Bread maker questions

[Turquoisesol]

Hi,
Following on from the programme on bbc about highly processed food. I have been thinking about buying a bread maker, so we can have bread with fresh ingredients.
I have a couple of questions if anyone would be so kind to answer.

1. Is the bread make just with flour water and yeast? Or is there likely to be added extra ingredients required?
2. Do I just pour Ingredients in and it does all the work? No kneeling required?
3. Any advice regarding which to buy? Are the £60 ones any good or will i need to invest more than that?

Tia

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My breadmaker specifies flour, water, yeast, butter (I use oil), salt and sugar.

The most important thing to remember is to put the ingredients into the tin in the right order. You will get an instruction book with your breadmaker which will tell you to do this. You then set the breadmaker, and approximately three hours later you will have a loaf of bread.

The breadmaker mixes and kneads, provides the right temperature for proving, then bakes the bread.

Thank you. That sounds great. And do you enjoy it? I think a lot of people with bread makers really use them a lot?

Exactly what @RampantIvy said. I don’t have any recommendations on models at that budget I’m afraid, as I received mine as a gift, but it is incredibly rewarding to have a fresh loaf made at home. I’d suggest getting one with a delayed timer option as you can put everything in before bed and set it so that you have a loaf to wake up to.

I am slightly worried that it would be so yummy we would all gain weight we would Eat so much 😀

I have a Panasonic which is a doddle to use. Comes with instructions and lots of recipes. For normal loaves you just chuck strong bread flour, salt, sugar, butter and water in the baking tin part (no mixing or anything), put yeast in the top dispenser, select the programme and press start. At the end of the programme (4-5 hours or so), it beeps and you tip the beautiful fresh loaf out of the tin
It has an easy timer system so you can set it the night before for the bread to be ready when you get up.
You can also just get it to make the dough for rolls, so you shape it how you like, put it somewhere warm for half an hour or so and then bake.
I love that I know exactly what's in my bread!

As @RampantIvy says above.

You can make different types of bread by adding other ingredients if you like, there will be recipes in the instruction book.

A £60 one should be fine to start with. Mine is a €50 from Lidl and it works perfectly.

I’ve got a Morphy Richards one which was £50 or £60 (the cheapish one from Argos) and it does a great job!

Thanks. I noticed Argos have for about£60 but John Lewis start at £140 and wasn’t sure if Argos would be fine for a starter

I use mine mainly on the dough setting as I like a proper loaf shape. The recipe in the instructions I use is the French loaf. The ingredients water, salt, bread flour and dried yeast. It cost me £50.

In the winter when the heating is on I prove it in the tin in the airing cupboard and in the summer prove it in the greenhouse

Getting excited !

Just be aware that homemade bread does not keep very well, by the second day ours is only good for toast really. Luckily, I have a hungry family that can polish off a loaf a day!

Yeah I am pretty sure we would do that too with two hungry boys here

I have a Panasonic - it's 14 years old and still going strong. Love it.
If any bread is still around after a day I slice and freeze it, makes fabulous toast.

I have a Panasonic, it's large to store, but makes great bread and dough (rolls & pizza bases).

I was sceptical about a bread maker but we got one and I love it. It comes with recipes, the white loaf is strong flour, sugar, salt, oil, yeast and water. We got one that had very good reviews, a Panasonic, which was £180. Panasonic are by far and away the best, even the cheaper ones. Ours has a yeast dispenser on top so you can put the ingredients in the main compartment in in any order and the yeast is dispensed at the right time. As a pp said it has a timer so we put it all in the night before and wake up to fresh bread in the morning! Delicious.
I’ve also made rolls (amazing) and croissants (wouldn’t bother again). The machine does all the kneading and then you shape the dough, prove, and bake in the oven.

Yeast, flour, sugar, salt, butter, water. In that order. (Depends on the breadmaker) Sometimes also seeds (sesame, sunflower, poppy, pumpkin, flax, caraway (for rye bread). Eggs and milk for some rich recipes. Pesto and pine nuts. Honey and sunflower seeds. It's very easy, I just follow the recipes in the instruction book, they're all nice. Put the stuff in the breadmaker pan, set the programme, and it does the work! Use it most days. Timing varies. Mine is 4 hours for a white loaf, 5 for wholemeal. There's a timer to bake overnight for fresh bread in the morning.

Main thing to bear in mind is that breadmaker bread doesn't keep like packet bread. It's stale in a couple of days.

I bought a brand new still in packaging second hand one from fb Market place for £10, I used it a bit at first but to be honest I only really use it for pizza dough and cinnamon buns now 😳

I never make a loaf in mine now as I was getting too fat! Instead I just use it to make the dough for things like pizzas and rolls. Today I made tortilla wrap dough - so good!

Hello, I had a Panasonic which broke quite quickly then one from a jumble sale which was fine for a bit, but when that broke I couldn’t bear to fork out any more money and my brood complained about the hole in the bottom, so I now make my own. I find it’s very easy - Chuck everything in a bowl, a quick stir, bash it about for 5 minutes and let it rise. There are recipes for no knead bread too. I mainly make pizza S which has save me a fortune compared to shop ones or takeaway. It’s like anything else , once you do it a few times it becomes second nature. Mind you a timer does sound nice...!

I have a Panasonic one , makes amazing bread

I bought a set of measuring spoons ( Tablespoon to 1/8th teaspoon) , I found the plastic one difficult to read .

The only disaster I;ve had was with a bag of Allinsons flour , it sat like a brick , pizza dough didn't work so I twigged it was the flour , went back to Sainsbury bread flour .

I've just put a 50:50 loaf on to cook after reading this thread .
5 hours cooking then cool down , perfect for breakfast !

When people mention the Panasonic one, there are quite a few different models. Any recommendations on which model to get?

I really didn’t rate the bread from my bread maker.. very crumbly texture that made cutting it in a thin slice nearly impossible for me, the hole in the bottom where the paddle is affects quite a few slices if you want the bread for sandwiches, plus it only really lasts a day before going stale and we just didn’t eat that much.
The cost of ingredients adds up. I now buy a decent sliced loaf from the supermarket, it lasts longer, I don’t have to slice it and I can keep it in the freezer if needed.

Yes any recommendations on the Panasonic ones pls?

Like a PP I use oil instead of butter, and measure it out rather than weighing it, which I find easier. For 15g of butter I use 1 tablespoon of oil, for 25g I use 2 tablespoons.
I have a Panasonic - the only drawback on this model is it won't do rye flour, whereas the slightly more expensive model does.
I use it for bread, dough and pizza dough. Can also make jam in it. Sometimes I do a sort of foccacia with the pizza dough, nice for buffets.
I used to have one that made banana bread and probably used that function more than any (but the bread wasn't great, but I'm talking about a model that would be 20 to 30 years old now). My Panasonic doesn't make banana bread.
I'm more into sourdough bread these days, I prefer the texture, so for that reason am using the machine less often, but do still use it.

I have the lakeland own version. Very easy to use and produces a nice loaf.