Bread making machines, yay or nay??

[BaconAndAvocado]

Considering getting one for Christmas.

A few questions for bread machine aficionados....

1. Do you buy the ready made mixes or do you use single ingredients?
2. If it’s the mixes, are they healthy...it’s processed??
3. How long does it take to make a loaf?
4. Where do you keep your machine? They’re quite big I think.

tia

Does anyone has any flour recommendations? Happy to buy in bulk

Yay. Just buy the separate ingredients - it takes 5 minutes to set up and the results are much better than mixes. Typical cycle is 4-5 hours, though can be less for a "quick" loaf. You can set it up in the evening and have lovely bread in the morning.

Have one, lives in the utility room. Go through phases of using it, but been a life saver over the last few weeks as I have not been well enough to make my own bread as normal.
Just use ordinary flour and yeast and it goes down a storm. My 8 year old daughter is just learning to use it and is thrilled!!

Yes, we use it when we CBA to make bread.

Just use basic ingredients. I also make raisin bread in it which is pretty nice for breakfast.

I bought a secondhand one because I was concerned that it would be just a gadget. It’s a game changer for us. I do wholemeal pumpkin seed bread that is so much cheaper than the local bakery and a twice weekly bake keeps us in bread for a week. I add individual ingredients, haven’t been near the pre packaged mixes. The only thing is investing in good quality containers to store the ingredients in and having the space ( I have a bread making part of a pantry). My £15 machine has saved us a fortune, when it dies I will be buying a new one.

Used to have one but gave it away after we discovered that we could make much better bread without it.
I do have a baking cloche for sourdough (though a lidded Dutch oven or Pyrex dish does the job too) and a proving basket. I'd spend your money there instead. We feed the starter in the morning, mix up and stretch and fold in the evening, fridge overnight and bake next day

Yay from me.

We use ours every other day on average. Use separate ingredients. Strong bread flour from Lidl and their yeast. Can throw it all in and set it going in about 3 mins as I know the measurements off by heart.

I didn't think I would ever use one tbh, but this was given to me by someone doing a house clearance for an elderly relative, so I got it free. I'd definitely buy another one if it broke down.

This.

I know the recipes by heart now, 5 mins maximum to put one on. Put it on overnight on a timer and wake up to fresh bread.

Would definitely replace if it broke.

1 single ingredients
3 standard is 4 hours but there's a 2 hour "rapid" option which isn't as good but perfectly adequate for an "emergency" loaf. You can make pitta bread in 45 minutes plus baking time in the oven which is useful

1. Utility room

I love mine - it's an ancient Panasonic my parents gave me. I like making different breads (banana, chocolate, rains and cinnamon...) with no effort.

it was a godsend during lockdown! Fresh bread every day once I'd found a big bag of flour.

my dad made bread the traditional way though. He bought the breadmaker thinking it would be good but he didn't like it which is why I ended up with it. I don't have the patience to do lol the kneading required.

Don't use it all the time but love it when I do.

Great for pizza dough.

Love flavoured breads... beer and mustard, parmesan and sundried tomato, foccacia comes out great too

Curious to know if you can make loaves and then freeze them for later use e.g. for toast or whatever? I can't imagine always having the energy to pop a loaf on and wait for it, sometimes you just need some easy access bread!

I say yay! I got a panasonic one in September and have barely bought any bread since. Also in the process of perfecting home made pizzas using the bread maker to make the dough, even shop bought (rather than take away) pizza is getting really expensive unless you get the really cheap ones. A raisin/fruit loaf with spices makes a really lovely weekend breakfast. I quite often do 50/50 white and wholemeal or seeded.

1. I use single ingredients.
2. It probably depends on which type but I believe the M&S ones are no more processed than if you put the ingredients in separately (just contain flour, sugar, salt, yeast)
3. It takes me about 5 mins to whack the ingredients in for a basic loaf or pizza dough. It takes me a bit longer to calculate times if I want to use the timer!
4. Yes, the machine is quite big although it's footprint isn't too bad. I have a cupboard I keep it in (I have a tiny kitchen though!). I still think it's worth it.

I bloody love ours...one of the best appliances I've ever had. We have a Breville bread maker pro. We use single ingredients (takes 5 minutes to put them in), it takes about 3 hours to make a loaf but it also has a delay timer so we put it on so bread is ready at 7am. We have also made pizza dough a few times which has worked well. I love the fact that I know that it isn't ultra processed like a lot of supermarket breads.

Just given my Panasonic to the charity shop. Prefer to make my bread by hand. Machine too big and bread that came out not as good as hand made

It might not be as good as hand made but it's easier (especially on my poor neck) and still nicer than packaged bread. Also means you don't need to turn the oven on.

It was one of those things I said I would get when I retired and low and behold, I was given one as a retirement gift.
I have to admit it does not get used very often but when it does, I use separate ingredients (which I keep in the house).
It is actually making a loaf at the mo, we are having Spag Bol for dinner and I fancied a crusty loaf with it so set it up to run while I am out.
Use the standard settings, this loaf is on a 5hr cycle.

I had a bread maker until I found this recipe
https://www.easypeasyfoodie.com/easy-wholemeal-soda-bread/

I love mine. The only problem is, because it doesn't come ready sliced, I end up cutting slices so thick I can barely get my big fat greedy gob around them. Soooo nice..

I bought one secondhand from gumtree as was worried it might be a fad and I’d have wasted money. I’ve used it almost every day since! It’s a Panasonic one and does take up quite a lot of space, but it’s been great. I put in the ingredients separately - takes 2mins - then set in the timer to bake overnight.

@hulahello Of course, and if you get an electric knife it's a whizz to slice the loaf up before freezing.

@wellOkayIsh I've started using that recipe recently, it makes lovely bread and is so fast!

@ADifferentPathAuDHD thank you! electric knife is a good idea. :)

Big yay from me. I use single ingredients and have experimented with so many different types of additions to the basic white bread - latest was cut up olives and peppers with a special seasoning blend, and it was terrific. It takes about 3 hours from start to finish and the best thing is being able to program it to come on in the middle of the night to produce hot fresh bread for breakfast.

I like Allinsons range , which I can get in Sainsburys, and I add nuts, seeds raisins etc there’s a lovely Parmesan/ tomato recipe with my breadmaker and I use Allinsons white for tgat.
I have also tried some gluten free flours but probably not often enough to really recommend.

May because they make lovely bread that has to be eaten up quickly with lashings of butter and yummy stuff