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Bought the Panasonic all-singing, all-dancing breadmaker last year. Have used it a fair bit, and I have to say, I am really disappointed with the bread. It lasts a day, after that it is really stale even though we store it properly. It's also a complete faff to cut, and I have to confess it is sitting in the corner of our kitchen unused and unloved. I am now back to shop-bought bread and don't think I'll be returning to the joys of using the breadmaker!

What recipe do you use?

It is a bit of trial & effect?

Don't want to sound too domestic goddessy but try making bread without a breadmaker. There are loads of great recipies and once you are used to the procedure you can make a number of loaves and freeze them. I make 4 (using a Kenwood) on a weekend which lasts most of the week. my Mum with 5 kids to feed used to make about 8 at a time in an old enamel washing bowl and had the most toned arms you'ver ever seen.

I've yet to try a bread maker loaf as good as my mums bread.....

Cutting:
Mine is made for getting up time and I cut into it in the evening for next day's sandwiches. Gives it a chcnce to settle down as totally fresh bread is impossible to cut.
I have a dedicated serrated breadknife which is WELL sharp and cuts good neat slices.

Staleness:
Goes in plastic bag in fridge when cut and stays fresh.
I put a splash of olive oil inthe recipe.
If It is not goingto get used in 2 days, I put the bit which will be spare in the freezer, and it comes oput nice & fresh.

Shop bought bread:
I don't think much of the ingredients
. I use flour salt oil water yeast a little sugar.
Hovis best of both for instance has Wheat Flour, Water, Wheatgerm (5%), Yeast, Wheat Fibre, Salt, Vinegar, Soya Flour, Wheat Protein, Fermented Wheat Flour, Vegetable Fibre, Emulsifiers: E481, E472(e), Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid

Not bad, but not particularly good IYSWIM

Make your own:
Just not practical for me, and I do have better things to do. PAnasonic does a good enough job for sandwiches.

Surely you need to do what suits you, is n't that it? If you really want to use the PAnasonic, sounds like you need to tweak the recip and make friends with it again - work out how to get it doing what you need.

What flour our you using?

I have a panasonic and the bread that is made ikeep in a henry watson crock,

i only make the small loaf but it lasts two days for sanwhiches and three four for toast

i prefer olive oil to butter as well, funnily enough.

sounds like you might have a shite breadknife, but also it's sometimes best, i find, to cut from the sharper corner at the bottom rather than along the softer top.
i like the seeded recipes and the french rustic, although i did make some lovely rye bread recently.

it's a bit silly to expect bread to last without heaps of bogging preservatives in it, imo, that's precisely why you're making your own. we only ever make small loaves, but fairly often. if the bread starts to go stale (although sealed in a plastic bag it's fine for a couple of days) then it's sliced and stuck in the freezer for toast.

the reason it goes stale quickly is because it isn't full of e numbers!
make smaller loaves if you can't use them up in a day.

Re:cutting - try getting an electric carving knife -the cheap one from Argos is perfect for the job. I can almost cut a straight slice with it!

I'm not sure what the Aitch household is like, but at Catinthehat Towers we also have a nominated bread slicer who cuts all bread on all occasions, mainly because other people BOTCH it .

I inherited the title from my father who also can't stand it when people cut bread WRONGLY.

"almost cut a straight slice"

Almost!!

Flippin' heck, you would be on the naughty step here.

Oh yes.

you should have seen the wedges slices I cut when we first got a breadmaker.

1 year on and you can almost make an edible sandwich with them

You have to think of it as a light sabre to get an accurate cut on both sides (ie the side you can and the side you can't see).
I usually imagine myself to be Luke Skywalker when faced with a particularly large and wobbly loaf.
I've no doubt everyone else visualises Darth Vader <self aware>.

()

We've got one of those slice guide thingies. Lakeland do one called EvenSlice. 18.99. Bloody expensive, I got ours from a charity shop!

I must admit, even using one of those, if the bread is too fresh, we sometimes have problems cutting it. We mostly cut it upside down.

