OT: New Bread Maker required

[Adrian]

Thank you!

Oh, damn, more kitchen-stuff required...

[Chris French]

In message , Gordon Henderson writes

I don't think it is for a specific loaf, it looks more like one of those 'this is what is your bread' type lists from the Internet.

I'm not convinced by any arguments I've read.. It's a bread of last resort for me, though youngest daughter likes it.

Oh indeed, it sounds great :-)

I like making my own, the idea of making enough to sell isn't an attraction.

When do you open your bakery then :-)

[290jkl]

You can do that with the best of them.

And also takes less effort than going to the hot bread shop etc too.

[Nick Odell]

I had a slight variation on the Fastbake program this morning.

Add ingredients and switch on.

Let the paddle churn away for a couple of minutes then notice the motor is going very fast and the dough isn't moving.

Empty gloopy dough out of loaf tin and discover the drive bar that turns the drive shaft has worn out.

Turn over the drive bar where there's just enough metal on the other side to engage with the shaft, reassemble, put the gloop back and start again.

Result? Possibly the best Fastbake loaf I've ever made. But then it was also the longest Fastbake too.

Nick (Guess why I'm avidly reading this thread?)

[Gordon Henderson]

A collander and a well-floured linen tea towel will get you started...

But:

is in my favourites...

Gordon

[Gordon Henderson]

I keep telling myself it's just a hobby, but I'm about to spend £silly on an entry-level commercial oven, so who knows!

Gordon

[rick]

Had a Panasonic for some years - works perfectly

[rick]

I agree ... but also nice to put ingredients is machine set timer ... and wake up next morning to fresh granary bread.

[polygonum]

When I was looking around, a while ago, I didn't see any. Could you point some such beasts out, please?

[Gordon Henderson]

Assuming you mean local hot bread shop, then entre your postcode into

Gordon

[polygonum]

No - I quoted the wrong bit - programmable bread maker is what I couldn't find. :-(

Nearest local hot bread shop 8.9 miles away. In a town we never go to. :-(

[290jkl]

Sunbeam BM7800

[Chris J Dixon]

I have had a Panasonic for some time.

The first part to fail was the plastic catch for the dispenser tray, so I fashioned a replacement.

When the rather abrasive seeded mix I use eventually wore off the coating on blade and pan, it was better value to get a complete unit from ebay.

When the second dispenser latch failed, I came across

Which is just the job. You'd think Panasonic could have done this themselves.

I recently had a look on line at the latest model, and noticed a significant number of bad reviews, some from previous Panasonic customers, saying that it worked well for a while, then started turning out rubbish loaves, if anything. I wonder if they have made it too intelligent for its own good?

Chris

[Nick Odell]

I was thinking of giving the Panasonic a go but reading those reviews has cooled my enthusiasm somewhat. I wonder if the makers will bill the reviewers' credit cards by an extra £100?

Nick

[Andy Burns]

Do they still make the SD25x series, or only the SD25xx now?

[polygonum]

Thank you. Looks to be an Australian model - couldn't see it available in the UK.

The programming looked a bit tedious and possibly not as flexible as I wanted. :-(

[290jkl]

Its trivially easy to import one.

Yeah, but presumably there isnt much option with the very limited number of controls on the average bread machine.

Yeah, I'd much rather it had wifi or bluetooth and an app in that regard.

The manual on the Sunbeam site for the more recent BM7850 has the programming section missing for some reason.

[Stewart]

I can see that you have already had lots of replies but would say that we have a one year old Kenwood and it has produced excellent results. We buy our bread flour from Aldi, both strong white and wholemeal and both are fine. we have also used their ready mix white and wholemeal and cannot fault them. The delay action is a great things to have and also we have found that the paddle in the Kenwood does not stick whereas it did in both our previous bread machines. Good luck.

Some years ago, frustrated by my good lady's complaining about the performance of our Morphy Richards bread maker, I asked here about a forum where I could get some help, and it became a family tale that the DIY community contained so many closet bread-makers that the thread ran to around 90 postings.

Fortunately someone kindly came up with the comment that Morphy Richards' instructions were too prescriptive and changing the sequence of adding the mix sorted the problem.

Now the machine has come to the end of it's life - the paddle bushing had worn to the point that fluid from the mix was leaking out.

We need a replacement - do any of the 'closet' have a recommendation for a machine that reliably produces wholemeal type bread as that seems to be the weakness of some of the market offerings.

Thanks Rob

[Dave W]

+1 I bake about twice a week - my procedure takes less than 90 mins from start to finish. I use 8oz white + 8oz wholemeal + 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl. 4oz cold water + 4oz boiling water + 1 teaspoon sugar + 1 teaspoon yeast (Allinson traditional) in a mixing jug, wait a few mins for froth to form, then pour mixture into the bowl. Mix in more warm water (less than half pint) to get the right consistency, then knead till homogeneous into a sausage shape to fit a pre-oiled tin. Put in the electric oven, set to the lowest the thermostat will click, to rise over the top of the tin, half an hour. Then turn up the oven to 250 deg C, and remove finished loaf after half an hour.

[Chris J Dixon]

I calculate nearly 3% 1 star and almost 1% 2 stars.

Not enough to condemn out of hand, but, especially if you notice the common detail of sudden failure, a worrying trend.

Chris