What's Your Opinion on Bread Making Machines

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Hi, just wondering what's people's opinions on bread making machines. Am considering purchasing one as we go through a lot of bread in this house (6 people) and really not very happy about the amount of salt in shop bought bread. Have great intentions to bake bread more but in all honesty don't get around to it much. So want to know do people really use them or are they just left there, do they take up much room and can any kind of bread be made in it and how long does it take to prepare the bread. Also any idea of running costs - from my limited knowledge they seem to take a long time to run.

Thanks.
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

I have one, and I think it's fantastic!....

I've a nut allergy, so getting nice breads I can eat is difficult, and as my mum's in kidney failure, I have a concern about salt too....

Mine is about Two feet by eighteen inches, by about fifteen inches high...

Yes any kind of bread can be made... Use strong flour from the supermarket... Takes about 2 hrs to do the business!.. I've never noticed any difference in my power bill...

The timer option is great..... I load it up with the ingredients at night, set the timer, and I awake to a loaf of fresh, hot bread!....
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

Not sure of the exact difference but there is a similar device which works more or less like a 'slow cooker' - I think Argos have them - and you can cook all sorts of meals - soups, casseroles, roasts etc as well as making bread.

Might be a more versatile option that's all - we're going to get one of these.
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

We got one last Christmas and love it. Many people love having fresh warm bread when they come over to us. It is gone in no time. Good idea to let it bake overnight and the manual for ours had plenty of different recipes.
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

We use ours 'all the time' ( I believe that total purchase of bread since getting machine 2 years ago has been one baguette.

Have a search around

[broken link removed]

Panasonic are the best

Supplies ( yeast , hard flour, rye flour, spelt flour etc ) are easier to find in N.I than in The South
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

I had a Panasonic for a few years and was happy with the bread, however I upgraded to a different make last year as the Panasonic could only take up to 500 g of flour. My new machine can take up to 1080 g which means you don't have to bake so often.
 
This key post is dated but the general advice might help.

The reviews on the site might help (under the yellow stars)
 
When you work out the amount of electricity they use it is far cheaper to buy bread in the shops. Bread makers are for rich people.;)
 
One of my better kitchen investments. I also recommend Panasonic. Had a Morphy-Richards, which broke after a lot of use (no complaints, fair wear and tear), then a Breville, which disappointed me (I ended up using it as a dough mixer/prover). The Panasonic pleases me greatly.
 
bmm said:
When you work out the amount of electricity they use it is far cheaper to buy bread in the shops. Bread makers are for rich people.;)
Click to expand...

If you prefer mass produced bread then thats fine by me but please dont post twaddle.

My Panny uses slightly less than 1 kWhr to produce a loaf. It runs at night ( & night rate ) so that the loaf is ready in the morning. Total cost of 'leccy per loaf circa 10c
 
I have a Russell Hobbs. I've had it for about 5 years. I used it about 50 times the first year I had it.... 25 the second year... and the trend continued. Now it pretty much gathers dust in my kitchen cupboard. This thread has inspired me to dust it down and bake some bread!
 
olddog said:
... thats fine by me but please dont post twaddle.
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Just to prove the point i made about the expense of the electricity. If you click the link to the panasonic manual below it says it takes between 3 and 6 hours to make and bake the bread. 5 hours if you want whole wheat bread. (Rest, knead, Rise, Bake are the functions of a Breadmaker) see page 4 of the manual below.(bit slow opening this link so be patient)



It's not fair to talk about nightsaver electricity because you also pay a service charge every 2 months (approx.25 euro) so you have to factor this into the cost. Electricity costs about 20c a kwh including vat normally,(20cent x 5hours x 1000watt breadmaker) so that's 1 euro of electricty.

1 euro per loaf in electricity and that's before you buy wheat and other ingredients.

If you use the breakmaker for baking only, then just put it in the oven after your roast on a Sunday. You don't need to buy a breakmaker.

