Breadmakers

oldbag · 25 Dec 2006 at 23:50

All,

Just used my new Christmas present - a Panasonic bread maker. My first loaf was great (surpisingly). Anyone got one of these, and use them on a regular basis?

Does anyone know if a "Fast bake" has much quality difference to a normal 5 hour one?

Rotty · 26 Dec 2006 at 00:01

no one uses them on a regular basis

you use them a few times and then they spend years in the back of a cupboard

oldbag · 26 Dec 2006 at 00:05

hehe, the other half would beat me if It stays in the cupboard. Infact, after tasting my skilled loaf I think she will want me to continue making it.

squiffy · 26 Dec 2006 at 00:07

Rotty said:
no one uses them on a regular basis

you use them a few times and then they spend years in the back of a cupboard

You shove the wife into the cupboard? :eek:

furnace · 26 Dec 2006 at 00:10

If you want to use it regularly, schedule it into your life... e.g. make sure you always put it on when you get back from work, or always put it on before you sleep. Both my parents and my grandparents have one, but it's been put at the back of a cupboard now! But my friends dad has kinda made a habbit of using it, so my friend gets the joy of fresh bread daily

If I had it my way, we'd still be using our breadmaker

Lovely bit of kit!

oldbag · 26 Dec 2006 at 00:11

I assume you can fill it up with the required ingrediants and then set the timer to come on at 2/3am so it's fresh when you get out of bed. I'll have to check the destructions.

kippermitten · 26 Dec 2006 at 07:46

Yep, set the timer and load up with stuff and you wake up with the smell of fresh bread through the house, excellent stuff.

I use ours to make Ciabatta, Cinamon bread, fruit loaf, ginger cake, wholemeal so on etc etc.

You do need to be organised though, I have a cupboard with all the ingrediants in below where the breadmaker sits with all the measuring cups to hand and recipes printed out to hand oh and clean up ASAP afterwoulds

Fast bake is ok, seems to work better for non complicated stuff like plain white/plain brown.

HTH

Third Opinion · 26 Dec 2006 at 08:02

Rotty said:
no one uses them on a regular basis

you use them a few times and then they spend years in the back of a cupboard

Yep mine got used for about a month then never again. Back of the cupboard now.

Chocki · 26 Dec 2006 at 09:58

I use my Panasonic bread maker regularly, hardly ever buy bread any more.

I recommend the dried fruit and cinnamon bread, sliced and toasted, spread butter on it and have with a coffee in the morning.

Found full bake is a lighter bread than the quick bake, and now only ever use the full bake programme.

Lostkat · 26 Dec 2006 at 10:04

Triad2000 said:
All,

Just used my new Christmas present - a Panasonic bread maker. My first loaf was great (surpisingly). Anyone got one of these, and use them on a regular basis?

Does anyone know if a "Fast bake" has much quality difference to a normal 5 hour one?

Nah, not really. It just doesn't rise quite as much but it still makes a good loaf. Just make sure you put warm water in there to get the yeast working properly. You can modify the recipes gradually over time to get the best results. For example, my Dad's successfully substituted the butter for olive oil to make a lighter, lower fat loaf.

Rotty said:
no one uses them on a regular basis

you use them a few times and then they spend years in the back of a cupboard

My parents got theirs whilst I was at Uni (5+ years ago) and it still gets used every day. My Dad is chief bread monitor

They did, however, buy my Grandparents one last year and I think that's at the back of the cupboard now

Roberta · 26 Dec 2006 at 11:04

They're great. I use mine to make and rise ciabatta dough which I use for pizza bases.

Melm0 · 26 Dec 2006 at 11:14

I wanted one but my mum said that i'd use it once and shove it in the cupboard.

So i just buy the bread mix that comes in 500g packets and make some when i feel like it. I kind of like doing it by hand when i have the time anyway; sense of achievement and all that

Rotty · 26 Dec 2006 at 11:38

Lostkat said:
My parents got theirs whilst I was at Uni (5+ years ago) and it still gets used every day. My Dad is chief bread monitor They did, however, buy my Grandparents one last year and I think that's at the back of the cupboard now

the odd thing is that everyone thinks they are great when they use it but once they get put away th get forgotten about, need to fish mine out at some point

Zip · 26 Dec 2006 at 11:39

Its got a novelty effect TBH

Once you start making bread that doesnt end up being eaten and going hard you start to stop using it

TheMightyTen · 26 Dec 2006 at 11:42

Still use mine every other day, have done for the last 4 years. I can't abide the taste of shop bought loaves anymore. The fun comes when you start experimenting with flour ratios and adding other ingredients

tim_enchanter · 26 Dec 2006 at 13:05

We've had one for a about 5 years.
I never managed to get the white bread how I like it but we always made our granary bread with it, adding extras like honey and other ingredients to make more interesting variations.
The granary eventually wore away the non-stick coating on the pan though

oldbag · 2 Jan 2007 at 17:45

Ahh well, i'm on my third loaf from this thing now. Trying out the white bread.

arfur · 2 Jan 2007 at 18:27

back of the cupboard here as well

I found the fast bake didnt work too well, but I think I used 3 cups of wholemeal and 1 of white... I'm sure mine was the "best of both worlds"... its kinda handy to have when you need bread but have run out... no wait Tesco's 24x7....

phykell · 2 Jan 2007 at 18:35

Home-made bread and Lurpak butter > *

...and no I don't use a breadmaker - prefer making my own having got live yeast free from Asda's bakery.

da_mic_1530 · 2 Jan 2007 at 18:36

Rotty said:
no one uses them on a regular basis

you use them a few times and then they spend years in the back of a cupboard

very true