I'm joining the bread making revolution! (Panasonic SD253)

Member Name: rrharmston

Product:	Panasonic SD253
Date:	08/02/09 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to run, great bread, lots of options, can make dough for oven use, reliable, fairly idiot proof

Disadvantages: Time, lets you open the lid during baking

I've just been given this from a very kind freecycler so this is my first experience of making bread in a machine - I have tried by hand but ended up with a hard, lunar landscape rather than anything edible. I'm rather a strange case as I have crohn's disease so the high fibre/whole grain type of bread that we are told to eat will actually make me ill. The machine itself was bought in 2003 so I was a bit dubious wether it would work but I've been really pleasantly suprised.

Yesterday afternoon it was off to the local shop to buy strong white flour and packet yeast - apparently packet yeast is much better for breadmakers then live yeast. I'm really posting this review to help out other novices who think they can't make bread :). I machine has three options medium, large and extra large so I opted for large so that I would still be able to find my kitchen under lumpy dough if the bread maker exploded part way through.

To make my bread I simply followed the instructions from panasonic to add the yeast first (whole sachet added), 450g flour, 1tsp salt, 1tsp sugar, small amount of milk as had no milk powder and around 320ml tap water. Pressed select to choose a white basic loaf with a dark crust and then the machine started. I spent a good few hours lurking around in the kitchen in case the machine malfunctioned - if it had everyone down the street would soon know as our smoke alarms are linked to the house alarm (think lots of neighbours piling into the driveway in their cars to see if our house is on fire again as happened a couple of years ago and then being greeted by a dodgy bread maker)

For the next FOUR, yes FOUR hours the machine proved, kneeded, rested (went deadly quiet leading to lots of lid opening and concerned glances between me and the dog who was shut in the room with it). Then just as the suspense was getting to me the machine started to bake - about 30 minutes into this phase curiosity got the better of me and I made the mistake of opening the lid resulting in scalded finger tips (take note - this machine lets you open the lid during the really hot steaming/baking part of the cycle. ON the lid it tells you not to open the lid but this is like the wet paint signs....)

After four hours, lots of floor pacing and anxiety the machine beeped eight times and revealed a rather nice looking loaf if I do say so myself. Unfortunately loaf was stuck in tin leading to violent shaking of the removable loaf tin to evict the still warm loaf of bread onto the baking try. 30 minutes later the loaf has all but disappeared and the local birds are enjoying the remains.... Strangely I thought it would taste of more than it did but the bread was amazingly soft and the crust was really hard.

The machine has an inbuilt nut/raisin dispensor so we've been more adventurous today and made raisin and cinnamon bread which was gorgeous and again has nearly all gone. The bread is much more fillling than shop bought ones but maybe we are eating too much :). Will be trying out the pizza dough function shortly.

Summary
As long as you press the right options and put in the right ingredients then you should end up with a decent loaf.
You can select the size of the loaf - large is definately large and was raised well above the bread tin so have not tried XL yet.
Bread is lovely and soft and the crusts are great.
Looks like the machines are sturdy and long lasting as this one is six years old.
Glutein free mode - have not tried as I only have to avoid fibre :)
Has a timer option so that you can wake up to fresh bread.
Keeps bread warm for an hour after it has cooked it
Really quick to load everything in and start machine.
More modern panasonic machines now available based on this design

Possible cons
It is normal for a modern breadmaker to take four hours to make a loaf - I've no idea but worth thinking about

Summary: great machine - I am a converted bread maker!

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