I had one for a few years. It was excellent to use, really easy and very reliable but I never got to like the taste of the crusts it produced. A recommendation is to use one at night to produce a loaf for breakfast but I found the noise it made kept me awake. I got rid of it in the end when a part came round again for replacing because it had lost its essential non-stick coating. In spite of all of this I do occasionally feel like getting another.
Certainly having bread ready first thing in the morning is part of the attraction. Our kitchen is the far side of a formerly-exterior wall from the rest of the house, and we seem to be able to sleep with the washing machine going, so I'm not too worried about noise.
It really is the only sensible choice; it has the most unequivocally positive reviews I've ever seen on Amazon for any product of any kind, and deservedly so.
I have a cheap one from Argos, which is not currently in use due to lack of space / time. It works, but the recipies seem to be very quantity-sensitive. It produced dense bread.
We also have a cheap one from Argos (Morphy Richards "Fastbake", was about 35 quid). Works fine but it produces fairly small loaves* and the blade leaves a key-shaped hole about 2cm deep in one end. Currently using Hovis's Granary flour, which is quite tasty actually.
* That is, compared to standard shop-bought 800g sliced bread. It accepts packet bread mixes which say "2lb" (although when they contain 500g of ingredients and instruct you to add 350ml of water you cannot possibly end up with a loaf that weighs a full two pounds) but I usually use a recipe for a "1½lb" loaf which just about peeks over the top of the tin. The other day a friend produced a machine-baked loaf which looked almost twice the size and slightly more traditionally shaped than the tall square thing that ours produces.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 06:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 06:49 pm (UTC)It really is the only sensible choice; it has the most unequivocally positive reviews I've ever seen on Amazon for any product of any kind, and deservedly so.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-30 01:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-30 11:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-31 01:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-31 05:38 pm (UTC)* That is, compared to standard shop-bought 800g sliced bread. It accepts packet bread mixes which say "2lb" (although when they contain 500g of ingredients and instruct you to add 350ml of water you cannot possibly end up with a loaf that weighs a full two pounds) but I usually use a recipe for a "1½lb" loaf which just about peeks over the top of the tin. The other day a friend produced a machine-baked loaf which looked almost twice the size and slightly more traditionally shaped than the tall square thing that ours produces.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 09:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-29 10:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-30 09:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-31 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-31 11:28 pm (UTC)