Breadmaker

Am thinking of buying one for the first time but don't want to spend a lot of money in case i don't use it Any thoughts on that would be welcome

Just to say I did buy a Panasonic and I'm soooo pleased with it. Had it a few months now and I use it once /twice a week. Wish I bought one years ago.....thanks for the replies guys.....

Good luck, Shirleyw. You won't regret it.
I'm on my 3rd breadmaker but my first Panasonic and it leaves its predecessors standing. I use it 3 or 4 times a week and ring the changes with different kinds of bread. I'd hate to be without it!

We had a number of Morphy Richards ones until we bought a Panasonic half price on Ebay to see it was "worth the extra money."
It was. I use wholemeal flour and put it on the 5hr cycle. The flavour is so much better as the yeast takes longer to works and the flavour has time to mature. The difference in the flavour of a slow rise and a fast one needs to be tried
We tend to slice it stick in in the freezer and then take out what we need at the time.
We have easily got used to putting it on earlier. There is no more effort needed.

Thanks guys...off to Lakeland tomorrow, they have a three year guarantee....

I have a Panasonic too and wouldn’t be without it. It takes me less than 5 minutes to put the ingredients in the pan before going to bed, setting the timer to produce a freshly baked loaf for the morning.
I use some of the other menus too and have made pizza bases, fruit loaves, cakes, buns and rolls.
I ring the changes with fantastic bread flours such as multi-grain wholemeal, seeded malted flours as well as plain flour and wholemeal. Every so often, we slice a few rounds from a loaf and freeze them in case we run out of bread or go away.
The bread doesn't keep as long as shop-bought but doesn't get the chance.

I'm on to my third bread maker in 20 years. Sometimes I don't use it for months and then I'll have a few months of using it non stop.

We're on our second breadmaker - a Panasonic. For years DH has been making bread every other day. It takes 5 minutes for him to put in the ingredients and two hours to cook a small loaf. We've also made olive bread, sundried tomato bread and fruit bread. There are no additives or preservatives, just the ingredients we want and we can control the salt. It can also make jam although we've never tried that, DH prefers to make jam and marmalade on the hob.
We have an excellent bakery nearby but it's so expensive in comparison to homemade. The only bread we buy now is a walnut cob from a well known supermarket beginning with S and baguettes.

Thanks guys, some interesting replies......mines a time issue, it would be soooo handy to have it making bread over night ready for the day...

I've had a Panasonic breadmaker for a few years now. It's had a lot of use! Before that, I had a Morphy Richards but it cooked unevenly and burnt on one side so I got rid of it.

If you use the quick programme on the Panasonic it produces a loaf in two hours. I have problems with my hands and wrists so the traditional method of kneading is out for me.

Thumbs up for the Panasonic. I've got a French loaf cooling at the mo, ready for lunch when my 16:8 permits!

I tend to go through phases of using mine but it's my second one and I'd hate to be without it.

I bought my first one, a Panasonic, twelve years ago when DD1 and her boys moved back from Northern Ireland following the break up of her marriage.

I also piled on the weight because home baked bread was so addictive and in those days I could tolerate gluten.

I now have a Morphy Richards breadmaker with a gluten free programme which is not as high spec as a Panasonic but is perfectly adequate as I prefer to make the dough then bake it in the oven instead of leaving it in the breadmaker to bake.

Both myself and daughter have Panasonic breadmakers picked up very reasonably on car boots my daughter has 3 children and uses hers every day I use mine at least once a week.

Thans Chewbacca - I've had a search on Google and nowadays it's 3-4 hours. Which is similar to the time it takes me to make 3 loaves.
Apart from the cost of the robot, my method has the additional cost of the gas/ cooker baking. 20-30 minutes.

Our coffee maker has been consigned to the utility room cupboard since DH no longer drinks coffee!
My bread maker is used regularly. I have a Beaumark make, unfortunately the bread pan has sprung a leak. It has a slow drip. I cannot find a replacement bread pan anywhere so I'm thinking of buying a new machine. The DGC love my coconut sugar buns. I couldn't make them by hand any more as I find kneading difficult these days.

Menopaws items that I "couldn't live without but now residential in the cupboard under the stairs:
Foot spa check
Bread maker check
Pannini maker check
Frothy coffee maker check



Fennel my ancient breadmaking took about 5 hours from start to finish but I expect that's been improved on now, with a more modern machine.

I think there was another thread recently about breadmakers.
As I said then, I prefer a robot with a dough hook, for the heavy work. I do the rest manually. I make 3 loaves at a time -(1 kilo of flour.)
How long does a breadmaker take from start to finish?

When it goes right the bread is amazing, but experimenting produces a lot of bricks! If you live near a bakery don’t even think about it!

What other 'useful' items get given a permanent place in your garage/loft?
Foot spa?
Knitting machine?
Sewing machine?
Smoothie maker?
Toastie maker?!!

Mine is Panasonic. Sadly I don't get round to using it!

I just forgot I was going to buy one and had chosen the one I was going to buy

Half these posts (slight exaggeration) are from people who are wondering whether to buy a breadmaker and the other half about how theirs is sitting unused. What is really needed is not a breadmaker but a matchmaker to pair up people who don't have a breadmaker but would like one and people who have one but don't use it any more.

I like the idea but with a small kitchen I don't want to either have it on the top or in a cupboard so it would go in the garage with the food processor and never be seen again, if I had a big kitchen I would get one. The coffee machine and nutribullet are allowed to stay on the worktop cos they get used a lot

When paw was working away from home, coming back on Friday night I used to pop a loaf in on the timer to wake us up with its wonderful smell on Saturday morning! Warm fresh bread and marmalade for breakfast, mmmm!
Piled on the lbs though.
And mine’s a Panasonic too,

I had forgotten, a few weeks ago I was going to buy one.