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Bread makers?

28 replies

marmaladehound · 24/08/2021 19:49

I have been ummming and ahhhhing about buying a bread maker for years now!

I am about to start a 6 month trial of a gluten free diet to see if it improves my autoimmune condition. If it helps then I really think a bread maker is a must to make my own gluten free bread. I am but of a bread fiend so the gluten free diet really is a last resort. I was wondering who had one? Any brand/ model they would recommend and if anyone makes gluten free bread with them? Will it be worth it?

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This thread is slightly old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you’ve landed here looking for bread makers, we’ve recently updated our best bread maker page with loads of great options for baking gluten-free loaves. We hope you find it useful.
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Aquamarine1029 · 24/08/2021 19:54

I have no advice to give, but I have been debating with myself for years about buying a bread maker. I'll sit here quietly waiting for responses. 😀

Username7521 · 24/08/2021 19:58

We use ours daily. It does so much more than just bread too. We buy our bread flour in 16kg bags too to bring down waste.

BluebellsGreenbells · 24/08/2021 20:01

I own one, have a look on the selling pages they go quite cheap - worth a shot.

They all do the same things.

I like fresh bread ant Christmas, also helps in pandemics when idiots stock pile bread! Or even when there’s heavy snow and you can get out.

I make different bread, but also pizza bases and naan bread.

I like mine and for £15 FB it’s been great.

igivein · 24/08/2021 20:09

I have a Panasonic one. Usually comes out top in consumer trials. It’s brilliant.

OverTheWater · 24/08/2021 20:23

I have a Panasonic too, use it for all bread, naans, pizza, hot cross buns, flatbread, etc.

Not experimented much with gluten free but the little I have tried has been much nicer than shop prepared.

I agree second-hand is bargainous but you would need to be very very through in cleaning to shift possible traces of gluten before use.

AlwaysLatte · 24/08/2021 20:27

Ditto the Panasonic ones. We use ours every other day! Lovely to come down in the morning to freshly cooked bread.

marmaladehound · 24/08/2021 21:40

Is this the Panasonic one that you can leave overnight to bake the bread?

OP posts:

Kite22 · 24/08/2021 21:43

We have one, but we find that the bread is so nice, we just scoff it all at once, so then still don't have any bread in the bread bin when we might want some later

LavendulaAngustifolia · 24/08/2021 21:48

Yes you can set an overnight timer on the Panasonic. I've used ours almost everyday for at least 5 years and it's never skipped a beat.

Beecham · 24/08/2021 21:54

I bought a Panasonic after researching and everyone recommended it. Very happy.

Major plusses are:

lovely smell wafts through house
timer for making bread overnight
you know you're not eating processed crap
saves money over time

Downsides

it's not easy to cut in slices when warm and fresh. This makes sandwiches etc quite difficult.

Cynderella · 25/08/2021 00:11

Panasonic is the way to go. About £100 when I replaced mine. I use two programmes 95% of the time. Loaf of bread takes 4 hours. Dough for rolls takes 2h20mins. Pizza dough is 45 mins BUT nicer if you make dough for rolls and use that.

So ... dough on first thing means loaf for lunch. Dough on at 2pm for rolls, focaccia, naan bread etc. You can adjust and use the timer if you're not WFH as I am.

Perfect loaves and everything else. I have a scoop in a drum of flour and get fresh yeast free from Tesco (can be frozen). To keep it simple, I use a teaspoon of yeast with a teaspoon of sugar with a little water (from 400ml). In the pan, the water, some olive oil or butter and a teaspoon of salt. Four scoops of flour (Aldi/Lidl bread flour) which is about 500g, I think. After an hour, you should see a ball of dough. This is how I came up with 400ml of water. First few times, I checked and adjusted. Now, I know which mug holds the right amount of water and which scoop to use for flour. The amounts of salt, sugar and oil are less important.

PickAChew · 25/08/2021 00:13

Definitely Panasonic. The fancier one has the best GF programs.

DramaAlpaca · 25/08/2021 00:15

I tried to buy one when the first lockdown started last year, but couldn't find one anywhere. I wanted a Panasonic but no luck at all.

Then I spotted one in Lidl for €50, was there at opening time and snapped one up. And do you know, it's great. It works brilliantly and I'm delighted with it. Lovely fresh bread in the morning when you get up, there's nothing like it.

So look out for Lidl's offers for an absolute bargain.

Glassesareneeded · 25/08/2021 00:16

Panasonic here too, and it's great. We have two bread pans, ordered another especially for gluten free bread. Makes delicious bread. We use it almost daily for bread, pizza dough and dough for bread rolls.

The gluten free recipe contains eggs so the overnight timer can't be used for that program, but we tend to set it off before going to bed and the loaf is ready for breakfast time and cooled in pan. Can use it for sandwiches that day and freeze the rest. (It freezes well, and fine for toast but is rather brittle and we do add xanthen gum to recipe which helps.)

