Mrs ollie wants a bread maker but I know absolutely nothing about them, Is there much difference in models and what should I be looking for?

Thanks.

I know they are quite expensive but any of the panasonic range are your best bet,get great results every time,and they can do a loaf in under two hours.
this is the one we use.
http://www.chrisrand.com/panasonic-SD255-breadmaker-bread-maker/

we bought a panasonic SD255 after reading reviews on amazon…SD254 is very similar (doesn't have a nut dispenser !) so if on a budget you can save £30…amazon have good prices !

rolls eyes
Bread needs only yeast, sugar, flour, water, a bowl to mix in and a tray/tin to bake.

rolls eyes
Bread needs only yeast, sugar, flour, water, a bowl to mix in and a tray/tin to bake

Tell that to the wife, Plus I like the idea myself of waking up to a freshly baked loaf in the morning with the timer mode on a bread maker.

Mr Warburton, Mr Brace, The Hovis sisters take your pick 😉

Panasonic, I've had mine for nearly 4 yrs and use 4 times week, excellent product and the pizza dough is the finest pizza base I've ever had.

I do handbake too but fresh bread ready for when you wake up? You're worth it!

Well sounds like Panasonic is the way to go, Now to get the CC out again!!

My wife has a Panasonic as does my Mum – both wished they'd gone for a version with a nut dispenser. We only got ours a month ago and think it's great.

i wonder how many bread makers are sat forgotten, collecting dust on peoples kitchen shelves after hey realise that it is cheaper, easier and less of a faff to simply buy bread at the bakers.

my mum bought one. i was the only one who ever used it. you couldn't buy decent brown bread anywhere near us so i used to make up my own mixture of flour and stick it in the machine. but you then had to stop the machine before it started baking to remove the metal stirring thing otherwise it'd get baked in the dough and would burn the bread from the inside.

i ended up buying a big baking tin.

it too was a panasonic and hasn't been used for over three years.

Panasonic SD-255 is what we've got and use it 4-5 times a week – prefect bread every time.

I have the Panasonic SD 253. I know you can get cheaper models which my parents broke but it wasn't very good so they went for something more expensive and it's brilliant. Hence I have one!
I go through phases where I make a lot of bread etc then a while when it sits on the side, but I think if you do use it then it's useful to have as you can do so much in them, pizza bases etc.
Yes you can make bread in the oven but for it to taste nice you need to leave the yeast to rise (preferably in an airing cupboard) etc the Panasonic ones you can set the time to work over night wake up to fresh warm bread, it's cool!!! This thread has given me inspiration to get it going again .. tonight I will set it up for brekkie! Cheers!!

i wonder how many bread makers are sat forgotten, collecting dust on peoples kitchen shelves after hey realise that it is cheaper, easier and less of a faff to simply buy bread at the bakers.

Is it cheaper to buy bread? Maybe the Tesco value one but not something as good as our maker makes though taking the cost of the machine into account depends on it's life span so don't know. We make 5 or 6 a week at the moment; it's not much faff – measure out the ingredients and dump them in the machine then set the timer. Don't have to take the stirrer out on ours.

I picked up a machine for a fiver that had been a kitchen cupboard filler. Or try your local freecycle.

Home made pizza dough – check
home made naan bread – check
wake up to the smell of bread baking – check
spend (subjectively a long time) kneading – nope

Does the Panasonic one leave a hole in the bread where the dough hook's been? I make mine by hand, but sometimes I don't want to have to stay in to get it in the oven at the right time. I borrowed my mum's breadmaker one time, but it left a massive hole in the middle.

It leaves a small hole.

+1 for the Panasonic SD255

Had our's a couple of years but don't use it as regularly as we'd like. Good results most of the time (so long as you use the proper blade and not the rye one or whatever it is).

Haven't experimented much but can certainly vouch for it being one of the best in its class.

Does the Panasonic one leave a hole in the bread where the dough hook's been?

Yes. But sometimes the blade ends up in a convenient position where you can extract it without leaving a hole.

dont use it every week, the home mix requires more yeast and regular consumtion increases the yeast in your body and leads to fungal infections.

once a month should be safe

Got the expensive Panasonic one. Got used about 4 times, before being relegated to the utility room. The hole in the bottom of the loaves was a missive negative point – seemed to always totally wreck the bread.

Anyway, wanna buy ours?

Too Punk wrote,

"rolls eyes
Bread needs only yeast, sugar, flour, water, a bowl to mix in and a tray/tin to bake. "

And time and attention. Or, a bread machine. It's not quite an essential but after baking my own bread every 2 days by hand for a week, I got a bread machine and won't do it by hand ever again if I can possibly avoid it.

Mine is a Kenwood BM350, not sure I'd recommend it, it does work well but the settings are a little restricted and the build quality's not great- the hook's seizing up a little and some of the bolts have rusted (they're not in the bread, so it doesn't matter, but it's not a good sign). But, it's been used every 2 days for a year which is probably a lot more than most will ever be used.

fotorat, do you think there's any truth in that at all or was it just a particularily deadpanned (breadpanned) joke?

And time and attention

Food does need time and attention 🙂
But then I'm amazed at all the pre-prepared stuff in the shops.

