Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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168 of 168 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent bread , with wholemeal that is light and airy!!!!!, 25 Dec 2007
takes a bit of geting used to in that the programmes are long but the wait is worth it, the basic white bread has a very light and crisp crust, the sandwich recipe is sooooo soft its almost criminal. but the best is the wholemeal bread its so light and soft, my breadman pro produced a passible wholemeal but this is dare i say perfect, i replaced a perfectly working machine with this one and felt a little silly doing so but the money was worth it ,the bread is so much better. i have had alot of breadmakers konk out on me after a year mostly because the spindle the paddle sits on gives out, but on this breadmaker its replacable without having to buy a whole new breadpan.i have hope that this one will be the one that lasts ,ill update if it doesnt. the only thing i dont like is its so quiet i cant here when the machine does the last mix so i can take the paddle out thus no hole in the bread ,and the finish beep needs to be louder but thats a small complaint. probably the best machine ive bought BUY ONE!!.ps you dont need the other model sd255 unless you make ryebread or really feel the need for a nut dispenser! its the only difference.
if you need a book to go with it order this one its the best ive found for breadmakers ,The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook
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172 of 173 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic gorgeous bread every time - Buy One, 7 Jan 2008
This is my second breadmaker, I've already written a review for my first one (another brand) and given that five stars because it was pretty good. However, since I've had this one, I now realise that breadmakers can be better than pretty good, they can be absolutely magnificent, fantastic, wonderful, marvellous ... (need I go on?)
I bought this because it was at a very good price on Amazon because I had heard a lot about Panasonic being the best, and I knew that I would use it because I was in the habit of making bread every day.
So, you are probably wondering, why is this one so much better? Well, quite simply, it makes better bread, lighter, less 'spongey', tastier and absolutely gorgeous. Each programme takes longer than the equivalent programme on my other machine - for example, to get a 'basic' white loaf (not basic at all in my opinion!) you have to wait 4 hours, and for a wholemeal, you need to wait 5 hours. A baker would tell you that the longer time the bread has to 'prove' the better it's quality, and the extra wait if definitely worth it here. You can choose your loaf size in some of the programmes (not all), ranging from medium to extra large. I've tended to use the medium, because the loaf comes out a good shape - with the extra large, the bread comes out quite tall, so you don't get any extra slices, just taller ones. I've noticed that for the same weight of flour I get more slices of bread than with my old machine - this demonstrates that the bread has a 'lighter' texture, but also saves me money.
There are fastbake programmes which knock a couple of hours off each of these cooking times, and the finished result is still pretty good, although it is worth being organised enough to run the full programmes if you can. There are special programmes to make Italian style bread, French bread and to bake cake mixture too if you don't want to put your oven on. (For this it is recommended that you line the pan with baking parchment by the way.) In addition, there are options to make dough, including a special one for making pizza dough or Foccaccia in just 45 minutes. You will never buy another pizza I assure you.
The recipe book supplied with this product is extensive, so far, I've only made a few of the many on offer, but I plan to do more. To make bread, all you do is put the ingredients into the pan in the order in the book - yeast first, then flour, then everything else - many of the recipes include a bit of butter for flavour, texture and crust - but you could use oil instead. My other machine almost always demanded milk powder and the flavour of the bread was nowhere near as good as this bread.
My only recommendation is to buy a really good bread knife, and something in which to store your bread. I've had no problems with the bread being fresh for 2 days and then fine for toast on day 3, and to be honest, it doesn't usually hang around that long around here because it gets eaten (unless I hide it!).
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64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So glad I bought this, 7 Feb 2008
Fed up with supermarket bread I decided to take the plunge just over 2 weeks ago. The machine was delivered within 3 days (thanks Amazon) and it lives up to all the other reviews. You need a set of kitchen scales to weigh out the flour but the measures provided for yeast, sugar and salt are excellent. I cam't be bothered weighing out butter but (as the manual says) just measure out olive oil instead. Just make sure that you use Easy Bake type yeast which already contains Vitamin C. I use Hovis. I've tried 70% Wholemeal, 50% Wholemeal, White, Parmesan and Sundried tomato, Green pesto, onion and garlic recipes so far and they have all been perfect. The large (middle-sized loaf) gives me just too much for two lunches (8 slices) so I now make the smallest size for that. The bread pan is totally non-stick and just needs wiping over with a damp cloth - a bit of dough does get stuck to the paddle/spindle but a quick soak in cold water solves that. I was a bit cautious of spending £65 but it has been worth every penny. The recipe/instruction book is excellent and can be viewed online at the Panasonic website. Wish I had taken the plunge many years ago - go on if you are tempted buy it.
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