Bread maker - What is best.

[DavidG]

I am thinking of buying one of the bread making machines.

Any advice, brands, what to look for, which ones to stay clear of. Etc.

To be used for fresh bread for school lunches and my lunch. We use near a loaf aday.

Thanks Dave..

[Batpig]

Dear Dave,

We had one once but we gave it away. Can't remember the brand, but one thing I can tell you though, is that a friend of ours who does warranty service for several brands of all things electrical swears by the Panasonic bread-maker. Best in Breed, he reckons - End Of Story. Only thing is, last time we were talking about them (only about 3 weeks ago), I think he might have said that Panasonic were deleting them here in Australia...

Having said all that, I saw some down at Aldi this week for either $59 or $69 (they were one of the weekly featured items about 3 weeks ago).

Good Luck,
Batpig.

P.S.1: Just thought of it - if Panasonic are deleting them, try flashing some cash at any retailer who's got some. You might be surprised...
P.S.2: They weren't Panasonic's down at Aldi's for the $59 or $69 by the way. Sorry if it sounded like that...

[clare]

Hello Dave,
I have a Breville 'Ultimate' -which is one of the largest machines I think. Does big loaves anyway! In fact, just come in for my lunch break and guess what's waiting for me!! Anyway, had it for probably 5 - 7 years and it's never missed a beat. It has a fruit and nut compartment, but I like to pack the bread with waaaaay more seeds, fruit, nuts, cheese, herbs etc than any recipe in print, so don't use it because it wouldn't be big enough. I just wait for the final kneading and load the dough up instead.

I hope that's helpful. It's the only bread machine I've owned, so have nothing to compare it to, but it's been great. I don't know if all machines have timers on them, but if not I'd make this a priority because there's nothing like waking up to a house full of that freshly baked bread smell, or coming in from the workshop at lunch to be met with the same!! Enjoy :)
Clare.

[Big Shed]

I am the bread baker in the house and use a Remington Big Loaf, it makes a horizontal rather than a vertical loaf. If it breaks down I will get a Panasonic after having used one whilst house sitting my sons' in-laws place in Adelaide. A friend also has a Panasonic and swears by it.
One of the drawbacks of the Aldi breadmaker is that it has 2 paddles rather than one, and you finish up with a bigger hole in the bread.
BTW the Panasonic was also top in Choice magazine some time ago.

Almost as important as the bread machine is the bread mix, if you decide to use that instead of separate ingredients. Have tried several brands and Laucke is by far the best brand, not the cheapest.

I use both bread mix and separate ingredients. When I make specialty breads such as Foccacia I use separate ingredients. I also make Fruit bread with cinnamon and either mixed fruit or just sultanas.

Whenever we have to buy factory bread now, we don't like it very much, particularly the white fairy floss stuff.

I load up the machine before we go to bed and set the timer so the bread is ready about 8:30 am, nicely ready for lunch after cooling down.

[petersemple]

We ound that ours didn't work nearly as well on the timer as cooking it fresh. The loaf just didn't rise as much. One thing that really helps is to put the ingredients into the pan in a different order to what the recipes suggest. You need to keep the yeast away from the water and sugar so it doesn't activate too soon. I have seen one breadmaker that has a separate compartment for the yeast and adds it only when it starts cooking. That seems to work really well. If you are making the bread straight away then use warm water.

Also, you will rarely buy pizza again

Peter

[Batpig]

Dear Dave,

I just edited in a second P.S. to my original reply, but I thought I'd better make a new post of it, just in case you miss my edit and scramble off down to Aldi looking for a Panasonic bread-maker for $69...

The Aldi ones weren't Panasonic! They were one of Aldi's pretend-brands...

Sorry if it sounded the first way... :(

Best Wishes,
Batpig.

[DavidG]

Thanks for the info.
Will look around for a panasonic.:U

[Ashwood]

I won't say I can't be wrong, but believe Panasonic ones are no longer in the market. Probably the closest you'll get to the Panasonics is the Sunbeam larger model (about $300), has many settings and is programmable, and has a horizontal baking 'pan'.

