Customer Reviews

Panasonic SD254 Breadmaker

5 star:		(326)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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!).

I purchased the SD254 on reading the reviews. I was totally fed up with normal bread as you always have difficulty spreading anything on it without tearing a hole in it!
The first loaf I made was perfect - using the Basic white recipe. I have also made wholemeal bread and pizza dough. We have also made bread using the rapid setting and this turned out fine - the loaf was tasty and only slightly smaller. It has been used almost every day since we bought it and we have only had one disaster (my own fault for not measuring the ingredients accurately). We have also only once had the blade stick in the bread - this was on the same disaster loaf! We haven't tried making anything which requires raisins etc so I am glad we didn't buy the more expensive SD255.
The only drawback is that the large loaf is quite tall so you only get bigger slices. I haven't tried the ex-large because of this. The medium size is fine for us - 2 adults and 1 child.
I would highly recommend this if you want homemade bread with no effort. It has been well worth the price paid.

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.

My first breadmaker and I love it. It makes a perfect loaf every time, white or wholemeal; the only time it didn't work properly and I got a flattish loaf was when I opened the lid to take a look at what was happening. So my advice is put the ingredients in and set it, then leave it alone. It's really easy to use, once you've made a couple of loaves the whole thing takes five minutes and the control panel is idiot proof. It requires almost no cleaning except the bottom of the spindle which can be cleaned after putting an inch of warm water in the bottom of the pan. You do get the impression that every aspect of the design has been carefully thought out and the manual, written in good English is very easy to follow.

Thoroughly recommended.

Previously had a Morphy Richards and a Kenwwood breadmaker - WHY? They were always hit and miss, were poorly made and never really made a great loaf. The Panasonic, however, has made the best bread I've had, every time and on every setting - white , granery, wholemeal. I've not had one failure so far, even with flour at 54p a bag. The breadpan is in a different league to the other makes, no struggling to get it in or out. The paddle on other makes tends to leave a big hole across the bottom of the loaf . The loaf from the Panasonic comes out with only a small hole and every slice is in good condition. The Panasonic is quiet and takes it's time to produce quality results. Don't buy any other make!

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

I don't know how it does it, but this machine reliably makes absolutely excellent light, white bread with a perfect crust. I set it to make a loaf before I go to bed at night - which takes much less than five minutes - and use the timer so it's ready for breakfast at 7am the next day. We find we like the basic medium sized loaf with the darker crust.

The only downside is that we find it so delicious that we're eating much more bread than before. I wonder whether Panasonic also make exercise equipment...

My mum bought us a Morphy Richards breadmaker years ago, which we found very hard to get along with. If you didn't get the ingredients spot on, you would get an inedible disaster. It spent most of its life at the bottom of our deepest corner cabinet. We were therefore quite apprehensive when we bought the SD254 back in September on the recommendation of friends (and the Amazon reviews). We needn't have been, the product is fantastic. We have been making faultless bread on an almost daily basis, following the simple instructions supplied. We mainly make wholemeal or wholemeal-white combinations, but the white and brioche options are incredible and the loaf is quickly consumed. With three young children it is so important to know that they are not eating bread full of additives and palm oil, so it's a bonus to see them devouring this bread. I would reccomend using the strongest possible flours (we use Strong Canadian White and Wholemeal from Waitrose). We haven't bought a loaf since September and with such heavy use the breadmaker is never put in the cupboard.
I would highly recommend this product.
As a footnote, my mum took the Morphy Richards back and uses it twice a week without any problems

Like most 21 year old lads ive grown up on supermarket mass produced artificial preservative enhanced fake rubbery 'bread'. The bread you can make from this machine is amazing - much better than other breadmakers which I have tried. It is actually really easy (4/5 ingredients for basic recipes given in the free booklet) Assuming you already know the benefits of breadmakers - here is what I think makes this the best: Kneading blade is perfect, really thin so doesnt leave a gaping hole in the loaf. Really quiet when in operation. Shape of tin is lovely, creating really nice rectangular loaves. So simple to use. And finally - the recipe in there (and function on the machine) for sandwich loaf! This loaf is worth its weight in gold (yes even in todays commodity prices), really soft and stretchy, and actually keeps well for a few days unlike other recipes which tend to go like a breeze block after a day (great for building a garage, not so good to eat). If you enjoy the finer things in life like fresh bread with your own ingredients, you know what to do baby...click BUY!!!!

I felt I had to write a review on this breadmaker.

My mum has had the same model for quite a few months now and when my wife and I visited for a weekend we loved the bread that it produced.

I bought one through the shop that my bother works at (staff cost) and I'm so glad we did.

When I told my friends they wound us up saying "how long before it's in the cupboard" etc........

We have been using it for the last 3+ months and don't think we are ever going to stop using it, as it's so much better than the shop bread (and costs a lot less).

Only 1 gripe is that you can't set the timer for the rapid bake loaf (sometimes I want a wholemeal loaf ready in 4 hours, so the basic 5 hours is too long you are unable to delay the 3 hour rapid load an hour).

We have only had 2 bad loafs, but not due to the breadmaker (once I forgot to put the water in and the 2nd time the wife forgot to add the yeast).

Also you can vary the ammount of sugar and salt in the bread (we use low sodiam salt, so it would be better for people with high blood pressure as there is so much salt in the shop bread).