Sunbeam 5891 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker, White
by Sunbeam
|
List Price: Our Price: $51.54 You Save: $34.51 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $47.42 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
|---|
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Sunbeam 5891 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker, White
Customer Review: Excellent results when you find the right recipe
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had my Sunbeam for about a year now, and I'm only just beginning to work out how to get the best out of it. I know, I know - slow learner :)
Frequently, when I tried various recipes from the booklet that came with the machine, the result would sink in the middle and/or be so light in texture that it was virtually impossible to slice it without generating a pile of crumbs.
However... If you want a nice dense loaf (one that you can cut fairly easily and cleanly) then I recommend using a combination of half-and-half regular white and whole wheat flours. "Gold Medal" products have worked well for me when using the ExpressBake setting for a traditional 1.5 lb loaf (about page 17 in the booklet, depending on which version of the publication you have). Specifically the All-Purpose and the All Natural Stone Ground Whole Wheat flours seem to do well - one and a half cups of each.
You don't need to use ordinary sugar either - I have successfully used Splenda's baking sweetener in its place (Splenda is about 85% Dextrose which yeasts seem to be quite happy to munch on).
In place of the oil I have on occasion used a large dollop of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (Light) with decent results.
I have also successfully used NoSalt in place of regular salt. This can be helpful if like me you're very sensitive to added sodium in foods.
As far as yeast goes, I have read that it's important to use fresh yeast. In my case, my mileage definitely varied :)
Initially I tried some freshly bought Fleischmann's Instant Yeast and didn't get great results. What finally worked well was an out of date Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast (Jan 21, 2007 was the expiry date!). Two packets of that seem to do the trick every time.
Key Issues
========
Two key things: one, it's very important to premix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly (all of them - ignore the instructions to add the yeast separately unless you really are going to use the delay timer) before adding to the non-dry ingredients. Only when I did that was the result anything like acceptable (i.e. uniform consistency).
Two, make sure the water is actually above the temperature the booklet specifies before you put it into the bread pan (about 150 degrees F seems to work well for me; I tend to microwave tap hot water and then check the temperature just before using it). The process of putting the warm water into the bread pan cools the water extremely rapidly and that has an impact on the metabolic processes of the yeast, slowing them down.
Finally, the loaves always come out looking rather anemic on top. That's not a fault, it's just a fact of life. So what I do is to place the finished loaf under the broiler (about 3 inches away from the element) for about 2 minutes just to brown the top so that it looks consistent with the sides of the loaf. Keep a watchful eye on the bread so that it doesn't burn!
I've found that placing the finished (cooled) loaf inside a sealed bread container in the fridge overnight appears to allow the loaf to settle down and be amenable to slicing. I go through a loaf in less than a week but generally speaking I've not had a single loaf develop any mold at all as long as I keep it in the fridge. I can't say the same for commercial loaves (probably because they're exposed to much higher temperatures and spores galore in the supermarkets before they're bought).
Occasionally if I want to tweak the flavor of the loaf I'll add a few sprinkles of Oregano to the dry ingredients before premixing. This may not always be a good idea if you want to spread preserves on the slices :)
I've found that toasting the slices from loaves generated from this recipe produces some really nice results - slightly crisp but not so hard that the toast shatters on being bitten into :)
Allow to cool considerably after toasting then spread with genuine Irish Butter (e.g. Kerry Gold) <slurp>. Yes, I know, what's the point when you've gone to the trouble of using Splenda, NoSalt, ICBINB Light and Whole Wheat flour. Give over, I like cold buttered toast :)
Postscript:
========
Add A Packet of Sauce?
Recently I've read that interesting results can be obtained if you add a Knorr packet sauce (dry materials) to the mixed dry ingredients. I'll try that and update this review accordingly.
Commercial Bread Mixes
I've tried Wolfgang Puck Bread Mixes and they seem to work well in this breadmaker (the results I've had so far are very acceptable). The key thing seems to be, again, that the dry ingredients are well-mixed before being added - which makes sense, when you think about it. You need the yeast and its nutrients to be evenly distributed throughout in order to get consistent results. For some reason this aspect never seems to be emphasized by the manufacturers.
Customer Review: Excellent breadmaker - worth every penny
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I purchased this machine, I read ALL the reviews, the good, bad and the ugly. I realized there would possibly be some trials and tribulations with my first attempts at using it since I am not only a novice to breadmakers but also living in high altitude country. I made bread from scratch many eons ago and am aware of the exact measurement problems.
So I crossed my fingers, ordered the machine AND, on the advice of several posters, I also bought 2 of the Donna German Bread Machine books(let's go ALL the way :-)
I rec'd it in a timely manner and read the manual thoroughly. Sonewhat of a brain overload but I thought very thorough in taking you from start to finish.
