We have the BB420 and I love it :)
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We have the BB420 and I love it :)
Our bread maker came with a decent sized recipe book... sofar I have just made plain whites, oh and I experimented with a Stolen (European style Christmas bread) which turned out lovely... what flavours appeal to you? there are so many... I wonder if Breville have a website with them listed... I'll have a look for you...
ETA: Breville don't seem to have a site... but I only had a quick look.
I think i would feel a bit nervous doing a recipe that is not specific to my kind of maker (or suggesting someone follow a recipe from my book, although maybe just flavours would be ok)... the book seems very particular about quantities, timing and the order you put things in etc. When I did the Stollen it was a bit haphazard (I actually used a Delia Smith recipe and guessed the order to put the ingredients in)... I'd be lucky to repeat it I think... maybe I just need to get my confidence up. I usually prefer cooking in a very Amish way... don't like gadgetry... makes me nervous... I can see myself using a woodfire oven one day ;)
I have a great Bread recipe book called "Bread" by Sara Lewis. Its absolutely awesome!
Bath - Breville definitely have a site, I googled breville and it was the first result that came up.
I am so jealous of all this bread talk! Bread is not going to part of my diet again anytime soon, so maybe in 6 months I'll check back and look at getting one!
:doh: thanks rayray... I put in too much info in the search engine... *muttering to self* "keep it simple stupid!" Found the site, no recipes so I'll get my book out jelvie...
I see some of the newer bread makers have collapsable mixers! That would be a fantastic improvement... if it means you don't have to rip it out after the loaf is cooked.... that hole has always bugged me LOL
There are stacks of recipes in the book that came with my breakmaker.
Savoury, sweet, cakes, you name it. It also has the automatic fruit and nut adder. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to make them.
I found that the bread was quite heavy. Is this normal for home cooked bread ?? It also tasted a little flourey, but I didn't think it was too bad.
I also found a site yesterday that had recipes specific for bread makers.
Oooo thats odd mine is neither of those things... Dunno what happened Trish.
I'm sure I will perfect it soon enough. I thought it was pretty good for a first attempt :D
Haven't read all this thread, but I'll chip in. We have an old very simple one. But I found that too Trish, the bread seems heavier.. I only like eating it when it's hot with lots of butter LOL. Never like it the next day. I also bloat more with homemade bread.. must be the yeast? dunno.
I haven't tried any other fancy things in it tho. Not even pizza dough.
Did you add the wet first and then the flour on top? LOL I don't think it was anything you really needed to perfect i'm sure ;)
Yep, wet then dry ingredients :D
Ok went out and bought the Breville BB420 this weekend. I had a quick read of the book and decided to go with the mixes first. Silly me forgot to take the book with me and went from memory. So I am not sure if I have stuffed up, but it has raised a few questions.
Yeast brands - does the brand of yeast have to match the brand of bread mix or flour used? I would have though that the yeasts would have been the same. I bought Lowans as it came in the container rather than sachets, but there was no Lowan mixes and I bought Defiance instead. Also the book mentions Tandaco yeast in the recipes, I assume Lowans would still be ok?
Bread mixes - Only 3 brands were mentioned in the book, but the supermarket did not have them all and had another brand, Lauckes. Is the bread just as successful using a mix not listed in the book?
Cost savings - are there any, or is just nice to have homemade bread?
Slicing guide - is one of these worth it? I have an electric knife is that enough to get nice slices?
I use lowans too its actually a better yeast IMO. Don't worry about brands, find one you like and go with it. I would definitely get a guide, and use the guide and the electric knife (as its what we do ;)) There can be cost savings if you buy in bulk. I'd also recommend bread improver as it helps the breast to be less spongy iykwim?
Thanks Cai, good to know I can mix up the brands. Hoping I can find a good rye one out there. DH has said that I am not allowed to buy bread now that we have the breadmaker :rolleyes: hope I can stick to it. Just need to get the slicing guide, the shop we bought the maker from did not sell them, which is odd, atleast they did a good deal on the maker and electric knife.
One more hour to go to see what the first loaf is like.
Some of the bread mixes you get at the supermarket also come with their own yeast packets inside them.
