• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Sue has been dancing with her new machine for three months. A skilled home baker whose kids have reached an age that makes a leisurely day at home quite rare, she had been dismayed to find herself spending $3.75 to buy a decent loaf of bread for toast and sandwiches. Priorities firmly in hand, she investigated her options and figured that even the top machine would pay for itself in nine months. She says, “Most appliances are pretty straightforward. You figure out what they’ll do in a short time. But a bread machine? It requires a kind of relationship. You need to build trust. You have to stick with it. Each baking is different, but you get the hang of it, you learn what your machine can do for you. And gee, it is simply wonderful to have good bread, fresh and fragrant and wholesome—at home, so easy, so dependable—and so cheap!”

Choosing a New Bread Machine

SHAPE & SIZE

Whole wheat loaves work best when they are relatively narrow. In machine terms, the narrowest is 5″, though a few of the older one-pounders make 4 ½″ loaves. Loaves wider than 5″ across collapse from over-rising; in sandwiches their slices crumble, and in the toaster they burn in the center. Toast!—and sandwiches! Whatever else you get from your machine, at least you should be able to count on these. Look for a machine that makes slices not more than 5″ across.

Size in the other direction has more to do with how fast you’ll eat it up. Machine bread doesn’t keep fresh for more than a few days—but it’s so very easy to make, you can bake as often as you want, to have fresh bread.

WHOLE WHEAT CYCLE

A machine that doesn’t have a whole wheat cycle may work fine. Older machines, as mentioned above, can offer the advantage of a narrower loaf; often, they also operate with a longer rise and cooler temperature, which together produce a tastier, longer-keeping bread. Whole wheat cycles, however, do generally offer a shorter kneading time, and that is a good thing: too much kneading can break down the dough, making a loaf that cannot rise.

REST/PREHEAT

Newer models start up with an extended “rest/preheat” period, sometimes as long as 40 minutes, especially in the whole wheat cycle. If you want to check to make sure the dough is the right consistency, the delay means having to remember to come back after that time is up—bother! If the machine is programmable, you can get rid of the preheat. However, there is a point to it. Even if the ingredients start out nice and warm, by the time everything is loaded in, it all cools down quite a bit. And since having the right temperature is critical for the yeast, that annoying preheat turns out to be not such a bad idea after all. If you program it out (or if yours doesn’t have a preheat period), we suggest that you warm the bucket ahead of time, and be very sure your ingredients are warm, too.

PROGRAMMABILITY

The programming option can seem intimidating at first, but you’ll love it. For one thing, you can change the timings (not temperatures, alas) to be better for whole wheat doughs (more on that later). The Breadman Ultimate lets you lengthen the amount of time it spends “shaping,” as well as the other times, and this is a very big plus.

THE TIMED CYCLE

One of the most popular options, the delay timer lets you set up your baking so that you come home from work to fresh hot bread—or wake up to that wonderful smell. Virtually all machines offer this feature, but the ones that begin with a preheat give the best timed loaves. Double paddles help also, because they support the pile of flour, protecting the yeast. For many bread machine enthusiasts, the timer option is pure magic.

THE RAPID-RISE CYCLE

The Quick or Rapid cycle times range from three hours in older machines to just over one hour in some newer ones. The faster it is, the poorer quality the bread, but this short timing does actually make something that looks and smells like a loaf of bread. Tip: add lots of goodies.

POWER & DURABILITY

Bread machines, even the most powerful, use only about a nickel