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Those of you who recommended kit, thanks.
The rest of you really take the biscuit...
The rest of you really take the biscuit...
Breadmaker
- Thread starter securespark
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You and your half-baked ideas....
D
dextrous
Most breadmakers are made abroad nowadays, in the far yeast.
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Personally - I wouldn't touch Panasonic again.
I'm on my third one - and more trouble (see separate post).
I started off with a cheapo machine, as I didn't know if I really wanted regular home made bread, but I just wanted to try it. I certainly didn't like the idea of it taking hours & hours to bake - thinking of the lekky costs.
I think my cheapo cost £9.99 - so I wasn't expecting a lot. How wrong could I be. So far, that was the best machine that I ever used.
Now I was getting to like home made, and decided to go up the ladder a bit. I gave the cheapo to an old neighbour & got something else - the brand of which escapes me. It was good,,,, but not as good as the cheaper one. I asked my neighbour if they'd swap, but they'd given it to their niece,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I was stuck with it.
My sister had a Panny, so I thought "what the hell. I do like this stuff, I'll go further up the ladder" - wrong !
It made about 6 basic loaves before playing up. A couple of times it didn’t mix the dough at all, but did bake it ! I ended up with a 2” slab of muck, with a crust on top.
The problem with these type of things, it takes hours before you know if it’s working or not. It’s not like just switching on a light.
My first contact with Panasonic – after 3 emails, was met with “they don’t last forever you know”. She didn’t seem to understand that it had only baked about 10 loaves in its life. That’s about a fortnights use !
It took a dozen or so correspondences, ending with me writing to the UK M.D.
This woman then called to say that if I really wanted to, I could return it, at my expense, for them to test. If they found it to work properly, they would return it – again at my expense.
As a now disabled pensioner, this was going to cost me a lot of money. Of course, as a full on sceptic, I realised that it was blackmail, to stop me sending it back. I couldn’t use it as it was so I thought “bu@@er it – its going back, come what may”. I pointed her to a Review site that I’d written to, & she magically agreed to pay for the return carriage. Even then, they picked it up without sending a replacement – pending their check ! Remember – me sceptic ! I thought they’d adjust something, or replace something then say “there’s nowt wrong” (she may be northern – I don’t know !?).
After 4 weeks, and whilst I was at the hospital, a royal mail docket was pushed through the door, saying a parcel was waiting for me. My Son fetched it, & lo & behold; it was shiny new machine. When I say “shiny new”, I’m not 100% certain that it was. Whilst I couldn’t see that it had actually been used, it was marked, the box and contents were badly damaged and covered with sellotape (other brands are available), cable unwrapped etc etc.
Anyway – at least it worked – for a while. No letter,,, no message,,, no invoice/statement. I contacted the woman who glibly said; “yes – we found a problem – don’t know what, but its been replaced” & that was that.
Machine 2: After about a dozen loaves, it stopped baking them. It mixed the dough and it rose alright,,,, it would only bake about a 3rd of ‘em.
I actually called the support centre and spoke to someone & explained the problem. I heard someone in the background say; “the daft sod has pressed the wrong button”. Now - part of that statement annoyed me. Daft sod maybe,,,, but pressing the wrong button – never. Even if I did once, I certainly wouldn’t do it several times, especially when double checking what I was doing, to make a log of !
This machine was eventually changed – after a similar rigmarole to machine one. To be fair, this one has lasted longer than the others & I have had some nice bread.
Now though – it is beginning to fail, hence my looking on forums for help, and ending up here.
I can’t be bothered with Panasonic again – I just don’t have enough time left.
This morning I stripped it down and it seems like the drive belt might be slipping ?! A belt connects the motor, to the bottom of the paddle assembly. It isn’t kneading the dough properly.
Recap:
Obviously, this is an abridged version of events, but:
1) Lekky costs: I needn’t have worried. Although the process does take hours, it isn’t burning electric all that time. I know its logical now,,,, but not back then.
2) Oh – how I wish I could remember what that cheapo machine was – I’d get one in a flash,,, well you know what I mean.
3) Panasonic ? Never again - ever.
I'm on my third one - and more trouble (see separate post).
I started off with a cheapo machine, as I didn't know if I really wanted regular home made bread, but I just wanted to try it. I certainly didn't like the idea of it taking hours & hours to bake - thinking of the lekky costs.
I think my cheapo cost £9.99 - so I wasn't expecting a lot. How wrong could I be. So far, that was the best machine that I ever used.
Now I was getting to like home made, and decided to go up the ladder a bit. I gave the cheapo to an old neighbour & got something else - the brand of which escapes me. It was good,,,, but not as good as the cheaper one. I asked my neighbour if they'd swap, but they'd given it to their niece,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I was stuck with it.
My sister had a Panny, so I thought "what the hell. I do like this stuff, I'll go further up the ladder" - wrong !
It made about 6 basic loaves before playing up. A couple of times it didn’t mix the dough at all, but did bake it ! I ended up with a 2” slab of muck, with a crust on top.
The problem with these type of things, it takes hours before you know if it’s working or not. It’s not like just switching on a light.
My first contact with Panasonic – after 3 emails, was met with “they don’t last forever you know”. She didn’t seem to understand that it had only baked about 10 loaves in its life. That’s about a fortnights use !
It took a dozen or so correspondences, ending with me writing to the UK M.D.
This woman then called to say that if I really wanted to, I could return it, at my expense, for them to test. If they found it to work properly, they would return it – again at my expense.
