A WARNING ABOUT MACHINES TO AVOID:
I've noticed a trend of "New Old Stock" of Welbilt (or any of the common mispellings) and DAK machines (which were manufactured by Welbilt) for sale at unnervingly high prices. These machines are at least 5 years old, and some of them are approaching there 20th "birthday" (including all DAK models, and the Welbilt ABM100 series). I want people to be aware that Welbilt, and its parent company Appliances of America, reorganized in 2001 under a different name. The new company is no longer a manufacturer of home appliances, and does not support these old bread machines -- effectively, this means you will need to get replacement parts from tritronicsinc.com, nelsonappliance.com, or secondhand on Ebay.

Now back to our regularly scheduled review :-)

Many folks would like to make bread at home, and the array of bread machines can confuse the best of us. This guide will help your search by arming you with a few guidelines and a few facts.

We will work backwards: if you already bake, and simply want a machine to help knead, you may want a stand mixer instead of a bread machine. A bread machine is (as Alton Brown would say) a uni-tasker. OK, sure, some bread machines have "jam" and "cake" settings -- but when you come right down to it, they named it a "bread machine" and not a "jam and cake machine" for a reason. So evaluate yourself first -- even some bread first timers are avid cooks and/or bakers, and the addition of a (or use of an already purchased) stand mixer may make far more sense.

OK, if you are still with me, then you must think you still want a bread machine. You have obviously decided you want to control the ingredients going into your bread, and/or saving money buying bread at the store or bakery. Discounting the actual price of the machine, a basic loaf of bread (flour, water, yeast, salt, and electricity for the machine) will run in the pennies -- and even fancy, enriched, and even all-natural/organic loaves will typically run well under US$1.

So, which machine?

There are three basic types of machines, regardless of manufacturer: the vertical loaf, the horizontal loaf, and the semi-horizontal loaf. Ebay only recognizes vertical and horizontal, but the vast majority of machines are actually only "semi-horizontal."

Vertical machines have one paddle, and a square or round baking pan. Obviously, from the designation, the loaf is taller -- so you have only one paddle hole, and it is in the bottom of the loaf (two or three slices are usually affected). Vertical loaves also have a tendency to be much denser on the bottom slices, and "airier" on the top slices. Also, the size of many (not all) loaves are rather larger than normal sandwich bread, which means they may not fit in sandwich bags or containers. Note, if you are looking at a machine with a round breadpan, you looking at some of the first bread machines ever manufactured, and are most likely looking at a Welbilt or a DAK (which was manufactured by Welbilt) -- see the note above about Welbilt.

Semi-horizontal bread machines attempt to combine a single paddle with a slightly oblong bread pan. In effect, you get a short (lengthwise) and tall (heighth) loaf, that often fails to provide normal-sized slices for sandwich making. You can affect the tallness of the loaves by making smaller recipes. Note, you have only one paddle hole, but it is right in the center of the loaf.

True horizontal machines have two paddles and a bread pan with dimensions quite similar to a traditional loaf -- only a few manufacturers have ever made these, and only one manufacturer still does: Zojirushi [EDIT: I just learned that Black and Decker is now selling a two paddle machine in Target stores. I have never used a Black and Decker, but the price is certainly attractive!). Actually, if you are outside the US, then there are a couple other manufacturers, I believe Morphy Richards is one of them. Note that these are the most expensive machines, but you get the most "normal" shaped loaves from it. With two holes in the bottom...

Westbend only makes one bread machine (called "Just for Dinner") but still supports all of their older models.

Most of the other manufacturer names (especially "Breadman") are now consolidated under the Salton brand name (esalton.com), though there are still a few independents still around (Hitachi, Zojirushi, and Panasonic come to mind).

If you are truly just experimenting, then the cheapest machine you can get may be the best. It can knead bread as well as the most expensive, and if you don't mind the shape of the loaf, or maybe you become a fanatic and decide to bake in the oven, you are done. Perhaps you decide you like the convenience, but think you want a more normal sized/shaped loaf, then you wouldn't have spent so much that you would mind buying a Zojirushi X20 and give the cheap one to the charity of your choice (or reselling it on Ebay). The only disadvantage to going the cheapest route is that you may end up with a bad experience and decide to stop baking based on an inferior machine, when a better machine *might* have sent you down a different path.

A few other things to think about: some machines tout things like "nut and fruit" compartments (convenient, till they get gummed up), or special 1-hour modes (which produces very inferior bread, but does so very quickly), or programmable cycles (which can be pretty useful, but more an option for an experienced baker), or baking by convection (a few worked well, while others were so badly designed they actually burned the bread), and so on...

Another thought to ponder: bread machines are NOT set-it-and-forget-it! If you do this, you will almost certainly end up with sunken loaves with unmixed flour in the corners, baked well beyond your liking. Since bread machines went to square and rectangular shapes it has been necessary to open the lid a couple times during the first few minutes of the mix/knead cycle to spatula flour out of the corners. For beginners, this is also the time to check the dough -- after 5-10 minutes, it should be slightly tacky: if it isn't tacky at all, add a tablespoon of water; if it is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour. Check again after a few minutes.

At the end of the baking cycle most machines have a "keep warm" feature, which keeps the crust from getting soggy -- but this effectively keeps cooking and drying the bread. Some folks even like to pull the bread out before the machine says it is done, all based on personal preference.

Closing thought: better than most cookbooks are online groups -- whether on MSN, Google, or Yahoo, where people answer questions and provide recipes pretty much 24/7. Just FYI: the biggest bread machine *specific* group is on Yahoo.

mrtilman
Guide edited 2007-05-19, 2006-12-03