Bread makers

[rowena]

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to buy a bread maker. I heard panasonic is the best so I think that's what I'm gonna buy. If anyone has experience with bread makers please share.

And what else do you need? It looks like I'll need a kitchen scale?

Can I use normal plain flour instead of bread flour?

I don't know what else to ask...

Thanks in advance..

Rowena

[zeeeb]

dp has a bread maker and i hate it for bread. we've made that many loaves of bread and experimented with all different types of mixes and flours etc. but the bread is always thick and heavy. and even when you luck in and get a good loaf, you can never replicate it.

it's nice fresh, but it's horrible the next day (far too heavy).

BUT, we have found a good use for it. we make the most awesome pizza dough in it... superb, so it is used regularly in our house, but we don't even bother making bread with it anymore.

it's really good for making anything that needs a lot of kneading

[kim1]

I don't use a kitchen scale, just measuring cups and spoons. I highly recommend an electric knife though, I find that the bread is easier to cut straight and gets less squashed with an electric knife rather than and ordinary one. You get a better result with bread flour but plain flour works okay, it just seems to be a bit more crumbly and seems to get larger air holes in the loaf.

[Nomadess]

I have the square pan version of the breville bakers ovens, so there's far more toasted sandwich friendly bread than the rectangle pans.
We don't have problems with heaviness and I use a recipe from a book.

If you want to get great results, then yes, do buy accurate scales, do buy bread flour which has a higher gluten content and do weigh and measure everything until you get the hang of it.

[rowena]

Thanks everyone!

I forgot to ask how to cut it and thanks Kim for answering that for me!

I want to use it to make doughs for other purposes too! So it's nice to know it makes very good doughs, zeeeb. I have back problems and making doughs by hand is painful now...

I heard some brands make heavy bread but not this panasonic brand. So hopefully it'll work for me!

[Persephone]

We are on our second panasonic and they really are fabulous, but we had been told they are no longer being sold in Australia (My sister brought our second one out to us from the UK)
Our first one lasted about 13 years. It needed its belt replaced after about 8 years. We use it 2-3 times a week, sometimes more often if we're making pizza.

P.

[rowena]

We are on our second panasonic and they really are fabulous, but we had been told they are no longer being sold in Australia (My sister brought our second one out to us from the UK)
Our first one lasted about 13 years. It needed its belt replaced after about 8 years. We use it 2-3 times a week, sometimes more often if we're making pizza.

P.

Thanks for another good review on panasonic! I know they WERE discontinued but now they're returning with a new model due to popular demand! It was only put on market from end of May so just in time for me! I'm going to the good guys tomorrow to grab it before it's sold out.

[Loula]

We don't have a bread maker, but I have recently started making my bread using my kitchenaid and it's fantastic!! I recently got onto the 'wallaby' Lauke bakers flour, and i made the most fantastic loaf - great texture and rise, and made beautiful sandwiches for days! My next challenge is to try wholemeal and multigrain, apparently a bit harder to get a good texture from..

[samiam]

I have a Breville Bakers Oven which I use every day and haven't had any issues with making bread, I've had it for nearly a year.

I was using plain unbleached flour but recently discovered that Wallaby Bakers Flour was cheaper to buy in 5kg lots than 5kgs of plain flour (I buy in bulk).

Accurate measuring helps. I also recommend investing in some bread bags to store your bread as it does go stale quicker (if it's not eaten) than regular bread as it has no preservatives. I bought mine online but can't find the link.

A trick I learned from a veteran baker is that on a cold day, it helps if your flour is 'warm' so I often pop the flour on top of the heater for a few minutes to warm it up.

[rowena]

I have a Breville Bakers Oven which I use every day and haven't had any issues with making bread, I've had it for nearly a year.

I was using plain unbleached flour but recently discovered that Wallaby Bakers Flour was cheaper to buy in 5kg lots than 5kgs of plain flour (I buy in bulk).

Accurate measuring helps. I also recommend investing in some bread bags to store your bread as it does go stale quicker (if it's not eaten) than regular bread as it has no preservatives. I bought mine online but can't find the link.

A trick I learned from a veteran baker is that on a cold day, it helps if your flour is 'warm' so I often pop the flour on top of the heater for a few minutes to warm it up.

Thanks for the tips. Instead of bread bags, do you think storing in the freezer will help too? I've heard people storing bread in freezers and they can last months (I haven't tried though).

Another question: do you think a bread slicer and guide is useful in cutting bread?