I am considering buying one, but I keep getting different opinions
on them. I know you can only make small loaves but i have ben told that the bread isn't very nice and you don't get a fresh bread smell. Is this true? I am thinking of buying the cheap cookworks one from argos.

I am considering buying one, but I keep getting different opinions
on them. I know you can only make small loaves but i have ben told that the bread isn't very nice and you don't get a fresh bread smell. Is this true? I am thinking of buying the cheap cookworks one from argos.

What rubbish! You get the same smell as you would in the oven! Some of the pre packed mixes aren't very nice, but if you use proper ingredients and set the timer so it's still warm on the morning...Hmmmmmm.

Also makes cake or jam, by the way...

My friend has one and she adores it, uses it for bread and pizza bases. In fact, she's had to unplug it and put it in a cupboard for a while cos they were piling on the pounds as it was so delicious :)

I am considering buying one, but I keep getting different opinions
on them. I know you can only make small loaves but i have ben told that the bread isn't very nice and you don't get a fresh bread smell. Is this true? I am thinking of buying the cheap cookworks one from argos.

The sweetbread makes the best. Pm for details...

Actually, the bread tastes so good that this is their downfall! Because you smell it baking and then lurk by the machine, knife and butter dish at the ready and when it 'pings' you get that fresh, hoit loaf out and devour the thing within five minutes while you're standing at the kitchen counter :D

My mum has one and its great

Lovely smell in the morning :)

I think it depends on the model We had a cheap cookworks one and the bread used to come out very dense and heavy (like it hadn't risen enough) and it didn't smell nearly as good as bread we made in the oven. It was very good at cook madeira cake though! This was a few years ago so they may well have updated to more effective cycles.

my mum has one and the baking smell is delicious- especially tealoaf with extra cinnamon- yum!

I am considering buying one, but I keep getting different opinions
on them. I know you can only make small loaves but i have ben told that the bread isn't very nice and you don't get a fresh bread smell. Is this true? I am thinking of buying the cheap cookworks one from argos.

That won't be anything to do with the bread making machine it'll be down to wrong messurements or wrong ingredients.

As for not getting the fresh bread smell?

I just don't get it as you are baking the extact same thing as if it was in the oven.

You get what you pay for and so you are best reading reviews on particular models as some reviews I've read in the past have "uneven baking" or "bad dough mixing" written in them.

That won't be anything to do with the bread making machine it'll be down to wrong messurements or wrong ingredients.



Yes you must be very precise with measurements! Also, it helps if you make sure not to omit the small amount of fat and salt or you will have quite grim bread. A Vitamin C tablet helps in some recipes too. And always use warm water, never cold. Most importantly, never, ever let your yeast touch any of the wet ingredients!!!

My sister makes the most wonderful wholemeal sunflower granary and seed breads in her bread maker! My niece (who's 4) loves to do the measuring and know that she's done most of the bread making.

Oh this thread is making me so hungry...I need to get one of these machines!

We've had a number of these over the years and, as John above stated, it's about getting the mixture right so do a bit of adapting your ingredients if it doesn't seem to be rising properly or is too dense.

My OH makes a loaf nearly every day. It takes him about 5 mins to put the ingredients in the tine and swich it on. He has it down to a fine art. We tend to make bog standard wholemeal loaves with some seeds added at the same time as all the other ingredients. Very healthy and we haven't bought a loaf of bread in about 5 years -I can't eat shop bought bread now. Do you know that brown bread is just white bread dyed brown?!?
You get what you pay for and so you are best reading reviews on particular models as some reviews I've read in the past have "uneven baking" or "bad dough mixing" written in them.As for the model, we've found that many are the same machine with a different brand name on them. The last one we bought was a Morphy Richards Fast Bake from Costco (£35) which makes a large loaf. This is the same machine as my mum's which is a different make. Different machines come with 1lb or 2lb tins so you don't have to get one that makes a small loaf (they'd be pretty useless in our house with the amount of bread we eat!). However, prior to this we had one that was a real cheapie make (the brand that you see in Woolies where they have TVs with adverts for the products). It was totally basic but cooked a loaf just fine.

