Should I get a bread maker?

[Yeastygirl]

Hello

I’m thinking about getting a bread maker. I don’t do too much cooking but we do make sandwiches quite often and thought this might be a way to make it easier, healthier and cheaper in long run.

Does anyone have one, are they any good? If so can we you recommend any models please?

I worry I’ll get one on impulse, never use it and it will sit in our cupboards for years

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Panasonic. The best way to make sure you use it is to never put it away in a cupboard or tuck it into a corner.

I love my bread maker. I debated a long time before buying a cheap one from Aldi. I make all my own bread, we slice it when cold and then freeze it so we can get a slice out when we want. I also use it to make dough for rolls. Wouldn’t be without it - we keep it in a corner of the kitchen on the worktop.

Seconded. Both make and advice.

We have had one for 20 years and probably used it equivalent to once a year. I bet you can get the second hand for a song!

Yes, got one as a present a couple of months ago. Panasonic.
I follow their recipe for white loaf to the letter and it is PERFECT.

The thought of sliced supermarket bread in plastic bags now makes me want to heave.

Yes - Panasonic is good. Ours is on the counter and I keep the ingredients (flour, yeast, oil, salt and sugar) together in a box with scales and measuring spoons so I can quickly whack a loaf on when needed. I like the fact it's only those ingredients and we're not eating ultra processed bread with palm oil in it - which most shop bread has.

You can set a timer so it's ready first thing in the morning - a nice smell to wake up to.

Downsides are you still have to measure the incredients out each time, so a minor faff. Then obviously wait 4hrs. Also when it's fresh and warm it's hard to slice for sandwiches so you have to wait.

We were given one, the bread it made was horrible, we threw it away 🤷‍♀️

Yes, get it!

I’ve got Panasonic as well, it’s always out. We use it at least 2 times per week, sometimes 4.

I also freeze bread as @Rocknrollstar , it’s very convenient. I think it’s cheaper but depends on what you are usually buying. Asda own white bread is probably cheaper but your own is much nicer for sure.

Which Panasonic model do you have @HewasH2O @PearlClutzsche @Beecham @pizzaHeart ?

I’ve been googling best bread makers and they do seem to come up top, but all different models which is confusing!

Would £120ish buy a decent one? I know they range quite a bit

Generally can only make one type of loaf or different types? Can you make anything smaller size like rolls?

Mine is the SD-B2510 @Yeastygirl

I thoroughly recommend it.

Yes, we have a Panasonic bread machine, it's brilliant. It's out on the kitchen counter and is used every other day. Makes lovely bread, I usually use a mix of white and seeded flours. You only use flour, yeast, butter, salt, sugar and water, no additives. The timer means you can set it to give you fresh warm bread in the morning.

You can make all sorts of things, instructions included, but for anything not loaf shaped you'd have to take the dough and bake it in the oven.
I just make various loaves and banana bread.

I don't put sugar in bread. The flour and warm water are enough to activate the yeast.

I got a free one secondhand. I used occasionally make bread mysekf but no time to knead with a toddler! Have made white; wholemeal, mixed & fruit loaves un the machine so far.

It's great but it takes 4-5 hours for a loaf, you ideally want to be able to take the loaf out as soon as its done so have to think a bit about timings (I wfh most of the time so not an issue really) & takes up a lot of space on the kitchen side. But warm fresh bread without kneading is worth it.

Oo I hadn’t thought about fruit loaves!

are they a pain to clean?

Also love banana bread, I hadn’t thought about that either!

Our Panasonic is very easy to clean. There is just a rectangular tin with a paddle at the bottom.

We are on our second one (first lasted 10+ years). We go through phases of using it lots. It works really well if you use it overnight and wake up to lovely fresh bread. The longer bakes generally turn out slightly better than the rapid. Although we are not very organised and mostly end up using the rapid setting, which is fine.

I was also in two minds, as they take a lot of worktop space, but I love my Panasonic! It's super easy to make nice bread which I can freeze. You can also use it to make pizza dough, rolls and jam ( though never tried).

I've had mine for at least 3 years - once you look into it you'll find lots of people recommending Panasonic - mine is the SD2501 but there are so many new models - it has the seed/nut dispenser that automatically adds in things like sunflower or pumpkin seeds at the right moment. I make one white (ciabatta) loaf and one 50/50 sunflower seed and orange blossom honey every week (I make others now and again ( you just have to experiment with the many excellent recipes in the manual) - of you follow the instruction to the letter, i.e. put the ingredients in in exactly the right order, they cube out perfect every single time. I've calculated that it costs about 75p a loaf and that includes the 13.5p for electricity (I've measured it with a power measuring plug that I have). I buy flour from Shipton Mill - the 16kg bag of organic 100% wholemeal flour (205) of £19.50 ATM and the Canadian Strong white bread flour (112) is £19 in a 16kg bag - I use at least 3 times the amount of white to wholemeal. The only loaves that haven't worked so well for me are anything with rye flour in it. I also buy Femipan Red Instant Dried yeast in 500g bags (the last one cost me £6.75 from eBay - the prices vary a bit) I keep the yeast in the freezer and decent scan amounts into a small old tin of Allinson's bread yeast. Generally it takes about 15mins to put a loaf on and tidy up. I haven't bought a loaf since I had my bread maker. The white bread, made with great flour, makes great toast. If my bread maker broke Is it another the same day - wouldn't be without it - it's permanently set up in my utility room.

Do you ever make sourdough? Is it as good as the lovely crusty loaves the artisan bakers
make?

Use ours at least 3 X per week. Get one.

Sorry to hijack but has anyone made gluten free bread in a breadmaker? Was it any good?

Yes - we went gluten free for a while and made the gluten free bread recipe in the Panasonic. It was a little bit like cake, but fine, and I was just grateful to have it as an option.

I have SD 2501 but it’s quite old so the newest models are different.
you can make jam and cake in it but it’s easier for me to use oven for cakes and I don’t do jam.
you can do dough for pizza or rolls and then make them in the oven. You can do brioche, fruit loaf, cheese bread, olive bread etc.

I found a model on Lakeland website which is very close to what we have. We also bought ours at Lakeland on Black Friday deal.