As a now disabled pensioner, this was going to cost me a lot of money. Of course, as a full on sceptic, I realised that it was blackmail, to stop me sending it back. I couldn’t use it as it was so I thought “bu@@er it – its going back, come what may”. I pointed her to a Review site that I’d written to, & she magically agreed to pay for the return carriage. Even then, they picked it up without sending a replacement – pending their check ! Remember – me sceptic ! I thought they’d adjust something, or replace something then say “there’s nowt wrong” (she may be northern – I don’t know !?).
After 4 weeks, and whilst I was at the hospital, a royal mail docket was pushed through the door, saying a parcel was waiting for me. My Son fetched it, & lo & behold; it was shiny new machine. When I say “shiny new”, I’m not 100% certain that it was. Whilst I couldn’t see that it had actually been used, it was marked, the box and contents were badly damaged and covered with sellotape (other brands are available), cable unwrapped etc etc.
Anyway – at least it worked – for a while. No letter,,, no message,,, no invoice/statement. I contacted the woman who glibly said; “yes – we found a problem – don’t know what, but its been replaced” & that was that.
Machine 2: After about a dozen loaves, it stopped baking them. It mixed the dough and it rose alright,,,, it would only bake about a 3rd of ‘em.
I actually called the support centre and spoke to someone & explained the problem. I heard someone in the background say; “the daft sod has pressed the wrong button”. Now - part of that statement annoyed me. Daft sod maybe,,,, but pressing the wrong button – never. Even if I did once, I certainly wouldn’t do it several times, especially when double checking what I was doing, to make a log of !
This machine was eventually changed – after a similar rigmarole to machine one. To be fair, this one has lasted longer than the others & I have had some nice bread.
Now though – it is beginning to fail, hence my looking on forums for help, and ending up here.
I can’t be bothered with Panasonic again – I just don’t have enough time left.
This morning I stripped it down and it seems like the drive belt might be slipping ?! A belt connects the motor, to the bottom of the paddle assembly. It isn’t kneading the dough properly.
Recap:
Obviously, this is an abridged version of events, but:
1) Lekky costs: I needn’t have worried. Although the process does take hours, it isn’t burning electric all that time. I know its logical now,,,, but not back then.
2) Oh – how I wish I could remember what that cheapo machine was – I’d get one in a flash,,, well you know what I mean.
3) Panasonic ? Never again - ever.
E
EddieM
thank god for abridging
Good point youv'e raised,Wev'e had a Panosonic for 12 years and still going strong and its never lived at the back of a cupboard its probably made hundreds if not thousands of loafs ,very wholesome and filling bread
I don't get it. Apart from the satisfaction of actually making bread, the reason to make your own bread is that you know what goes in and you know it's not packed with crap and preservatives. Just putting a packet of stuff in a machine and switching it on surely defeats the object.
jeds said:
You don't have to use 'a packet of stuff'. We only did that once. The mixture foamed up out of the tin and all the way into the lid of the machine.
You need flour (get proper bread flour), salt, sugar, yeast and water. You might also want a little dried milk and butter/oil. Your machine will almost certainly come with a selection of recipes but you don't have to stick to these. As with mayonnaise, there are as many ways of making bread as there are bakers telling you how to make it - and the only correct one is the one you like best.
To get back to the original question, it's been too many years since we bought our machine so everything will have changed. We borrowed a cheap one first but it took over three hours to make a loaf and so, against my better judgement, I was persuaded to get a Kenwood. I even paid an extra tenner for the fastbake version - which we subsequently never used!
Based on my experience of both, it would appear that, where bread is concerned, there are no prizes for speed. Dough needs time to rise and any attempt to hurry things will degrade the finished bread. The Kenwood sacrifices everything for speed, with the result that the mixtures need twice as much yeast and even more sugar than the cheap one did - and yes, you can taste the residual sugar.
And yet, despite all that, I can still get a decent wholemeal loaf out of it.
I found that cookworks is best of both world, cheap, and reliable, but be warned you will be very keen first few days and after you won't even think about it, you will loose all your interest and like kids soon get bored with their toys, it will just sit there occupying kitchen space.
I used it to make semi-sweet bread with raisins, my own recipe, like Jamie Oliver, just throw everything in and press the button!
I used it to make semi-sweet bread with raisins, my own recipe, like Jamie Oliver, just throw everything in and press the button!
Based on my experience of both, it would appear that, where bread is concerned, there are no prizes for speed.
..........
And yet, despite all that, I can still get a decent wholemeal loaf out of it.
Yep. We have also found the wholemeal bread flours on their own aren't "strong" enough to make a really good wholemeal loaf in one of these machines. So if we are after a wholemeal loaf, what we do is add a good amount (50% even) of the strongest white bread flour you can buy.
Then use warm water when putting the ingredients in the pan. It seems (certainly with the panasonic) that the bread machine uses the temperature of the ingredients when deciding when to start the mixing process.
And it seems like the crucial part is the amount of time the dough proves in the machine. So adding warm water at the start increases the time the machine spends in the proving stage.
Good bread needs time to make properly and these machines are prone to speed the process up to keep us impatient lot happy. Certainly the fast bread cycles create rubbish bread.
Our best recipe is a mix of your super premium extra strong white bread flour, and allinson's country grain bread flour. The latter is quite expensive but you don't need a lot to add flavour, and you need white super strong flour to get decent bread in one of these machines.
Follow those tips and you get cracking bread. But don't expect a crusty baguette like you get in a bakers shop......
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YES!
It's a belter. I've got one. Cracking unit, excellent results. Don't hesitate to buy, if you can get hold of one, that is.
I have a feeling it's been discontinued.
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