A nice little gadget (Hinari HB174 Breadmaker)

Member Name: blackeyepea

Product:	Hinari HB174 Breadmaker
Date:	27/12/03 (2257 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Frresh bread whenever you want it, Control the ingredients

Disadvantages: Fresh bread tends to go stale quicker than sliced loaves from the shop, Waiting while the smell of fresh bread permeates your kitchen is nothing short of torture

This breadmaker is pretty much already assembled when you purchase it - all you have to do is click the mixing 'blade' into place in the bottom of the bread tin. Then it's ready to go.

The Hinari breadmaker is a combined mixer, warmer and cooker, which means that you don?t have to go through all the normal faff of breadmaking like kneading, leaving to rise and baking. It has six programmable settings: Basic, whole wheat, sweet, French, cake and dough. If you just want to make a loaf or a cake, the machine takes care of everything. And if you want to make your own rolls, naan breads, pittas, doughnuts or muffins, you use the 'dough' setting and cook the dough in your oven.

The machine comes complete with measuring cup and spoon, and a user guide/recipe book. You just switch the machine on and follow the recipe book guidelines exactly. Generally, you just put the ingredients into the bread tin in the precise order given in the instruction book, and leave the machine to do its stuff. After about 3-4 hours (depending on the programme chosen) the machine will beep to let you know the bread is done.

If you don't remove the bread immediately, the machine will kick into 'warming' mode for an hour. After that, however, your bread will go soggy if you don?t remove it and pop it onto a cooling rack.

This machine makes the perfect amount of bread for my small family; a loaf the size of a couple of house bricks, or enough dough for six rolls. It's very easy to clean but you have to be careful when you're removing the bread pan - it's hot!

Make sure you keep and treasure the instruction and recipe book that comes with the machine - it's indispensable! Practice with the recipes given before trying out your own variations (the white floury baps recipe is delicious with the addition of rosemary and sundried tomatoes).

Use the types of yeast and flour recommended by the
manufacturers - and don?t get the yeast wet! Four hours is a long time to wait for a soggy mess (take it from someone who thought they'd impress dinner party guests with home-baked bread, and then had to run to the corner shop for a loaf of white sliced!).

I'm very impressed with this breadmaker as I have previously owned a Prima one which didn't give me such impressive and consistant results, although some of the features of more expensive bread makers would really come in handy. For example, if you?d like to wake up to freshly-cooked bread, you either have to invest in a timer switch (about a tenner from Argos) - or set your alarm for 2-3am, switch the bread maker on, and dive back into bed again.

That said, this would be fabulous for anyone who for medical reasons has to watch the amount of salt or sugar they consume, as you have control over exactly what's going into your bread.

My partner paid £49.99 for this breadmaker from Sainsburys for me and I'm glad he did. Although making your own bread doesn't save you any money as you're buying all the ingredients, it is nicer than a standard loaf of Kingsmill and you can feel like a country housewife for the day. Now all I need is the posh country kitchen.

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