Talk to me about breadmakers

[Superwoman]

OK - So I'm thinking of getting my own breadmaker.

Partly coz it goes with that whole homemade, nutritional, "slow" movement that appeals to me so much. Partly because it would save me SMSing "Bread" to DH every second evening on his way home from work, and partly coz I really want a wholemeal multigrain.

I live in a suburb with about 20 bakeries, so getting cheap, preservative free wholemeal, rye or multigrain isn't an issue - just getting up the shop is! LOL.

So I'm wanting a maker that would require me to bung the ingredients in and press "go" and it does everything else for me. And how much it costs

I also want to know how much it costs to make a loaf.

What else should I know when I go to buy one?

Cheers

[Panini]

I have an old one that I inherited. It has a funny shaped loaf that is typical of breadmakers - almost cube like. It is too fat for my liking doesnt make good toast or sandwiches.

But I love the dough cycle. I put all my ingredients in for the dough cycle. Then when it is done I take it out, punch down and knead into shape, then either put in a loaf tin (for everyday) or shape into an oval loaf (for serving with a meal etc.), leave for half and hour then bake. Bread turns out heaps better than it does when baked in the breadmaker but is much easier than making from scratch.

My favourite recipe has oats and grains in it. I use bread flour plus some extra gluten flour and a bit of bread improver. I dont like the recipes in my machines book, they all have too much sugar.

Having said that, I havent used a new breadmaker and maybe they have improved both in shape and baking. I find the loaf too dense and not always cooked that well in the centre. A better shape would help that. I think the breadmaker misses that final knock down and rise which seems to make all the difference.

Hopefully someone with a newer model will let you know how they find it.

Shara

[Leah]

I have the Sunbeam Quantum and it is fantastic. Makes any kind of bread you want and has the fruit and nut dispenser. You can set it to come on at say 4am so you have fresh bread at 7am

I think it was about $180. It does make 750g, 1kg and 1.5kg loaves but we just use the 750g as the other sizes just make the loaf higher IYKWIM.

The recipe I have is not overly heavy it is heavier than bought bread but still light enough that Eliza eats it no problems.

My Mum has the Breville, smaller one, around the $100 mark and while it it good she has trouble with the loaf hitting the glass - it seems to rise too much or the cooking compartment is too small.

[kermi]

Here's a few previous threads on the subject Amanda.
http://www.nappycino.com.au/forum/do...-machines.html
Breadmakers
Bread making machines??
breadmakers

[Wems]

I have an older sunbeam one (must be the same as Leah's mum cause ours hist the glass too sometimes ) I put the ingredients in before i go to bed and set it so it is cooked the next morning and then i put another one on when I get up for lunch and arvo tea.

The kids love the bread and prefer it to the bought bread now My Dad loves it too He thought it was from the hot bread shop

It cost us about $18 for a 10kg bag (sometimes a few dollars cheaper when it is on special then we buy a few bags) of bread mix and then we just have to add water.....the 10kg bag last us about 2 weeks so for all our bread needs (sometimes we put in a dough mix and the kids make buns or we make garlic bread sometimes) it is costing us about $9 a week it used to cost us close to that a day when we were buying all our bread from the supermarket.

and yes we are never running out of bread now so thats a bonus

[Superwoman]

Thank you.

Gee - isn't it funny, I can already smell the bread cooking! Hahahaha and my mouth is even watering watering after reading these posts.

Cheers

[Rodent]

We have a basic sunbeam breadmaker and it's great. We use it to make pizza dough too. Our machine loaves are fine but the recipe can make a HUGE difference. We make all of ours from scratch (the mixes aren't kosher) and some have been hits, some misses. Our honey wholewheat loaf is awesome! Fine for sandwiches if you can cut the slices thin enough but it's best hot anyway so they rarely make it that far. It depends on how much you buy the ingedients in bulk but for a plain loaf not bought in bulk we pay about 60c a loaf, a bit more for the honey wholemeal one, maybe 75c? The machine was about $100.

--Rodent

[roseberry]

We had one for a couple of years, the bread was beautiful but I put on so much weight because the bread is a lot heavier and so yummy when fresh and hot that I gave it away. Lost about 10kg!!

[~Carolyn~]

i have some fancy one- cant remember the name- it was $$ tho. One thing that mine doesnt have but i wish it did was an upright loaf. Coz with mine if you want more bread it makes a taller bead not longer, so you dont get more slices. So with mine you get bigger slices not more slices iykwim.

[Clarielle]

Do it ! such yummy bread. So easy.