... Could there be a better way to satisfy that craving than to buy a bread maker and eat fresh bread whenever I want, I think not!
So, off to the electrical retailers we go, I had done some research and decided that I quite like the look and sound of the Kenwood BM200. In Curry’s it was ... Read review
(+) The best bread you will ever taste, on a timer just ready in time for breakfast. (-) If you can't wait since it smells so good... you might burn your fingers like me!
Gotta get up, Gotta get out - Bread! (No Boswells)
Advantages: Price, Ease of use Disadvantages: No nut dispenser
...look and sound of the Kenwood BM200. In Curry’s it was reduced to £49.99 from £79.99 (I guess they’re just always cutting prices), and was the same price at Argos. We decided to go to Curry’s to make our purchase as we didn’t want to queue for a ridiculous amount of time at Argos. We found the one we wanted, made a man go and get one for us “from out back” and wandered to the till. By this point I had already flicked through a few of the recipe books ... ...you but knew that the Kenwood offered much more value for money than anything else displayed.
So we bought it, went to Sainsbury’s and bought ingredients and went home. When I unwrapped the box I was greeted with a quite complex puzzle, how do I possibly get the thing out of the box (little rant coming now, if you don’t want to read skip to next paragraph). If you are on your own it would be a nightmare to access your bread maker. ... more
It was my birthday recently and we have recently moved into a new house, put these two factors together and you get a simple equation…Birthday Present = house gadget! Now I don’t mind that I am getting a bread maker as a birthday pressie, I want one, and what better way to make sure I remember to take my sandwiches to work in the morning than to make them with lovely fresh bread? The thing is you see, my sister has one, my boyfriends mum has one and makes the best stollen I have ever tasted. My parents however have been Atkins Diet compromised and whilst living with them I had to defrost slice by slice as and when I needed from a loaf of Warburtons. As a result I now crave bread all the time. Could there be a better way to satisfy that craving than to buy a bread maker and eat fresh bread whenever I want, I think not!
So, off to the electrical retailers we go, I had done some research and decided that I quite like the look and sound of the Kenwood BM200. In Curry’s it was reduced to £49.99 from £79.99 (I guess they’re just always cutting prices), and was the same price at Argos. We decided to go to Curry’s to make our purchase as we didn’t want to queue for a ridiculous amount of time at Argos. We found the one we wanted, made a man go and get one for us “from out back” and wandered to the till. By this point I had already flicked through a few of the recipe books that come with other machines and thought the BM 200’s was quite well laid out and the actual recipe’s looked quite tasty. Of course I had gazed lustfully at the one that practically weighs the ingredients for you but knew that the Kenwood offered much more value for money than anything else displayed.
So we bought it, went to Sainsbury’s and bought ingredients and went home. When I unwrapped the box I was greeted with a quite complex puzzle, how do I possibly get the thing out of the box (little rant coming now, if you don’t want to read skip to next paragraph). If you are on your own it would be a nightmare to access your bread maker. It is wedged in with big chunky bits of polystyrene which are shaped so that you can’t get hold of them. Just thinking about it can get my blood pressure rising! Thank goodness I had someone with me to grab the box and pull it away from the breadmaker, allowing me to then get excited about the prospect of actually making some bread.
We had already read the instructions and swiftly took the bits out of the inside (baking pan, kneader, measuring jug and teaspoon) and washed them as per instructions in warm soapy water, I think this gets the nasty chemicals off. The kneader was placed in the pan and we were ready.
The first recipe we tried is the ‘Quick Start’ recipe on the inside front cover of the instruction book. This book is made for people like me who find it very difficult to contain their enthusiasm for new gadgets and have to use them straight away. It tells you that you should read the instructions carefully but adds that you can always turn to the quick start page if you can’t be bothered. That’s what I like, an honest instruction book, people who know that when you buy something new, you don’t want to spend ages reading the manual, you want to use it!
Anyway, we carefully weighed out the ingredients and added them in the correct order (in the recipe they are listed in the correct order so that makes it easier), after nigh on 3 hours the bleeper went and we found ourselves the owners of a brand spanking new loaf of bread, which I made, woo hoo. It tasted divine, (my recommendation with real butter and honey) and didn’t last more than 24 hrs.
For those of you who think that a 3 hour wait would drive you mad with anticipation, there is a rapid bake cycle which bakes a loaf in an hour (it doesn’t rise as much though). You can make all sorts of different loaves with this machine and categories of baking include sweet breads (gingerbread etc), wholemeal breads and a dough cycle (for things like pizza bases and rolls).
When the bread had been baked, it is recommended that you take the pan out of the machine and turn out the bread. We did this but I would offer a word of warning, it is hot. Very hot. All parts of it. You will burn yourself if you don’t use an oven glove. Yes even the little handle that lifts the pan out of the machine gets hot. Be warned.
After applying cold water to a burnt appendage for approximately 10 minutes we were free to look at our masterpiece. A cooling rack was found and the pan turned upside down. Now on other loaves that I have seen that came from a bread machine, I have found there to be a rather large hole at the bottom where the kneader fits in, Not so with the Kenwood BM200. The kneader slides out of the bread leaving a small slit, not a crater the size of Venus like other machines. In all the bread had risen well, it was crusty enough on the outside, yet light and fluffy on the inside, it sliced well (although I think that’s a measure of slicing talent rather than bread making ability) and tasted delicious.
So that’s my experience of this bread maker, I like it, I like it a lot. Value for money is excellent and it has all these little functions that you don’t expect, such as the ability to make jam.
