Bread Maker: Best Options And Buying Guide

Today you don’t have to be a baker to make your bread; with the arrival of bread makers on the market, everyone can make their bread and enjoy it every day. You are also allowed to get off the beaten track and discover or help people find traditional or original bread recipes!

To help you understand the operation and benefits of a bread maker and to help you make the right choice with your purchase, we’ve taken the trouble to make this buying guide as comprehensive as possible. At the end of this article, you will know the characteristics of the bread maker, learn its advantages, and discover how to use the device easily.

Ready to improvise yourself as a baker to make bread for your whole family? Read this guide carefully, and you will know everything about the bread maker!

Top 10 Bread makers

Last update on 2023-10-26 / Affiliate links, Images and descriptions from Amazon Product Advertising

What is a bread maker?

As its name suggests very clearly, the bread maker is a device intended to make and baking bread; it is also called a baker robot in Quebec. Therefore, it is a full-fledged household appliance that will easily find its place among your other kitchen equipment: pastry robot, multifunction robot, blender, chopper, juice extractor.

The bread maker has a characteristic, compact shape. It generally has a sober design, sometimes rounded, sometimes cubic. It is relatively bulky but easily takes place on a work plan or a table without being disproportionately bulky. The bread maker is also fairly heavy, and it is welcome to choose a location for it and leave it where it is so as not to have to move it with difficulty.

To get a quick portrait of the bread maker, you should list the main parts of the machine. It is composed of a tank, a mould, a propeller and a cover with a porthole!

The BEST Bread-Maker White Loaf Recipe with UKRifter

The advantages of the bread maker

The main advantage of the bread maker is that you can prepare and bake your bread yourself. No need to move early in the morning to buy hot bread from the local baker, if there is one.

The homemade flavour

To avoid these inconveniences that happen too often during the year, baking your bread is a solution and a definite advantage. You get the ingredients you need and make the amount of bread you need! You can then precisely meet all the needs of your family. The bread will have the good taste of homemade, authenticity, uniqueness! Nothing to do with the too common flavours of bakery chains and supermarkets.

Savings

At the same time, you realize significant savings, and you only have to pay for the raw material, not the labour. The machine quickly pays for itself. It is better to invest in a bread maker that will provide you with all the bread you need than to spend money once or even several times a day at the baker.

Easy to use and time-saving

The other major advantage of the bread maker is its ease of use. She is a true culinary assistant who will relieve you of the most thankless but perhaps the most essential bread-making task, namely kneading. Its hooks do the job for your hands and forearms. To further assist you in making bread, the machines have pre-installed programs to select after integrating the ingredients for your recipe. These automatic programs will save you a lot of time that you can allocate to other activities.

Many bread recipes

Speaking of recipes, another strong point to highlight in the advantages of the machine is the number of recipes that it is possible to make thanks to all the programs generally installed: white bread, black bread, bread with sesame, gluten-free bread, bread for blinis, oriental bread, bastard bread, wholemeal bread, sweet bread. The possibilities are endless, and you will find something for all tastes and almost all colours!

The essential characteristics of a bread maker

It is now time to take stock of the important characteristics to consider when buying your future baker’s robot, such as power, capacity, the programs present, the bowl or the mixer (dough hook). These points will be compared between each device you are targeting.

Bread maker tank capacity

An important point to consider when purchasing a bread maker is the capacity of its pan. By capacity, we mean the volume and the quantity of bread dough that can be produced: from 500 g to 1.5 kg! The broader and deeper the pan, the thicker and more consistent the bread obtained.

The ideal is to make your choice according to your family’s needs, a 1.5 kg loaf will be perfect for a large family or regular guest receptions. On the other hand, if your family is more traditional (2 to 4 members), it may be better not to go for a large tank machine; you would pay more for a not yours use. Then opt for a machine making bread of 500g to 750g.

Also, note that there are bread makers with two vats to allow you to make two loaves at the same time. This option is useful if you have gluten allergies in your family or those who only eat whole wheat bread while the others are fond of white bread. You can design two different loaves of bread at the same time: no jealousy, no disappointments!

Power

A factor to be aware of when choosing a bread maker is the power. The higher it is, the easier the machine will knead and bake the bread dough. The cooking speed is also affected. The power varies between 500 W for the entry level and 2000W for the most powerful on the baking robot market.

Models with a power between 600 and 800 W represent a good quality-power ratio. It all depends on the use you plan to make of the device; if you plan to run the full machine capacity to bake bread for a regiment every day of the week, you will need to orient yourself towards the most popular models. powerful that will withstand the workload well.

The mixer

One of the critical parts of the bread maker is, without a doubt the mixer, or dough hook. This allows you to cut the dough, knead, mix the flour, cereals, sugar. For even more efficiency, some machines even offer two mixer hooks. Be careful; however, the hook generally remains embedded in the dough during baking, so a hole is made in the bread when unmolding. If there are two hooks, then there will be two holes.

Breadmaker programs and functions

Like modern household appliances, the bread maker offers pre-installed programs and practical functions to make it even more comfortable for you to use.

Automatic programs dedicated to bread making

Several automatic programs exist for making almost all types of bread. The more there are, the better! You will have less effort to provide to find the right settings, and in addition, it will allow you to multiply the recipes.

