I'm thinking of buying one.

Anyone got one? Are they worthwhile? Any pitfalls?

Cheers

Dave

Meh, make you own bread by hand. It's more fun and good stress relief.

If you want to get experimental and try some different types of bread or just can't bothered with doing the kneading yourself then a good mixer that can accommodate a dough hook would be a better investment in the long term as it can be used for other things as well... it's just a shame the good ones tend to cost a bomb (I'm looking at you Kenwood and KitchenAid).

I mix the dough in a normal cheap Kenwood food processor. The main downside is that it only properly mixes 400g, which is a small loaf.

My parents are on their third bread maker. They use it maybe twice a week, and they don't seem to last very well. It is very convenient though. You get consistently good results for minimum effort. They use it for bread rolls and pizza, as well as the funny shaped loaves it bakes. I have several friends who also use them regularly.

I would consider one if I had the space to store such a huge lump!

I use my Kenwood Chef to mix the dough. The advantage is that I can use it for many other preparation needs, like making soups; chopping ingredients; mincing meat for stews etc. Then I use a good quality bread tin and let the bread rise in the airing cupboard. When I remember that it is ready I cook it in a halogen oven. The pros are that I have immense flexibility in terms of what I can make, but it takes up a space on the work surface. It is also probably more expensive than a single bread maker.

A bread maker might also have to stay on the work surface because of its size. Though a friend makes bread regularly in his and also jam. So is limited in what it can do. It can be pre set so you wake up to fresh bread.

The choice is between versatility and price. Only you can make that decision. Look around and compare models and prices.

Those who like them say Panasonic are the best. I didn't really get on with mine (a morphs Richards), it never made very nice bread. If I ever want to make bread, I'll use my kenwood and do it the old fashioned way.

We've got a Panasonic one, it makes bread.
Tastes better than stuff from Asda etc but never as good as a proper bakers.

are you in-bread?

Are you under the illusion that you're funny?

In the Brattyverse he is funny.

now wheat a minute, noone mentioned anywhere trying to be funny, I was just loafing about having some fun no need for anyone to make a wholemeal of my jokes

I use a bread mix and it makes decent tasty loaves. Also reduces the complexity for me. Add water and mix. So even I can do that. One day I might actually try and make it from flour and yeast.

I use these sachets of "easy mix" yeast. You just add it to the flour and water and mix. If you use normal yeast, you need to remember to prepare it half an hour before you need it and also a second kneading / proving. Normal yeast also goes off more quickly than the sachets.

There is always a recipe on the side of the bag. Be sure to buy bread flour - cheaper "general purpose" flour doesn't work well because the gluten content is too low.

I find my dad's one (which is very old I'll admit) makes better bread if you use the bread maker to do the mixing, but then bake the bread in the oven rather than in the bread maker.

I already have the bread flour, but the bread mixes seemed so much easier to do. The yeast should go on the shopping list.

You'll need the following to make bread from scratch.

1 tsp yeast
500g Flour
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp milk powder
1.5 tsp salt
25g butter
330ml-350ml water for a white loaf (depending on your flour), 360ml for a 50/50.

4 hours for a white loaf & 5 hours for a 50/50 or wholemeal loaf.

I've done this from memory so you may need to timings depending on your breadmaker