Bread makers

[borderbilly]

SWMBO is hinting at a bread maker for xmas. Any master bakers on here that could recommend a good bread making machine? Remember im a Jock and don't have a bottomless sporran.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Had a Panasonic years back but found it was better doing it by hand.

Mrs V does regular bread, I do Sourdough.

Which ever way you go make sure you always use the same flour every time.

 

[otherclive]

I had one but gradually stopped using it and then started to use a local bakers shop, supplemented by supermarket loafes when required. I was working when I had the bread maker and it took too much effort.

 

[Mr Plodd]

Having had a cheappo one in the past our experience is you dont get what you dont pay for !
We have a Tower one purchased from Amazon (see below)
Exceptionally pleased with it. Follow the instructions and we always get an excellent loaf. We make a loaf about every 2-3 days Just be sure to use proper bread flour and decent yeast, we buy flour in bulk, its a lot cheaper that way. The bread mixes from Sainsbury's make a p,peasant change occasionally
Ha just found the details. its a Tower T1103 2lb Currently £70 on Amazon
Once you get used to the ingredients it takes 2-3 minutes to get it up and running.

 

[IanB1485]

I gave up on ours ( made two loaves )make your bread by hand , much more rewarding .

 

[JTQ]

Ours is a Panasonic, but even this is now quite old it having replaced an earlier one that did over a thousand granary loaves. Both have been excellent, the earlier one probably due to the hard crushed grains in the mix wore through some of the non stick coatings. Spares were available but it made more sense simply buying a new one on some odd promotion.
In all we have had them for 30 years.

Be warned the bread is so nice when new you get drawn into eating too much of it.
Another downside, our bread does tend to go stale quicker than the bread from super markets, probably as it has not the stabilisers I suspect they add.

 

[Mel]

Being Coeliac we ought a Panasonic one years ago to make Gluten free bread. It wasn’t a success but then GF bread is never great. OH makes a better GF loaf by hand.
It was OK on normal bread but it was more work than going to the supermarket.
If SWMBO wants one for a hobby in making one or two artisan loaves a week then great. IMHO it is not the best as your regular bread supply.
Mel

 

[Sam Vimes]

We've been making bread by hand for many years.

Predominantly a mix of wholemeal and plain, or I'll make a sourdough using the same flour...known as a Cromarty Cob.

We've found the best way to store them is in a linen bag with a breathable TPU liner. The bread is still ok up to 5 days, although better toasted by the 5th day. Doesn't go mouldy.

Don't store in a plastic bag.

 

[GUMPY]

When we had a bread maker we found as it made such good bread we were eating much more bread with the resulting weight gain😱

It had to go for that reason alone.

 

[otherclive]

At risk of Fred Drift I must admit that many years ago my soup maker went the same way as the bread maker. Although my daughter did offer to buy me a soup maker for my recent birthday, but I gratefully declined her kind offer, which she saw as a way to further reduce salt in my diet. But faffing about buying small quantities of ingredients and then looking for variety day to day; not for me.

 

[Beachball]

With my dad been a baker he use make his by hand and when it comes out the oven I use to spread margarine and jam .

 

[Woodentop]

We have a Panasonic but kept having failures with it. Then in March last year I was in hospital over a weekend and in the same room was an Italian chap who had run a Pizzeria for 21 years. Talking to him he said that if we wanted consistent good quality bread always use Canadian Strong White Bread Flour - which it happens Waitrose sell and it is only a few pence or so more expensive than their Essential Strong White that we had been using until then.

We use Panny recipe 11 for a French loaf and it has ever since been successful. The recipe calls for 320g of white flour and 80g of malted bread flour.

I picked up a book in a charity shop a few weeks back about making bread in a Panny which gave some useful tips. I now use 300g of the Canadian and 100g of McDougall's granary flour. I have always used Allinson's quick yeast (comes in a small tub. When all is in the pan, add a very small quantity of vegetable oil such as Flora - maybe a half teaspoonful - and a level teaspoonful of sugar scattered across the top (in the same way that you scatter the salt.) The result is a lovely moderately dense bread with a light and crispy crust.

If you want a larger loaf with a good density and not so crunchy crust, use recipe 1 exactly as it says in the book but using the same core ingredients as above.

 

[Hutch]

My Brother in Law, (BIL) was bought one as a Christmas present, used it every other day, fantastic bread but too much weight on so it is now used, only on. Friday night. Bacon butties Saturday morning s then Crusty bread and soup at lunch time. Sorry I don't know what make.

 

[JTQ]

Thinking it must rank highly in the appliances purchased or gifted that then see little use, I explored that well know auction site for used Panasonic bread makers.
Sure, there are bargains on there.

A well used one develops heat marks on the upper air vents. One without, a give away an item that has been a little used wedding present or a mis buy.

But heed well the warning others are echoing, that fresh bread aroma does so readily lead to over eating. Having access to "trade" supplies of bread flour was no help in that regard here!