I'd go for either Sunbeam or Breville - some of the lower end Breville's (less than $100) have had good recommendations in Choice.

One thing to note is that unlike baking in an oven (where the exposed surface becomes crusty & dark), in breadmakers it is the opposite. The heating coil is below the pan, and the pan gets very hot and it's the surfaces which touch the pan which turn crusty & dark. This means you get more crust (which you may like or hate) in vertical pans than in horizontal pans.

Hope this helps.

[Big Shed]

I won't say I can't be wrong, but believe Panasonic ones are no longer in the market. Probably the closest you'll get to the Panasonics is the Sunbeam larger model (about $300), has many settings and is programmable, and has a horizontal baking 'pan'.

I'd go for either Sunbeam or Breville - some of the lower end Breville's (less than $100) have had good recommendations in Choice.

One thing to note is that unlike baking in an oven (where the exposed surface becomes crusty & dark), in breadmakers it is the opposite. The heating coil is below the pan, and the pan gets very hot and it's the surfaces which touch the pan which turn crusty & dark. This means you get more crust (which you may like or hate) in vertical pans than in horizontal pans.

Hope this helps.

You may be right about the Panasonic, but they turn up quite frequently on Ebay and also in our local Cash Converters. Most secondhand ones I have seen are pristine. Most people buy a bread machine, use it a few times and stick it at the back of the cupboard.

[manoftalent]

I have a remington big loaf ..that has made a loaf a day since it was bought ..5yrs ago...I think it was around $110....anyway it still works well and I get a great loaf every morning ...you cant beat the smell of fresh bread in the morning ...:U

[flynnsart]

I/ve had three bread machines, used to make all our bread in them, and have done for some years. The panasonic is my favourite, so keep an eye out for one. I notice the choice of premix flours for bread in our local woolworths has gone from one whole bay to only one brand. I used to like the light grain mix from defiance the best, and after that the Laucke.

Donna

[weisyboy]

we have a panasonic 5 years old never missed a beat. :2tsup:

[bitingmidge]

Another vote for Panasonic.

We almost never bake in ours, preferring to mix and proof the dough in it, then turn it into plaited loaves, breadrolls, pita brad, focaccia and all sorts of stuff in the oven.

Cheers,

P
:D

[China]

I hve used my Panasonic breadmaker three times a week for eight years first time I had to replace a part was last Friday, they are the best machine by far sadly as said adove they no longer make them. (Panasonic invented the home bread maker0

[Buzza]

Breville Baker's Own here . . over twelve years of great service. :) We also get our mix from a bake and brew supplier, which has never failed. The granddaughters demand the rolls, so the dough is pulled out and divided up and cooked until golden to meet their desired colour, just in time for their weekly visit from the countryside. :D

[Rattrap]

Hi DavidG,
We have the breville BB420B here & we use it all the time in fact we haven't bought a loaf of crap mass produced rubbish for better than 3 years now. The machine has a fruit & nut despenser Thats just exellent for an awsome spicy fruit loaf (yep had a slice for breaky yum!) A cpl of the really neat features with this machine is that first off the mixing blade folds down flat once the bread has been mixed leaving only a cpl mm deep hole in the bottom of the loaf instead of a freakin huge canyon. Also the blade can be easily removed for cleaning.
The unit is really easy to use & has good flexability in baking methods , i would recomend it without a doubt.

My main tips for breadmakers is, first off as with most things u get what u pay for. As far as i know there are no 'good n cheap' bread makers.
Make sure u can remove the mixing blade from the bowl, it can be a pain in the ass cleaning under the blade if its mounted. Our first panasonic had a fixed blade & tho it lasted for some 6 yrs before the blade broke out of the base i still cursed every time i had to clean. lol.
A fold down blade is a real blessing too. Without it u get a huge hole in the loaf thats a pain.
The fruit & nut dispenser is exellent too as it adds the fruit at just the right time. too soon & your fruit gets mushed by the mixing process, too late & u'll find all your fruit lumped together.
Good luck & happy baking!
U won't regret a bread maker, once you've tasted your own bread u'll never go back to shop bought trash.

