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Cheap Bread Machines, Best Bread Makers Review

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Home-baked bread isn't just delicious -- it's also frugal and healthy. The price of a high-quality loaf of store-bought bread can easily top $4, but you can bake your own for about $1 and avoid ingesting all the refined flours and sugars that wind up in the commercial varieties.

But if you don't have the time to make bread from scratch -- mixing, kneading, and leaving the dough to rise again and again -- a cheap bread machine lets you add the ingredients and forget about it until you've got a nice fresh loaf sitting on your kitchen counter. Cheap bread machines combine a centuries-old cooking process with modern technology, which doesn't improve on the actual process of baking bread -- it just makes crafting bread easier for you.

Manufacturers follow one of two business plans when it comes to bread machines: several models at different price points (Zojirushi and Breadman, for example) or only one or two bread machines as part of a larger line of kitchen electronics (Panasonic, Sunbeam, Cuisinart, Oster, and West Bend, for example). Whether the company makes one model or several has little bearing on the quality of an individual bread maker. Although some of these machines run as much as $250, what you pay for at the higher end of the market isn't improved bread quality but fancy extra functions that make cookies or bake lasagna; the Zojirushi BBCCX20 (starting at $207, Amazon ), for example, includes settings for cakes, yogurt, cookie dough, and even an option that lets you use your bread machine as a small oven.

What goes into making a good loaf of bread? Fresh ingredients, for starters. But when it comes to the necessary equipment, all you'll need is a cheap bread machine with a few basic functions -- nothing more and nothing less. And for that, there are several cheap bread machines costing $100 or less that will churn out satisfying and tasty results.

Bread Machines Bread Functions.

Bread machines are designed to make bread baking as easy as possible. Simply add the ingredients, set it to the proper function, and go about your business for a few hours. These functions are, uh, the bread-and-butter of the process; that is, they tell the machine how long to mix, let rise, and bake the ingredients you've put in. Common settings include basic, whole-wheat, quick (as in quick breads), sweet, gluten-free, and dough (allowing you to bake a pizza crust or a loaf you shape by hand in your oven). One custom function, available on machines like the West Bend 41300 (starting at $90, Amazon), lets you specify your own times for each cycle, such as rising time and baking time, when using your own recipe.

The more expensive machines generally offer more functions, but even cheap bread makers offer a variety. The Breadman TR520 (starting at $50, Amazon), for example, includes eight different bread and dough functions but does not offer crust choices, a popular feature; the West Bend 41300, Cuisinart CBK-100 (starting at $100, Amazon), and Breadman TR875 (starting at $93, Amazon) all let you choose light, medium, or dark crust, as does the Sunbeam 5891 (starting at $56). Some high-end bread machines, like the Zojirushi BB-HAC10 (starting at $171, Amazon), let you choose the texture (e.g., regular, firm, soft) of your bread, as well.

One function of special note is rapid-bake, which whips up a loaf in an hour or less. The manual for the Oster 5838 (starting at $69, Amazon), which is marketed largely on this express function, recommends using special ingredients like bread machine flour and rapid-rise yeast for these quick loaves. An expert bread machines review on Kitchen Kapers notes that the fast function on the Cuisinart CBK-100 can save the day when guests stop by. According to users posting comments on a variety of bread maker review sites, opting for the full-cycle bread results in more reliable loaves; even the Oster manual concedes the texture on the rapid bread will be denser than on loaves made with the normal cycle and users of the Sunbeam 5891 report on Newegg.com that the express bread is too yeasty and suggest using about half the recommended amount.

Bread Makers Loaf Size.

Cheap bread machines typically make bread in one of four sizes: 1 pound, 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds, or 2.5 pounds. Poundage can get a little confusing, so it's best to think of these loaves as small, medium, large, and extra-large. Cheap bread machines that make large loaves generally make smaller loaves as well, so if you'll want a large or extra-large loaf even occasionally, it's best to go with a bigger machine. Our three top picks are all quite flexible in this regard: the Cuisinart TR875 and Breadman CBK-100 can produce 1-, 1.5-, and 2-pound loaves, and the West Bend 41300 can produce all those sizes as well as a 2.5-pound loaf. The Sunbeam 5891, on the other hand, limits your choice to a 1.5- or two-pound loaf.

