Breadmaker?

[hillview]

I am thinking about getting a bread maker. Anyone have one and recommendations? Waste of money? Love it? Great brand?
thanks
/hillary

[bethie_73]

I love mine because sometimes its a pain to make by hand, esp with DS around since he wants to "help". I have a Breadman one my Dad bought me (he has always had 2 machines for as long as I can remember since he makes so much bread) the one he got me has lasted the longest for him... good in my book :)

[Mikey0709]

I was never into making bread by hand before, but now i LOVE mine. The brand is Oster.... i actually bought it BRAND new in the box from a thrift store for $30, but it sells on amazon for $69.99. I love it because i finally perfected the receipe for a family bread that was always made for holidays by my grandparents. It used to take them a whole day of baking (starting the night before to get the dough to rise).... and it takes me about 10 min to gather everything and throw it in the machine... 3 hours later i have PERFECT bread.

[missym]

We have a Zojirushi and we love it. We have fresh bread for dinner every Friday night, and it is so easy. Add the ingredients in the morning, program it, and the dough is ready when we get home. It would bake the bread too, of course, but we braid it and cook in the oven so that wouldn't really work.

We had a smaller machine for years and hardly used it, but the extra $$ was definitely worth it for the Zojirushi. It does a great job.

[ThreeofUs]

We have a Zojirushi and we love it. We have fresh bread for dinner every Friday night, and it is so easy. Add the ingredients in the morning, program it, and the dough is ready when we get home. It would bake the bread too, of course, but we braid it and cook in the oven so that wouldn't really work.

:yeahthat:

When I posted the same question along about January, I got the same types of responses as above. I did a LOT of research and found that the Zojirushis are (1) the test machines used by the King Arthur flour folks and (2) are the only machines that don't need to have the dough pushed down.

Honestly, reason (1) was enough for me - but reason (2) has saved my baking many times from disaster! Zoji's also last better, according to reviews on the web, and make 2-pound loaves, which I like better because DH and DS go through bread at light speed.

We make bread at least twice/week and have had no trouble at all with the machine. It has two 'kneaders' at the bottom of the pan, and they work very well to get everything mixed. I've made everything from honey wheat to raisin to challah to roll dough in it, and it all turns out wonderfully.

I got mine from http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/store/index.php for $191.61 - they price-matched a sale and gave me free shipping, too.

GL!

[missym]

This may be YMMV, but we ordered ours in the store from Bed Bath & Beyond and used a 20% off coupon. We didn't pay shipping but did have to pay tax, I believe. I think it came to around $179.

[MommyAllison]

My parents never used theirs, so we are long term borrowing it - it's an Oster and we're really happy with it. Super easy and makes great bread.

Can all of you breadmaker experts answer another question for me? We have a recipe we love that makes a 1 lb loaf. Our machine can do 2lb loaves and it would be great to make bigger loaves. Do I just double the recipe or would that be bad?

[scoop22]

we love our breadmachine.. we have a kenmore. we got it as a wedding gift. we make homemade pizza dough all the time. (i can give you the recipe!!!) in the summer we give bread and homemade jam as gifts. i don't know what we would do without it!

[elephantmeg]

My parents never used theirs, so we are long term borrowing it - it's an Oster and we're really happy with it. Super easy and makes great bread.

Can all of you breadmaker experts answer another question for me? We have a recipe we love that makes a 1 lb loaf. Our machine can do 2lb loaves and it would be great to make bigger loaves. Do I just double the recipe or would that be bad?

I'm 99% sure that that is what you do

[rds97]

Do I just double the recipe or would that be bad?

You might have to play around with the proportions. It might take slightly more/less yeast, etc. to get the perfect bread.

For those of you who love yours, can you please post your recipes? I have had trouble finding good recipes. I have a recipe book, but it is not that great.

[MamaKath]

I have a Welbilt that dh got me years ago. LOVE IT!!! :love5: We just made pizza dough tonight and had homemade pizza for dinner. As a sahm I used to add all kinds of stuff to the dough and sauce to dose the kids up with veggies. I don't use it as much as I should but with eating out costing an arm and a leg we are using it more. Love the breadmachine in combo with stoneware to bake on.