Best automatic bread maker - for home baking

Bread is a staple food in most parts of the globe; it would be wonderful to make your own bread at home. If you are the health conscious type you would be happy to have a control over all the ingredients that go into your food. In the market today, there are different kinds of automatic bread makers that make your job easy. All you have to do is add a few ingredients and punch a few buttons and the aroma of freshly baked bread fills the air in a few hours.

The bread that we get in the market today has too much preservatives, additives and chemical improvers to improve quality and shelf life of the bread we consume. This is affecting our health adversely, gluten intolerance is often linked to the new fangled ways of large scale manufacturing of bread.

Reasonably speaking, if you are a regular bread eater, it would make more sense to invest in a bread making machine. Not only will you be eating healthy food with strict quality control, but you would be well on your way to a healthy new life. You would be saving your self a lot of money not only by home-baking, but also on doctor’s bills if you watch what you are eating.

Presenting one of the most reviewed and appreciated automatic bread maker of all. It mixes, kneads, rises, and bakes bread in three loaf sizes up to 2-1/2 pounds. Its digital controls make baking much easier, and gives you a wider range of settings for white, whole wheat, multigrain, French bread etc. Other settings on the control permit rapid baking and baking sandwich bread with a soft crust. If you want to add fruit to your bread, there is a beeper setting to ensure that you add it at the right time and the fruit does not gets crushed in the kneading process. You can make different kind of breads, cakes and mixes dough for pizzas, croissants, and pastries. It even has a timer that allows you to plan for dinner 13 hours in advance and keeps the bread warm until it is time. The notable fact about this automatic bread making machine is that it does not hop around the kitchen counter like many other bread makers in the market, it is steady and comparatively noiseless.

Panasonic SD-RD 250 Automatic Bread Maker with a fruit/ nut dispenser, white finish has all the advantages of the above mentioned model.

This model allows you to use dry fruits / nuts in your baking and you can come out with professional baking results at home.

In addition to the recipe book, it comes with baking accessories like measuring spoon, a measuring cup, and a kneading blade that fits onto the base of the inner pan for thoroughly mixing ingredients. This machine can continue the baking process even after there has been power-interruption for approximately 10 minutes or less. It is easy to clean up as it has a non stick baking pan. This automatic bread maker requires that all parts need to be hand washed only.

This Panasonic bread maker is compactly designed and that fits neatly on the kitchen countertop. The 550-watt bread machine measures 13-3/8 by 9-1/16 by 14 inches, weighs about 15 pounds, and carries a one-year limited warranty. It is so simple to use that even a person with a busy schedule can put it to use efficiently

The Zojirushi BB-HAC10 bread maker is another well reviewed and received automatic bread maker. It is priced much higher than the Panasonic bread maker but it is still value for money in the long run. It is small, compact and would fit on your kitchen counter making it easily accessible and easy to use. The controls here again, are not complicated and easy to use. This automatic bread maker is noiseless and sturdy and does not hop around your kitchen counter as most of the other machines do.

The non stick baking pan makes it easy to clean up. This machine has a feature to make jams and cookies. The small size ensures that there is no wastage and you can eat fresh bread everyday. It has three bread textures to choose from- regular, firm and soft. The video and the operation manual make the machine easy to use.

One drawback with this machine is that, the paddle eats up into the bread space and leaves a gaping hole in the bread so you may end up with a smaller bread than you thought you would. But this would be ideal for a single person or a couple.

Here are some tips to spice up your bread –

For what you may have to pay a premium price at the market, you can do this at home for almost nothing.

When you have a choice of making your own bread, you can make it as healthy as possible, avoiding refined or bleached flour, excessive salt, sugar, butter etc.

You can substitute these with olive oil, whole wheat flour or multi grain flour to make it healthy and full of fiber.

A good tablespoon or more of flax seeds added to the ingredients will make your bread omega 3 rich, healthy and gives it a an interesting nutty flavor. Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds etc can be added to make it interesting and different.

You can also make it interesting and different each day by adding new flavors with crushed garlic or herbs, or finely chopped onions or left-over meat and other veggies. A  tablespoon of rosemary or thyme or chives and cheddar cheese and some mustard powder can give your bread a nice herby twist.

Curd or yoghurt makes bread soft and chewy and adding nuts and dried fruits like figs, raisins, dates etc makes the bread that much more healthy, special and enjoyable.

Hope you have wonderful experience making bread at home and having your whole house filled with the incomparable and inviting aroma of fresh bread filling it. Could you ask for more?