Variety is the slice of life....or is it spice?? (Morphy Richards 48280 Fast Bake)

Member Name: Sarahjh

Product:	Morphy Richards 48280 Fast Bake
Date:	15/11/08 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use,easy to clean,makes a decent loaf.

Disadvantages: nothing major

Kitchen gadgets hold great appeal for most of us.
I am certainly no different,every New year brings fresh new appliances.
Tea for two in bed..Must get the Goblin Teasmade !...Ahhh ..filter coffee,and off we go to Comets to purchase a coffee maker !
But having read many reviews and magazine articles I have now decided that we are not in the minority.
The garden shed that is home to a sandwich toaster,a juicer,a rice cooker and a George Foreman grill that needs a good scrub is among one of many sheds that provide accommodation for unwanted gadgets bought on the spur of the moment.

The `Tardis` entered my life last year after a visit to Argos.
Leafing idly through the Argos catalogue,my eye fell upon this magnificent machine.
Very state of the art and space age in appearance ..hence it got the nickname The Tardis..this is one smart gadget !
In my minds eye I was already serving freshly buttered warm bread to all who called,with the comforting ,homely smell of yeast mingling with my latest floral work of art. (I jest )

It does take up a substantial amount of room on my kitchen work surface,shiny white easy clean plastic casing , with controls that sit boldly at the front and a large viewing window on top of the to let you keep an eye on the progress.
The bread maker has Cooltouch sides,this means that they are well insulated and as the temperature rises inside of the machine the outer casing stays cool,so with Health and Safety in mind it passes the test with flying colours.
So we have determined that the outside is attractive and easy to clean.

Inside of the Bread maker is the dough pan,this pan will bake up to a 2lb loaf,so if there are just the two of you..that's very handy.
The Fastbake setting will provide you with a 2lb loaf in just under an hour.
But the machine has twelve settings in total allowing for different types of dough and bread.
There are three crust settings-Light-Medium and dark.
A thirteen hour programmable timer is available too.


Using the Bread maker
When the machine is new it should have a very good wipe over with a clean damp cloth before you use it.
Be careful not to use anything abrasive on the inside bread pan,or you will remove the non stick coating.
Take out the pan by turning the handle anti clockwise and then attach the kneading blade.
The bread recipes come along with the instruction manual,so choose which recipe you are going to use and put all of the necessary ingredients into the bread pan.
Put your bread pan back into the machine and turn clockwise to secure.

My first loaf ever baked was the basic loaf,so after putting the bread pan and ingredients back into the machine I then switched the power on..it bleeps to confirm power has been switched on.
I pressed the loaf size button..in my case just the small loaf to bake..and I wanted the crust medium,so pressed the appropriate button on the front.
Time to press the START button and off we go !

The machine will automatically bleep part way through the cycle,so if the recipe you have chosen needs any fruit or nuts,that is when you add them.

Just watch out for the steam that may come through the side vents..it may be hot !!

When the machine has completed mission and the loaf is baked to perfection ,the bleeper will sound again..you will notice that the timer will have returned to zero.

There is a `Keep warm ` period of sixty minutes..so the machine will continue to stay warm for an hour after the bread has finished cooking,but it will bleep at ten minute intervals...please remove the bread within this hour.

Turn the bread out by lifting the bread pan out of the machine..always using oven gloves !
You may notice that the kneading blade will be `stuck` into the bottom of the loaf,so just gently remove it,then put the fresh loaf on its side to cool.

Voila !!

I resisted all temptation to rip the freshly baked loaf apart with my bare hands and decided to have a coffee while the loaf cooled off.
The small loaf would yield about eight slices,cut by hand,so maybe next time I would do the larger loaf.
The bread had a pleasant sweet smell..there is sugar in the recipe (to react with the yeast) and I thought I may have added a little too much.
The loaf was a creamy colour,I assumed that the different types of flour used would be reflected in the colour of the loaf.
But the crust was a beautiful colour !
Texture?.well I suppose for my first attempt it was acceptable.
A little `close` maybe..im sure that gauging the ingredients correctly is a big part of it.
We ate some of it for tea,but the following morning it seemed that it would be better toasted.

I have since plodded on and made countless loaves of bread,large and small .
Funnily enough nine times out of ten they all have different textures !
But by and large the bread tastes good,it smells good,it cuts reasonable well..sometimes a little crumbly..and the Bread maker is quick,clean and easy to use.

Put it this way..its not made it to the garden shed yet ..

The Morphy Richards bread maker is available on the Amazon website at £42.99.

Summary: A well presented Breadmaker that makes short work of cooking a loaf.

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