[Andy Mac]

That Breville sounds pretty good, in lieu of a Panasonic. We've had a Panasonic for more than 10yrs, and has been really good. I have replaced the paddle, which flogged out, and the bearing /seal assembly in the baking tin. The action is quite powerful, and creates a lot of stress on parts. They seemed dear at the time, for what they are, but then it extended the life of the machine.
Shame about them being discontinued, and I agree about the recent lack of bread mix choices. All pointing to a lack of demand...
We regularly make pizza base dough, focaccias, Indian style breads etc, and once a bread recipe is proved you can feel confident about adding other stuff. I made one recently with an egg and leftover porridge, which turned out great!

Cheers,

[DavidG]

Thanks people.
As panasonic is no longer available I am looking at the Breville BB420.

Lots of good comments here but has anyone had bad experiences or given up using one.

[flynnsart]

Make sure you get one that has a decent sized bucket. Some of the smaller ones seem to end up all crust and very little loaf. As long as you buy a branded one i think you will be right. Watch out for sudden weight gain tho:p See if your machine has a quick bake setting on it. Some loaves take about 4 hours to make and sometimes you just need one asap cause visitors just rang up and said they will be there by lunch time:doh: Ours has a setting that will cook in about 2 hours.

donna

[DavidG]

Gone and done it. Now the owner of a breville BB420 and some bags of bread mix.

Too late to try tonight but will try tomorrow. Got to get some strawberry jam and cream in.:roll:

Thanks for the help.
Dave..

[Rattrap]

LOL. u won't regret it mate. I bake 2-3 loaves a week, love the home made bread.

[TheSandpaperMan]

Does the Breville you bought have a jam setting for making jam?
Our Sunbeam Quantum Smart Bake has a jam setting. Nothing better than having home made fresh bread with home made jam. Making jam is so easy.
Also have the fruit and nut dispenser but must admit we don't use that facility.
Enjoy!

[DavidG]

Lesson one... When using whole meal mix, use the whole meal setting on the bread maker, otherwise you make a brick. :C

Lesson two... When making a crusty white loaf, don't try to cut it up while is still hot.:C

Lesson three... People (kids) don't wait for bread to cool, neither did I.:U

Lesson four.. Make more bread than you think you will need as the termites seem to devour it faster than I can bake it.

Edit for The Sandpaper Man.
It has jam, dough, fruit nut, folding blade, and don't know what else yet.
Top of their line.

[DavidG]

Latest update.
Using Laucke mixes in 5Kg packs. Very nice.
Love the crusty white and whole meal.

I add 2 tablespoons of ev olive oil to the mix and reduce the water by 10ml. Creates a lovely soft loaf.

Take the Crusty loaf mix and add 2 tbl spoons of brown sugar, 3 tsp of mixed spice and fill the nut hopper with mixed fruit. Cook on the "Sweet" setting.
Mouth waters...... Can not keep up with the family or self.....

As some one said, You can not go back to the shop bought stuff.
It is like eating a dish sponge after tasting home cooked bread.

Thanks for the help guys/gals. :U:U

[Big Shed]

David, I make fruit bread with 50/50 White/Wholemeal mix (Laucke) add 1-2 teaspoons Dutch Cinnamon and 150 gr Mixed Fruit or just Sultanas, lovely either fresh or toasted.

Wait till you make Foccacia or your own pizzas!

Just made a Buttermilk bread, recipe in this book, which is well worth getting. Got my copy from Angus & Robertson.

[Rattrap]

heres my wholemeal recipe, no packet ingredents. I make on average about 2 -3 loaves of bread a week.
100grams gluton flower
500grams wholemeal flower - (stone ground is great)
2 tbsp (tablespoon) milk powder
1/4tsp (teaspoon) salt
2 tbsp oil
400mls warm water
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp (slightly heaped) yeast.

