I love my Black and Decker B2500C bread machine. Chris’ parents bought one ages ago, and we used it from time to time, but for some reason it took us ages to get our own. Since we got ours six months ago, we now use it at least once a week. We shilled out about $100, but given that we haven’t bought bread for 6 months and now make a loaf for as little as 50 cents that hundred dollars doesn’t seem like such an expense now that we’ve saved three dollars a loaf over half a year. Plus, the flavour and smell of just baked bread is undeniably intoxicating.
The newer bread machines on the market do all kinds of things other than just regular bread. They have dough settings if you want to shape the final loaf, they make muffins and batter breads and even jams. A typical setting takes about 3 hours from start to finish, but once the ingredients are in, the machine is doing all the work. It even has a delay setting so you can have fresh bread waiting for you when you wake up.
The Cons:
Unless you get one of the few machines that make ‘regular’ loaf shaped loaves, it will make an elongated squared loaf quite different than the standard shape you’re used to. You can’t leave the finished loaf in the pan for too long after its done or it will get squishy since the moisture can’t evaporate properly. Plus, since fresh bread lacks the preservatives that keep store bought bread shelf stable, your bread may go stale or moldy sooner than you’re used to. Natural additives such as lecithin will keep your home baked bread fresh for much longer, though. With this particular machine, you’ll need to follow the recipes included in the recipe booklet, and some of those recipes are silly and complicated. Plus, occasionally the bread will rise too high and stick onto the glass – this would be due to user error such as too much yeast, and having the wrong temperature ingredients.
Pros – that fresh bread smell. No weird chemicals in your bread. Fully customizable. No more bread squashed on the way home from the store. It also makes pizza dough. You can select the size of loaf you want.
Overall:
The Black and Decker B2500C is a good home bread machine for an affordable price. It makes bread, and really isn’t complicated to use if you follow the recipes. It isn’t a Breadman or a Zojirushi, but it’s less than a third of the price. As a dough mixer alone, I believe this machine is worth the price.
Question – I bought this item a while back and decided to test it. I’m not expert at cooking…. but I tried the Potato Bread as my first recipe. So I measured everything out and added the liquids, solids then yeast. Problem is – the top layer (with the yeast) did not mix……. I made sure I used active dry yeast and bread flour. So – I’m really confused as to what wrong I must have done. Should I have mixed the yeast? The flour? Not being a good cook, I hope someone could advice me. Thank you.
Depending on where the yeast is placed, sometimes it won’t be incorporated fully without scraping down the sides of the bowl. There’s a pause button that’ll stop the blade, allowing you to use a spatula to scrape down.
Now, if it didn’t mix any of the top layer at all, I’m thinking maybe there was a problem with the recipe – maybe there wasn’t enough liquid to allow the dough to develop enough to mix? Normally the dough should turn mealy as it’s mixing, then form a smooth and elastic dough.
Try a smaller recipe [if you tried the 2.5lb one], or let me know and I’ll dig up a better bread machine ready white bread recipe. The recipe book that came with the machine is definitely the weak point. I use the machine to mix all kinds of scratch made breads, most of which I’ll take out, shape, proof and bake in my oven.
Thank you for reading, Amanda, hope we could help.
Can you help? My breadmaker B&D B2500C has setting numbers ( menu) on the cover but no where else. They have worn off and are not listed in the manual. All the menu button shows is times. Can you tell me what 1 through 10 stand for? well 2 through 8. 1 is white and 10 is pizza. Many thanks