The timer function allows you 12 hours before your loaf is ready, so fresh bread in the morning is a possibility and the smell is such that you would wake up salivating at the prospect of your breakfast. The machine is also quite quiet, when you start the cycle it pulses for about 6 minutes as an initial knead, it then goes into the second knead which is a constant whirring as the bread is now being thoroughly kneaded. After the second kneading there is a beeping noise which is the time when you add your other ingredients for flavoured breads.
We have our machine in the kitchen and have the doors open into our lounge, we can quite happily sit watching the telly with the bread maker on and not be disturbed. We do however keep getting up to have a look at what it looks like, or how much it has risen. I figure that the energy I expend walking to and from the kitchen makes up for the calories that I ingest when the bread is cooked. It sits nicely on my worktop and doesn’t look overly big, or make my kitchen (granted not the biggest in the world) look cluttered. It measures in at around 1.5 - 2 feet wide by about 1 foot front to back.
My overall opinion of the Kenwood BM200 is very good, everything I have cooked in it has turned out nicely (it may be foolproof), and at the current reduced prices offered in the shops for this particular model I couldn’t suggest a better model in terms of value for money. I am very happy with my bread maker and hope that we will have a long and happy life together. It loses a star however as it doesn’t have a dispenser thingy, so I can’t make fruit breads for breakfast.
Advantages: smells wonderful,bakes the perfect loaf Disadvantages: a bit noisy for the bedroom
...desk, then suddenly saw a Kenwood Rapid Bake actually being used to bake a loaf next to the desk. This was on special offer at £59.99, £10.00 cheaper than normal and cheaper than the one I had picked. Sam lifted the lid of the Kenwood to see what was happening, and then noticed the placard that said, "Please do not lift the lid". We suddenly felt obliged to purchase a Kenwood!
I couldn't use this until Christmas day, of course, but truly, I couldn't ... ...would be terrific.
My Kenwood Rapid Bake is a BM200 and comes with a recipe book. I found from trial and error that the best flour to use, of those I've tried so far, is Allinsons very strong white (in a black bag) for white loaves or McDougall's Granary (in a blue and yellow bag) for granary. You can also use a mix of both for a paler brown bread.
Funnily enough, the first yeast I used was Allinson's dried in a little tub, which I already had ...
sylviesinc 29.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kenwood BM200
Advantages: Lovely bread, gorgeous smell! Disadvantages: Takes a bit of time
...new one and chose the Kenwood Breadmaker BM200, costing about £65.
The first thing that I noticed about my new toy was the fact that the outer dimensions are smaller than my previous breadmaker, thus making it look neater and or course it takes up less room in the kitchen.
The instruction book is all in English, which pleased me, as I can’t be doing with searching through all manner of languages trying to find the relevant one! It seems obvious ... ...in the language of the country where it is to be sold. The booklet explains the guarantee, all the necessary safeguards for the use of electrical appliances and then on to the business of bread making.
There are clear diagrams of the breadmaker, although these are hardly necessary as it is so straightforward and simple it is almost unbelievable.
The recipes are many and varied ranging from the basic white, brown and wholemeal loaves to all sorts ...
SusanLesley 16.12.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kenwood BM200
Advantages: Fantastic fresh bread whenever you want Disadvantages: Quite noisy, bread disappears too rapidly
...hard and plumped for the Kenwood BM200 mainly for the name but also because it had one of the shorter baking times and a 2lb loaf size capacity. The pan has a kneader that separated from the inside for cleaning which can be a little awkward to remove but if you follow the instructions and soak it with a little water in the bottom of the pan after cooking a loaf it does come out that bit easier.
Initially I was disappointed with it - it is significantly ... ...it created. I telephoned Kenwood who told me to return it to Argos (where I had made the original purchase) with my receipt (which I still had) to get a replacement machine. I was sceptical about this, expecting an argument at the store, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it amazingly easy. I arrived with my machine, explained the situation and left Argos ten minutes later with a brand new Kenwood BM200 and an endorsed receipt showing the start ...
HighRider 28.02.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kenwood BM200
...of butter.
I received the Kenwood Rapid Bake as a present about 2 years ago and it has given me many delicious loaves of bread.
It is easy to use and it only takes about 5 minutes to get the ingredients together then all you have to do is wait, it takes about 3 hours for a loaf but there is also a rapid bake function hence the name, this makes a delicious loaf in 1 hour, you need to use tepid water for this cycle to help it along a little.
Size:
... ...and free delivery in U.K. I have never shopped here so can not give you any more than it is a cheap price as I have seen them for £69 and £99.
Contact details
Kenwood Ltd
New lane
Havant
PO9 2NH
WWW. Kenwood.co.uk ...
maureenhastie 12.02.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kenwood BM200
Advantages: fresh baked bread, the smell, the taste, the finished product Disadvantages: I can't stop eating the bread I make
...thing I notice with the Kenwood is the noise it makes. I have used the machine on timer so as to wake up with hot fresh bread waiting for me but living in a small flat I wake up when the machine starts. Of course once I know what the noise is, I soon fall back to sleep, so when I say noisy, I compare to the Panasonic SD 253 (which I now own and will review soon) which is ultra quiet.
2 hours and 50 minutes later my mouth is watering with smells ... ...is beeping away to let me know I have hot fresh bread waiting for me.
As with all things cooked, the bread pan is very hot but using a good pair of oven gloves the pan is easily removed from the machine. I turn the pan upside down and with a couple of light shakes the loaf pops out on to the wire rack I have for cooling.
Does the bread get chance to cool? NO! Within two minutes I'm stood by it and cutting the crust off. The bread is still ultra ...
witchwinterburn 17.05.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Kenwood BM200
Gotta get up, Gotta get out - Bread! (No Boswells) 
