First-ever test on breadmakers - CHOICE # 392

Imagine the tantalizing sight and smell of freshly baked homemade bread of your own creation to suit your taste and preference.

Exactly how well does a fully automatic breadmaker perform in measuring up to the expectations of the consumers?

The Consumer Council has conducted its first-ever test on 3 models of bread machines priced at $638, $780 and $928 respectively.

The appliances were put to tests for evaluation of their baking performance in terms of quality of bread, operation speed, energy consumption and safety, as well as durability and ease of use.

Essentially, a breadmaker is a flour mixer cum electric oven, with a range of programmes, settings and features.

Its operation is easy. All you need to do is weigh up the ingredients (or, even easier, buy a premix), select the right programme and the breadmaker will do the rest for you - mix, knead, raise and bake the bread for you.

Depending on the models, a breadmaker can also be programmed to produce cake, jam and to make dough and bake it in a conventional oven.

In the quality-of-bread test, the samples were set to produce similar quantities of white and wholemeal bread with specified recipe. The test assessors then compared the appearance, colour, crispness of the bread and evenness of baking, and rated their performance accordingly.

2 of the models were found to be more energy efficient using less electricity to make bread. Though the surface temperatures of the machines were not very high, users should avoid touching or disturbing the machines whilst in operation.

In the endurance test, a daily operation for two years was simulated. At the end of 700 runs, it was found that the motor of 1 sample did not run as smoothly as previously.

For some consumers making their own bread may be more healthy (they can control the quality of the ingredients and to introduce flavors and nutrients into the bread) and enjoyable (as a get-together family activity) than buying it from the shop.

But for the budget-conscious, the big consideration is which is cheaper: home made or shop bought?

In the test, the cost of making bread is compared with buying bread in the supermarkets.

To make about 700 g of bread, the cost for major ingredients (flour, butter and quick yeast) and electricity amounted to more than $15, without taking into account the cost of the machine and labour.

This was enough to buy 2 loaves of 8-sliced sandwich bread of about the same total weight.

To make a loaf using bread mix (costing from about $24 to $30) the cost will go up even higher.

It seems that, by such comparison, a breadmaker may not offer the alternative to cost savings on bread - if cost is the major consideration.

A word of advice from some test assessors: in their experience, all flour or bread mix could produce bread of similar taste and quality. So it's probably wasteful for consumers making their own bread to try to find the best flour or bread mix.