Bread Makers/Machines

OOhhhhhhh my bread maker is about 10-12 years old I reckon... a hand-me-down- from my mum..... but we still use it everyday.

With DD allergies, there is like only 1-2 brands of bread i can buy comercially, plus it's nice to have fresh bread and know what's in it. We usually use the Lauke brand pre-mix....so the bread making process for me takes less than 2 minutes.... it's a fine art now :)

BUT Trish.... you're new machine sounds like a superhero amoung bread makers!!! WAHHHH now i want a new one....
if you don't mind my asking, how much was it??

Oh and how did the bread turn out??

Hi Laura, my breadmaker ended up costing me $175. Was normally just over $200. O got it from The Good Guys.

As for how the bread is I'll tell you when I make some.

My parents have only had bread made in a breadmaker for over 10 years now.....currently they have a Breville Ultimate with automatic fruit and nut dispenser model BB420 ($250) and are very happy with it. My older brother has just got one too as he prefers to bake his own as well. Other models which I've heard are good are the Breville BB290 ($170) and the Panasonic SD251 ($250).

Interesting about the new blow dry function :) I knew they would have to deal with the sogginess... mine was given to me by my mother (she's gone gluten free and prefers the commercial gluten free breads)... I'd say it's about 5 years old. You've all inspired me to use it recently... made 2 loaves in the past 2 days! Another tip: buy yourself a nice SHARP long serrated knife! (otherwise known as a 'bread knife' funny that ;) )

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.