Are you fed up of eating store-bought bread? Are you health conscious but don’t want to spend too much on “organic” tagged foods in the supermarket? Do you have your doubts about the gluten-free bread that is touted in the market?
The main reason why you would want to buy a bread maker is that you want to make bread.
But choosing which bread maker is for you and whether it’s worth it for you can be difficult.
Most people buy a bread maker because they are tired of the taste of bread bought in the store. Some buy a bread maker to save money on their gluten-free products. Others buy it so that they can experiment with interesting bread recipes and try different types of bread.
You can also buy a bread maker for making other related products like dough. Every bread maker has a setting for “dough”. This dough “setting” will allow you to mix, knead and ferment the dough which you need. You can then use the dough for many products like pizza, cookies, pies, cakes, and croissants
This will help you to make the dough without getting your hands messy. It also saves a lot of effort which goes into kneading the dough. You can just make the dough that you require in the bread maker and then put it in your oven and bake it.
When deciding if buying a bread maker is worth it for you, ask yourself the following questions:
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The reason why you want a bread maker
If you want a bread maker for a clear reason like to eat freshly baked bread or to make gluten-free bread, or you need the bread maker to knead dough which you will use in the oven, then it makes a lot of sense to buy a bread maker. Your reason should be clear. You can have more than one reason. In fact, the more reasons you have the better as you will then make optimum use of the bread maker.
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The frequency of baking
If you bake frequently, then you should consider a bread maker as it helps to mix the dough evenly and also kneads it. It saves you a lot of effort that you would be putting in kneading the dough.
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The frequency of using the bread maker to make bread
Though we have a tendency of coming across things and when it catches our attention, buying it, the question we need to ask ourselves is that how frequently we will use the bread maker. Do your family and you have a healthy lifestyle due to which baking organic or gluten-free bread every day will save you a lot of money as compared to buying it at a store? One clue which will help you to understand the frequency at which you will use the bread maker is to check how frequently you use your oven to bake things. If you use it about once a week, there is a high possibility that you will use your bread maker too.
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Saving time with a Bread Maker
We live in a busy world with a lot of commitments. Most bread makers are slow as the process to bake bread is slow. You need to add the ingredients; it will then sit for a bit, then knead the dough, then allow it to ferment, and then knock it around some more and finally bake it. This process generally takes about four hours. Do you have that time to spare? Most bread makers in the market today are automatic so you just need to put the ingredients in and it starts on its own. You will still need to wait until it is baked before you can eat it. There are bread makers in the market that makes quick bread too in one hour so you can get that if time would be a constraint.
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Price
The cost of the bread maker is an important factor when it comes to making a right purchase. If you buy a cheap but high-quality bread maker like the Oster CKSTBRTW20, you can use it infrequently and yet get a lot of value from it over the years. If you plan to use a bread maker frequently, then it makes sense that you buy a high-end model like the Breville BBM800XL or the Zojirushi BB-PDC20BA bread maker as it will give you more value for your money in the long term.
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Entertaining friends and family
Having freshly baked bread on your table is a “WOW” factor when you entertain friends. Many of us have grandparents who used to bake freshly baked bread. If you entertain friends and family over at your house frequently, getting a good bread maker is worth it for you. Not only will you be able to make fresh bread which they will love, you will also be able to save on the cost of buying bread frequently from the supermarket.
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New foods
Many of us love to try new foods. Using a bread maker, you can try different types of exotic Italian and Chinese bread, bread with cinnamon or raisins, etc. Some bread machines like the Panasonic SD-BMS105-SW can even bake Japanese foods including mochi, brioche, steamed bread, udon, “melon pan” and red bean bread. There are many great recipes online to make exotic bread.
Conclusion
As you can see, the decision to buy a bread maker and if it is worth for you depends entirely on what you’re looking for.
It also depends on the type of bread maker you buy and the price that you buy it at. It depends on how frequently you will use it and how many activities (kneading, baking, etc).
Finally, baking your own bread and eating it is an enjoyable experience and if you feel that you will enjoy doing so, it is worth it for you.
1 thought on “Is it worth buying a bread maker?”
You mention Oster. I purchased one about 5 years ago, and from DAY ONE, could not ever get a decent loaf of bread out of it!! Customer service advice was really poor (said to experiment in various ways with the basic loaf recipe). Tried that, and every single loaf came out like a brick. It now sits in the corner of the kitchen, collecting dust. Our first bread maker was a gem until the paddles started to grind ( there were 2 of them). Never had a problem with the breads. All of them came out perfectly, so it must be the Oster bread machines fault that it makes bricks. After this dreadful experience with Oster, I won’t even consider that brand.