My first loaf was plain white bread from DG's Bread book (avoiding the Sunbeam manual recipes). I made minor adjustments to compensate for the altitude. Hmmm! Fine loaf of bread but a bit too heavy. My 2nd loaf was made using the exact measurements from DG's book and it turned out much lighter in texture and very good indeed.
I have since made fruit/cheese filled brioches, apple chunk bread (Oh, Lordy, Lordy, so sublimely delicious!), hot dog/hamburger buns and banana outmeal bread - all to the exact measurements, no adjustments. ALL have turned out extremely well and I'm quite pleased.
In calcing the cost of each loaf, I am making plain white bread (2 lb) for about $1.20/25 a loaf or 12 brioches or buns for the same. Unless I use a particularly expensive ingredient, none of these loaves should cost more than $1.50.
My future plans are to make regular pizza plus peanut butter pizza. While it can be intimidating at first, after reading the various problems people have had, I'm now perfectly comfortable with this machine and well pleased with my purchase.
To make some observations that may be helpful to others.....
1) It's not clear what caused many people to complain of fallen loaves but most did not relate the source of their recipe. My hunch is that most used the recipes from the manual. Several people have warned against this since these recipes appear to be flawed. GREAT machine! LOUSY recipes! If you still have your machine, try purchasing Donna German's book(s) or any other popular bread book and give it another shot.
2) DO use the plastic measuring cup and spoon that comes with the machine. Do your very best to have exact measurements. If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup, check the measurement equivalents and create your 1/2 cup from 8 level tbls rather than trying to eyeball just where 1/2 is in your measuring cup.
3) I have no explanation why recipes in DG's books seem to need no adjustment for high altitude (I'm a mile high). If you're H/A, try your recipe with no adjustments first and then adjust if necessary.
I really do suspect that, for the most part, most of the negative reviews have less to do with a defective machine and more to do with a defective manual. You should avail yourself of a good bread making cookbook. Many people, dependent on where they live (temperature and altitude), may need to make some adjustments. What eventually works for you may not work for the next person and that is just the nature of bread making.
At the price it's listed today ($44), I can only say - ORDER IT!
Customer Review: I made bread!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not an experienced baker, and I've never used a bread machine before, but I've always loved the smell and taste of fresh, homemade bread. When I found a bread machine for under $40 from a seller that would ship it to Canada at an acceptable rate, I jumped on it. These are my impressions:
1. The machine comes with a 1-cup measure, a teaspoon/tablespoon measure, the kneading paddle, the manual, and a mystery tool. The mystery tool is just a little shorter than a ball-point pen and has a lightly bent end on one side and a sort of a shepherd's crook on the other. The manual fails to tell me what this thing is, and my bread-machine-savvy friend couldn't identify it for me, either. I'm keeping it in my junk drawer, just in case.
2. The manual is lacking, as other reviewers have noted. I thought they were a little picky at first (it's not like a bread machine manual is supposed to be NY Times Bestseller-worthy, after all), but then after reading it through a couple of times I noticed that it always says to lift the bread pan "straight out of the machine" without mentioning that it has to be twisted to unlock it from the bottom.
Also, after the first rising phase, there's a 10-beep signal. The manual doesn't mention anywhere that this is the signal to add nuts or fruit chunks or whatnot to your dough (another reviewer said that's what this signal is for), and even the fruit/nut recipes provided don't mention it.
Also also, the manual describes the process of checking your doughball about 5-10 min into the first kneading cycle. It provides rather pathetic line drawings of a too-wet doughball and a too-dry doughball. I'm truly new at breadmaking, and I would have appreciated even a badly-lit B&W photo of actual dough being too wet or dry.
3. The first loaf I made was from a recipe I found online, and I used the 1.5-lb loaf setting instead of the 2-lb, so it wasn't cooked enough. No problem; I have a friend with horses who love bread. They happily helped me dispose of the too-doughy loaf and I made a second loaf, which turned out perfect. The manual could have mentioned whether there are tricks for determining whether a stranger's bread recipe will require the 1.5- or 2-lb setting, though.
4. I feel like I'm being really picky here, but the display isn't as 'easy-to-read' as the description says. It's LCD, and it's on an angle, and it's not backlit or anything. The buttons are very pretty and colorful, but they don't light up when they're being pushed. I can move my head to see what the display says, though. And the window to watch the bread is rather large compared to the photos of other bread machines I looked at!
Because the manual misses a great chance to provide useful information on how to use the machine, I debated only giving this product 4 stars. However, this is the age of the internet, and you can get all kinds of good information online with simple searches. The fact remains that the bread machine -itself- does a great job and is truly a super value, so I'm giving it 5 stars with the caveat that I'll come back and update this review if anything goes wrong.
