Is a bread maker destined for the gadget graveyard?

September 25, 2005 6:53 PM

Is an electric bread maker worth buying? Do you use yours often and if so do you have a good recipe to share?
posted by Tarrama to Food & Drink (32 answers total)

We use ours regularly. Personally, we use our bread as a side-dish with dinner, or else dessert (with a sweet bread). Most breadmakers come with a small book of recipes, and you can buy bread machine mixes in the grocery store.
posted by IndigoRain at 7:05 PM on September 25, 2005

I don't know about bread makers, but I've found my kitchenaid stand mixer to make bread making incredibly easy, because it cuts out the need for kneading. You have to be around for a few hours because you'll have to punch the dough down a couple of times, but with that mixer the active time required is down to about 15 minutes. So if you aren't sure that it's worth buying a bread maker just to make bread, you might enjoy this appliance, which can be used for a lot more things.

Also, my whole wheat bread cookbook says that most bread machines can't handle whole wheat bread, if that's an issue.
posted by leapingsheep at 7:05 PM on September 25, 2005

I got one for my mother some years ago as a christmas present. She uses it from time to time but it comes in extra handy as a time saver for making stuff like pizza dough...just throw in the stuff and come back in 1.5 hours, spread out, top, and bake.
posted by Captain_Science at 7:06 PM on September 25, 2005

It's especially helpful to someone who may have difficulty doing it by hand--my grandmother has always been a bread-making maniac, and it always hurt her arthritis, but when she got her first machine years ago she immediately loved it and she still uses it frequently.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:11 PM on September 25, 2005

Well, let's put it this way: every time I go into the Salvation Army or the Goodwill there is at least one, if not more, bread machines. So you might want to think about buying one of those as a test to see how much you use it. That way if you get bored with it you're only out $5-10.
posted by MsMolly at 7:15 PM on September 25, 2005

Enjoyed ours for about a year until the belt started slipping (seemed it would just be a matter of time). It was a cheap $30 model.
posted by rolypolyman at 7:30 PM on September 25, 2005

I think a breadmaker is useful for kneading and mixing. However, back when I had one, any time I would use its "cook" function, the loaves would invariably come out thicker on the bottom then on top. Of course, I may have had a crappy breadmaker, or just been using it wrong.
posted by afroblanca at 7:47 PM on September 25, 2005

The cheap ones are now in the sub-$40 range, which means that yes, they are worth buying. As long as you have the space to store one.
posted by smackfu at 7:48 PM on September 25, 2005

I bought a pawnshop Zojirushi way back in the day, and it lasted about ten years. I blew something well over $300, IIRC, on a new Zoji a couple years ago. And if it doesn't last, I'll purchase yet another breadmaker.

So the answer is basically: Yes.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:57 PM on September 25, 2005

I used to use a bread maker quite often and I found it immensely useful until one of the parts broke. There were no replacement parts available from anywhere I could find, including ebay. So you might want to take that into consideration; it's a common complaint about the cheaper (but still ~U.S.$100) bread makers that once one part of it breaks the entire thing becomes useless. You might consider picking a model you're interested in and trying to search for a replacement paddle, or pan, or belt, to see how you fare.

Once I became a vegetarian there was really no need for a bread maker, as I was making breads without having to knead them and let rise (the parts I never could do right): the recipes I've seen all call for mixing dry then wet ingredients, then mixing together and putting into the oven. Very simple.
posted by Tuwa at 8:06 PM on September 25, 2005

We love our Toastmaster one- use it especially for french/italian/peasant bread and pizza dough. Other stuff like bagels can be more process-intensive, but most recipes it takes you less than 5 minutes to get it going and you can either let it bake or just make the dough (when we make pizza dough, it is enough for 3 pizzas, so we make one and freeze the two others).
posted by starman at 8:21 PM on September 25, 2005

My parents have a bread maker and used to make bread regularly. My mother, who did the vast majority of the breadmaking, would never use it. My father would, because he didn't like to knead; he didn't make bread much. For them it existed mostly in the deep cabinet graveyard. I make bread occasionally, and couldn't imagine buying one - I think the difficulty and complexity of kneading is vastly overestimated by most people, and I'd rather control the baking part myself. However, I can imagine buying a heavy duty stand mixer, as several other people have suggested - these are really nice, versatile, kitchen tools. Unfortunately this will have to wait until I am out of grad school before I can afford one.

Once I became a vegetarian there was really no need for a bread maker, as I was making breads without having to knead them and let rise (the parts I never could do right): the recipes I've seen all call for mixing dry then wet ingredients, then mixing together and putting into the oven.