Yep, any yeast is fine, just use the appropriate amount. you need to masure it fairly carefully, and keep it as dry as possible before mixing the ingredients - so, if you're going to do an overnight setting, put the water in first, then the mix, and then the yeast on top, so it is separate from the water until the mixing starts.:
We never read the book - we just followed the directions on the mix we chose. So yeah, any mix should work. :D:
Honestly, we didn't find any. You tend to eat a little bit more bread than you normally would (the loaves are taller, and the slices tend to be thicker when you are hand-slicing) and the bread does not last as long as shop-brought bread, as it usually doesn't have any preservatives in it (we found ours would become quite stale and hard after 48 hours).:
Like Rouge said, use both - and let the bread cool first.:
Thanks for all that. Might need to look at freezing some if it looks as though it wont get used, but it DH has been taking lunch, so that will help use the bread up . DD has issues with some food additives and preservatives, so a shorter shelf life is worth it in the long run.
Did find the loaf quite high, I did make the large (1250g) loaf, so might make a 1000g one next time. Turned out quite well, can't wait to try some other types, just went with white as a starter. Looking forward to winter with a nice soup in the slow cooker and some fresh bread to go with it.
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Cost savings - are there any, or is just nice to have homemade bread?
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I found the it was costing us half the price to make it coz when we buy bread DF has to have a certain brand which is $3.50 - $4 a loaf. I only make a small loaf when I make it that way it doesnt go mouldy if we dont eat it in a few days.
Homemade bread is so much nicer especially when its still warm
The only issue I have had is that the bread maker makes odd shaped loaves (almost square) & the bread is too big for the toaster & I dont like toast under the grill. So until I can solve that problem I keep a commercial loaf in the freezer for when I want toast.
Oh dear the supermarkets make breadmaking hard. Coles had a good range of yeasts, bread mixes and some flours, but no bread improver. Safeway has the bread improver, a small range of mixes and 1 type of bread flour in 1kg only :rolleyes:
Must remember to turn the beeper off if I am using the delay function, not good being woken up at 4am!
I dont use the bread improver, at the moment Im using the defiance bread mix & the lowans yeast and it still turns out fine.
Just want the bread improver for when I am using a recipe rather than a mix, but the mixes make it quite easy, DH was quite surpised how quick it was to throw together.
Does anyone have any recipes for nut breads etc?
Just bumping this as I have more questions now - sorry Kazbah I don't have any nut bread recipes.
Does the collapsible blade sometimes not collapse? Also is it normal to have a ring of bread just underneath it once the baking is complete?
Sometimes it seems with the kneading process that it will not pick up all the dough around the edges. Is this normal, am I doing something wrong?
I got the slicing guide, but have found the loaves are too wide to fit, only the 750g loaf does and only when on its side. Kind of frustrating as I thought it was meant to fit all loaves from a Breville machine. Have I assumed wrong?
Oh, I have been good and not bought any bread, but we do have one sliced loaf in the freezer as back up. I do find we are eating less bread, which I think is a good thing. I look at the loaf and think that I can't be bothered cutting it, so I grab fruit instead if I am just in a snacky mood.
I was thinking about buying a breadmaker (after seeing Jamie Olivers "Eat to Save Your Life").
I'm looking a cheap, older type one from eBay, but then thought how much are they brand new and where would I find recipes?
Do you have a bread maker ? How much do you use it? What are the pros and cons?
Still using my bread maker, only really stopped for just over a month when bubs was born. Probably use it 3 times a week, more if we have visitors or if I am making soup and want nice bread with. I still only use the bread mixes, still have not ventured to making the bread from scratch. My bread maker came with recipes as part of the instruction book, including the recommended measurements for some commercial bread mixes. If you don't get a book the bread mixes do have instructions, the hard bit knowing what order the ingredients are meant to go in.:
In reference to my previous post: I have finally worked the slicing guide out, it does not like the crustier loaves, the softer loaves squeeze in much better.
Wow, what an interesting read! So - I am sick of running out of bread, and only realising the night before. How awesome if I could just make some bread on the spot!
What breadmaker do you guys have/recommend? What features do you like? Who makes their bread from scratch (as opposed to using a mix)? (I think that's enough questions for now. :P)
I hired a Breville Bread maker today for my DD and want to know what others think of them. It is the smaller one and does, I think up to a 1kg loaf. Are there many around and what is the best sort to get. She has small children so want to know if it is worth the cost of buying them one?
Any suggestions would be welcome.:)
If you can upkeep the maintenance they are fantastic! We used to use ours daily. It was very cost effective but it was a pain in the bottom to clean. Now we use it once a week or so for fresh bread & soup together.
We have a breville I think.... (that would mean getting up and walking down the hall.... sorry :redface:) Cost effective.... I think renting one & seeing how they feel about cleaning it etc works.
We use an electric carving knife to cut bread slices ;) for a handy hint.
Hi Rivlas- i have a breville one and it is fantastic. Works out at about $1 a loaf if i buy the bulk bread flour.
