In Search of the Best Bread Maker

Which is the Best Bread Maker to Purchase? – Please Read On

If you are in search of the best bread maker, we have done some of the hard work to research the best models to purchase. In this article, I will be taking a look at some of the well known brands to consider, followed by some of the essential features to look into.

Well Known Kitchen Appliance Brands

The main brands for bread machines are Zojirushi, Panasonic, Sunbeam, Cuisinart, West Bend and Breadman. All of these six brands have been on the market for a long time, and many customers of these brands have had a positive experience with using their breadmakers to make lots of lovely baked products.

Here are the top features to consider when reviewing different models.

Bread Pan Loaf Size

The loaf size comes in three different sizes, which are the 1 pound, the 1.5 pound and the 3 pound loaf. Decide on the loaf size that will meet your family’s daily requirements. So for example, the Panasonic SD-YD250 is able to make all three different loaf sizes, except for that they label their loaf sizes as medium, large and extra large.

Horizontal or Vertical Loaves

Another aspect to loaf size to consider is whether you prefer a horizontal or vertical loaf. Many people prefer the horizontal version loaf for ease of slicing. I would have to agree on this point, that horizontal loaves are much easier to slice.

Set Timer Feature

The timer function is a standard feature on most models these days and usually allows you to preset your bread making for up to 24 hours. For example, the Breadman TR2500BC allows you to set your timer for up to 24 hours. In contrast, other models such as the Zojirushi BB-CEC20 and the Panasonic SD-YD250 can delay when you finish baking for up to 13 hours.

In practical terms, even 13 hours is ample time to allow flexibility in when your bread finishes baking. A typical scenario goes like this – you finish dinner, watch a bit of television, and around 9pm or 10pm that evening, you start to get together your bread ingredients to place into the pan. Say you finish adding the ingredients in my 10pm and you usually wake up at around 7am each morning to get ready for work. That means you have to set your delay timer to finish baking in 9 hours time. So as you can see from this ample, the 13 hour delay feature is ample time to provide flexibility with your baking.

Baking Modes and Settings

Most models come with mode that made regular white bread, whole wheat and multi grain. That there are more fancy modes to make more exotic breads such as French, Italian and specialty breads such as quick bread and sweet bread. Another aspect to the different modes is whether you want to choose a baking mode or a dough mode.

A baking mode as the name implies means that you complete the whole cycle from mixing and kneading the dough through to completion of a baked loaf. You would choose the dough mode where you only want your machine to complete its work up to the dough cycle. Then you will be removing the dough from the bread pan to roll out and arrange for baking in your conventional oven.

Jam and Cakes

Many models also come with feature rich element such as the ability to make jam and cakes. If you like making bread, then you will be probably be tempted to invest in one that makes jams and cakes also. You don’t usually have to pay a premium to select a bread maker that makes cakes and jams, so I would suggest looking for a model that has these extra settings. Making jam and cake in a bread maker is a breeze, and makes for a nice way to make special treats for the family to enjoy without too much hard work in the kitchen.

Separate Yeast Dispenser

With the various bread models on the market, some models come with separate yeast dispensers for placing your yeast into whilst others don’t. Models that come with a separate yeast dispenser include the Panasonic SD-YD250, whilst an example of a bread maker that doesn’t come with a yeast dispenser is the Breadman TR2500BC.

One aspect about yeast is that it should be kept separate from the dry ingredients that you place into the pan. This is important because the yeast comes into play only once the kneading process has been reached, and prior to this stage, the yeast shouldn’t interact with the wet ingredients.

Kneading Blades

Most bread maker comes with just a single kneading blade or paddle. One of the exceptions is the West Bend Hi Rise Bread maker that comes with dual blades. If you are looking for some heavy duty mixing then you could consider buying the West Bend 41300. But in all honesty, a single kneading paddle does more than an adequate job to produce nice bread.

Bread Making Accessories

Most models come with the basic bread making accessories such as a measuring cup, a measuring spoon and a manual or combination manual and recipe book. It’s good to learn the ins and outs of your bread maker by following the recipes from your manual to a tee. Once you have mastered the basic recipes and have familiarized yourself with each of the different settings and cycles, you can then afford to experiment a little with more interesting recipes.

One thing that these breadmakers don’t come with is scales to measure ingredients, beyond the standard measuring cup and spoon. As you should be aware of, measuring the ingredients accurately is an important aspect of making bread at home. So you could treat yourself and buy good quality digital scales to use for your home baking.

This has been a rather lengthy article, but if you are a beginner to home baking, it’s good to beware of the myriad of features before you even step out your door to go shopping. To help you find the best bread maker on the market, we have carried out individual reviews of the bread makers that fall into the top six.

To read individual reviews, please visit our summary of bread maker reviews.