Bread Machines

Last January I purchased a Panasonic bread machine.  I forget the model number, but it's the one with a raisin dispenser and a rye bread blade.  It's my fifth Panasonic and I love it.  There is such a fabulous selection of flours in the UK.  Granary is my favorite.  A person who wrote a review on Amazon for the Panasonic suggested using Dove flours.  I've used them and several others, all giving good results.  Yes, they can be bulky to store, but it's a small price to pay for delicious bread.

I'll be asking for tips when we finally get home in a couple of weeks.  I was using the bread mixes - mainly whole grain sunflower - but I often couldn't find in our local shops so had to wait for a big Tesco shopping and I'd buy out all the mixes.  Easier just to buy all the ingredients myself. We do not eat white bread so it's all whole grain.

Sorry late reply!  We don't buy bread anymore (except on our trips to Costco, like every 4 months or so we buy a token couple of loaves) - we only use our bread machine.  It makes great dough also.  I had storebought wholemeal the other day and all I could say is yuck.  Not a patch on homemade bread.  We didn't pay for our breadmaker either; got it with Nectar points.  Will be getting a bigger one at some point as we currently have a compact one which means I have to bake a loaf every couple of days, plus I melted the bottom out when I was pregnant by leaving a burner on and resting it on the stove (duh, pregnancy brain anyone? ).   

Elliejean
What brand bread maker do you have? Is it easy to clean? (does it leave a ginormous hole in the bottom of the loaf?) We are looking for a good compact one as it is only the two of us--so I would love to hear suggestions!

EllieJean, I think you've convinced me to get a bread maker!!

My Panasonic only puts a small hole in the bottom of the loaf.  Our machine is very big so does take up a lot of counter space.  It's a bit of a pain to get the crumbs out of the bottom.

Will be getting a bigger one at some point as we currently have a compact one which means I have to bake a loaf every couple of days...

Not sure how much bread your household eats, but with the homemade stuff - I'd sooner make a fresh loaf every couple days (or so) than a bigger loaf that would last longer.  Homemade doesn't have all the preservatives that store bought bread does, so it doesn't have the shelf life that store bought does.  We find the fresh bread is good for sandwiches for a couple days, then starts being better toast material. 

We have a Morphy Richards one that does a 1.5lb loaf.  It leaves a small hole in the bottom.  Very easy to clean.  Would be happier to do a 2lb loaf or bigger and freeze half (I'm lazy).  The problem with home baked bread is that it never lasts long enough to go bad in our house...