I have a slightly larger one that makes a 1.5kg loaf. I tend to make the 1kg loaf more often though and it is fine for us. Even ok if we have visitors, but only last a day!
The only down side is that the bread is so yummy you eat too much!
ETA- just wanted to add mine has a removable blade and is really easy to clean...... not sure if yours is different Christy.
Christy.
Electric Knives are not allowed in my house as I had a run in with one many years ago and have never used one since, still have the scares.
Also, people who know my grandson know he will try and work out how it works!!!
I've just merged your thread Rivlas with an existing bread maker thread.
Thanks Niliac,
Still learning my way around. Will read back to see if any of my questions are answered when I have time.
I have a Panasonic that I bought a couple of years ago and I make my bread from scratch. I just use yeast, flour, salt, sugar, bread improver, water and olive oil and it takes about 2 hours on the quick cycle. I never have used the long cycle. I also use it to make dough for rolls that I put in the oven and it makes the best pizza dough in 45mins. You have to rise it in a warm spot afterwards but that's about all. I have also made flavoured breads by adding in chopped dried fruit and cinnamon or onion, olives, sundried tomato etc for a pizza loaf, cheese and chives etc. Mine makes 3 diff size loaves in dark, med or light crust. I bought a Panasonic as mum and 2 sisters had one and they use theirs on a regular basis (I sort of do) and have done for years. The bread shop near to me recommends Panasonic and I buy all my stuff off them. I use organic white and wholemeal flour and I still think that it's cheaper than shop bread although I never buy the $1.50 loaves in the shop, more the Helgas or Molenburg etc but I love the freshness and cleanliness of it and I know exactly what the ingredients are.
I am thinking of getting a bread maker/machine/whatever you want to call it.
My ex's Mum had one, used it once, as the mixer thingy in the bottom was too hard to get out of the bottom of the loaf. What are the best models you guys have for being able to do this easily? I don't want to be fighting with a silly machine and rip up loaves of bread, IYKWIM. Oh, Bath, I just saw your comment about the collapsible mixer. Good idea, I'll look out for that when I'm putting in my machine order! Are they hard to clean?
Trying to also figure out which would be the best one to get. One with a timer that can make a big loaf would be good. Any ideas? If you get one that makes a big loaf, can you just make a small loaf if you want? Or does it turn out a weird shape?
Am looking to make pizza dough in it also, hoping using a bread machine may save me some time. Will it, for those that use it for this function?
Is it worth getting one with the fruit and nut dispenser? I like fruit bread.
Hopefully if I get a machine, I will not buy bread. Not like that's a problem, I walk across the town (from the supermarket) especially to buy bread at one bakery! It'll be quicker for me to make my own then walk down there and back, especially having two kids to lug down there and back! Although, its $1.20 a loaf, that's why I go, and it doesn't leave me with a nasty yeasty taste in my mouth either.
How do you make pull aparts in a machine? I can't fathom the idea of how it would work. Sorry for all the questions!
going back 10 years ago mum had a bread making machine, handy with 5 kids that eat thru a loaf of bread easy in one day.
i dont know bout the models now, but it used to beep when it was time to add like fruit or chocolate. Mum used to add nutella and cooking chocolate to make really nice chocolate bread, tasted better than any other bought bread too.
ive been tossing up the idea of getting a bread machine lately. i've just gotten a mix master with a dough hook and wondering if im just getting lazy and turning my kitchen into a horde of white elephants! lol hmm
I just have to give mine a shake to get the hook thing out of the bread. I can't imagine you getting one without the blade as that is what mixes it but mine never gets stuck so I can't remove the bread. You don't need a fruit and nut dispenser. I don't have one- it beeps when you add it and I open the lid and throw it in. The loaf sizes vary in height because it is the one size tin, iykwim? The dough option is good for me as I pop the ingredients in and leave it for 45 mins and it is done. Mind you I have never made dough by hand so don't know about saving time. To make rolls and pullaparts, foccacia etc you make the dough in the machine then take it out, shape it and put it in you oven. My machine is a Panasonic SD251 which are very popular. A new model may be out??
Thanks Deidre. That is a big help.
Does anyone know if Panasonic still have their breadmakers?
Also, if what is a good model/brand to use? I'm thinking about getting one but there's quite a few out there and don't know what to look for. Thanks :)
Does anyone know if Panasonic still have their breadmakers?
Also, if what is a good model/brand to use? I'm thinking about getting one but there's quite a few out there and don't know what to look for. Thanks :)
Can anyone tell me where to get a slicing guide? I love my breadmaker, but never use it because its such a PITA to slice.