Seriously, I make bread in the evenings with no bother. Pizza dough is knocked up often on a Saturday morning for lunchtime pizza with the kids while I'm cooking them pancakes for breakfast. (Pancake mixture does NOT come in a packet either 🙂 )

i mix dough in one of these http://www.johnlewis.com/230841791/Product.aspx?source=14798 fire in the inexpedience, mix for a couple of minutes then set aside to rise. straight onto a heavy baking tray and into the oven for 20 minutes. faff free and, easy to clean and the processer does a load of other kitchen jobs too.

As with everything it's worth spending more money. Mum has a crap one. I have a pan 254. It's great for the following reasons

– cheaper than buying quality bakers bread (not taking into account the cost of machine)
– putting ingredients in machine is quicker than the 3 minute round trip to bakers
– consistently great tasting bread – though brown loaves has been lob sided
– bread lasts well
– pizza dough is great, but not tried other breads yet
– can have fresh bread to time

downsides

– you get a small hole in middle of loaf
– anything other than the smallest loaf just makes the bread taller, meaning it doesn't fit in toaster well
– if you plan to get it out of a cupboard for each use, you probably won't

Overall – one of best kitchen appliances I own

Food does need time and attention

Sometimes, yes. However, I'm happier with what I get from my bread machine SD-255) than what I've made by hand. Ironically, I now eat less bread but that's good for me. I use it mostly for pizza dough and to make rolls with. I would say the 255 is better, but you can always just chuck any extras in the top yourself. I am a fan of date and walnut rolls 🙂

Cost of ingredients for breadmaker works out very cheap compared to craft made bread. About 70p for a 700g loaf compared to £2-ish for proper craft baked bread. We got a panasonic 254 for Christmas from the Mother-in-law (recently seen for £55 on-line) and it produces very good bread and waking to fresh bread is great.
Oh and bread requires a little fat to improve the texture (25g in a large loaf quoted above).

Just remember if you make 2 loaves in a row to check that the paddle isn't left behind in the 1st loaf! I did this once and wondered why my curried mango chutney bread was just a rank mush! It has spent 5 hours sitting there getting hot as the paddle was in the bottom of the earlier loaf! It's only a smallish hole the paddle leaves.

I like the sound of a nut dispenser!

Too_Punk wrote,

"Seriously, I make bread in the evenings with no bother."

Good for you, but I've done that and I don't need the hassle, not when machine made bread tastes exactly the same and takes less time to make.

Panasonic here, 4 years+ old, used 2-3 times a week….

One of the biggest bonus for me is waking up to the smell of fresh bread baking, in the morning, beats any alarm clock.

If you do get one, make sure you get one with a timer 😉

Just made a Sunflower & Honey loaf in my Panasonic – so you need the nut dispenser. Only problem with the panasonics are that so many recipes won't let you use the timer. Panasonic pizza dough recipe is ok, but the one in this book Fresh Bread in the morning from your bread machine [Amazon] was amazing (seem to remember it takes longer to make though). (Book also available from other retailers, shares may go up as well as down etc.)

We've got a Panasonic SD252, and had a Morphy Richards before that. I have not got time to knead bread, wait for it to rise. Preparing a standard loaf in the machine takes about 5 minutes. Best invention ever. I've bought things that stayed in the cupboard gathering dust (sandwich toasters, juicers etc) but this is well used.

Another vote for the Panasonic SD255 here (it's must have had about 10 so far).

We've had ours 2 years and it gets used every day.

Just avoid using packet bread mixes in. Just follow the recipes in the instructions.

Got mine from aldi recently. It was an impulse purchase. Only cost 30 quid and have to say, it's great!
12hr timer, does about 12 different things, makes great bread. Very cheap too

We use ours to make pizza bases. Put on a homemade tomato sauce and some fresh ingredients and you'll never buy one of those horrible frozen supermarket pizzas ever again. There's no comparison.

And as for bread, it's as easy to throw a few ingredients in the breadmaker as it is to go to the supermarket. One you are used to it, prep time for a loaf of bread is less than 5 minutes.

panasonic with nut dis thing, have no idea of model but our lass loves it 🙂

+99 for the panasonc 255 – we got this to replace our previous overworked panasonic after about 5 years good service.

yes you can make bread by hand and we do sometimes but there is nothing like setting the time and waking up to fresh warm bread for breakfast.

If you like granary type bread use the Doves malthouse bread flour. Granary is a trademark but this is the same, but nicer and it has the major advantage of being used on a white bread program so takes an hour less and makes much lighter bread.

the whole at the bottom is hardly an issue as it only effects 1 or 2 slices.

We've got my mum's on loan at the moment as she's trying to eat less bread.

Seems to work pretty well, it's a Morphy Richards one.

Those who say it's great to wake up to fresh bread, are your machines quiet or do you have them a long way from where you sleep? The first time I used ours the other half came down from upstairs to find out what the noise was. I'm not sure I'd want it starting at 5am

Got the Panansonic SD254 for xmas.
Cant beat coming downstairs to the smell of fresh bread in the morning thanks to the timer.
Kids love the fruit loaf from it.

Hovis or a Panasonic ours is about 15 years old, hovis would be the best bet if you can get victoria in the mix.