Breadmakers!

[onwardandupwards]

Is it worth buying a bread maker? Do they save money long term? Are they easy to use?

We got one yeeears ago. Used it about twice. Lives in cupboard.

Too much palaver for us.

Also artisan bread shop down the road (woohoo!)

Learn how to do it yourself properly, much more satisfaction and better bread. Buy this book instead

I bought mine 3 years ago and have used it daily. It does save me money, but not as much as it used to as flour prices have risen lots recently. It depends what you compare it with, it won't save you money over a cheap sliced loaf but does taste much better.

Incidentally, oranges, I have that book and often use my bresdmaker to prepare the dough for the recipes. Breadmakers are not the antithesis of handbaking.

Get a mixer instead: much more flexible and as easy. We have a kenwood chef and use it daily to make dough for bread or pizza, cakes etc. Takes less than 10 mins. Leave to rise while you work, bake when you get back. Really easy and very satisfying.

I use mine every week to make a new loaf. It tastes better than the supermarket ones. But if I breaks down I'll replace it with a standmixer. I would love to have one of those but can't justify to have both. Don't have the space in the kitchen either.

Want to add I want the stand mixer for cakes and the ice cream attachment . They can have a dough hook so it can do the kneading for me. We don't eat that much bread. Otherwise the fully automatic aspect of a breadmaker is very useful.

V easy to use and makes great pizza dough!

Yes Loony, didn't meant to come across as quite such a fundamental breadist (!), just trying to save the OP space when she wasn't sure how committed she was going to be.
I use a kenwood chef instead of a breadmaker, if I had to chose one it would be the chef.

I've had two in the last 10 years - started with a cheaper brand and replaced it with a Panasonic when it finally broke - and make loaves about twice a week. Fresh one this morning, in fact. Saves me money partly because bakery bread the same quality would cost a lot more but chiefly because it means I don't have to 'pop to the shops' if I want a loaf... and end up spending £25 on other stuff I probably don't need.

Lots of people buy and never use - try looking out for them on freecycle or cheap ads. I got my first one free, it wasn't great but showed me that I would use it and what I wanted from one. For example when I got mine I knew I wasn't bothered enough by a timer to pay extra but did buy a half sized machine that made smaller loafs as that was better for us.

I use mine for preparing stuff like pizza dough as well.

As someone said it is cheaper than nice bread but more expensive than your asda smart price.

I found buying a breadmaker cheaper than upgrading my food processor to one decent enough to have a dough hook.

tried making bread by hand, it was so bad i doubt starving ducks would of eaten it, thats why i thought about a bread maker.

we have a bread maker and bake about 3 loaves a week. I also use it for making pizza dough and cake-like sweat loaves.
I have a simple recipe that I use in variation since before I had the breadmaker.
tasty bread and much cheaper than comparable bread in the shops.
it pays to get a good'un though. I have a german one with two paddles which makes one long loaf instead of the blocks one paddled mashines make. have it for 7years now and it still works well. only had to replace the paddles a couple of times.

my panasonic is going well after 10 yrs

We bought a Zojirushi. It was expensive but worth every penny.

I make a loaf of bread a week, plus stuff like banana bread and cinnamon buns for lunches. I also do pizza dough, dinner buns, etc, and it's got a jam making course and a meatloaf course.

If you get a bread maker I'd suggest getting a good one. A friend on mine got a cheapie which broke after about six months and she can't be bothered to get the replacement parts as she hates the machine. Learning from her example, we got the best one we could afford (the Home Bakery Supreme). It has a good warranty, is pretty quiet, is very easy to clean and, because it was so pricey we forced ourselves to get into the habit of using it. Now I don't know how we managed without it.

Thank you all for your help and advice x