41sunnydays · 25/08/2021 00:21

I dithered about getting one too for years and I think the bread machine is why I can't stick to SlimmingWorld diet

torquewench · 25/08/2021 00:31

I've a Panasonic one,it came with a recipe book with dozens of recipes. Love it !

larkstar · 25/08/2021 01:47

I have a Panasonic SD2501 - my sister had to buy a brand-new when she moved to France as they found out hard to buy a loaf of sliced bread and she needed to make sandwiches every day. She used that for years and years and the bread was always great as there was an organic farm and mill nearby selling great quality flour. I finally decided to get one 3 years ago and I would never be without one again - I never buy bread from the supermarket any more. I also but flour in 16kg bags and make 1 white and 1 50/50 stoneground wholemeal/White loaf every week - the white is a quick ciabatta loaf and it's brilliant for toast. The 50/50 is made with sunflower and pumpkin seeds (hence the need for the seed dispenser which I would recommend) and orange blossom honey - I made sandwiches for my wife every day to take to work. The timer means you can set it so it's ready to take out at 6am but you need to wrap it in a tea towel and show it to cool for a good hour before you sliced it. I sliced mine and divide it on to 2 plastic bags and put them both in the freezer straight away as they aren't made with preservatives - every morning I get a couple of slices out and they take 10 mins to thaw out naturally or about 20s in the microwave - freezing them doesn't affect the taste or texture at all IMHO. I use a serrated knife to cut through the crust up both sides of the loaf and across the top to make sure the thickness of each slice is exactly what I want and then use a plain flat bladed knife to cut the slice - you will get good at doing this - it's like a moment of Zen for me taking my time to cut the slices well but you can't do it that easily when the loaf of earn and fresh or of the bread maker - the bread is perfect every time. I also make dough for croissants, ciabatta sticks, and various other fruit loaves... It takes me about 15 mins to put a loaf on and tidy things away - butter, olive oil, honey, salt, sugar, etc but I have a shelf above the bread maker that I keep smaller containers of flour on. I buy my yeast in 500g bags and keep it in the freezer but take out small amounts and top up a small Allison's yeast tin. I wish I had bought one years ago.

larkstar · 25/08/2021 01:56

I buy my flour from Shipton Mill
Canadian Strong White Bread Flour (112) - Weight: 16.00; Bag type: sack £15.50

Strong Canadian Blend Wholemeal Flour (214) - Weight: 16.00; Bag type: sack £14.50
Making £30 exactly which qualifies for free delivery. I use 3 times the amount of white flour to wholemeal because I make the white loaf (500g white flour) and the brown loaf (250g white and 250g wholemeal) every week... Roughly. There are only 2 of us at home as our kids grew up and left us with an empty nest :-(

dontblamemee · 25/08/2021 09:22

I have a morphy Richards fast bake. It's fab. Use it nearly every day. Pop all the ingredients in before I go to bed and wake up to the smell of fresh bread, delicious. I also use it for pizza base dough, banana bread and doughnuts 🤗

OnTheBenchOfDoom · 25/08/2021 17:32

I used to use mine every other day. Panasonic, lasted 7 years. Fruit loaf for toasting was our downfall, too delicious. I used it to make a dough in it, then turned it out, shaped it and baked it in the oven. I used to gift a seeded granary loaves to people. God it was good.

The only issues with it are, if you bake it in the machine it is the shape of the container and only gets taller when you opt for a larger loaf. It also has a hole in the bottom from cooking over the mixing paddle. It is very hard to slice when freshly baked. So yes, lovely to wake up to freshly baked bread but you can't eat it right away.

But all of that is nothing compared to fresh baked bread. I genuinely felt like we were in an Enid Blyton Famous Five book as the children had fresh bread and jam with lashing of ginger beer as an after school treat.

marmaladehound · 25/08/2021 21:34

It all sounds wonderful and very tempting even if the gluten free diet isn't necessary.

I have a stupid question though, how much prep do you actually need to do before putting it all in the machine?? Or does the machine do it all after you just add the ingredients?

OP posts:

Longdistance · 25/08/2021 21:45

My Russell Hobbs one cost £50. I only bake once every fortnight, it’s not something I use daily/every few days. It’s ok and does the job. The loaf is enough for the four of us and then doorstop toast the next day.

CoffeeBeansGalore · 25/08/2021 21:52

My first was a Panasonic with raisin dispenser and it lasted 15 years. When it finally died I replaced with the same (updated) model. It's used every week & I can't fault it.

The machine does all the prep. Just chuck in the ingredients, select the menu & press start.

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pandora206 · 25/08/2021 22:11

I have a Panasonic 2511, which is one of the type with the fruit/seed dispenser in the lid. I use it all the time. I've found it works well over night but slicing when warm is quite tricky (well it results in thick slices).

I do have an electric slicing machine which is handy when I can be bothered to get it down from the top of the cupboard to use.

The only disadvantage with the bread maker is that the loaves are pretty large when it is sliced in most recipes, meaning that they need to be cut in half to fit in my toaster.

I use mine for bread mainly but have made dough for rolls, hot cross buns and pizzas too. I've also had a go at making jam, though I think it's more faff than using a saucepan really.

Beecham · 25/08/2021 23:04

There is no prep, you just chuck ingredients in and switch on. I have the bread maker on the side with all the ingredients and measuring spoons permanently next to it, so I don't have to forage around the kitchen finding the salt etc. Takes me less than 5min to get a loaf going.

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