From: kam@hpcvxkm.cv.hp.com (Keith Marchington)
Subject: Re: Bread makers: recommendations?
Reply-To: kam@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com
Organization: UTD-CV Corvallis, OR
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:56:56 GMT


I always enjoy it when someone generalizes their personal experiences
to the population at large!

(a.e.mossberg) writes:
|> jtt@tct.com (John Tombs) writes:
|> >Would any bread maker owners out there care to let me know their views?
|> >Surprisingly, Consumer Reports doesn't seem to have tested them.
|> 
|> aem@symbiosis.ahp.com replies:
|> How often do you go out and buy speciality (i.e. non-sandwich) breads?
|> Think about how many times you can do that before you match the purchase
|> price of the bread machine, let alone operating costs. And will you stop
|> buying bread outside once you have a bread machine?

I am not sure why specialty breads are of concern here, but just for
the sake of analysis...  I have had a Panasonic bread maker for over
two years now.  I currently use it about five to eight times a week
and over the course of the last two years have probably averaged 3.5
time per week.  Yes, per week.  We are a family of four, and we love
bread.  Over the course of the last two years, we have made about
(let's see, 3.5*52*2=364) 360 loaves of bread.  The cost of the whole
wheat bread that I typically bought in the store was about $1.40.  Now
those loaves were bigger by about 30% than the loaves that I make in
the bread maker, so I will say an equvalent loaf from the store costs
about $1.00.  I have carefully analyzed the cost of a loaf of bread in
the bread maker to be about $0.22 (including electricity.)  Thus we
have a savings per loaf of $.78.  Multiply times the number of loaves
so far and we see a savings of $280.80.  MUCH more than the cost of
the bread maker.  And of course, the bread maker continues to save us
money on a daily basis.

|> Like most appliances, bread machines tend to gather dust after a few
|> months of activity.

See above for a strong personal counter to this statement.

|> The bread will not taste the same as that from a bakery. Sure you can
|> make special breads that you can't buy, but you can do that now unless
|> you are disabled, and perhaps even then.

He's right about this.  The bread out of the machine does not taste
like bakery or store bought bread.  It is MUCH better.  Not to mention
the fact that nothing quite beats the taste of a hot slice of
fresh-baked bread for breakfast.  Let's see you do that with your food
processor!

|> FYI, I have a bread machine. Three friends bought theirs on the basis of
|> seeing mine. I know another eight people with bread machines. That's
|> twelve bread machines in all. Among those twelve probably only one is in
|> use during any given week.  When I use mine now, I use it solely to
|> knead the dough. 

|> aem

While some may find this to be the case, not all do.  Each person is
different.  Weigh your own needs and desires.  If you like fresh hot
bread with a minimum of effort, a bread machine is very economical.
If you like to be intimately involved with the creation of your bread,
get a Kitchen-Aid mixer or do it by hand.

Keith
Newsgroups: misc.consumers