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My Breville Breadmaster is my second bread machine. It was bought to replace a Prima bread machine, which I have disparaged in another review. I have to report that it is a pretty good bread machine, with a few quirks in the design.
Obviously the most important thing in a bread machine is that it makes good bread and I am happy to report that the Breville does make pretty good bread. Unlike some other bread machines it only makes bread and dough. If you want jam and cake programs, this is the wrong machine. If you want dough for pizzas, rolls, etc. there is a dough setting.
So how do you make bread with this machine? Like all other bread machines that I know of it's a pretty simple process. You put all the ingredients in the pan, select the bread type and loaf size and press start. The program then runs through, taking about 3.5 hours to produce a typical loaf.
If you wish you may also set the timer before pressing start, so the bread can be produced just as you get up in the morning, or just in time for your dinner party. If you are using the timer it is important not to let the yeast come in contact with the water before the mixing starts.
You may find you have to experiment a bit to get the right amounts of salt, sugar and yeast. I find that if I follow the recipes exactly, the bread rises too much, so I have to use less salt and sugar.
A nice feature is the glass panel in the lid, so you can watch the process. A slightly odd feature is that the manual states that the loaf size selection "is for indication only". It has no effect whatever on the bread making process!
There are a couple of little items that niggle. First the start button isn't kept well separate from the rest, so I have occasionally started the machine running when I wanted to set the timer and wasn't paying sufficient attention. Also there's no on/off switch. If you want to turn it off you have to do so at the mains. The Breadmaster will try to keep the bread warm for half an hour if not turned off, and as it shares an adaptor with the microwave a separate on/off switch would be really helpful.
One of the main selling points of this machine is that it is fan assisted. I'm not sure what advantages this offers. It may be more efficient? It doesn't obviously make much difference to the quality of the bread.
The instructions are clear and simple. There's a nice illustrated step by step guide, recipes and a troubleshooting section for when the bread making goes wrong. There is also an important section on ingredients. The type of flour and yeast used in the breadmaker are very important. Regular flour and dried yeast will produce poor results. The bread maker requires "strong" flour and "easy blend" yeast.
Overall it's a pretty good bread maker. I've had it for nearly two years and it's seen a lot of use. The non stick on the mixing paddle is suffering, but otherwise it's holding up well.
I decided to re-rate as the information about the fan could not be found and as you at least tried to find out the information for me. Fionaxx
Elainebaba 21.07.2003 00:38
Excuse me.....but can you tell what time shall I call for my freshly baked bread?
COOOEEE 21.07.2003 00:17
As one of the main benefits seem to be this is fan assisted I feel a little information needs added on this feature. I have a fan oven and this cuts down the cooking time so can only assume the fan on this breadmaker does the same? Adding to a review is done by pressing the edit button under the advantages/disadvantages section when looking at your review. Happy to read again if you add more information. Fionaxx