Best/worst thing since sliced bread?

[Shallot Man]

BREAD MACHINE. Can I ask what you consider the best bread machine, and more importantly what shouldn't be touched with a barge-pole.

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Haggis have you tried Kamut grain, it's the ancient egyptian grain, much higher in protein and they say much less of an allergen. they say some folk tolerate that better than modern wheats.
John, and JohnN, spelt flour makes wonderful crunchy buiscuits, I made some peanut buiscuits with it, use crunchy peanut butter for extra crunch.

[John]

Hello ShallotMan
There is one bread machine that stands head and shoulders above the rest and it's the Panasonic. Mine is an older SD 253 which has been overtaken by later models like the SD255. It is still going strong after many years of producing of 4-5 loaves each week. Spares are easy to obtain. Get the model that has the auto nut and raisin dispenser - this is a very useful feature.

Hope this helps
John

PS Bread machines do take quite a bit of learning to get the best out them. You MUST weigh everything into the pan accurately in the correct order - treat yourself to some electronic scales that weigh to +/- 1g.
There have been quite a lot of useful postings on this in the past which I think are still around on forum.

[alan refail]

Can I ask what you consider the best bread machine

Seriously, the best "bread machine" is without a doubt a pair of strong hands and a good oven at 220C.

My wife (who has the strong hands) will be baking early this morning, and I will be making fresh butter for lunch. Sounds a lot more rustic than it is!

[Shallot Man]

alan refail. Does she deliver !

[glallotments]

MY friend can't eat wheat products here she gets muscle pains but she can eat French bread without a problem - I wonder what the difference is?

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Gallotments,t could be the additives in most bread, that is probably why we eat French bread the day we buy it and it goes stale so quickly, no additiives?

Alan, I agree, a good pair of strong hands/arms, the airing cupboard rises it fine and you don't get the hole where the paddle was.

[JohnN]

My son’s family have been using a Panasonic for several years and say it’s very good, though expensive at over £100. However, working on the assumption that many kitchen appliances are left unused when their owners get bored with them, why not try a cheap breadmaker first and upgrade if you really want to start experiementing? I have been using a Bifinett for three years with good results, but I only do straightforward bread. It cost £20 from Lidls.

[peter]

French bread uses different wheat for the flour, doesn't it?

[glallotments]

My son’s family have been using a Panasonic for several years and say it’s very good, though expensive at over £100. However, working on the assumption that many kitchen appliances are left unused when their owners get bored with them, why not try a cheap breadmaker first and upgrade if you really want to start experiementing? I have been using a Bifinett for three years with good results, but I only do straightforward bread. It cost £20 from Lidls.

If you experiment with a cheap one it may not produce successful bread and consequently put you off buying a better one. We have a Panasonic and have used it to make great bread for several years so was well worth the extra money

[glallotments]

Hi Gallotments,t could be the additives in most bread, that is probably why we eat French bread the day we buy it and it goes stale so quickly, no additiives?

I always understood that the reason French bread doesn't keep is the lack of fat not lack of additives. It is any product that contains wheat flour that affects my friend not just bread. I think it is down to the different type of wheat Peter.

[Shallot Man]

Seem to recall being told the French use soft flour, this goes stale quickly, we use hard, lasts longer.' but less flavour. could be wrong.

[alan refail]

Seem to recall being told the French use soft flour, this goes stale quickly, we use hard, lasts longer.' but less flavour. could be wrong.

It's actually the other way round. French bakers use type 55 flour from hard grain wheat for bread. UK bread is made with soft grain wheat - which was why the Chorleywood process was developed.

Hard wheat has less protein and produces less gluten.
Soft wheat has more protein and produces more gluten.

The above may explain people's different reactions to UK and French bread.

[JohnN]

I take your point, GL, but I've found the Bifinett cheapie makes perfectly good simple loaves. And a friend had another make - French, can't remember name but it cost only £30, and that was good.
The expensive machines have lots of bells and whistles, but I've known several people who got fed up with bread making after a few months, even with a super-dooper machine, or their family didn't like the product. Just seems a waste of 80 quid!
What I did find with the cheapie is that it's best to spend a minute mixing all the dry ingredients in a bowl first and not rely on the paddles to do it all. Perhaps that's their weakness?

[Elle's Garden]

I make a loaf probably every day in my panasonic (thanks for your help last year JohnN), but I got it off ebay as a lightly used model. I paid £31 plus £10 delivery and it replaced my last one which broke when it fell off the counter - my fault as I put it on a slippery counter saver and it moved in the mixing process! I use the wessex mill flours and recipies and wake up to a fresh loaf each day - it is wonderful!! My tear and shares are becoming a family favourite too for a weekend lunch.