I am such a bread making geek!:hihi:

Thanks for the replies, I can't wait to get one now.

is there any particular make of flour to use

I use strong white flour and strong wholemeal flour. My breadmaker is used daily , the kids love to use it and it tastes nice too.
however it doesn't keep to well as there is no preserves in it.

is there any particular make of flour to use

Not a particular make, but you need the word 'strong' on the packet.

I have just ordered a Morphy richards one, simply because of the price & fastbake option. Hope it's ok.

I have just ordered a Morphy richards one, simply because of the price & fastbake option. Hope it's ok.

Mine is a morphy richards with fast bake, it makes delicious bread, and i have made jam in mine, which was lovely.

Let us no what u think of your breadmaker when u get it.

I have a breadmaker which I can't use often because as others have commented if gets eaten far too quickly. The only problem I find apart from it smelling so nice and wanting to eat a full loaf at once is that it goes dry quickly. You also get holes in your bread with some of them where the kneaders (thingys) have been

we got a kenwood BM250 yesterday for £50 from debenhams ... been to sainsburys tonight to get some flour and yeast and will spend the day tomorrow trying out the different recipes!
will report back :D

So how did you get on?

I have a breadmaker which I can't use often because as others have commented if gets eaten far too quickly. The only problem I find apart from it smelling so nice and wanting to eat a full loaf at once is that it goes dry quickly. You also get holes in your bread with some of them where the kneaders (thingys) have been

I was just going to write this, this is the problem I have with mine! A blooming big hole in the base grr. It does taste nice though! Although my dad keeps finding recipes for 'beer bread ect' and passing them my way :suspect: :hihi:

I have finally got mine. I have taken it out of the box, but not done anything else with it yet. I am going to get the ingredients over the weekend and then attempt to mkae a loaf:)

I had one and used it for about a year, then gave it away. Too much messsing about, plus you have to buy a bread knife to slice it. Much easier to buy bread.

I have two bread making machines. One is a Goodmans on that makes large loaves and the other is a morphy richards that has two small bread tins in. I like both machine very much but tend to use the twin baking machine more because there are only two of us. The fresh baked bread smell is wonderful and I have found that using the bread mixes from Lidl gives very good results. These mixes make brown loaves that stay moist a lot lnmoger than white bread. I particularly like the multigrain mix.

Well my first attempt was a big failure, I think this was mainly due to using the fastbake option. My poor loaf was like a lump of lead!I was going to try again and then saw how cheap the hovis bread mixes were in asda (29p) and gave it a go. It takes 3 hours, but tastes and looks lovely. Maybe you have to use a special recipe for fastbake, I don't know.

Don't bother, I got rid of mine
It's just as easy and more satisfying to make it yourself.

I've just bought one, and my first loaf is in there right now. My fingers are crossed!!

I love making breads that's why I usually research for the best bread maker in the world and I found out that Panasonic SD-YD250 is one of the best among the rest.

I usually bake breads and I found it easy and very challenging with the help Panasonic SD-YD250 which is one of the world's best brand in making breads.

Two weeks ago, I bought myself a brand new breadmaking machine. I was excited because I have been wanting to have one. The description said crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside.when I first operated making white loaf, it failed to rise. It probably needed to warm the yeast. When I did so, it came out almost perfectly well. The following day, I made a corn bread. If I was mad that day, that could've been a very good thing to gnaw. It was tough, and rubber like. And as the long hours passed away, that goes the same for my white loaf. The third day, it became moldy. It probably needed a bread improver. The manual didn't say it needed a breadmachine yeast. Is there a machine that doesn't need a breadmachine yeast? Incidentally, I hardly found one in our supermarket. Someone from True Value suggested to use Baking Powder. Is that possible?

