Which breadmaker should I buy - or should I not bother?

[laa]

I'm thinking about getting a breadmaker because I can't find tasty bread in the supermarket near me. I've heard the panasonic one is good. does anyone know? I borrowed my mum's and the bread was quite nice, but the measuring was really fiddly because it didn't tally with the spoons provided. Am I being unrealistic about actually making bread every evening??!

don't bother

I got one and realised I could make better and more importantly conveniently sized loaves and rolls and freeze them myself so I would always have fresh bread.

But then I only found time to do it about once every 2 weeks. Bread making is really easy, it's all in the kneading and getting to know your oven and the best temperature.

I always found the loaf went really crumbly and powdery by the second day plus I was very cheesed off to find all the recipes that came with the machine called for the magical 'bread improver' ingredient which I couldn't find (but I think you can get from Lakeland)

I'll put my money where my mouth is and let you have my foolproof recipe when but it is on the boat somewhere in the Indian ocean with the rest of my worldly good at the moment. ( I just moved from London to Australia)

I don't have the patience for all of the kneading with bread. We bought a bread maker 3 years ago and bake one or two loaves in it every week.

Yes! get the panasonic - it makes lovely bread. I only use it at the weekend though as I hate having to slice bread for the sandwiches.

Our kids just bought us a Panasonic - we don't eat a lot of bread but use at weekends - makes lovely bread!

Dd's friend puts a loaf in every night and times it be done for morning and comes down to the smell of fresh baked bread everyday - lovely!

Love mine - a Panasonic SD252. Get one!!

BTW - Hi JoolsToo!

Dh has decided to be the breadmaker (as well as breadwinner) in our house and he simply follows a Delia "can't go wrong" recipe. He sticks all the ingedients in the KitchenAid with the dough hook and then lets it (the dough) rise. Knock back once, rise again, stick it in the oven - fabulous bread with no hole in the bottom as you seem to get with breadmakers. The KitchenAid looks fab on the counter too!

We bought a breadmaker about 6 months ago and use it all the time. My DH does all the cooking (I can burn toast ) and he makes a loaf practically every other day. It's also great for making pizza dough - homemade pizzas are so yummy. Would thoroughly recommend one. My DS seems to prefer homemade bread too - nice that we know exactly what's gone into the loaves.

My mother has a bread making machine (sorry, I don't know the make). She finds it as easy as anything making bread each day but she did make the point that it did not really work out cheaper than buying bread once you had factored in paying for the machine in the first place.

I love my Oyster. It only takes about 3-4 min to measure the ingredients, and all you have to do is turn it on and take the bread out when done. I shop in the bulk bins for all the ingredients, so it is really cheap to make. I often use the timer or put the bread in to be done in the morning when we get up, or around lunchtime, or dinnertime so we have fresh bread with the meal. It does put a hole in the bottom of the loaf, but its not big, and doesn't seem to affect the taste at all

There have been several breadmaker threads over the past year or so. Lots of people have recommended the Panasonic. We bought one on the strength of this and think it's excellent.

We've got a panasonic SD 253 and I use it every day! It is the one piece of kitchen equipment that I thought would be a 'fad' and end up back in the cupboard but how wrong I was.
The model we have is great - you can put the mixture in (takes no more than 5-10 minutes to weigh out the ingredients) and then we put it on timer to be ready first thing in the morning. Fab!

Panasonic SD 253, excellent for making bread with seed, nuts raisins etc. too.

From Amazon, £79.97 including delivery

Thanks everyone. On the strength of this I have just bought a Panasonic 253 from Waitrose, of all places, and am in the process of making some focaccia..very exciting! Glad to hear lots of you use it so regularly, because I was worried that it might be a fad thing. It seems really easy to use though - much better to measure out stuff than my mum's.