Choosing a bread maker can be a daunting task with so many bread makers nowadays. Before 2014, though I loved Christmas season loads, however, I was getting very frustrated and sometimes depressed on Christmas day, due to the task of getting up very early in the morning to prepare breakfast for more than 20 people and before 10:00 am. Christmas is the time of the year when everyone is very excited and look forward to having the family around.
As a grandmother and with a close family, every Christmas is one of big highlight in our family, we celebrate together starting with breakfast, and the whole family bring their presents to be opened after breakfast. Just imagine how long would it takes preparing breakfast for all us? And bread especially freshly homemade bread being one of the main items for breakfast.
Christmas Meals:
I remember on 25 December 2014, as usual everyone was excited about Christmas and sharing presents, however, before sharing presents people have to eat and everyone look forward to grandma’s freshly cooked breakfast including bread and fritters (maandazi). Come 25th morning I couldn’t get up early enough to knead the doughs for bread and fritters, then bake the bread and other items ready for breakfast.
The family breakfast is supposed to be at 10:00 am, as such everyone would arrive at my house from 09:30 am. By this time the breakfast is supposed to be ready and everything is either in the hostess trolley keeping warm or on the table. Grandchildren will be hungry at the same time eagerly waiting to open their presents, so breakfast has got to be on time.
Tea is boiling, this is special tea, spice tea i.e. ginger, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper boiled together. Unfortunately, nothing was ready, 10 am that’s when I was busy baking the bread. Just imagine how the kids would feel, they’re waiting to open their presents, but grandma is still preparing breakfast. Eventually everything was ready but that was well past our breakfast time and children were very restless as they were delayed to open their presents.
Choosing a bread maker, from that day, I said no more going through this hard job of kneading and baking, there must be an easy solution to all this tedious kitchen chorus. That’s the time when I remembered, one of my friends was talking about some of the best kitchen appliances, one of them being Kenwood bread makers. She said the bread maker could literally do everything for you from kneading dough to baking your bread. You can even prepare jams, pizza etc. Initially, I was a bit sceptical that how can this thing do all those tasks, will the bread be to my requirements etc.?
Choosing a bread maker – Solution to my Problem
My only worry was going about choosing a bread maker that would be suitable for my family. However, with some reviews and recommendations from my friend, I decided to act and buy a bread maker.
In order to solve my problem of feeding people late breakfast, on 27 Dec. 2014, I went straight to my local Curry’s, I bought my current, Kenwood Bread Maker BM450. I don’t regret spending that money on this wonderful kitchen companion of mine. This appliance has been wonderful, I can knead dough for anything at any time.
I can programme for the dough or the bread to be ready when I need it. My grandchildren love the freshly baked bread, as such during holidays, I bake bread every day, but that’s not a problem as it’s not me kneading or getting my hands burnt into the oven as my bread maker does everything for me.
The Kenwood bread maker has a 15- hour delay timer, a 1- hour keep warm function, also comprises the convection fan for crisper loaves, and power failure memory, as such I can program it for the bread to ready in the morning or afternoon or anytime I want to have the freshly homemade bread.
Even now with this lock-down, we have been having fresh bread with my husband. Why should we bother with the supermarket bread when we can bake our own healthier version and according to the flour and ingredients we prefer. It is a known fact that as you grow older your body needs more care or MOT more often, and good diet including health bread that is made with naturally ingredients is an important aspect to stay health therefore, baking your own bread that is one the best options you can afford.
The best part of having a bread maker you can choose any type of flour such as gluten free, natural flour etc, add an egg or milk to your bread and have a lovely bread. Enjoy your retirement day.
Another advantage of the Kenwood bread maker it has 15 programmes for bread, dough, even cakes and jams. The rapid bake setting means you can have a fresh loaf of bread in as little as under 60 minutes.
There is also an additional 5 “personal” programme setting that allow you to set your own timing for each of the stages involved in bread making such pre-heating, kneading, rising and baking) You have the choice of having a size of bread depending on your need or according to the family needs i.e. large, medium or small loaves (500 g, 750g and 1kg).
Design for life
The BM450 Bread Maker blends striking contemporary design with intuitive, touch-sensitive controls to create a sophisticated, easy to use bread maker that’s perfect for keen bakers and bread lovers. It has a viewing window and an internal oven light that makes it easy to keep an eye on baking progress. There’s also an optional, round bread making pan for creating round loaves and sweet breads. The combination of black metal, stainless steel and glass, gives the BM450 a distinctive stylish look.
The following review November 2019 one of the verified purchase speaks volume of the kenwood bread maker.
