Breadmaker

[Druss]

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product ... DMAKER.htm

I know a few people on here use breadmakers, just wondering if anyone has any experience with this one? I'm looking at getting one next week but can't seem to find any reviews (besides the ones on the Argos website). I know I may well be getting what I've paid for, so to speak, but it looks decent enough...doesn't it?

 

[graysalchemy]

Hi

Have a look at this thread, quite long but early on people discussed bread makers. I think if I recall the general consensus was you pay for what you get and the Panasonics are the best.

:thumb:

 

[Grumpy Jack]

Used to have a breadmaker... got rid of it and I just do it by hand now. It's very therapeutic and enormous fun!

I do have to plan to do it, so it's not an every day thing, but beating the **** out of a dough is such a good feeling and has certainly kept me in my job, when beating somebody instead of some dough seems desirable at times... & judging by the speed that my sons wolf down the end results, I must be doing something right as well. :-)

 

[PD]

Yes I could watch my wife baking bread for hours.......

Tastes great...... little warm loaves with jam and a strong pot of coffee....those French folks got something right...

 

[anthonyUK]

+1 to Panasonic. Always come out top in Which! tests.

 

[calumscott]

+1 to panasonic. In a head to head with my Morphy Richards it came out top and by a reasonable margin too.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Yes I could watch my wife baking bread for hours.......

Tastes great...... little warm loaves with jam and a strong pot of coffee....those French folks got something right...

Home-made jam, of course! Shop-bought jams & jellies, especially bramble jelly, just do not have the flavour of home-made.

My favourites are plum & brandy, bramble, spiced rosehip, apple & ginger, and hawthorn.

 

[calumscott]

Yes I could watch my wife baking bread for hours.......

Tastes great...... little warm loaves with jam and a strong pot of coffee....those French folks got something right...

Home-made jam, of course! Shop-bought jams & jellies, especially bramble jelly, just do not have the flavour of home-made.

My favourites are plum & brandy, bramble, spiced rosehip, apple & ginger, and hawthorn.

Hear!! Hear!! Home grown and home made blackcurrant jelly is nothing short of ambrosia.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Yes I could watch my wife baking bread for hours.......

Tastes great...... little warm loaves with jam and a strong pot of coffee....those French folks got something right...

Home-made jam, of course! Shop-bought jams & jellies, especially bramble jelly, just do not have the flavour of home-made.

My favourites are plum & brandy, bramble, spiced rosehip, apple & ginger, and hawthorn.

Hear!! Hear!! Home grown and home made blackcurrant jelly is nothing short of ambrosia.

I prefer home-made blackcurrant jam to jelly, but I know what you mean. I'll be making a batch of the stuff in a few weeks, once the blackcurrants have finished ripening.

 

[graysalchemy]

Not a jam fan unfortunately and though I am a mad alchemist and have a recipe for Marmite I think that one is really a bridge too far. :lol: :lol:

 

[hairybiker]

Not being able to afford a Panasonic. I have one of the Logix ones that Currys (or was it comet?) sold of during a rebrand. Makes all most everything from bread to jam. I tend now to let it mix it and shape by hand or split to smaller loafs etc.
Might try Rasp jam, as that is the only fruit I have here, this year. But now that we are both Diabetic the jam will have to be low sugar, so use grape juice etc.

 

[Druss]

Thanks for the replies guys, I did kinda think that the cheapest of the cheap would yield similarly cheapy nasty results but the Panasonics are a little out of my price range.

I tried making a few jams this year ( kiwi, blueberry and strawberry) but only one of them really set properly, which in turn led to an interesting use for jam that turns out too runny...stick it in a demijohn with some pectolase and super yeast compound and in a few weeks you have a rather nice beverage :)

 

[Megaross]

I've done a lot of research into this, got a panasonic in the end and it knocks the **** off the cheap one I remember we had years ago. As in it actually makes good bread and not a crappy stodgy underkneaded mess.

If you can't afford Panasonic just do it by hand until you can is my advice. Main joy of the breadmaker is that you can have it on a timer for when you wake up

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

I tried making a few jams this year ( kiwi, blueberry and strawberry) but only one of them really set properly, which in turn led to an interesting use for jam that turns out too runny...stick it in a demijohn with some pectolase and super yeast compound and in a few weeks you have a rather nice beverage :)

For any fruits that are low in pectin, I either combine with high-pectin fruit (usually apple &/or citrus) or I use jam sugar with added pectin, or a combination. Sugar with pectin is very expensive though, so I only use that if I'm doing something special.

 

[musher]

I use a Kenwood Chef to do the hard work then I do the fun bit. I don't see the need for a breadmaker. I get excellent results without. If MIL knows I have been baking she's round like a shot

 

[Vossy1]

Swimbo does use a bread maker to do the kneading/first rise/knock back, but then it's into a bread tin. I don't use the bread maker for any step and I specifically don't like the dough hook hole in the bottom of the loaf...it drove me nuts, that along with the loaf being too small for me (personal preference).

 

[PD]

quote

Main joy of the breadmaker is that you can have it on a timer for when you wake up

I set the wife's alarm clock for her........... :whistle:

 

[graysalchemy]

I religiously kneed my bread, has become a bit of a friday night obsession .

I didn't bake last weekend and I am getting withdrawal symptoms.

If you don't go down the bread maker route get yourself a granite chopping board (about £12 in most supermarkets) take the little rubber feet off and place in the oven when you switch it on. they make fantastic backing stones and really help to bake better bread. Essential for pizza's as well IMHO. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Pearlfisher]

Look for a secondhand Panasonic on Ebay or Wait until LIDL have their Silvercrest Breadmakers around £35 in stock again , they have very good reports.

 

[Megaross]

quote

Main joy of the breadmaker is that you can have it on a timer for when you wake up

I set the wife's alarm clock for her........... :whistle:

Whats it like having your tackle removed with a breadknife by an angry woman? :lol: