Cuisinart® Compact Automatic Bread Maker
Smaller machines like the Zojirushi Mini Bread Maker, which can hold one pound of dough, will make enough bread for two people and take up less room on the counter. Here, I want to note that if you discover you enjoy baking bread, you’ll wish you had a larger machine. Smaller machines can’t handle more dough, but machines with a bigger capacity like the Oster Bread Maker Expressbake — which can hold up to two pounds of dough —can produce smaller loaves. Bread makers are a versatile kitchen appliance that can also cook pizza dough and soup and bake cakes.
The recipe book offers clear instructions and good amount of recipes for each pre-programmed setting. The lid features a viewing window like most bread machines but there is no internal light for viewing so you may need a small flashlight to observe the progress of your recipe. Like most machines it offers three crust color options including light, medium and cuisinart pots and pans set dark. The fundamental complaint from the 1-star reviews was the overall functionality of the machines. It seems that there are product quality problems with some units that result in them simply not working. They won’t start, won’t turn on or after a few uses develop a grinding noise related to the kneading paddle and its drive belt or the convection feature.
Measure all ingredients accurately and have them ready before adding to bread pan. This helps to ensure that you measure each ingredient correctly, and do not find that you get down to the last ingredient and discover that it is not available in your pantry. Last, it is a good idea to start with fresh ingredients. — LAST, yeast – Yeast must be separate from wet ingredients and salt. Create a small crater in dry ingredients using your finger or a spoon, and place yeast within the crater.
They’re also user friendly, making them good beginner machines for people who will only bake bread occasionally. Menu settings include basic bread , soft bread, French bread, bread cuisinart soup maker dough, cookie/pasta dough, cake, jam, and quick baking. The crust can be set for regular or light, and the quick baking setting produces a loaf of bread in less than two hours.
At the same time, it also allows you to choose between three different crust settings to help you enjoy bread just the way you like it. There’s no option to save your custom settings, but this shouldn’t be a problem, as the bread maker already offers much versatility that allows you to prepare multiple recipes from scratch. All the settings are displayed on the LCD to tell you about the setting chosen to bake your bread and the time left until the bread is ready.
Some fancier bread machines even have nonbread settings, such as ones for cake. This bread maker from Hamilton Beach has 14 settings (including French and gluten-free) and can make loaves weighing from one to two pounds. The express bake setting can make fresh baked bread in under two hours.