Help me to decide. Bread Maker or not?

[JODIEhavingababy]

Our house goes through that much bread (DH a proper bread monster) and it's getting so expensive, plus am getting annoyed with having to go to the shop every bloody day! So I thought a bread maker might be the answer?

If I get one, which one shall I get, there are loads out there, only want a smallish one as out kitchen isn't massive, and it needs to be REALLY easy to use!

Please help me. I'm so not a domestic goddess

it will sit under the sink gathering dust

honestly

DH talked me out of it. I'm glad as I love bread and would have got very fat.

I buy lots of bread and freeze it.

You are just confirming my fears!!!! So maybe not then eh?

am not a domestic goddess (far from it, trust me, domestic slut more like) but I use a breadmaker the whole time. I get cross about all the unnecessary rubbish that the food producers seem to put in bread these days and also I object to supermarkets charging HUGE amounts for fancy pants rustic breads.

So I make my own and it's fab. Chuck stuff in, put on timer, wake up in the morning. Easy to do even after much wine. The smell of fresh bread makes me feel better about all my other domestic/mothering shortcomings....

(and it really impresses my MIL).

So Hatcam, which one do you use? And is it REALLY that easy?

I use my breadmaker every day

I also lost about 8 inches off my waist when I started eating homemade bread vs bought bread - despite eating more of it

I have a kenwood & it is great

Makes pizza bases too

get a professional kenwood chef with dough hook attachment instead. it really is easy to make your own bread from scratch and its so much nicer than you can make in a bread machine. Plus you can make big batches and freeze them.

and you can make ciabatta, nan bread, pizza bases etc. if you have a kenwood or similar with dough hook...

really katymac?

Rethinks....

Panasonic SD-255.

Some measuring and weighing, have to put in ingredients in the right order, that's it. Recipe book that comes with it has all sorts of stuff (cakes, rolls, nonsense), but I pretty much just make granary, wholemeal, white and have never had a disaster.

and you can get a sausage making attachment which is brilliant fun.

i loved my kenwood... can you tell?!

I reckon it was 'flour improvers' or some such additive

there are lots of MNers who use theirs every day - have seen similar threads before

We don't eat much bread so I only use mine twice a week but I love having it. Mine is an ancient Hinari Homebaker borrowed from my PILs but if they want it back I'll be getting one as I wouldn't want to be without it now. Very easy to use and very easy to clean (important!)

Thanks {{{Skulks off to check out E-bay}}}

Used mine enthusiastically for a while but now it's under that sink gathering dust.

Makes quite dense bread, despite experimentation, (best is half-wholemeal/half white) but goes stale straight away. And the DSs aren't keen on it.

I approve of the general idea but the practice didn't quite work out.

Just the other day, my dh came home from John Lewis with yet another "essential kitchen item" - some rice cooking/steaming combo gadget.

Where's that going to go, said I with raised eyebrows, maybe in such and such a cupboard?

Oh there's no room there, he says, that's where the breadmaker is.

I had forgotten we own a breadmaker.

And on closer inspection of said cupboard I also discovered: the juicer, another steamer and countless chopping devices.

Another vote for Panasonic breadmaker. Mines the SD-253, but am sure the 255 will be as good if not better. Have had it for 18 months, and have since converted 2 friends and both sets of parents. Even my father can operate it, and the only disaster I had was when I forgot to put in the yeast!

I was concerned about my bread consumption levels, but I have found that the compulsion created by the smell, to eat fresh warm bread had largely worn off. Good thing too! Still love waking to the smell of fresh bread. But have yet to perfect slicing said very fresh bread into useable slices for dd's packed lunches!

I also have a cupboard inhabited by DH's 'essential kitchen gadget' purchses, but this is one I wouldn't part with.

I also have a panasonic one but an older model. The Panasonics are the best buy on Which.
Use mine everyday. We got fed up of making trip to the supermarket just for bread. My Dc's went off the bread for a bit so I made rolls instead and these were actually quicker than making bread!

agree with katisha the bread is very dense- i love it fresh straight out the maker, but dc don't like it and it goes off very quickly.
i gave my maker away in the end cos it wasnt being used

Panasonics are meant to be the best. We had a Hinari and I could never get a decent loaf out of it, despite doing exactly as FIL (who is on his second bread machine) advised. I freecycled it after Christmas having not used it for 6 months. Don't regret it. Recently made one by hand and it was fab.

yomella what recipe do you use by hand? maybe i'll have a bash at doing it that way

I use mine every day, throw ingredients in night beofee and voila, fresh lovely bread each morning, wouldn't be without it now. Also pizza fabulous

I have many gadgets that I don't use. The breadmaker isn't one of them, Panasonic again. It takes minutes to tip the stuff in the maker and it makes wonderful bread,
Have not used it for a few weeks as cutting back and found the bread too yummy.

Oh one thing is I don't think you would save much money using one as you need to buy ingrediants and there is the cost of baking, so i would think it costs about the same as a shop loaf.

I was thinking that it would save me much money in the long run. I'm just sick and tired of trapsing DS (and soon to be DS2) off to the shops, just for a loaf of bread and getting there and the local shop only having the crap stuff left! Also, at least I can control the ingredients too!