I bought myself a breadmaker machine last two weeks ago and I used instant yeast by Eagle. It was good at first but as time passed by it becomes tough and rubbery. I have searched and the right way is to use the breadmachine yeast fro Fleschmann's. The trouble in our area, is they only have fast rising and rapid rise by Fleschmann's. Is it alright if I use any one of them?

Why the need for a "machine", i don't get it. !
Then again you haven't tasted one of my mums loaves made the "traditional" way.

Well, I have always wanted to have a breadmaker machine. And the whole wheat bread I bought outside makes me acidic. I would love to have a hot bread being baked fresh first thing in the morning with ease. You'll know when you have one. You gonna love it too! When you're tired you wouldn't have time to make bread. so that's it. How would you like to have everything in the house always in push button? How I wish! But then still waiting in vain, still looking for contacts or suppliers where I could buy breadmachine yeast.

Well my first attempt was a big failure, I think this was mainly due to using the fastbake option. My poor loaf was like a lump of lead!I was going to try again and then saw how cheap the hovis bread mixes were in asda (29p) and gave it a go. It takes 3 hours, but tastes and looks lovely. Maybe you have to use a special recipe for fastbake, I don't know.

We have the morphy richards fastbake one (fastbake option is a waste of space though). We use it a fair bit and usually cook our loaves on setting 11(I think, sandwich??).

We did make some mixes ourselves but have found the wrights pre-mixed ones the best http://www.wrightsflour.co.uk/shop.aspx .

Although might have to pop to asda for the cheap hovis ones.

We just use dried packet yeast from the supermarket. If the yeast or flour isn't fresh it doesn't always rise well. I used to make bready by hand but if left to rise in summer in the kitchen it can rise too much and taste like beer. The bread maker seems to insulate it a bit but we have had problems with the machine if the room is too cold in winter.

I've never had a problem using the instant yeast. I got my first breadmaker as a gift a few years ago, and have never bought a loaf since! I've since 'upgraded' my machine, as i became aware of other functions that I would have found useful.

I actually prefer the texture of the fastbake option - you have to adjust the amount of yeast etc. So long as you follow the recipes tht come with your machine (at least until you get the hang of it) I've only ever had problems when I've forgotten to put the kneading blade in...:roll:

I've never had a problem using the instant yeast. I got my first breadmaker as a gift a few years ago, and have never bought a loaf since! I've since 'upgraded' my machine, as i became aware of other functions that I would have found useful.

I actually prefer the texture of the fastbake option - you have to adjust the amount of yeast etc. So long as you follow the recipes tht come with your machine (at least until you get the hang of it) I've only ever had problems when I've forgotten to put the kneading blade in...:roll:

I forgot to take ours out of the bread once and we didnt eat all the loaf so it went in the bin with blade attatched.

Looked on ebay and they wanted £12 :o Looked direct on the Morphy richards spares site and they only wanted £2 :)

Why use a bread maker???????????? I used to have one but realised it takes all the fun out of making bread. I also read somewhere that if dough is left to prove twice the resulting bread is better. In my old bread maker the dough only proved once. My hand made, twice "proven" bread tastes far better than the bread maker bread so I sold the bread maker and now I knock up a couple of loaves every weekend. Do any breadmakers prove their dough twice?

To Sheffield Forum.co.uk,

Thank you for that nice thoughtful greetings. It made my day!

Why use a bread maker???????????? I used to have one but realised it takes all the fun out of making bread. I also read somewhere that if dough is left to prove twice the resulting bread is better. In my old bread maker the dough only proved once. My hand made, twice "proven" bread tastes far better than the bread maker bread so I sold the bread maker and now I knock up a couple of loaves every weekend. Do any breadmakers prove their dough twice?

For me its time, not getting home from work untill 6pm, setting off at 7am. Working most weekends, combined with my vast array of hobbies (Allotment, craft brewing, weight lifting) I find very little spare time.