Re: freshness. Ditto what everyone said about E numbers. We get through loads of bread for toast and packed lunches each day, so tend to make a fresh one for morning every day or every other day. Stays fresh enough.

You must cut the bread, not try to push it apart

I can still hear my father telling me this

i can cut a straight sclice of bread and if you cant do what the other posters says get an electric knife

I am appallingly bad at slicing a loaf - I can demolish a whole one in half a day because I make absolute doorsteps. I put it down to not being able to wait long enough - if there's ever any left of an evening I find I can make a decent stab at a normal-sized slice because it's much easier to slice.

Laughing at CatintheHat's light sabre - I had actually suspected that there might be some zen-like approach - I have tried channelling my partner's father who was always in charge of slicing their Asda loaves at home - he does this wierd clutching it and slicing round it - I think it might be a Welsh thing

And hello Aitch, do you do a straight swap with the olive oil ie. 15ml of oil instead of 15g butter? Haven't tried using oil (except when we made an awful ciabatta in it but then I learned not to try!) I must say, I bought some flour from Waitrose the other day and noticed an improvement - been using Allinsons previously I think.

I got a good Kitchen Devil breadknife from Asda that revolutionised our morning sandwiches. I make the smallest Panasonic loaf (which is called Medium in a starbucks like way) so it doesn't need to last more than 1.5 days, and keep in a plastic bag. It is good for toast on the 2nd day.

I believe a couple of teaspoons dried milk powder might improve the keeping qualities of bread, my previous BM had this in the recipe.

Got to remember you are comparing to shop bought, preservative stuffed bread. Sulphur dioxide, calcium propionate, anyone? Bread is meant to go stale, haven't you ever been to France and tried to eat a day old baguette ?

I use an electric carving knife - there is a designated bread cutter here too

& I use olive oil

Always use olive oil here.

Blithedance - I've never worked out what the milk powder was supposed to do so I don't use it. I think it's the fat element - butter or olive oil - which improves the keepimg qualities.

I just use flour, water, sugar, salt, yeast and soemtimes put olive oil in as it gives a crispy crust.

Well said blithedance.

I would stop trying to compare breadmaker bread with shop bought bread. They are, imo, totally different things.

One is nice and natural with not many ingredients, the other is all puffed up, filled with things to keep it 'fresh' for longer etc etc.

I make a loaf a few times a week. I only have the top crust the same day its made. I wrap it in a tea towell and put it outside (if not raining!!) to go cold quickly, the leave it in the teatowell till the next day when I slice it to make sandwiches. The next day it makes the most delicious toast.

I use oil not butter, and I mix up the water/milk and sugar with the type of yeast that needs to be reactivated in water, leave till the yeast froths then add the other ingredients. Smells and tastes much better than the 'instant' yeast - my bread also rises much better.

Also don't forget that shop bought bread is mostly made from imported canadian wheat that has been bred and bred over the years to have a very high gluten level. Gluten is what makes the bread stretchy and rise, and the higher the gluted content the less flour needed for a loaf.. so the more profit for the bread companies.

However the very high gluten content is what makes people say they are 'allergic to wheat' as many stomachs can't digest it. I had this problem. Switched to home made bread and can scoff as much of the stuff as I like with no bad effect on my tum.

Electric knife and Allinsons flour here. And a loaf of bread never lasts more than about 4 hours so I have no idea how quickly it goes stale.

The key is to have a good serrated edge breadknife otherwise you just squash the bread. I have used my Panasonic daily for 18 months and not bought shop loaves since. I use the 2 hour setting and have all my ingredients together in a plastic box which means they can be combined in minutes.

All I'm saying: Lidl's bread mix. Tis fab, not many ingredients.
I heart my breadmaker .

Oh, and good serrated bread knife here.

dh is a leftie, i got him a bread knife and it transformed him. i'm the designated cutter though, really.
yip, 15ml for 15g, more or less. i use double the oil for the pizza dough recipe, just the cheapo stuff from lidl. likewise the flour, that's interesting that the waitrose stuff made a difference. (mind you i think it's 20p more a bag).