf today and it's easily the best so far. Not 100% what i wanted before I bought the machine, but much much better, and a great starting block for me now to advance to other flavours. I used a little less yeast, extra salt and less sugar in this one (trying to adapt for suggestions received).

Once again, many thanks:beer:

That's great news...:beer: .....When you progress to wholemeal I would advise trying the smaller ratio's of white to wholemeal at first as in my experience the size does drop the more wholemeal you add. I found this week I had disappointing loaves with Waitrose Canadian bread flour and went back to my cheap Lidl flour and got good results again:rolleyes: