Bread makers

I have a Panasonic too. It's nearly as old as Minibags and still working fine. It makes fabulous bread. Everyone who has tasted my bread says it is the best they've ever tasted and also that the texture is wonderful. So I guess I'm disagreeing about hand-kneaded bread being better, absent. I don't follow the machine's (or any other) recipes exactly. For instance, I always add a heaped tablespoonful of ground linseed and I use a mixture of lard and salted butter, variable knobs of which I hack off a block and chuck in unmeasured except by my eye. Maybe that's what makes the difference.

My breadmaker is a Panasonic which I bought when I was asked by one of my regular publishers to write a breadmaker recipe book. Previously I had always made bread by hand, although not hugely frequently, and I still prefer both the process – kneading dough is major stress relief – and the taste and texture of the results. However, it is convenient because it just gets on with it and you don't have to keep going back to see if the dough has risen, etc. Probably the major pain is that even a small breadmaker is quite unwieldy and takes up quite a lot of space in a kitchen cupboard.

By the way, the manufacturers' handbooks include recipes and there are lots of good recipe books on the market (not just mine , which, in any case, is probably out of print by now).

Final tip: Unlike making bread by hand, when you can tell how the dough is working by its feel, it is important to measure the ingredients exactly and follow the instructions precisely in a machine.

I have a trusty Panasonic which must be going on for 10 years old! I did speak to P's Test Kitchen ladies some years ago when I had a spell of unreliable results. Their advice was to only ever use 'Very Strong' bread flour, ignoring the merely 'Strong' sort. Problem solved.

I buy a lovely fresh yeast from Ocado (freezes well and I use it from frozen), and was delighted recently to notice (after a mere ten years!!) a recipe in the Panasonic handbook for a 'Fresh Yeast White Loaf'. The programme takes 4 hours to do a really great 500g loaf. It can be done on the timer too, so I set it to have fresh crusty bread for our favourite Boxing Day sandwiches this year. Quietly pleased with self!

Agree with Skullduggery re wheaten (soda) bread! So simple and fast. I use 8oz coarse wholemeal flour, 4oz plain flour, 1 heaped tsp bicarb of soda, pinch salt, small handful sugar and a small 50p carton supermarket buttermilk. Mix dry ingreds in largeish bowl. Add buttermilk and mix to a damp dough with a spatula, adding a drop of ordinary milk if needed. To avoid messy hands, just tip it in to a buttered and floured 2lb loaf tin and press flat. Bake at 200C for 35-40mins. Fab with butter and cheddar. Apologies for last-century weights!

I have seen breadmakers advertised on ebay which are not new, but are reconditioned. I think Lakeland Ltd have them and of course they are much cheaper. Worth a try perhaps?

I've got a Panasonic and it's great. I used to have a Morphy Richards which was ok but the Panasonic blew me away with how much better the bread was. I like to experiment with different bread flours and the low gluten rye flour mixes used to come out like bricks in my old machine but they're much nicer in the Panasonic one.

If you want to make a quick bread without using a machine, soda bread is unbelievably easy and fast to make. You use ordinary plain or wholemeal flour not bread flour, add buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda, pinch of salt, mix together loosely with your fingers (no kneading), shape and bake. It's lovely with soup and stews for winter.

Also a Panasonic fan, used 2 or 3 times a week. Tesco dried yeast. I prefer the slower timing, so wholemeal/granary takes 5 hours, but delayed timer means it can bake overnight, up to 13 hours ahead. Recipe is so simple it takes no time to prepare. Had to stop making white bread, as it was just too irresistible to have a slice of fresh bread with jam. I buy locally milled granary flour by the sack, and decant into plastic boxes, Easier than going shopping for bags of flour.

Which reminds me, you can freeze dough too and it still works. I used to make big batches (by hand, can't do that now!) bake some and freeze the rest.
When you take it out of the freezer it needs to thaw very slowly , then leave to rise slowly.
But I never found pre-frozen dough quite as springy as freshly made dough.

If you are having trouble with your bread can I suggest that you keep your yeast in the freezer once you have opened it. It goes off very quickly and you can use it straight out the freezer.

