Panasonic SD-257 WXC > Reviews (1)

We were brought our breadmaker for Christmas, by someone who has an earlier Panasonic model of breadmaker. We had often commented on how much we enjoyed eating such gorgeous fresh bread when we visited. We have now been making a loaf of bread either every day or every other day as well as several cakes and shop bread no longer appeals at all.

The breadmaker is a white rectangular box – 23cm wide, 29cm deep and 38cm high, on 4 rubber feet. The top is stylish and curved with an LCD display and six light touch operating buttons towards the front and a lift up lid behind. This lid raises to a height of 53.5cm, meaning that when it is raised it does not fit under standard height wall mounted cupboards. When it is in use I therefore bring the breadmaker forward to the front of the worktop to allow the lid to be raised. Within the main lid there is a secondary small lid accessed from the top that is a dispenser tray for dried fruit, nuts and seeds. During the cooking process a flap opens depositing these dry ingredients into the bread pan.

Included in the package are a bread pan, two kneading blades; one for regular use and one for making rye bread, a measuring cup for liquids that is marked in 10ml increments and a measuring spoon with 5ml (teaspoon) and 15ml (tablespoon) marked at ¼, ½ and ¾ intervals. These are used to measure yeast, sugar and salt for the bread recipes.

The instruction book is well presented and easy to use. It includes safety instructions, photographs with parts labelled, diagrams of the control panel and explanations of the function of each button, the ingredients required for bread making, clear instructions for baking bread, dough, brioche and cakes, adding extra ingredients using the dispenser, recipes, care and cleaning instructions and finally trouble shooting (which fortunately I’ve not needed to look at, at all).

The recipes are extensive including basics such as white loaf, wholemeal loaf and many more exotic things such as pizza loaf, apricot and almond loaf, cheese and bacon loaf and sundried tomato and parmesan. Bread of the texture of French bread, Italian breads, brioche and gluten free breads can also be made as well as dough for forming into rolls, hot cross buns, croissants, pizza etc, but these then have to be cooked in a conventional oven. Several cake recipes are included which are hand mixed, but baked in the breadmaker – the apple and ginger cake is scrumptious. Basic bread recipes require yeast, strong bread flour, salt, sugar, butter and water. There are many additional ingredients that can be included to provide variety.

Depending on the recipe chosen the control panel needs to be appropriately set. Instructions for this are easy to follow and the LCD display indicates choices that have been made and cooking times. The first (select) button determines the type of bread e.g basic white, wholewheat, bake only for cakes. The second (option) button allows you to choose regular bake (4-5 hours), rapid bake (2 – 2.5hours), bake raisin where the dried fruit dispenser is used, dough for rolls etc.

Next is a size button – medium, large and extra large (why not small, medium and large?); the recipes all tell you the ingredient quantities for each size. The fourth button gives the option of a light, medium or dark crust – personally we use the dark crust as it is crispier. A timer is operated by the fifth button – on most settings there is no need to use this as the time is set automatically, but for baking cakes the time needs to be set and there is an option to delay the start cooking time so that for example you can wake up to fresh bread in the morning. Thirteen hours is the maximum delay time. And finally there is a start, stop button which is pressed at the end of programming and starts the cooking process. It flashes and is accompanied by a bleeping sound when the cycle is complete, but only for a short time, so I have missed hearing it. The bread doesn’t seem to reduce in quality if it is not immediately removed. For a standard white extra large loaf no buttons have to be pressed except start.

While operating there is no noise except for a slight clanging sound during the kneading phase. The bread pan is non stick. Once slightly cooled you need to turn the pan upside down and shake and the bread usually comes free. Several times we have needed to loosen it my twisting the part where the blade attaches at the base. The pan washes easily, but you need to take a little time to ensure no mixture is left where the blade attaches.

We have been really pleased with our end results. The quality of the bread is good with well shaped and risen loaves with a light texture. When using rapid bake the bread rises less and can be a slightly more dense texture. The bread does need to cool for about half an hour before slicing as otherwise the air is pressed out of it leaving a more doughy consistency. All four of us have enjoyed making and eating the bread. My children are older, but even quite tiny children should be able to join in and make their own bread.

It retails at £119.99, in Argos but can be found cheaper on line, which is more expensive than a number of other brands, but it is worth paying the extra as the quality of the machine and bread is very good.

**Update**

Six months on from being given the breadmaker I can confirm that the novelty has not worn off. We're still making all of our own bread which we find so much tastier than the plasticy white sliced loaves. The Allinson seaded grain and country grains are our favourites. Although I keep an emergency Hovis loaf in the freezer we've barely ever touched it as both myself, my husband and teenage daughter keep a check on when we need to make a new loaf, as we've no desire to eat the shop brought one. We no longer need to use the recipe book for regular loaves and it only takes a couple of minutes to throw the ingredients in and set the machine. We've had one dodgy outcome but the machine holds no responsibility for this - just the useless operator (me) who forgot to add the mixing blade and a very peculiar doughy unmixed product found it's way straight to thr bin. There have been no technical problems at all and the breadmaker continues to work reliably. It is one of the very best gadgets that we own!

Summary: This breadmaker is easy to use with simple instructions and a variety of recipes and the bread it makes is of a high standard.

This review also appears on dooyoo under my same username.