does anyone have a breadmaker and actually use it?

[AnguaVonUberwald]

I am so fed up of shop bought bread, and its so expensive, especially if you buy anything which actually tastes of anything, that I am tempted to buy a breadmaker.

The thing is, I suspect its one of those things that you buy, use for a month and then goes in the cupboard for ever.

1. does anyone actually have a breadmaker?
2. is it any good?
3. Do you use it?
4. Does it save you any money?
5. Which one do you have and would you recommend it?

I think it is fair enough to ask what the point is when you can do it yourself in the oven but that is the point of all kitchen accessories surely? Who needs a kitchenaid in fact to make your dough with when you can do it by hand? It saves time and effort!

We have a Philips one (the one down from the nut dispenser one) and I use it. We decided that once we got it we would not buy any more bread otherwise we might not use it as much as we should. Got it about 4 months ago and not bought a loaf since. Takes about 3 minutes to put the ingredients in and then that's it, you can forget it. I know it's easy to make it yourself but I know that I wouldn't do it.

As for saving money, depends on your ingredients. I reckon that an 800g loaf costs about 45p in the breadmaker with a decent quality flour. It will take a while to make the money back, but the break is so much nicer.

Panasonic even, not philips

1. Yes we bought it a couple of years ago and love it! We started making pizza dough too recently as well as bread.
2. Yes it is very good especially as it was so cheap
3. We use it about twice a week to make bread as the loaves aren't as big as shop bought ones
4. Probably, we buy flour etc when we see it on offer and just keep it in the cupboard
5. We have the cheapy Cookworks one from Argos which was about 30 quid but it has lasted us years so it's good value for money. We chose a cheap one as we weren't sure if we would use it but we've only bought bread about once since we've had it we use it that much.

we have a Panasonic one and i use it to make all our bread as my dp has a heart condition and shop bread is laden with salt.

I've got a Panasonic SD-253, use it every day, it makes fab. bread - wholemeal v. good too. Def. worth the £99 I paid 4 years ago. No duff loafs or breakdowns. Would def. recommend it.

panasonic also - is brilliant, v easy. I do the naan breads a lot, also pizza dough and the pitta pockets. The bread rolls are great and it has a great hint in the book about how you can prove them in the microwave, which saves a lot of time (maybe everyone else in the world knew this but i was just blown away by this information )

angua / buda i make sourdough too (in the mixer). it isn't complicated but has quite a few steps. i don't need recipe any more and don't find it difficult.

lisalisa a scalloped knife is better than serrated. try putting (more?) honey in the dough and maybe a little more liquid to make it softer/denser.

i make a white loaf with milk and butter which i can slice really really thin, but then i can with the wholemeal sourdough. plain brown is the crumbliest.

Well I have just taken a loaf of white bread out of the breadmaker. However I cheated and used a packet of Tesco breadmix that I found in the cupboard! Can't even remember buying it tbh! Will report back as to taste.

Buda - I must admit I used the only vitamin C tablets to hand were a pack of orange effervescent ones my mum gave me. I was a bit but they've worked fine. Just need to make sure that the flour is spread carefully over it so it doesn't come into contact with the yeast. Good point about looking in Holland and Barrett Soupdragon. I used to live in Croydon - once had a massage in the H+B store in the Whitgift. Lovely and relaxing if a little public!

I have a Morphy Richards.

I got the Panasonic a couple of weeks ago and love love love it! We use it most days and make a variety of loaves. I was paying £3.50- £4 a loaf for "artisan" bread locally so this is definately cheaper.

Those of you who mentioned pitta bread and naan bread - my recipe book that came with it has neither. Can you share your recipes and methods please???

I use mine around 3-4 times a week. Trouble is it tastes so good, the ds's eat the entire loaf practically before breakfast.

Once you get into the routine of using it it's good. But there are days when I can't be bothered to lug more flour home so buy cheapie siced instead.

You need a slice-guide cutty thing from Laekland too, unless you are brilliant at cutting bread 'freehand' (I'm NOT!)

mine is apnansonic too. Had it 2 years.

I can get 3 loaves from an 89p bag of flour. Yeast is around 80p for 6 sachets (2 or 3 loaves per sachet, say?)

I use smart price butter and milk powder.

I have a Morphy Richards and it is a great machine - makes 2lb loaves.
You can make just the dough in it (for rolls, pizza, hot cross buns etc), make jam, cakes etc.

We bought a Panasonic breadmaker last year and DH uses it every other day because the bread is SOOOOO good.. I have no idea how it works but he says it's v easy. We use bread mixes which cost around £1 from Sainsburys (Asda's own brand are cheaper but not as nice)
The Panasonic is v good (around £100) as it has lots of options (gluten free, nut dispenser etc) which keeps DH entertained for hours. Also it has a timer so you can wake up to the smell of baking bread!

Tesco's bread flour is 69p and will make 3 loaves.

It used to be 49p but has gone up recently. Lidl may still be doing 49p bags, I know they used to.

I just made my first half white/half wholemeal loaf in mine. It's surprisingly light. The loaves I made by hand with that mixture of flour always turned out like bricks, this is a definite improvement.

Poppycake: tell me more about using the microwave for proving. I have not heard of this idea before.

senua and Ilana - I will come back re proving and naans, just have a sickie dd2 on my lap at the mo which is making typing a bit tricky! But I'm staying here while I send rubbish emails into work to try and work out my day.

Don't buy sachets of yeast - Doves do a packet of the fast yeast which is cheaper.

Hey, great thread, thanks! am shopping around for one now -- seems like everyone likes the panasonic ones.

Can you only do one loaf at a time in a breadmaker? I assumed yes, that's why I'm sticking to my food processor. But just wondered.

yes, one at a time

however there is a setting on mine that can churn out a loaf in just 1h 55mins which is very handy

You can only eat one loaf at a time too though

SoupDragon - yes, agree, but I like to batch cook and freeze.

I use mine all the time, rarely buy bread.. It´s a panasonic (recommend), only thing I don´t like about it is the loaf is a little too tall and thin for me. Love having hot bread in the morning and the smell throughout the house. Buy one!