I have no idea what the connection would be between being a vegetarian and not making risen bread - do you feel that yeast is a meat product?? (do you eat mushrooms? Beer? Wine?) I think even vegans eat risen bread, as long as it doesn't contain dairy, which many risen breads don't. It is true that breads using a chemical leavener probably won't need a breadmaker though.
posted by advil at 8:21 PM on September 25, 2005

mushrooms have yeast?
posted by leapingsheep at 8:23 PM on September 25, 2005

Keep in mind that a bread maker doesn't save you money on bread. It works out the same price or more. That being said, the bread is deeeeeeee-lish.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:33 PM on September 25, 2005

leapingsheep, Mushrooms and yeast are both fungi.
posted by Apoch at 8:34 PM on September 25, 2005

A nay vote.

I have had two bread machines, and neither got much use as neither could make (or I couldn't make) bread as good as I could buy at the local bakery. My bread machine bread was denser, the crust thicker -- the texture was not as good.

At my yard sale, I finally had to give away the bread machines.

I love the Kitchenaid mixer suggestion, though, leapingsheep -- I might try that.
posted by Methylviolet at 8:52 PM on September 25, 2005

My parents have made bread with their bread maker fairly often. It means you can make lots of interesting bread very easily, and it fills the house up with a nice smell, but the crust is inevitably really hard with a crusty hold in the middle and terribly thick at the bottom.
posted by Anonymous at 8:53 PM on September 25, 2005

We bought one secondhand because we'd heard the horror stories about people shelling out hundreds of dollars for a paperweight. They were right. Spend your money on bread from an artisan baker instead, or learn to make real sourdough bread by hand.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 8:55 PM on September 25, 2005

I use my breadmaker every week. I use it for kneading though, so I suppose a stand mixer would serve me just as well. I bake it in the oven because I don't like the superdense loafs that bread machines otherwise make. I don't have a local bakery though, so if I don't make my own bread I have to buy glorified wonderbread (which is all fresh baked at a supermarket is flavourwise). I do have a Panera nearby but there bread really isn't that great for the price. I was spoiled by having a real bakery down the block growing up.
posted by substrate at 9:06 PM on September 25, 2005

Mine is now relegated to the "toys I shouldn't have bought category" because I don't use it often. I found all the bread I made with it prone to going moldy almost instantly (guess now I understand why preservatives are in use). But I do, however, use it for one thing: kneading and rising pizza dough. It is remarkably good at doing this. It's usually quite a pain getting all that flour to knead into dough with so little water. And, my RSI being what it is, that's just work I would rather not do. It has the added nice feature of warming the dough after blending it, facilitating a nice rise. I keep it on a top shelf, out of the way, and use it for this one thing - which is nice because it encourages me to make pizza more often. And homemade pizza is cheap, delicious, and a nice break from other easy homemade dishes like stir fry and pasta. All I have to keep around is a big jar of flour and a small jar of yeast in the fridge.
posted by scarabic at 9:50 PM on September 25, 2005

Second the kitchenaid. It makes breadmaking so easy, I can't imagine getting a breadmaker. They are also very durable, mines lasted about 15 years.
posted by Manjusri at 10:12 PM on September 25, 2005

Response by poster: Many thanks for all the helpful answers. I'll definitely check out the stand mixer before rushing into anything.
posted by Tarrama at 11:15 PM on September 25, 2005

if you are going to buy a bread machine, buy it at a garage sale, since that is where most of them end up. that way, when you decide that you are sick of it taking up space on top of the refrigerator, you can sell it for exactly what you paid for it.

my vote goes for no, though. baking bread by hand is, admittedly, a freakin' load of work. i find myself doing that more often than using the bread maker my folks left me. also, the jewish girls love it when you show up to shabbat with a challah, and mention casually when they ask, "oh, i made it."
posted by bryak at 11:50 PM on September 25, 2005

I still like my breadmaker, even though I only use it about once a month these days. Used to use it a coupla times a week, and it's great. It does save you money in the long run too, a loaf is about 0.50c, when I'm paying about $3 a loaf.

The fact that it does go mouldy and stale very quickly is disturbing - what are they putting into commercial bread?
posted by wilful at 12:29 AM on September 26, 2005

wilful: A metric tonne of preservative

I used to use my breadmaker all the time. Stopped due to work commitments, and general lack of time, but plan to resume making regularly in the next month or so, when my 2nd job comes to an end. I would think 1 loaf every 5 days is what I would expect to make - all my sandwiches for the coming week.

As far as recipies are concerned, mine came with a booklet detailing many different breads you could make (and jam and cakes). After a few months of making the standard white loaf, I started throwing seeds, cinnamon, nuts, raisins, etc, in to the mix - and loved it even more.

