New breadmaker needed

Hit the nearest Salvation Army or Goodwill. Take your smartphone with you and check the features of whatever you see. You can usually get one for dirt cheap. Experiment for your $10.

On 27/03/2019 21:10, Boron Elgar wrote: [snip]

Interesting idea. I'm not sure our local equivalents of those institutions (St VdeP and assorted charities) even have breadmakers, but this sounds good to check out, thanks.

P

After I posted, I seemed to recall that you were not from Left Pondia. Apologies.

I do not think most breadmakers made these days are as sturdy as they were designed for even 10 years ago. Granted they have many more electronic bells and whistles, though.

I adore wandering 2nds hand stores and any of them that carries household goods here in New Jersey, tends to have a few on hand. Only other item with such ubiquity is Mr. Coffee machines.

None needed.

Turns out charity stores here don't take electrical goods because of the risk of being sued by someone electrocuting themselves or others. No amount of disclaimers will stop an Irish judge from assigning vast sums in compensation against people who deal in faulty or damaged goods.

That is also a problem with most goods. We're slowly moving back to the

1950s when it was thought to be terribly clever to make goods containing one irreplaceable part which wore out long before the rest, to force a new purchase. The 3D printer may outwit them yet, though.

I do so in other countries (France especially).

P

That is quite understandable. Logical, even.

During most travels I try to hit 2nd hand goods store and used bookstores. There is something about them that give me an interesting cultural view.

Thank you for various bits of help. I've narrowed it down to two:

Lakeland BreadMaker Plus, which is big and boxy but comes with a stand for smaller baking trays, and a customisable program, which I would find useful. Mixed reviews comparing it to the Panasonic 251/2/3 though.

Panasonic SD-2501 WXC, which is the closest direct successor I found, but weirdly rotated 90° so the control panel is on the end not the side. Main USP is the gluten-free program, but I don't have a requirement for this.

P

I took the leap and bought this the other day. Haven't used it yet, just done their prep work of washing the tin and putting it into a 10-min bake cycle, presumably to burn off dust and stuff.

First impressions:

Upsides: Nicely made, clear screen, good instruction book, detachable digital scales, more compact than my old Panasonic (I was wrong about 'big and boxy'), well laid out and easy to use.

Downsides: no on/off switch ? you have to unplug or use a switched wall-socket. Both are impractical for me, as the wall-socket is behind the machine. The tin is flimsier than the Panasonic's, being made from pressed steel instead of what looks like die-cast. Both are foolish, amateurish cost-cutters: I would happily have paid another ?10 or so.

Major diff: the instructions say to load the tin with the salt and liquid FIRST, THEN flour and sugar and fat, and FINALLY the yeast (on top), to prevent the yeast contacting the liquid or salt prematurely. The Panasonic ? for identical reasons ? said yeast FIRST, then flour and sugar and fat and salt, and FINALLY the liquid on top (the flour forming a blocking layer). I'll try both: the Panasonic method always worked.

A review in _Which?_ magazine said the delayed-action (overnight) wholewheat loaf was disappointing. I emailed Lakeland about this and they said they don't recommend doing wholewheat overnight anyway. But the Panasonic did it fine, so I'll experiment.

It also apparently makes jam.

Peter