Perfect bread every time, brown, white, cheese bread not a problem at all… yes makes some noise not a issue as the bread it produces is perfect…Yes paddle does stay in the bread, that is normal. just a simple procedure to remove after baking no problem… I use basic number 1 on 750gr and full brown on all my 3 cup flour breads without any failures….. Just made a Buttermilk cheese loaf beautiful! My machine is 6 years old and still BAKING”
The BM450 its stylish design with a stainless steel and black glass finish, touch sensitive controls and an LCD panel make is easy to wipe clean it. If you love more adventurous bread there is also an ingredient dispenser with a 125 g capacity and automatically opens and dispenses ingredients at the appropriate time during the bread-making cycle. Though I must admit, I haven’t used this facility myself. There is also an internal oven light and viewing window that makes it possible to inspect your bread-making progress.
Is Homemade Bread Cost Effective?
Someone my ask is homemade bread cost effective. Yes, it’s cost effective and healthier too. However, in order to justify my positive response, let’s look at a family of 4 people – fresh supermarket bread verses homemade bread for one week how much each type will cost. Will also look how much it can cost for a family of 2 retired people.
I recall one of my friends, her family eats bread a lot, so one day, I told her rather than buying or eating a bread that has been in the shelves for days, why can’t she bake her own bread, and it would be cost effective and also healthier for her family. Initially, she said supermarket was the best option for her family, I said, I quite agree with you but let’s just try to do as an experiment for one week.
We agreed to set a budget of £10 and see how far that £10 can go for bread only for a family of 4 people. She would go for the supermarket brand fresh bread and I would buy some ingredients and bake my own.
- Supermarket Brand: The healthier option that is the organic bread £1.70 per loaf; a normal bloomer £1.00. As the supermarket fresh bread’s shelve life is supposed to be consumed within 2 days even if it’s not to be consumed in two days the sizes are rather small equivalent of the 750 g of homemade. At the end of the two weeks the family of 4 consumed at least 1.5 loaves in two days i.e. for weeks was 10 loaves of bread which is £1.70 x 10 loaves = £17.00 or the slightly cheap brand £1 x 10 loaves £10.00.
- Remember even the expensive brand you are not sure whether the so called organic does contain the ingredients you want it’s their ingredients and for how long has the dough been frozen?
- Homemade brand
- Ingredients
- Dove organic white bread flour 1 Kg -£2.00
- Rye Organic wholemeal flour 1 Kg £1.50
- Allinson’s Wholemeal bread flour 1.5 Kg -£1.80;
- 6 free range eggs £1.50;
- easy bake dried yeast – 10 sachets £1.00;
- skimmed (0.1%) milk powder; lemons (5) £1.50
- Total Cost £8.60. These ingredients would bake a natural and health bread for a 1 kg bread flour will be 600 grams
- My favourite health bread is the organic 50/50 that is a whole meal light bread, as such the mixture would be 300g organic strong white bread flour;
- 200g wholemeal bread flour and
- 100g organic rye wholemeal;
- 2 tablespoon of milk powder;
- 1.5 yeast;
- 1 egg;
- 2 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt and 0.5 teaspoon sugar and
- 10 g butter.
- The mixture would produce a lovely bread check the sample below.
- A freshly homemade bread would be consumed for not less than 3 days for a family of 4 people.
- These ingredients were enough to bake 6 loaves which would be consumed between 15- 18 days. Total cost was £11.60 or say £12.00 including usage of electricity say £0.50 per bake x 6 bakes = £3.00.
At the end of the two weeks target we calculated to see how much each spent and taking into account the choice and the healthier type. It worked out the home baked bread was a winner as it was not only cost effective, it was also healthier and I had an opportunity of not eating the same brand every day but I could change the ingredients and make an alternative bread with the natural ingredients. No use of frozen dough for years.
Note the electricity was on the cheap side as the machine uses very little electricity is not like using the oven. So it’s cost effective too.
With this experiment it enough to convince my friend to opt for a homemade bread and we immediately ordered a bread maker for her.
I also tried the same experiment during this during this lockdown to see which would be cost effective buying fresh bread f making my own. My partner and me we love the sough dough mixed with rye £1.59 per loaf at Lidl. One loaf could stay for more than three days, however, as you all aware a supermarket fresh bread, is nice when eaten still warm or on the day of purchase, as such you cannot expect the bread to have the same taste and texture after two days.
As such we found we had to go to the supermarket nearly every two days for fresh bread that was getting too much with the lockdown. For two weeks we spent more than £12.00 on bread alone.
I told my husband that was enough we have to start baking our own bread, the problem was we could not get the flour we wanted. However, when we managed to get at least one brand of flour and had to use whatever was available and we enjoyed the freshly baked bread immensely. Since then I have been able to make my own sough dough.
