Bread machines?

[ffutures]

I'm vaguely thinking of getting a bread machine - I get the impression that very little real skill is needed to use them, which suits me very well, and I do like really fresh bread in the morning occasionally.

But I don't know much about them, and there seem to be a lot of models with different features. So what I'm wondering is which are essential, and which are just feeping creaturism?

This page shows the models sold by Argos, about the most ubiquitous store in the UK. Since I want to try this without spending a fortune I'm tempted to go for the cheaper Morphy-Richards model - they have a long history of making reasonably good domestic appliances such as electric blankets and hairdriers. but I don't know it if has all the features I need.

All comments gratefully received.

Comments

Compromise

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Wjhen staying with friends in the US I'd use their breadmaker to bake fresh loaves. I found it better to use the "dough" setting so that the breadmaker did all the hard work and the correct timings, then I'd take the dough out and bake it in the oven. The breadmaker's pan had lost most of its non-stick coating, the stirring paddle got in the way of extracting the finished loaf from the pan and the oven finished the loaf a lot better than the built-in heater did (a nicely fired crust for example, especially brushed with a milk and egg mix). Properly shaped loaf pans made turning out the finished baked loaf a lot easier.

Using it in that mode would also allow you to make small loaves rather than full-sized ones, a useful feature for someone who lives by themselves.

I usually turned out regular white loaves but occasionally I'd get creative -- grating up the dog-ends of cheese lurking at the back of the fridge, for example made a cheesebread that toasted up wonderfully.