Even if your family consumes an extra-large loaf every day, you should consider the actual dimensions of the machine in relation to the available counter space in your kitchen. Higher-cost bread makers can be as small as 11x8x12 (the Zojirushi BB-HAC10, for example, only makes one-pound loaves), but the cheaper bread machines are generally larger; the footprint of the Cuisinart CBK-100 is 18x12.2x15 and the Sunbeam 5891 measures approximately 14x19x13.5 (the height is particularly problematic for some home breadmakers). Interestingly, the West Bend 41300, which can churn out a bigger loaf than the Cuisinart CBK-100, is smaller, with a footprint of 18x10.5x11.8.

Loaf shape is another consideration, and here you've got two options. Horizontal loaves are the closest in shape to regular store-bought bread and are becoming the norm for cheap bread machines. Three of the machines on our list of best and good picks (the West Bend 41300, Cuisinart CBK-100, and Breadman TR875) make a horizontal loaf; the Sunbeam 5891 produces a two-pound loaf that looks more like a block, which many users find difficult to slice or put in the toaster. Some machines, including the Breadman TR2500BC (starting at $90, Amazon), still make old-style vertical loaves. The difference between horizontal and vertical loaves is a matter of aesthetics, not taste. For loaves you shape by hand, like a braided challah, you'll want to use the dough function we mentioned above.

Inexpensive Bread Makers Paddles.

All bread machines come with one or two mixing paddles. Dual blades are a newer feature on bread machines, and the experts at Breadinfo.com say two paddles do a better job mixing all the ingredients than does a lone paddle. The West Bend 41300 and Breadman TR875 both feature two mixing blades; a Walmart shopper notes in a bread machines review that multiple paddles on the West Bend 41300 prevent unmixed batter from collecting in the corners. The other four cheap bread machines we researched - Sunbeam 5891, Cuisinart CBK-100, Breadman TR520, and Oster 5838, have just a single blade.

Bread Machines Tech.

Over the past few years, even cheap bread machines have begun incorporating more high-tech features. Almost all the discount bread machines we researched have a time-delay function, which lets you put the ingredients into the machine and set it to start at a later time. This is a nifty convenience if you want bread fresh out of the "oven" at dinner time or when the family wakes in the morning. Time delays range from 12 hours to 24 hours, with the longer delay reserved for the higher-end bread makers; the cheap bread machines we feature all offer a 12- or 13-hour delay, except for the Breadman TR875, which has an 18-hour delay.

Closely related to time delay but much less common is the pause function, which lets you put a hold - usually up to one hour - on bread that's already in progress. None of our top picks come with pause buttons, but some more expensive bread makers, such as Cuisinart's CBK-200 (starting at $129, Amazon) do.

Digital displays are standard on cheap bread machines, but are not always easy to read. The Breadman TR520, featuring white-on-yellow lettering, may be especially difficult, according to user posts on Walmart, although bread machine reviews on Target of the later-model Breadman TR875 do not report similar problems. You'll find one of the better displays on the West Bend 41300, which illuminates when the machine is in use.

Many cheap bread makers, including the West Bend 41300, the Breadman TR875 and TR520, and the Cuisinart CBK-100, sound warning beeps when it's time to add extra ingredients, such as dried fruit, nuts, or other items that are best handled gently.

Bread Machines Manuals.

An accurate and easy-to-read manual is certainly a factor to consider, but we consider it low on the list of priorities. In fact, according to some consumer reviews of inexpensive bread makers on Amazon, the manual for the West Bend 41300, which ranks high in terms of performance, includes recipes that just don't work or others that need tinkering. One Amazon user grumbles about incomplete measurements and proportions that are wildly out of whack. Many users likewise grumble on sites like Amazon and Epinions about the unhelpful Sunbeam 5891 manual. On the other hand, users posting reviews on Epinions like the manual for the Oster 5838, which is among our least favorite machines. But if a low-cost bread maker otherwise works well and has the features you're looking for, you can always find reliable recipes in bread machine cookbooks or on websites like AllRecipes or Recipezaar, where you benefit from the comments of other bread machine owners who have already tested the recipe.

Bread Makers Safety.

Bread machines sit on the same safety level as crock pots; that is, they're reliable enough that you can leave them on while you're at work or asleep. Some minor concerns occasionally crop up. One expert bread machines review notes the Breadman TR875 can get hot on the bottom and recommends placing it on a heat-resistant surface. Some high-end machines offer extra safety features; the Zojirushi BBCC-X20, for example, automatically shuts off when the lid is opened. Not to worry, all the cheap bread machines we've chosen for our list have viewing windows to see how your bread is coming along, so there's no reason to open these bread makers while they're working.

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Breadman TR520
Oster 5838 ExpressBake
Cuisinart CBK-100
Breadman TR875
West Bend 41300
Sunbeam 5891

 

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