When we moved here we brought with us a cheap bread maker from (I think) Asda (it was a present). We used it regularly for a few years before it gave up. We then found one here (in Italy) exactly the same and have been using it for about 3 years! I use it to make bread for toast as it's almost impossible to find decent "toast bread" here and home made is much better anyway! We also use it for pizza dough as although we can go out for pizza, again , home made is better! I have also made hot cross bun dough and brioche style bread! I wouldn't be without one now!

Thanks Elrel. I do have a set of North American cup measures too, but when I had a MR bread maker I used to use the measure that came with the machine and found it less accurate. However I did have a series of failures with my sainted Panasonic which turned out to be due to the flour I was using. Thank you Mr Tesco. Now I only use branded strong flour or Sainsbury/Waitrose own and all is well.

Purple daffodil - I found a set of cup measures in a charity shop and use them quite often. They are, I think, a standard measure in the United States.

Another Panasonic fan here , I made a delicious panettone at Christmas in mine . Basic brown bread is what I make using Brown Bread flour and a handful of Pumpkin seeds added . I found Dove yeast the best .

I swear by Panasonic. Found that MR ones measured in cups which was too hit and miss. I use a digital scale and put the bread pan on that, zeroing it as required, so easy to weigh accurately. These days I tend to make rolls which are baked in the oven and easy to take the required number out of the freezer for lunch. However do enjoy the occasional walnut loaf as a treat. I too use the tubs of bread maker yeast.

Gagagran - any Sainsbury's with an in-store bakery will sell you fresh yeast!

Has anyone had any luck using a basic bread maker for gluten free bread? Mine is not turning out well!

Mine's a Russell Hobbs and does a great job. I used to use it a lot but gave up for a while as the bread was so delicious I ate too much of it. Recently DGD (aged 6) had to make bread for homework and we used it again. DGC loved it, as did her classmates. She only took half a loaf to school!

I agree about the hole in the middle where the paddle is. I also find that wholemeal can be a bit 'heavy' and so now use half wholemeal and half strong white bread flour with Allinsons dried yeast sachets.

I have a Panasonic, which I've had for about five years. It's far superior to my previous one, a Morphy Richards, which burnt everything. I don't use it all the time, just as and when I fancy, really, but I am very happy with it.

I find it a moment's work to measure out ingredients as I've somehow committed them to memory. Ime they don't need to be that accurate, I mess about the recipes. My only failure was a 100% wholemeal loaf which could have been used as a weapon of mass destruction!

I now buy the tubs of dried yeast for bread makers, not the tiny packets, and keep it in the fridge so it stays fresh.

I've had mine for several years now and use it all the time. The recommendation then was to go for the top of the Panasonic range, which I did, and it's very good. So easy - just weigh the ingredients in and switch on. I use Allinsons dried yeast sachets and Allinsons strong bread flour, but have found Waitrose Essential bread flour good to, especially the wholemeal. The loaf needs to be taken out as soon as it's finished, otherwise it dries too much. It's good for toasting for up to a week but freezes well.

I bought my ds a Panasonic for his 40th and he's used it a lot. He also discovered the Wright's bread mixes and has made lots of different types of loaves.
The bread is lovely! (He often gives his poor old mum a loaf) ?

gagagran ask at the bakery of any large branch of Sainsbury, Tesco, etc. I have bought fresh yeast from our local Sainsbury several times (although admittedly not for 2 or 3 years now).

Gagagran - yes I use dried yeast. 3 packets of 8 grammes for a kilo of flour.
I used to get fresh yeast from an independent bakery here, but dried works just as well.

I have not used fresh yeast for decades. You used to be able to get it from a working bakers. The health food shop Real Foods often has it. Good dried yeast works well. Allinsons make a version specially for breadmakers which I have found more successful than the ordinary kind..

I have a basic Panasonic bread maker and have used it every other day for the past seven years. It is very easy and quick to measure out the ingredients and the loaf is ready in 2 hours on quick bake. I wouldn't be without it.

Tricia do you use dried yeast? I cannot find a source of fresh yeast - does anyone know where it is sold?

A compromise is to get a robot with a dough hook. That's what I've got now, takes up to 1kg flour.
You need to rise the yeast first, and measure other ingredients, but it's easy to adjust as necessary.
When the kneading is done, cover the bowl, leave to rise, then shape the loaves and rise again.
You do have to use your oven for baking though.
1kg flour makes 3 loaves. No holes in the bottom!