Best Bread Maker Machine Review

Great Deal Salton/Toastmaster TR2500BC Breadman Ultimate Freedom

I’ve had mine about six months, made over 25 loaves of bread, a couple of pizza doughs (baked half one day, refrigerating the rest and baking a pizza the next day) and several dough recipes used for coffee cake. I am quite pleased, so far. I made a whole wheat bread recipe from the enclosed booklet, which came out perfect but was a dull loaf and have concentrated on trying to duplicate my personal favorite hand-made whole wheat bread, which I’ve made for years. Thus, I’m experimenting with the ingredients and having good success (far better than I used to get when making it by hand!), and have virtually perfected the recipe for the Breadman. I used to make a 2 lb loaf, and did that in the Breadman a few times but the pan is short and high and the slices are really too high for my toaster. So, now I cut down on the ingredients and use the 1.5 lb cycle and the bread is toaster-friendly. It actually comes out weighing about 1 lb. 14 oz. I’ve also made some great rye loaves and a nice pumpernickle, sticking with the 1.5 lb size/cycle.

The pizza doughs, made from the included recipe book, came out perfect. I made pastry doughs from a recipe in the newspaper (twice), and they too came out perfect.

It is important to be very careful to follow the product instructions. Measure ingredients very carefully and add in the order prescribed. I have a small digital scale I use in the kitchen (maximum 17 ounces or so) and I have found this invaluable when I use the Breadman. Instead of taking pains to carefully measure ingredients by volume each time, I have found it much easier to determine once exactly the weight of, for example, one level cup of white flour and then use the scale when I need any amount of white flour in a recipe for the Breadman. I also use the scale when adding liquid ingredients. When adding oil, I don’t need to get a measuring spoon oily. I put my small oil bottle on the scale, hit the tare button and start pouring. If it’s 1.5 tablespoons oil in the recipe, I stop pouring when the scale says -.70 ounces.

I don’t want to have the paddle baked into my loaves, so I always remove it before the last rise cycle.

I took the time to put wide clear tape on the cover (front and back) of the included instruction and recipe book to keep it in good shape.

I had problems getting the Extras function to work, but found a workaround. I called Salton customer service, but the representative said she always just tosses extras in at the start. She thought they are supposed to dump at the beginning of the 2nd knead cycle. Actually, they dump somewhere in the middle of the 2nd knead cycle, when they do dump! I have gotten it to work consistently by pressing the Extras button right after pressing the start button. Actually, for the pumpkin (and sometimes also sunflower) seeds I add to my whole wheat bread I don’t think it matters if I add them at the beginning. But for fragile “extras” it would be better to add them later in the process.

I’m so glad I bought this machine. It’s saving me so much time. I am enjoying it immensely, and I no longer care when I’m running low on bread. It’s just an excuse to have more fun with the Breadman!

In case anyone’s curious, I measured the energy usage of the TR2500BC:

Plugged in: 8 watts
Preheat: 3 watts
First knead: alternates between zero and 50-90 watts
Second knead: 110-130 watts
Rise: 8 watts
Bake: 554 watts = 4.62 amps (at 120 volts AC)

And here’s my recipe for my whole wheat bread, essentially the same as the one I’ve made for years and years and finally perfected for use with the Breadman. This comes out perfectly if you make it according to the instructions. Let it cool completely (3 hours is sufficient) before slicing with a sharp knife. To make this like I do you will need a good scale, preferably digital. Add ingredients in the order given and use the 1.5 lb whole wheat cycle. After 2:05, remove the paddle. The bread is finished 1:30 later.

10 oz water (or if using powdered eggs like I do, 11.1 oz water)
1 medium egg (if using powdered eggs, 0.2 oz)
0.5 oz oil
0.2 oz salt
1.3 oz nonfat dry milk (if using regular milk, use 1 cup and reduce water accordingly)
8 oz whole wheat flour
8 oz white flour (I use bread flour, but it’s not essential)
1.3 oz sugar
0.45 oz wheat bran
0.9 oz wheat germ
1.5 oz pumpkin seeds
0.17 oz active dry yeast

Works like a charm. – Amazon shopper –
This is the best breadmaker I’ve ever owned. I have not had any of the problems that other people have encountered. It makes bread exactly as stated in the manual. It’s easy to clean and has many wonderful recipes in the manual.

Rating : 2.5

Price on May 21, 2010 16:40:18 : $250.00

Offer Price : $115.11

Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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