So I've just become a full time SAHM. Tell me about the wonder of breadmakers.

[Febes]

Are they good? Do you end up eating an obscene amount of frest bread with lashings of butter? Is it cheaper? I'll be buying a second hand BM so hoping to get a bargin. What else do I need to know??

I've had mine for 10 days and it's the best thing ever. We eat loads of bread and are very fussy and it's great. I make one loaf overnight every night and alternate granary for DH and 50/50 wholemeal/white for me and DD. I also make raisin bread which is basically a big hot cross bun! Had to stop making the white bread thought because it was bloody lovely and I was getting addicted.

I can't believe I waited so long to get one.

Thats sounds yum. How much does a loaf cost??

well, although I can see where you're going with the SAHM thing, I can honestly say that the breadmaker has been a bigger godsend since I went back to work!

Providing you've got the flour and yeast etc. in, it's so much easier at 10pm to think 'oh crap, no bread for the morning, I'll stick some in the machine' than it is to think 'oh crap, is Tesco's still open?'

Anyway, imho it works out far better value, I get 3 days of bread out of a bag of flour that costs me about 80p and we use so little yeast / oil / salt / sugar that I don't bother even calculating. Admittedly, if you're going to be very honest with yourself and factor in the cost of the breadmaker, it's going to work out rather more expensive than this. However, the quality and convenience are worth a lot too.

We tend to stick it on at about 7.30pm on the Rapid setting so it's done by the time we go to bed, then it cools in the utility room over night which makes it far easier to cut (and therefore more economical) in the morning.

I'm not sure where the connection between sahm and a breadmaker is
I've been a sahm for a long time and never had one. Do you think I should get one?

The connection is I have time to experiment more now I guess?? As DC2 was due yesterday I probably won't have much time at all. I just put a bid on one on ebay. Fingers crossed.

I have this one, and I love it.

I have been using it for 18months, and would never go back to shop bought bread (except french sticks).

This one is fairly cheap, so a good one to start with to see how you get on.

Oh I see
and best wishes for the new baby. Hope it all goes smoothly and soon for you

Keeping an eye on this one as we've just dug out our breadmaker and want to start using it again.

I've calculated that it'll cost around 40p per loaf which is the main reason that we're going to use it - that and lovely, warm bread mmmmmmm

Anyone got any tips on slicing? I am rubbish with a breadknife and great big door stops will kind of ruin the whole economy drive aspect.

I had a look at the slicing gadgets on Lakeland but they've all got pretty poor reviews.

By the way op, if you end up getting a second hand one don't worry if it comes without an instruction book. I've just downloaded our missing one from the Kenwood website and most manufacturers seem to keep documentation online now.

I have this bread slicer and it works brilliantly.

Before I battled with an electric knife and wasted loads of bread.

IMHO I don't think they save you a great deal of money... esp not if you are like me and insist on Dove farm organic flour etc

BUT I LOVE it, and once you get the hang of it you can produce the most amazing loaves and shop bought bread just tastes dirty and inferior after a while!

There is a book by Sara Lewis that has loads of recipes, would recommend. Can't remember what it's called.

I have a panasonic 255(?)

Is this the book?

I like Amazon

I walked down the bread aisle of Tesco today and could smell the chemicals, I swear, and I'm no lentil weaver but home made bread is the way to go. We bought a couple of small bakery baguettes last weekend to take on a picnic and we binned them as they were too salty.

I have the Panasonic 255 as well and although it's pretty much the most expensive one it is well worth it for the gorgeousness of the bread it produces. Looking for a good book here too.

Panasonic 255 - LOVELY - cannot recommend enough. In 3 days it has given me a lovely oat and molasses loaf, a spelt loaf and today, an experiment by me using one of Sara Lewis's recipes that I bastardised, honey and wholemeal loaf. AMAZING.

I would DEF recommend the book (yes that's the one dietstartstomorrow!)
I have had 3 bread books and that's the only one worth keeping. What's brill about it is that for every recipe it lists the quantities for a small, medium and large loaf, with recipe for cooking by hand or breadmaker.

I love it.

The only thing I would recommend that she doesn't mention (much), is that everyday sandwich loaves benefit from a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder. (I learned that from a different book... otherwise Sara Lewis's book is FAB).

I hope I win the one on ebay I'm all inspired. My mum has one so I taste her gorgeous bread and know how good it is. Good to hear its cheaper as well. Can you use bog standard four or is it better to use the strong 00 bread stuff?
I love a good cook book so might have to get that as well. Not saving me much money yet.

The one I bid on is an LG automatic any good??? It looks huge thats the thing putting me off as I have a small kitchen.

No idea about LG but as a brand they are pretty good.

You HAVE to use strong bread flour. Normal flour doesn't work. There is some reason why but it escapes me

A couple more things that have occurred to me

1. I've got the Panasonic 254 mainly because we were too tight to pay the extra for the raisin dispenser on the 255! I've been really happy with it.

1. Where it gives you options for M / L / XL size loaves, obviously the pan is not going to magically get longer / wider, therefore the only size difference is in the height of your loaf. (Sorry if this sounds like stating the bleeding obvious, but it didn't occur to me at first). The XL 'bread towers' are a bit of a pain to cut and don't fit in your toaster. Also, home made bread doesn't have all the preservatives of shop bought so it's nicer to have frequent medium sized fresh loaves rather than one big awkward, rapidly staling one.

1. Quite often, for convenience, I end up making the Rapid loaf, which comes out a bit denser than the regular one. However, I do find that it's therefore a lot easier to slice thinly, especially if you make sure it's fully cold before you start.

1. As HellHath says, you absolutely have to use strong bread flour because you need the gluten in it. But 00 flour isn't strong bread flour, it's very finely milled plain flour. It'll make you some lovely pastry though.

Off to Google the Sara Lewis book now.

It didn't occur to me either that the tin wouldn't get bigger

Def get a new one - if you use it regularly, it'll pay for itself v. quickly. And get a panasonic - they're the best.

We use ours either every day or every other day. We spend far less on flour and yeast than we used to on bread so it definitely saves us money.

If you put the bread on at lunchtime, take it out before you go to bed, then it's easier to slice thinner slices the next day (slightly less fresh). Plan ahead so you don't have a lovely fresh loaf ready to eat when you're starving hungry or you'll eat the lot covered in loads of butter and you won't save a penny

Get a good bread knife - and practise! You'll get better at cutting thinner slices. If you're going to butter the bread, then butter it before you slice it.

And you can make pizza dough, naan dough etc. etc. in it - yum!

Hmmm that sounds great. If I don't win the one on ebay I'll look into a panasonic one. Thanks for all the hints and tips.