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For those of you who have a bread maker, which one do you have? What are its pros and cons? Approximate cost for purchase? Would you recommend it?
I dont want to spend a lot of money however it will get used fairly regularly (no less than once a week) so want something that will last the distance as well.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Also (if there are any who use it for this purpose) how well does it make Gluten Free bread?
Thanks
We have a hand-me-down Breville "Ultimate Baker's Oven", from my MIL. It has a fruit/nut/herb dispenser, well, Had. The plastic aged and its broken off, unusable (in fact, its not even there anymore). DS dropped something on the top of it while it was sitting on the floor in the kitchen and broke the LCD, so I don't even know if that works anymore either! Anyway, note, don't leave it sitting on the floor!
Pros; You just put the ingredients in, choose the setting, and let it do its thing. It has a timer, so you could put all the ingredients in the night before, and set it to be ready piping hot for breakfast the next day (but we all know super fresh bread is super hard to slice!). They can make different doughs, and just knead the ingredients together for you. They can make jam (never done it, the manual give instructions). Some of them have custom settings where you can set your own program.
Cons; The paddle (the stirring bit) in the bottom of the container gets stuck in the bottom of the loaf (never had a loaf that it wasn't stuck in, nor has anyone else I have known), so really need to stop the machine after its finished kneading, take the dough out, take the paddle out, then put the dough back in, and restart. :rolleyes: They take up lots of room.
Sorry, I haven't used it for GF bread, and I don't know what it was worth new. I can't be bothered digging the machine out of the back of the cupboard (ha, shows how often I use it!), but the instruction book is dated March 1998, if that gives any indication of how old the machine could be.
I have a panasonic- I like what I've made with it so far.
Pros - has a folding paddle that once the mixing is done, collapses down to make less of a hole in the loaf
Easy to use - makes good bread/dough
Cons - pretty noisy (can't set to come on during the night as it wakes me up)
Doesn't have a fruit dispenser so you do have to be around to put it in when it beeps
Mine has a GF setting and recipes in the book too.