Bread Maker

[~Hestia~]

I have been tossing up whether to get a bread maker or not for ages, have decided to start shopping around Anyone have one? Any particular ones to look at? I don't have many appliances so any advice is welcome.

[Astrid]

I have had mine for about 5 years now. I have a Breville and have been quite happy with it so far, so can't comment on other brands. Mine is a large capacity and can bake 2 loaf sizes. To be honest the large loaf is a bit much, but I do love the extra tin size as it means I can do a 1 1/2 batch of pizza dough. It does have a nut/fruit dispenser, which at the time I thought was great, but I think I may have only used once.

I go through phases with it. I had months there where I did not buy sliced bread, now I don't use if for baking bread, but more dough that I use for pizzas, pizza scrolls etc.

[Lenny]

I also have phases. At the moment I tend to use it to make dough for freeze and grab lunch items like fruit buns, scrolls etc. and pizza dough. I tend to only make one loaf for the weekend and have it with soup for lunch or dinner.
But for me it is worth it.
I didn't buy one but borrowed a kenwood from my sister. I had it for about 3 years! Then she made mention of wanting it back so we bought an aldi one. The fruit dispenser drops the sultanas down the back of the tin and directly onto the element. And it only fit about half a handful. Stoopid mistake by their designer. But I couldn't be bothered returning it and on the occasions that I make fruit bread I just throw it in at the one hour mark when it would normally open and drop the fruit.

Aldi usually improve their products regularly, so I'm not writing all Aldi bread makers off.

My bread maker lives in the laundry in the linen press as I simply have no room for it in the kitchen.

[Ladylove]

We have a Morphy Richards and I use it all the time. I can't stand most store bought bread now, I can taste the sugar. I love the idea of making preservative free bread for my family and it's so quick and easy to put a loaf on. We use Lauke bread mixes.

[JLeigh29]

We got our Breville about six months ago and are happy with it. Three or four loaf sizes and can even make jam in it! We love that the little kneading attachment folds flat so you don't get a big hole in the bottom of the bread. As PP have said, the separate dispenser isn't all that flash - doesn't hold enough grains for our multigrain bread, or enough of any of the other 'extras' we want to add (olives and herbs for the olive/herb loaf, for example!) so we just put them straight in. Sounds like no brand has got a decent one...

We use ours about once a week.

[Ladylove]

I just tip fruit straight into the mix. It never sinks and is always distributed evenly.