As subject suggests, I am after a Bread-maker….
My family consumes a few loaves of bread a week these days and thought could save $ by making our own?
Therefore, the quest is out there for a "Bread-maker" of great value…
Comments/opinions/own experience on types of machines or theories are welcomed!
Would prefer New. How come you don't use it?
Umm, it takes up a lot of space if we want to keep it out and ready for use. Because it is stashed away, we never bother to take it out and wait ages for a loaf of bread.
I have the Breville Ikon Bakers Over BB600, http://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=479.
Great machine, top of the line (got as a gift), differs from others as it has an automatic fruit and nut dispenser which most others don't have. The bread that it makes is fantastic using store bought kits which is a mix of dough, seeds and such. You can probably do the same job with flour.
The other thing to look for in a breadmaker is a timer. With the BB600 you can set the breadmaker the night before to have the bread ready at whatever time you want in the morning. Keep in mind it takes 3.5 hours from start to finish
I find the machine most useful in my case to make pizza dough and hamburger buns.
As for saving money, not too sure if it's that cheap. If you factor in the price of the machine + ingredients + 3.5 hours of electricity, I'm not sure if it's cheaper than say bakery bread. That said the convenience of having fresh warm bread waiting for you on a Saturday/Sunday morning is priceless. Unfortunately, you just want to eat the whole loaf in one sitting ;)
Ooh thanks for that reply, yeah nothing beats fresh warm soft bread.
Will look closely at this model or similar specs.
5kg of multigrain bread mix (yeast packet included) is $12.50, good for 10 loaves so $1.25 each. Cost of electricity is I would guess so 30c for 2kWh. I've made a loaf a week for several years now so I think less than 50c per loaf capital cost. So I'm ahead of the store bought variety. But the freshness is the main reason not any small saving.
I think all the models have a timer now. My basic model doesn't have a delayed release hopper so I would have to wait until the right moment if I wanted to make fruit bread.
You'll want to decide first on the max size of bread you want to make. Mine makes a vertical loaf because it's a small model. Others have a more conventional pan.
If you want to make your own mix, you have to pay attention to the protein (gluten) content of the flour, important for kneading.
I have an ancient old sanyo. I never use it for bread (lot of time waiting and it disappears in a few minutes). However, I regularly use it for making pizza dough and nan bread dough, at which it is very good.
Same, SBM-20; bought it in 1992-3 IIRC…the thing is like a Timex…takes a lickin', keeps on tickin'! But I make bread with mine occasionally too, can't resist that crust with dollops of butter when it's hot! :)
Kmart were nearly giving "Homemaker" brand ones away shortly before Xmas, the missus bought a couple as gifts for $29 each! Worth looking there in case there's stock left…they had literally dozens left when we grabbed them! ;)
I bought mine from one of the deal sites about 6 weeks ago for about $70 (it was meant to be around $150 or something). It can make upto 1kg bread. The good thing is that it has about 10 menus that you can choose - ie dough, rapid bake, french, etc. We use it about 2-3 times a week. The smell of fresh bread cant be beat. With a good butter it is amazing. I wish I had gotten it earlier.
For the first loaf I used a packet from coles - it was about $3 or so. After that I bought a 10kg bag of bread making flour that had yeast packets included. This makes it much cheaper.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to add the correct amounts of ingredients and as neil said it takes about 3.5 hours to make. I tried the rapid bake which is only 1 hour but all the loaves I have made on that setting haven't been that great.
I think most bread makers these days make good bread. Some have features like automatically adding fruit/nuts etc as well as retracting the blades used for making the dough. It's upto you if you need those features.
I have one if you want. It has been used about twice.