Put the yeast into the baking bin first then mix the flower, gluton flower, salt & milk powder together & add on top of the yeast. ( don't mix yeast in with dry ingredents, for some reason the yeast doesn't activate as well & loaf doesn't rise as much)
Add the sugar to the warm water & stir well to partially dissolve the sugar.
Add the water/sugar to baking bin straight ontop of the flower mix.
Add the oil to the baking bin.
Bake on wholemeal setting, 1kg loaf with light crust.

The beauty with this recipe is that there is no preservatives at all but the down side to this is that the bread is only good for sandwiches for about 2-3 days then its best for toast. Not that it often lasts mush longer than that. lol
The gluton flower is needed to help the heavy wholemeal to rise well. U should get a nice light loaf that comes real close to filling the breadmaker infact sometimes it jams hard up against the lid. lol
You probably won't find gluton flower in supermarkets & no its def not the same as bread improver. That rubbish is packed with preservatives & chemicals. U'll prob find in at a healthfood or wholefood supply shop.

PS, u're prob gonna need a bigger toaster for this loaf. ROFL.

PPS for some reason every now & then this recipe will fail to rise as well as it should. I've never been been to figure out y even tho i've tried changing round just about all the ingredents.

[Ashwood]

We have a Sunbeam which works beautifully.

The following mix (wouldn't call it a recipe) never fails a beat for us:

3 cups Laucke crusty white bread mix
1 cup oats (either whole oats or quick oats .. the basic Coles or Safeway ones are fine)
1 tablespoon Lowan bread improver
1.5 teaspoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
Roughly 300 to 310 ml water

I say roughly as it may vary depending on the moisture content of the flour/air. I usually look at the dough as it mixes, and throw in more water or flour if it doesn't look quite right.

This gives a very light and fluffy white bread with a crispy crust - somehow the oats disappear, and you'd never know it had any, but we found that without the oats, the mix sometimes doesn't rise as well. Don't ask me why, so long as it works ....

[DavidG]

Follow up on prior post.

I now bake Sun to Thur nights (5 nights) for fresh white bread for lunches.
Plus one fruit loaf and one whole meal per week.

Love it. :U

[switt775]

Another vote for Breville. We're on our second (wore out the 1st making bread several times a week for about 8 years.) When it bit the dust we had no hesitation getting a new Breville. Love the folding blade, it really makes a difference if you want to slice bread for sandwiches.

I'd recommend you pass on the mixes and use ingredients. Vastly superior loaf from any mix we tried, and only takes about 1 minute more to prepare. :2tsup:

[vanessaminaustr]

I bake bread every day for our family (two adults, two primary school aged children)…we tried several bread machines and before finally trying then buying the Breville BB400 - the newer series models of this one are called BB410 and BB420. (I have used both the newer ones and they are fab also- BB410 only difference is the viewing light and the BB420 has a slightly larger pan but I still use the same recipe…the BB420 loaf is nearly exactly the regular shop bought bread size)
I find that putting a piece of cardboard over the viewing window helps the machine retain the heat and the crust is slightly smoother with the viewing window covered with a business card or similar
It’s top of the range machine but makes excellent bread everytime AND the loaf is horizontal more like a shop bought loaf of bread.
Our most used and successful recipe (I have loaned my machine several times while on holidays and converted friends who’s kids loveddd the bread - kids are the real test - if they won’t eat it you will obviously not be inspired to bake it)
Pizza dough in this machine comes out fabulous and since it has timer delay setting you can program simply to finish baking at a certain time in the morning….
290ml lukewarm water
2 teaspoons honey
Slurp of Olive Oil
Half Cup of Wholemeal Flour (Laucke available from Woolworths in various sized bags)
3 Cups of White Flour (Laucke from Woolworths)
1.5 teaspoons Yeast (comes included inside the Laucke Flour bags)
I set crust control to Dark and loaf size to 2lb.
The total baking time is 3.43hrs

[DeElle]

Hi on to the breadmaker subject again :rolleyes:!