I'm not sure what "twaddle" means as i'm not rich and posh ;)
 
bmm said:
Just to prove the point i made about the expense of the electricity. If you click the link to the panasonic manual below it says it takes between 3 and 6 hours to make and bake the bread. 5 hours if you want whole wheat bread. (Rest, knead, Rise, Bake are the functions of a Breadmaker) see page 4 of the manual below.(bit slow opening this link so be patient)



It's not fair to talk about nightsaver electricity because you also pay a service charge every 2 months (approx.25 euro) so you have to factor this into the cost. Electricity costs about 20c a kwh including vat normally,(20cent x 5hours x 1000watt breadmaker) so that's 1 euro of electricty.

1 euro per loaf in electricity and that's before you buy wheat and other ingredients.

If you use the breakmaker for baking only, then just put it in the oven after your roast on a Sunday. You don't need to buy a breakmaker.

I'm not sure what "twaddle" means as i'm not rich and posh ;)
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Dear BMM,

Most of the time a breadmaker is operating it is either kneading or rising. Both operations use very little energy. Baking is the time that significant energy is used. As I posted above, my Panny uses in all just under one kWhr to produce a loaf.

I dont understand what you mean when you say 'It's not fair to talk about nightsaver electricity'.

Whats not fair about having a day/night meter ?

Well over half of the electricity that we use is night rate. In this context the night rate 'service charge' is insignificant.

Regards

Olddog

P.S. What supplier do you use that charges 20c/kWhr ?
 
another suggestion is to make wholemeal loaves with added nuts, seeds & treacle.

Exceptionally healthy & gorgeous and can be thrown into the oven whenever its on for other things. After a couple of weeks doing this, you'll rarely buy "white" bread again.

takes less than 3 minutes to mix the dough.
 
Re: What's Your Opinion on Break Making Machines

Caveat said:
Not sure of the exact difference but there is a similar device which works more or less like a 'slow cooker' - I think Argos have them - and you can cook all sorts of meals - soups, casseroles, roasts etc as well as making bread.

Might be a more versatile option that's all - we're going to get one of these.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know about this thing I'm talking about?

It may negate the ESB cost aspect if this more or less becomes your 'cooker' anyway.
 
is it a slow cooker that you are talking about?
i have one and it is brillent. sunday roast goes in at 10 or 11pm on sat night and ready by 12 next day. i use it at least 3 times a week - i work fulltime so if i put a stew in at 8am it is ready at 5pm - same with a chicken, ham, lamb etc.
 
No, not exactly a slow cooker - but it kind of works like one.

It comes with loads of recipe suggestions but the main thing is, in the context of this thread, is that it is suitable for breadmaking too - I'll check with Mrs Caveat tomorrow and post details.

(She's asleep now, and not farting about drinking beer and posting on forums like me :D)
 
OK I'm convinced so going to purchase one and from recommendations here it's going to be a Panasonic. Anyone recommend where I could get one on line?

Regarding the cost debate firstly my main reason for a bread machine is health reasons, not cost funny enough - not happy about the additives in the shop bought stuff - particularly the salt - but has anyone else had the experience of finding some sliced pan in the cupboard that is out of date and its still soft to the touch but there is blue mould on it! Just doesn't seem right and there must be a lorry load of additives in it as well.

Secondly I don't think shop bread is dirt cheap considering it is mass produced and probably doesn't use the highest quality ingredients. €1.59 for a well known sliced pan! €1.49 for a baguette. Would hope I could make a loaf in the machine for that price but will have to investigate it a bit more. I know it can be bought cheaper in Lidl or Aldi and I am a great fan of both (do the vast majority of my shopping there) but don't find the bread to be of great quality. Also I am hoping it will save me time i.e. going to the shop to buy the bread, which can be a pain especially with little ones in tow. Now the plan is to whizz past those shops and go home and load up the bread machine!!
 
Good luck with the bread-maker - I got one in november and lots of friends have followed suit. My mam paid alot for a panasonic but I got mine in lidl and it is just as good. it was only 39.99 - it came up about two weeks ago and will come around in about 3 months again....... it also has a recipe book that is really really good.
I, like you, make my own bread for health reasons - all those e's and additives scare me!!! However, if you have a routine of a certain time each day to put on the breadmaker you will never be ''stuck'' -
happy breadmaking !!
 
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