Breadmaker - yay or nay?

[SpaceOP]

I am toying with a bread maker. I'm not entirely sure I have space in my kitchen but if I can figure out a way, I'm thinking about it. The reason being that I'm so tired of bad bread in this country - I can get lovely white or sourdough bread (at great expense but whatever) but a good seed loaf or wholemeal loaf seems impossible. Just back from a trip to Germany where needless to say, bread was all amazing which is what has inspired me.

BUT... how much work is it? is it really super easy? Can I just toss a whole lot of ingredients in while I'm tidying up after dinner and then pop out a lovely loaf at breakfast?

Practical tips please. Anything that involves me spending more than 5-10 minutes prepping is pointless so is it really going to help me?

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We had one for a few years and didn't do much with it. Then DP decided one day to not buy bread again. We put it on every night, probably takes 3-4 minutes. Great bread. Definitely recommend it.

So you stick all the ingredients in and it then does the kneading etc and automatically then bakes it?

I am a baker, so I'm always dissatisfied with bread maker bread. But it is a 5 minute job and better than supermarket bread. It almost always works too. A warning, though-if there's more than 2 of you and you need bread for toast and for sandwiches you might find the loaf is a bit small-particularly if you have teenagers. You need to always be one loaf ahead.

It’s brilliant. I weigh the ingredients into the pan at night. Set it off to be ready for breakfast. Wake up to a house smelling of freshly baked bread.

much healthier than sliced packet bread

Think I need a source of flour as I am getting through bags and bags

Personally, I spend 5 minutes making a dough in the morning, let it rise in the fridge all day then bake it in the evening. It is very slightly more faff than a breadmaker, but the bread is better and crucially I like doing it.

Mmm, I am feeling inspired. I do have a spot which has turned into a bit of a spot for random shit... I am feeling inspired to sort it out and turn it into a spot for my new bread maker....

Use ours every couple of days. It’s very good.

We use ours about 5x a week. I buy big bags of flour from Amazon.

MIL has a breadmaker, she uses it multiple times a week, and whenever we visit she does something with it, her bread is lovely.

As I have a stand mixer I can't justify giving away such a large chunk of precious kitchen space over to a breadmaker, when I already have equipment that does the job perfectly well for marginally more effort. If I ever require bread in the morning I do an overnight prove and morning bake.

I have a very small kitchen and a bread maker, which I use about three times per week. I store the bread maker on top of the fridge/freezer between times as it does take up quite a bit of space. Like others, I set mine overnight and wake up to lovely fresh bread, which I leave cooling while I do my session at the gym.

My bread maker is a Panasonic with a seed/nut/fruit dispenser in the top. It sounded complicated when I first got it but it is really easy, and makes lovely seedy breads. I usually slice the whole loaf and freeze half of it - otherwise we eat too much. As it doesn't have preservatives, home made bread goes stale fairly quickly but it is much healthier than shop-bought loaves.

I am on a low carb diet for life. It's virtually impossible to buy low carb bread locally , so the bread maker means I get low carb bread (using vital wheat gluten) every day.
My child took bread pans to uni with them because they can't stand the taste of shop bought bread, always having home made .
Put the ingredients in switch and and a couple of hours later you have bread. Not quite a good as traditional method but great compromise . Only thing is bread doesn't have any preservatives , other than salt, so I keep my low carb in fridge . Normal bread gets eaten too quickly to go off but won't last as long as shoo bought.

I make three loaves a week in my bread maker.
Absolutely brilliant.

Ooh I love ours! It does take up quite a bit of room on the worktop though!
It comes with a little book with recipes- I tend to use the same basic bread one. Bung in ingredients in a certain order. Turn it on. Await delicious smell of baking bread.
And then all warm with lashings of cold Lurpak.
Mmmmm.
goes off to put bread on

Any recommendations for which one to get? I've heard Panasonic is good.

Have used ours about 5x per week for the last 15+ years. Panasonic. Has only once had to go for repairs so far. Dead easy.

Panasonic. Get a second hand one on eBay for circa £50 and get one with a seed dispenser. SD2501 is the one I have. Brilliant and dead easy. It has a 13 hour timer so I wake up to fresh bread.

I am not a bread maker, I love ours! Use it almost every day. Nice lovely warm fresh bread. And the smell around the house is worth it too

Do it! My mother in law donated hers to me and having hot, freshly baked bread for breakfast is amazing!

Yes to Panasonic, don't bother with the seed dispenser, we always add them at the beginning with no problems at all..

I don't use mine a lot but wouldn't be without it.
I can't knead by hand due to arthritis so it's brilliant for that. You don't have to use it for baking the bread you can make the dough and then make bread rolls or pizza bases.

Panasonic breadmaker as well. I buy flour direct from a mill, they do sell large sacks but I prefer to buy a variety of different flours in small bags so I can make a range of breads.

I got offered one that a friend was throwing out about 5 years ago. I took it, but was sceptical. However, I now bloody love it and haven't bought shop bread since. I used to buy the flour from Lidl at around 65p a bag, but now its gone up to over £1 I'll be moving to Amazon. Last month the timer stopped working, so I just use my phone alarm to tell me when to switch it off.

I made bread for years at home before I moved to France [with a boulangerie round the corner]...used the stand mixer to knead it, left an hour, rekneaded it, turned into a basket or onto a tray, left for 45 mins, then put the oven on, when hot, tip out [if in a basket], score and bake.

I still make a dough on a friday for pizza, same way, and use half for pizza and bung half in the fridge for nan bread usually either the day or the monday after [I've literally just polished off a curry with a nan and basmati in the last 30 mins].