Bread Maker

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From what I can remember, you do not want to add salt on top of fresh yeast and leave it for minutes, because then the salt will indeed kill the yeast.
However, I use dried yeast and adding more salt doesn't seem to hinder the rising of the bread.
Why don't you experiment by adding a liitle bit more to your next batch and see what effect it has?

Hello. I'm a new breadmaker owner. The bread is quite acceptable but needs a little salt. Am I right in thinking that adding more salt will reduce the action of the yeast? Thank you

The west bend bread slicer has been used by us for over 3 years, its durable and easy to use. nelliemoser is also a good choice cause one of my friend is using it. If you are going to get one, many reviews may do you some help.

Thanks Fennel,*Mapleleaf*,will try putting less sugar in than recipe recommends,failing that plan b will be to try removing after the dough programme ?

I don't like the hole either, but of course there's bound to be one for the preparation part Used to make a lovely loaf from recipe that came with breadmaker, with wholemeal flour and honey, yum!!

I had one but, like Gagagran, did not like the hole and wanted to make more shapes and recipes. I used it for years just for kneading but, when it died replaced it with a mixer with a dough hook. I don’t find this any more fiddly, in fact less, than the bread maker.

But you can use one. Did you read all the comments after that article? People had good ideas and recipes. The bread is at least as good as the bought ones, and if you make rye bread, for instance there is no wheat let alone gluten.

There are always secondhand breadmakers on sale for a lot less than new. People find - surprise surprise! - that you still have to put the ingredients into it, it isn't a magic wand, so they don't use it as much as they expected to.

Thank you so much Elegran, a lot of money only to find I can't use one.

Anniebach I've not used the gluten-free recipe in the Panasonic, but I did look at it, and it tells you to use a packet GF bread mix and do it on the GF setting. I suppose the ingredients depend on what mix you buy.

conversation.which.co.uk/food-drink/gluten-free-bread-recipes-breadmaker/ has a piece about GF bread and some interesting comments from the public about their experiences. (And recipes)

Another thing you could try, if you have the time, is to use the dough programme for fruit loaf and then shape it by hand into rolls or put into a loaf tin and finish off in the oven to bake it. It does mean you have to have the time to do that though. ?

"Yesterday I made a fruit loaf which tasted great but seemed to be just a tad overdone on the outside"
The reason could be that a fruit loaf contains more sugar, which burns easily.

After reading this thread a few weeks ago I decided to look out for a Panasonic on our local buy n sell site,managed to get a 254 for £20.Reckoned not much to lose at that price ?.3 loaves in and delighted,bread is delicious,Yesterday I made a fruit loaf which tasted great but seemed to be just a tad overdone on the outside,anyone came across this?,the programme is a 4 hour one,wondering if it would do any harm to remove from the machine maybe 10 min earlier the next time.Thanks to all for this thread,I now have the best toast ever at night ?

Another vote for the Panasonic. Everything we've tried just works, except once when the yeast was a bit elderly. The 'sandwich bread' settings are good if you like a slightly denser loaf.

Has anyone made the gluten free recipe? If so does it contain soya please?

Wow, really pleased with the breadmaker now, three loaves in. Even made one overnight so came down to beautiful aromas this morning. DH loves the bread. Though it will be a disaster for me as I am on a perpetual slimming world diet!

Go for it, Nandalot and make a loaf. You don't want your poor husband to have migraines until Christmas, do you? Once tasted, you won't want to go back to shop bread ... (and you can always wrap up a couple of paperbacks from the charity shop to go under the tree so no young people are upset!)

I was in Lakeland at Gretna last weekend and saw THIS one. I thought it looked good, and is not too large for the worktop, although my worktops are a bit crowded.?

Seeing this thread encouraged me to buy one and it arrived this evening. DH gets a migraine from the flour improver they put in a lot of shop bought loaves and his usual staple has started using the guilty ingredient just recently.i am itching to use it but DH says we should wrap it up for Christmas. We don’t give each other presents but the DGC get upset if they think Father Christmas has forgotten us. It is a Panasonic which lots of you seem to like, wish me luck.

Must try that bread slicer nelliemoser. Whether it's shop bought or home made I have never been able to slice a loaf evenly. 'As ye cut your bread so ye live your life' my Mum used to say. What on earth did that mean?? Mind you she said lots of things that didn't make sense

My friend has one. Its nice but even though she can slice bread its so soft its hard to cut so is always much thicker than i would normally eat. Maybe thats why i put on 4 lbs over our 2 night stay. ,!!!

For you home breadmakers have you seen this bread slicing gadgets?

Nothing else gives such regular neat slices I certainly could not.
This is the best one on the market .

The design is as is said, "just simple" there is a certain knack involved but it does not take long to get it right .

simpleslice.co.uk/
I probably should not be advertising it but I have no vested interests .

Here, here for the Panasonic!

Another vote here for the Panasonic. However, although quite slim, it is quite deep from front to back. This is our third bread-maker and previous ones have been smaller. The pan locks into place as well - our previous ones didn't and stopped working because the pans started to lift off the spindle as the bread-maker was running. The paddle ‘hole’ is much smaller than previous machines too and the non-stick coating on the pan and paddles is second to none. I don't put any sugar in my bread and find supermarket bread too sweet. I always have different flour mixes in stock and ring the changes.

However, I haven’t tried making gluten-free bread. There are warnings in the recipe book about the differences and the recipe uses gluten free bread mix. Also, my Panasonic has many settings but I only use a few, bread loaves, fruit breads, rolls, pizzas and for baking cakes. I mainly make the smallest sized loaf as the medium and large are tall and even taller. Wholemeal breads don't rise as well so I may try a medium wholemeal loaf (just thought of this).

My model has a timer so we wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread, having put the ingredients in the pan the night before. Bread from the bread-maker doesn’t keep as well as supermarket bread, although, to be fair, it doesn't need to as it is so delicious. We cut a few slices off from time to time and freeze them for emergencies.

The Panasonic is expensive but we bought ours 4 years ago and think it has more than paid for itself.

An alternative would be a machine with a dough hook, which I have. A Kenwood.
You put the ingredients into the mixing bowl, switch on the dough hook, then take out the dough, and shape into loaves.
Use loaf tins, or simple 'boules.'
Leave to rise then bake.
A little bit more work, but better result imo.
No holes in the bottom.