Customer Review: 400+ loaves later...good,durable machine for the price
Summary: 5 Stars
After wearing out 2 other machines pans (both Breadmans) it was time for a new machine.
I chose this one based on price (I pd $55, I see now sometimes it's cheaper), decent reviews, and my primary usage for the machine is to bake a loaf of bread or mix dough for pizza, cinnamon rolls, and hamburger buns, etc. I don't use most of the settings on the machine, I don't program my own cycles, etc, so I was hoping for a cheaper alternative to an expensive machine.
I have used this machine for a year, and have to say the pan is about worn out, BUT has made it through approximately 400+ uses, about 14¢/use! (I do not buy any store bought bread products, use it about once a day for a loaf of bread sometimes 2x) The pan is wearing out (machine itself is going strong) - the center post is getting wobbly and starting to cause dark goo to go into the bottom of the loaf. This is not unique to this machine, as that's what happened to my 2 previous machines as well. Otherwise the machine still looks new. The company quoted a new pan to be $30.
It has performed well, cooks well, is easy to clean the pan, and is quieter than the Breadman I had, and takes up a little less space, but is taller. Despite it's low cost, there are still quite a few options - primary importance is the light crust choice, multiple loaf sizes of 1, 1.5 & 2, delay bake timing (wake up to fresh bread!) and the dough mixing. The only feature I missed (& only one time) was the delay interrupt when my power went out in the middle of a loaf.
*Some complain of fallen loafs - I have no problems with this, unless I forget the yeast! - I mostly use recipies from books or the internet and have experimented and now mostly make about a few varieties of bread depending on the use (white, cinnamon raisin, onion, french & herb), and a few doughs. Most loaves due well on 1 1/2 - 2 tsp yeast.
(to save money on yeast you MUST buy it in bulk at a warehouse store. Grocery stores are extreme in their yeast prices. It stores well in the fridge, I buy 2 lbs at a time and it has never gone bad)
*Another complaint was of a knocking noise - I have had that on french bread, but it signals me there is not enough water in the loaf - add another tablespoon or so while it's mixing and the problem is resolved.
At this point my dilemma is buy a new pan for $30 or a new machine for $50, I would like to see the companies include 2 pans for a better price than replacing the pan later as this is what seems to fail long before the machine is worn out.
Making your own bread is fast and so worth it - you control what's in it and get no preservatives or garbage that you don't choose and it tastes 100x better than store bought. My husband now thinks all store bought bread tastes like cardboard and doesn't like any bread offered accept in fine restaurants - all the fast food through mid price restaurants just don't compare to food made at home on fresh bread. (and invest in a great serrated knife for slicing the bread.)
Customer Review: Breadmaker is perfect intersection of performance and price
Summary: 5 Stars
This was given to me as a gift. It was originally purchased from Amazon.com at an excellent price (under $50). I have had many bread makers over the years and this one performed well right out of the box. It is less expensive to make bread than buy for me. Plus, homemade bread isn't mostly air. The house smells wonderful too!
Pros:
1 - Very friendly interface and large buttons. They are logical. I have had bread makers that used only symbols which didn't always make sense. Those were clearly models sold in multiple countries and they didn't want to spend the money to print words next to the buttons on the unit.
2 - Good viewing window.
3 - Excellent loaf sizes (1.5 and 2 lb) You would be surprised what a good size 1.5 lb really is.
4 - Bread pan is more horizontal than vertical. I don't understand why this is listed as a vertical one. I have had vertical ones and they are more square than this one.
5 - Offers express bake option for both loaf sizes. Have had bread makers that don't.
6 - Allows crust color choices for more than just the basic setting. Have had bread makers that don't.
7 - At under $50.00 price point this is an exceptional value. Probably willing to pay more but over a certain amount ($70), too many other competitors enter the picture that might offer more preferable options.
8 - Instruction guide is user-friendly and mostly thorough although not perfect. Better than others I have had.
9 - Comes with a 'hook' to help remove the paddle should it get stuck in the loaf.
Cons:
1 - I *think* the signal beep is the notice to add special ingredients like raisins but the user guide doesn't mention it for some reason.
Unknown:
1 - Still very new and longevity is complete unknown at this early stage.
Recommend additional purchases:
1 - Betty Crocker bread machine recipe book. Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way
2 - Thermometer capable of checking water temp for optimal outcome. Taylor Commercial Waterproof Digital Thermometer or CDN IRXL220 ProAccurate Insta-Read NSF Large Dial Professional
3 - Measuring cups and spoons. Norpro Grip-ez 12 Piece Measure Cup Spoon Set
Tip:
If the paddle gets stuck in the bread pan, just soak it for only a few minutes in some water and it will come right off. Don't let it sit for too long though. This is normal for bread makers.