Breadmaking machines ........

[chappie]

Anybody use a breadmaker, and are you impressed with it?

[scoobysoo]

I have one, and although I find it easy to use and the bread tastes wonderful, it comes out with a big hole in the bottom from the paddle, so you only get a couple of decent slices either side of the hole!

[chappie]

Thanks for that, Oneeye, I'd be worried that it wouldn't work though. Some unscrupulous(sp?) seller might try to palm their faulty one off on me.

That's given me thought for a thread ...............

[Jugglering]

I love my Panasonic and would not be without it... I rarely buy ready made bread these days from the bakers or supermarket, simply because the quality of the product I get from the home bakery is so much better. OK, it's not as cheap as a mass produced loaf... but then the mass produced one doesn't have the flavour or taste of my own. I often just make the dough in the machine and bake the bread in my oven - another taste experience ! Pizza dough is incredibly simple to do in the machine and takes all the effort away...

Just a little note - most the recipes in the booklets provided ask for too much sugar and water and not enough salt in my (very humble) opinion. Try the recipe provided for a basic white loaf and adapt it accordingly to your taste !

[Kleiber]

I think they're great - the way to avoid a hole in the loaf is to just use the dough setting & then finish the bread off in your oven.

[cherrycherry]

i must be missing the point because as well as finding the results below par, and cleaning the machine to be a hassle, I thought the whole point of enjoying baking bread is the therapeutic kneading and the whole experience of feeling the ingredients, blending and feeling the satisfaction of having created the perfect blend by hand...plus the obvious factor that kneading the bread is often cited as being good for arthritis prevention...that is just my perception though (but I also find people are less impressed by bread made in the breadmaker and not hand-made and hand-finished). Anyway, you can only but try and i hope you find a maker that is suited to you.

[woofgang]

well sometimes I like to potter in the kitchen and sometimes I just want the result. I do find that the result from the breadmaker is more consistent but that might just be because I am a lousy cook lol.

I don't find that there is any cleaning really. I tip out the loaf, let the pan cool a bit and run water into it out of the tap, stand it for a while (30 mins or so) pull out the jiggler thingy from the bottom and wipe away the little bit of gunge from that and the pin, drain, dry and that's it.

I live in Hampshire and to buy a similar plain loaf of the same quality would cost me more (including the electricity cost to bake it but not including the cost of the machine or the journey by car to the bakers) If the bread is a speciality one (olive, sundried tomato, fruit etcet) then I save more by baking my own. This assumes from scratch and not a packet mix.

Mine makes a big loaf and I think the panasonic paddle is small, you get 6 to 8 unholed doorsteps and maybe one or two slices with a hole in if you slice the bread lying on its side.
If you slice the bread vertically rather than lying it on its side then the paddle will rpobably only mess up one slice in the middle