Can anyone tell me anything about the Breville BB400? I can't find anything on the net about this one.

I have at the moment a Sunbeam Cooltouch Bakehouse, and was thinking about buying the Breville BB400 advertised in our local, but can't find any info about them! :no:

Thank you!

[DavidG]

The latest version is BB420.

BB400 is an old version number. :doh:

[DeElle]

Thanks for your answer DavidG, yep I knew that, but I'm trying to decide if I want to buy this second hand Breville BB400 or not, and I don't know anything about them.

I would dearly love to buy BB420..........can't afford at the moment I'm afraid! :no:

[DavidG]

Save up, scrimp, bludge, borrow. Buy new and you will not regret it.

Biggest problem I have is the termites.

Baked a fruit loaf and there was only 4 slices left when it was cold enough to pack away in the freezer. (for toast)

Got to bake another today. That is 3 fruit loves in less than a week......:U

[DeElle]

You can't beat home baked bread, and we even know what's in it! :;

[missybubbygirl]

Hi
I'm new here and from what I have seen on here I like, anyway I got a BREVILLE BREAD MAKER BB410 fron Ebay today any thoughts on it ?

[johnredl]

Hi
I'm new here and from what I have seen on here I like, anyway I got a BREVILLE BREAD MAKER BB410 fron Ebay today any thoughts on it ?

We have had a breville for about 5 years. Still works fine. Use it for pizza dough also...yum...home made pizza. A while ago the tin started leaking, so I called breville and bought a new seal kit, now it's back to new again :)

[damian]

Welcome to Basic Ingredients HomeBread (http://www.basicingredients.com.au/)

If you are interested in baking bread or buying a bread maker I recommend going to basic ingredients and having a read.

I am not affiliated with them part from being a happy customer.

They don't sell makers but they do recommend some over others. If your looking for bread mixes consider their introductory offer, it's a lot cheaper than the major supermarkets and allows you to try a few things.

I personally scorn the maker. I can throw together a loaf with so little effort, albiet over several hours, that I've never seen the point of them. YMMV

Anyone can make edible bread, for some people it's a near religeon and they spend their lives looking for perfection. Hopefully I'm somewhere in the middle.

Have fun.

[banksiaman]

I'll throw in my 2.2c worth.

After many years making bread by hand, my family bought me a Sunbeam bread maker (10? years ago I think). Worked like a charm, but was a little on the small size. After things started wearing out, we decided to get the bigger all-singing all-dancing Sunbeam, and wasn't that a disappointment. While it did larger loaves, it had a vertical mixing blade which didn't mix properly, and the baking part of it just wasn't hot enough, couldn't put a decent crust on anything (I say didn't get hot enough because even if you programmed a longer baking cycle, nothing changed). After trying everything to get this to work for 2 years, got a smaller (1Kg) Breville, and got decent loaves again. It has the old Sunbeam type angled mixer and a decent baking temp.

I will go back to making bread by hand when I have more time (retirement coming up), I love the process.

Good luck with your Breville.

[Ozkaban]

I have two bread makers. One is a cheaper breville, which we replaced after about 2 years as the bearing that held the paddle in gave way. We only use it for dough - mostly pizza bases or plaited bread. I never had much success in getting a nice, fluffly loaf of bread out of them, though others manage it fine.

The other one is a Sunbeam that I scored from kerbside collection. I use it to roast coffee :coffee: I put it on dough setting and use a heat gun held up on an Aldi drill press stand to roast 'em with. Works really well. Wouldn't ercommend using it for bread afterwards though :D

Cheers,
Dave

[max87]

I purchased my Panasonic bread maker a few months ago, and I wish I'd done it sooner! It replaced a small Welbilt I've had for some time. Just toss in the ingredients, and bingo! Fresh-baked bread without the hassle.