The following programs are generally found on most bread makers on the market:

• Gluten-free: very trendy, the program is ideal for those who wish to eat gluten-free for the sake of their health. In gluten-free mode for maximum well-being
• Pizza: obviously, for pizza lovers of all kinds! The secret to a good pizza: a successful dough. Trust the program.
• Normal bread or white bread: to make traditional breads with flour type 45 or 55.
• Wholemeal bread: this program is suitable for heavy flours such as rye, spelt or wholemeal.
• Sugarbread: for sweetbreads such as brioches that all children particularly appreciate or for bread with dried fruits.
• French bread: to obtain an airy bread with a very crispy dough. The very definition of bread, the best in the world, and we proudly say that.
• Cake: very practical program used to make cakes of all kinds requiring baking powder.
• Jam: as its name suggests, this program allows you to concoct jams! Yes, bread makers can do it too.
• Fast programme: for those in a hurry or people who often need to bake bread quickly in an hour.

Other programs are available depending on the brands and models. Take the time to compare for equal characteristics and prices; you might as well choose the machine with the most automatic programs.

Bread Maker Features

In addition to its many automatic programs, the breadmaker also benefits from functions that are as practical as they are essential to guarantee its users optimal comfort of use. Among the most important functions we can mention:

• The ingredient dispenser function allows the user to add ingredients as the preparation cycle progresses without hindering the smooth running of the bread making without turning off the appliance. Useful when you have forgotten a component!
• Delayed start: you can start the preparation of the bread hours in advance so that at the desired time, the bread is ready to be removed and eaten hot, all good. Ideal for not getting up early in the morning, you program the machine in the evening before going to bed and wake up with fresh bread!
• Keep Warm: This option is convenient for families whose members do not rise at the same time. It allows the bread to stay at the right temperature so that everyone can find warm bread for their breakfast.
• Digital display: with a readable digital display, you have all the information about preparing your bread at a glance.
• Window: A window is essential to monitor or follow the rising of the dough or baking bread.
• Non-stick coating: Although it seems like it has become a norm, opt for a bread maker with a pan covered with a non-stick coating to clean it more easily.

These features are essential, and they must imperatively be present for you to appreciate your bread maker fully. Like automatic programs, the more functions you have, the more pleasant the device is to use.

How to bake bread with your bread maker

Using a bread maker is relatively straightforward as long as you follow the directions in the manual correctly. Generally speaking, the bread preparation cycle is the same. Once you have chosen your recipe, the bread is done in just a few steps.

Choice of bread recipe

To choose the recipe for your bread, manufacturers like DOMO offer recipe books included with their bread makers; they help you get started with the device and give you recipe ideas. You can follow them to the letter or be inspired by them to obtain bread that is as personal as they are original. You can also search the internet, where hundreds of recipes are listed to you pains au lait, brioche bread, sesame bread and other bread from all over the world.

Course of a cycle

Once you have chosen the recipe, selected the ingredients and inserted them in the mould of the tank, all you have to do is choose the appropriate program and select the desired weight. Then begins the kneading of the dough using the mixer (s) present. Depending on the desired dough, this step is more or less long. Subsequently, the formed dough will rest for a few minutes before being kneaded again. If ingredients need to be added at a given time, the machine can warn you with an audible signal (depending on the make and model).

Then comes the cooking step; the mould in the tank is fitted with a resistance creating heat. The bread is then baked for an hour on average.

In total, depending on the desired recipe, the bread-making cycle can last up to 4 hours, except the quick programs that allow you to set up cycles from 1 hour to 2 hours. Bread made with baking powder, which therefore do not need to rise, and breads made with baker’s yeast, which are smaller and require less proofing time, are part of the rapid cycles.

Maintenance of the bread maker

The maintenance of a bread maker mainly involves its cleaning and good practices. A well-maintained machine is a machine that you will be able to use for a longer period of time. The first step is to acquire a device whose bowl has a non-stick coating. Otherwise, maintenance will be more difficult.

To clean the bowl, which will be the most sensitive part, you will need to wipe it with a damp cloth and a little washing-up liquid to remove any cooking residue. Thanks to the coating, this step shouldn’t be complicated. After this step, dry cloth will be necessary to dry the whole while avoiding scratching.

Regarding good practices, it is recommended to spray the engine and accessories with a degreasing spray and wipe with a dry cloth or microfiber from time to time.

Bread maker prices

Like any household appliance, there is a wide price range for bread makers. Depending on the brand, options, capacity, power, the amounts vary from single to double.

It is possible to find them from £60 for entry-level models up to more than £200 for high-end models.

You will have to choose according to the needs of your family and the frequency of use of the device. If you are sure to use it several times a week to bake large quantities of bread, it will be wise to turn to a powerful model with a large bowl that will inevitably impact the price. On the other hand, if you plan to use the machine episodically to try out recipes or change bread from the bakery, you will prefer to take a standard model that you will find here.

Choosing a bread maker at a glance

If you haven’t dared to read this guide dedicated to buying a bread maker, you’re in luck; we’ve got you covered. In short, to know how to choose a bread maker without the risk of making mistakes, you have to:

• Know your needs.
• Make your choice based on these.
• Observe and compare the models in terms of the programs and functions present (the more there are, the better), the power, the capacity of the tank and the price (this must remain within your budget. not ruin for a machine that you will only use infrequently).