I'm really looking forward to getting back into it
posted by ajbattrick at 12:38 AM on September 26, 2005

Odd, my bread does not stale that fast (because I put oil in it) neither does it get mouldy (because I store it wrapped in a tea towel protected from spores). Do you folk live in really humid climates?

I join the chorus of people who love their mixers.

Tip for lazy bakers - instead of anxiously checking your dough and worrying about the temperature, let your dough rise in the refrigerator overnight. A slow cold rise is better for flavour anyway and then you're good to go first thing in the morning.

I've been tempted by bread machines in the past, so I'm grateful to the original poster and all the answerers.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:25 AM on September 26, 2005

I asked this question and, based on the answers, bought a Zojirushi. I like its bread for sandwiches and toast, and I haven't eaten store-bought bread, which I hate, since I got it. I probably make 2 loaves a week; they don't spoil, they have a good crumb, and the crust is not hard, although I need to check during the mixing stage to make sure that I have the dough moist/dry enough (living in Colorado plays hell with any conventional wisdom of baking). I also like the timer feature, so I can set the machine to make fresh bread by morning.

I shelled out the extra bucks for the Zoji because I had heard so many horror stories about cheap bread machines. I got mine through Amazon at 50 dollars off, with free shipping. It seems Amazon is always running some promotion with their Kitchen items. As for recipes, those included with the mixer have worked great for me. The web site for King Arthur Flour has some good ones as well, both for loaves baked in the machine and loaves mixed in the machine and baked in the oven.

I can also vouch for the usefulness of a standing mixer, and if I had to pick one over the other, the mixer would win. I had been making recipes from Cooks Illustrated's Baking Illustrated, and Kimball and co recommend kneading in a mixer, rather by hand. The bread I make from their recipes is incredible, and when I have more time, I'll go back to that method, but with a toddler, an infant, and a job, that day has not yet come.

So, in short, a good bread machine fulfills my quotidian bread needs nicely, and I've never regretted buying it.
posted by bibliowench at 3:34 AM on September 26, 2005

We have a bread machine, and we make two or three loaves of bread a week. Every week. It's 8 years old, and we've had to replace the gasket between the mixing blade and the pan. I can make my own bread, but choose not to. I've got a KitchenAid, too, but I've not had good luck making bread with it, even though I'm pretty good at baking bread without.

I usually use it just for plain white sandwich bread, but there are a couple of specialty bread recipes that I use often. It's far cheaper than buying bread, and my kids prefer the homemade bread to storebought.


I figure the bread machine is a one purpose item, like a coffee maker. If it's something you use, it's great. If not, not great. But it's a personal choice. It also depends on how much bread you eat -- two loaves a week = $4 (at least) for store-bought. Two loaves of ABM bread < $1 (ingredients + electricity).
posted by jlkr at 4:31 AM on September 26, 2005

The story I've always heard from owners of bread machines was, "we used to use it all the time until we started putting on weight. Now it just collects dust."
posted by kimota at 5:35 AM on September 26, 2005

What kimota said. I gave my parents a fairly nice-at-the-time breadmaker ten years ago, and it has since found its way back into my possession. They used it for a while, found they were eating too much bread, and put it into storage.

I rescued it, found I was eating too much bread, and put it into storage.
posted by flipper at 5:52 AM on September 26, 2005

I had a bread machine that got used maybe once a month. I received it as a gift. The bread machine bread was too 'fluffy,' for lack of a better word and I never got it to make a decent loaf of bread, even after tweaking the recipes. (Actually, it made a darn good Kashi bread, but that was about it for success stories).

Using a Kitchenaid mixer to make it myself results in a much better texture of bread, I've found. It's not a lot of work, really. Plus, it seemed the bread machine was a lot touchier to ingredient temperatures and whatnot than making it by hand (easier to adjust on the fly, I suppose).

If you do end up making your own bread, I highly recommend Alton Brown's baking book. It really made a difference for me.
posted by schnee at 8:17 AM on September 26, 2005

We use ours at least once a week, maybe twice. Sure, making it by hand would be better, but you CANNOT BEAT waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of freshly-baked bread. (And neither of us had to get up three hours earlier to make it!) It's the best thing in the world.

And actually, I don't think bread machine automatically equals "getting fat". Granted, ours pretty much sounded the death knell for our low-carb lifestyle, but I've still managed to lose about 30 pounds since we got it. I take my own sandwiches for lunch now instead of paying through the nose for takeaway. (Interestingly, on Weight Watchers they tell you that you have to basically double the Points for homemade bread, because it's got that much more "stuff" in it than regular bread. I guess the regular stuff is mostly air.)
posted by web-goddess at 3:04 PM on September 26, 2005