How will I Trust Something I haven’t Used
To tell you the truth nothing compares to the fresh aroma of the homemade bread. Yes, why should you trust anyone? However, it’s a human nature to not trust something you haven’t used, but sometimes you have to listen to your heart and also read some genuine reviews other users and experiences from people who are there to help not just to sell an item and nobody will force anyone to buy an item which you are not sure it will work for your family.
At first I was very sceptical too, I didn’t trust and believe that the bread maker will do a better job than my expertise in kneading the dough let alone bake too for my family a nice bread. How will I be sure it will be properly baked? How will I bake a bread according to my preferred ingredients etc.? What if I have put too much fluids would happen to the bread?
However, with experience and also reading from other users, all my worries and doubts have been wiped off. I love my bread maker and I have been using this bread maker for years now and not a single bread came out burnt or not well done.
As with most appliances there are a few cons too such as it’s a bit noisy when kneading, for those who love dark brown bread the colour is not that dark and also there is that hole at the bottom of the bread when you take out of the baking container.
Someone may ask themselves, can the bread maker knead only or can I use my own ingredients or own measurements? What else can the Bread Maker Do? If you go back to my opening paras, yes the bread maker can do other things such as kneading the dough for baking some buns, pizza, chapattis, of if you fancy a bread without a hole at the bottom, making jams etc.
You can use your own ingredients and use your own measurements but only try 1st before baking. As such once you get hooked to using your bread maker you will literally use it for all the kneading in your kitchen. Especially for people who love to entertain a lot this is the perfect solution for your cooking.
Despite of these few issues above, I have been using this bread maker for more than 6 years, I love it made my life easy and I cannot complain about anything. I have been recommending bread makers to my friends and two bought a bread maker.
Is the Bread Maker Useful or Good for Retiree?
How can the bread maker be useful or goof and simplify the retirees house job? For those people who love freshly made bread, the bread maker will definitely lessen your tasks. You wouldn’t get up early morning to look for a bread for your spouse in the event you forget to buy one the previous day, just put the ingredients in the machine, programme it and let your spouse know that in the event he wakes earlier than you let him just get the bread out of the bread machine and enjoy the fresh baked warm bread.
It is a fact that home-baking is also another great choice of our health and wellbeing. Because baking your own bread, not only can gives you a chance to pick the best ingredients and you know exactly what would go into your bread, it is also a very enjoyable activity as it keeps you busy during lockdown. It’s also a great way to treat your loved ones such as family and friends.
It’s also a known fact that any organic produce works with nature which can help to protect the planet.
Just ask yourself as a retired person why deprive yourself the pleasure of having a fresh bread and enjoy your breakfast or afternoon snack. Who wouldn’t love the aroma of a warm baked bread when you enter the kitchen? It’s something to be proud of it!
As I mentioned at the beginning, choosing a bread maker that is suitable for your need can be a bit tricky with so many brands on market. However, don’t worry with some help everything will be fine.
My other favourite bread maker other than Kenwood, is MXCYSJX Automatic Bread Maker with Multi-functional Stainless Steel. It’s not expensive and it has a lot of features which suits any person who loves cooking.
Product description
The MXCYSJX Automatic Bread Maker, Stainless Steel, is a multi functional bread maker – programmable with 18 Settings, 3 Crust Colours, Reserve & Keep Warm Set and easy to use. Price £129.99 and free delivery.
- Design: High quality plastic shell safe, reduce the possibility of burns. Bread barrel made from food grade saft metallic material, easy take out the bread and cleaning easier. Low noise DC motor, will not bring you interference when the bread machine at work.
- 18 Programs: You can create many varieties of bread, such as basic bread, french bread, whole wheat bread etc. Also makes cakes and jam.
- 3 Browning Colours: Light, Medium, Dark. The bread maker provide three browning colours for you choice.
- Delay Function Keep warm: The bread machine have fast-bake and delay function. When you choice delay function, it will have 13 hour delay timer, you can over in night baking. The bread machine can set keep warm for 1 hour, provide hot bread for you.
- Beginner Friendly: You can easy make bread using this bread maker, not need other mixer or other equipment. With gluten free menu, you can easy operation and make all kinds of bread even you just a beginner.
The box contains:
1 x bread machine
1 x measuring cup
1 x measuring spoon
1 x yogurt cup
1 x fruit box
1 x instruction manual
This bread making machine with all these multi-functional facilities you can just programme it before going to bed, so that you can have a freshly home made bread of your choice in the morning at the time you would like to have your breakfast. What a retirement life? Enjoy it time is too precious.
What are you waiting? Start enjoying your freshly home made break. Live a health life. Take action now and buy your kitchen helper.