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Reviews (1)
14 May, 2011
My life with a Kenwood BM250 breadmaker
5 of 5 found this helpful We had a breadmaker for quite a few years which only saw occasional use because it was easier to buy bread, so it became a worktop ornament. Then, in December 2007 I injured my back at work, which led to 6 weeks sick leave. Boredom prompted me to use the breadmaker instead of buying bread, but soon found that the 600 gramme loaves were too small for our family, so I read all the reviews on breadmakers that I could find. I decided on the Kenwood BM250 which will make a larger loaf; at the time the best price was at Currys, so off I went to buy one.
Reviews suggested a problem with the pan retaining clips which resulted in the pan lifting off the driving dogs and the dough being left un-mixed, but we didn't have a problem with it. I think it did it once or twice, but I was there at the time and just pushed the pan back down. I can see that it would be a problem if the program was timed to start in the early hours of the morning ready for breakfast, but that never happened in my case. Any occurrences we had were only at the beginning of our ownership, so I can only assume it was the 'newness' wearing off.
From the start, it was simplicity itself to use; it comes with a clever variable measuring spoon for the dry ingredients and a measuring cup for the liquids. I used them at the beginning, but later bought a cheap set of stainless steel measuring spoons since they are easier to clean. I also found a foolproof way of measuring the liquids; I placed the pan on our digital scales, and, since 1 millilitre of water weighs 1 gramme I simply weighed the water. I found that corn oil made the best bread, so I measured it out once and again weighed it, so that I just needed to pour the 18 grammes which the 22.5 millilitres weighs straight into the pan. Simples . . . ;-)
The machine has been in constant use from 2007 until May 2011, making bread daily unless we were on holiday and has proved very reliable. We occasionally also make bread rolls for a change and sometimes I'll substitute some of the white flour with wholemeal. We have also used the jam-making program when we had picked blackberries and found it makes very good jam using just granulated sugar instead of the (expensive) preserving sugar. In desperation, we have made the occasional rapid-bake loaf on the 58 minute program but didn't like it as much as the usual recipe we follow; it's too heavy and doughy.
Due to two days of solid jam-making, the paddle became hard to turn and I had to try and free it off. To be fair, the machine was never designed for this kind of abuse and We've since bought a preserving pan to use on the stove-top. I don't think it did the machine any good, since the driving shaft in the pan has been stiff to turn ever since.
I would thoroughly recommend this machine for its ease of use and reliability, together with the delicious MONEY-SAVING bread it makes. I was buying Tesco strong white bread flour at 50p for 1.5Kg which makes 3 very good loaves using 450g each, but this is now £1 (but still cheaper than buying bread). If there is a downside, it is that the paddle leaves a hole in the middle of the loaf. I have tried taking the paddle out once it's finished its last operation (the timings are in the instruction book) but it requires split-second timing . . .
Our breadmaker finally died last week due to terminal problems with the shaft in the pan so I went out and bought a new one - I like it that much!!