Breville BR8L Anthony Worrell Thompson Professional Breadmaker

I got an Antony Worrall Thompson Breville breadmaker a couple of months ago, and not only is it one of the prettiest, shiniest breadmakers around, it’s also got all sort of really good extra bits and pieces which make it worth spending a little more on.

Everyone knows the basics of breadmaking with a breadmaker: you fill the bread pan with your ingredients, in the right order, close the lid, set the timer, and wait for the machine to do the work. You can leave your bread to cook overnight, or leave it on while you are out at work all day, and come home to the glorious smell of a freshly baked loaf.

That’s what any breadmaker will do, even if you opt for the cheapest model. So what makes the Breville worth that little bit more of your hard-earned cash?

*It’s very simple to set the programme*
Even I can manage it. There are six basic settings – you pick the appropriate number, choose your crust colour and your loaf size, perhaps add some time to the timer to delay the baking, and then press start. Not hard to master.

* It has an automatic fruit and nut dispenser*
You drop your mixed fruit/nuts into the compartment before setting the timer. The breadmaker releases them into the dough during the kneading cycle, which means they end up nice and evenly dispersed throughout the dough, and they don’t get crushed.

*It has a memory*
Well, of sorts. It will save up to 8 different recipes in the memory, which means you don’t have to keep digging out your breadmaking book when you want to try something a little bit different. There is also a pop out baking card attached to the machine (like you get on a telephone handset) which means if you lost the recipe booklet, you won’t be completely scuppered.

*It has 68 different baking and kneading options*
This breadmaker doesn’t just make bread, it makes you a jam sandwich, a pizza and then some cake to follow. I’m not going to list all 68 options, but they include basic white and brown breads, gluten and yeast free breads, whole wheat, French breads, sweet breads, cake, jam, pizza dough, and even pasta. Disappointingly, it won’t make the pasta into cooked pasta twists like I was hoping: you do actually have to put the pasta through a pasta machine and cook it! There are different loaf sizes to choose from, from a 750g loaf to a 1.5kg one. There are also three crust settings – light, medium and dark. There’s even a turbo setting, so you can make a loaf in super-quick time – two hours for the smallest turbo loaf. Larger loaves are all around the 3-4 hour mark.

*It has a timer delay and a keep warm function*
Not only can you delay the timer so that if you leave the house at 7am, the machine doesn’t start baking until mid-afternoon, but you can also opt for the bread to be kept warm after it has been baked, if you want to wait a little longer before eating it! You can set the timer to delay the onset of baking for up to 15 hours.

* It tells you what it’s doing and when it’s doing it*
There are some symbols on the LCD of the breadmaker which guide you through the cooking stages. There are clear symbols for pre-heating, kneading, rising, baking, and keeping warm stages. Which means you know exactly what stage your bread is at (for all the control freaks out there.) There is also a large viewing window (with a light) so that you can watch the weird goings on inside.

*Power interruption thingywhatsit*
If there’s a powercut or powersurge while you are out at work, your breadmaker will recognise it and hold it’s memory for 10 minutes. Then when the power supply returns, it will continue where it left off. Which is kind of clever.

*It’s really easy to clean*
Removing your cooked loaf is a doddle. You just turn the bread pan upside down onto a wire tray, and the loaf slides out. The bread pan just needs a wipe (no harsh detergents though) and you’re ready to start all over again. The fruit and nut dispenser comes right out so you can clean that easily as well.

*It’s a good quality make*
You have to pay for quality, but it usually rewards you.

The quality of the bread products you make is probably mostly dependent on the ingredients you use and on how closely you follow any given recipes, rather than the actual machine itself. The recipe booklet gives measurements in grams and fluid ounces, which suits me fine. The only unusual thing I’ve bought in order to follow Mr W-T’s recipes to the letter is skimmed milk powder (although you can choose to use real milk if you aren’t using a delay setting). His recipes also call for “bread improver” which I haven’t found in supermarkets although I believe it is readily available in health food shops. He does say it’s not a problem to leave it out, and I certainly don’t think the bread I’ve made has suffered because of the lack of it.

All the kneading, raising, baking, and 'keep warm' cycles can be seperately modified (increased/decreased!) with ease - even during the cycle! - and if you like the bread that results you just press 'save' at the end of the cycle and you can then choose your personally adjusted 'favourite' each subsequent use!

As a family of 6 we chose this breadmaker for it's large loaf capacity (our last offered a 2.5lb - this one a 2.75lb!), HOWEVER!!! the ingredient quantities for the 1.25kg loaf (largest size!) gave heavy/dense loaves which only just reached the top of the breadpan! We then discovered (when using the 'French' bread recipe!) that the 'Dove Organic Bread flours' we use obviously absorb a lot more water than suggested in the recipes (we had to add 60ml during the cycle to get it to a dough consistency!). Also the recipe times given in the instruction book show there is little time difference between the unmodified 1.25kg and 1kg (middle size!) loaves - which probably meant there was not enough rising time for the heavier amount of ingredients.

Decided to weigh the ingredients for a 1kg French loaf and increase the water (by 100ml!), 1/2 the salt and still use the 1.25kg 'French' setting (we also upped the rise times by 5mins each + upped the bake time to maximum!).......The resulting loaves have been HUGE (they try and escape out the breadmaker!!), and the bread so light and fluffy - even with 1/3 wholemeal flour!!!!! (omit the wholemeal for a 'traditional' french bread though!).

We highly recommend this breadmaker, as being able to adjust the raising and cooking times and then save the amendments is indispensible to getting a loaf perfect to your own tastes. The automatic fruit/nut dispenser is also a bonus! (no more missing the 'beeps' telling you when to add your extras!!). Our breadmaker has been in use every day (twice when we made pasta!...yum!)and even the 2 heavier first loaves were far tastier than shop-bread!

It's fantastic waking up or coming home to the smell of freshly baked bread and even the smallest loaf size is big enough to last us a day or two. I guess each loaf is costing about 50-60p in ingredients (for a 750g loaf) which is comparable to the popular small sliced loaves such as those by Hovis and Warburtons - but the taste and texture are far better. And you're not eating chemical enhancers or preservatives.

The machine is VERY easy to use - only the first loaf didn't work - we didn't realise we'd bought a semi-wholemeal flour and we put it on a white bread cycle. You just need a good set of scales to accurately measure the ingredients. I'm baking french-style bread regularly and my wife is planning to experiement with a range of exotic fruity loaves!