Panasonic SD-257

I purchased a new Panasonic SD257 from Amazon , it has had about 9 months use,I have to have Gluten free ingrediants,in the beginning some bread was excellent, and some thousands of air holes, and a few times the hole was so big one could place an egg in it.

Recently in 7 attempts to make bread, I would select dark crust, as soon as I pressed start it reverted back to medium, consequently the bread was undercooked, and so heavy, not edible other times with selecting xl it would rise to half its proper size and as heavy as a brick.

Bearing in mind I done exactly as the book said each time.at the price of Gluten flour this is just not good enough.

I live in China, where real bread is impossible to buy, only Chinese bread which is similar to sponge cake! So when on holiday in the UK I bought the Panasonic 257 machine, based on reviews and friends opinions, when I tried it, I was overjoyed at the results, at first using ingredients purchased in the UK, now I have to use local flour, yeast etc, and still get excellent loaves.

I now supply bread to my neighbours and my students, who think it is much better than local produce, the machine has been used every day for the last two months, sometimes 3 times in a day!! And, never once failed to produce a tasty loaf, I have experimented with making cakes, but, the lack of correct flour and other ingredients has not been a fair test, I did manage to make a ginger cake, which tasted good, but sank as it cooled, becoming almost flat and gluey in texture, I believe this was because I used honey instead of Syrup and the flour may have been wrong .

The timer function is a blessing as I prepare the night before and it is ready the following morning for me to drop off to a neighbour still hot, as I leave for work! I find the bread stays reasonably fresh for about 3 days, but due to humidity here, the crust softens very fast, and to have a crunchy crust means eating within 4 hours of turning it out.

I highly recommend this machine, especially for those with no cooking experience such as myself.

We bought this latest incarnation of the Panasonic bread maker SD-257 with ingredient tray and timer after sampling bread from the previous model whilst staying with a friend.

Although we have only made white, wholemeal and 50% wholemeal in it, the process is so easy you don't even need to get the excellent instruction manual out each time. For white we found Lidl and Sainsbury bread flour excellent and Sainsbury wholemeal is good too.

People say that oil or spread can be used instead of butter, but we find that oil makes a heavy loaf, and spreads have enough water in to make a soggy loaf just as if you added too much water in the first place., so we stick to unsalted butter.

We find all the quick bread yeasts are OK as long as you stick to the use-by dates.

Loaves keep for at least 4 days after starting them in a bread box as long as it is not tightly sealed.

The machine can be set to produce a loaf with several hours delay - set it a night for fresh bread as you get up. This works quite well although the texture is slightly tougher to us than making it the evening before and cooling it overnight. However, taking a fresh warm loaf of white out in the morning and toasting it immediately is sublime.

We just have not bought a single soggy shop loaf since we got the machine even though our son refused to even try it and went out to buy his own additive laden sliced white. We will have to desperate to do that !!

Love it. So easy to use. Comes with excellent instructions. Easy to clean after use. Have made 15 loaves of bread so far. Great to have lovely fresh bread when you want it. Even if you use the wrong type of flour by accident it still makes a good loaf, I found. Highly recommend The Panasonic SD-257 model breadmaker. It will pay for itself in time too. Worth the money in my opinion.

Further to my report on 26th September,we replaced the machine for a second one. We still have not had one satisfactory loaf which is well risen. We have paid for a replacement nut dispenser for the old machine and are now enjoying well risen loaves again. The new model has gone back. There is obviously a design fault as some of the recipes now need an egg to rise. Hoping our old machine lasts until a new model comes out.

Have own an old Panasonic breadmaker and had excellant results for years.

The new one hasn't made one loaf that has risen properly even with new ingredients. Thinking of replacing it with another one of the same model as we have great faith in Panasonic.Fingers crossed it with perform with good reuslts.

I have just replaced my elderly Panasonic SD 206 circa 2001, with this latest version from Panasonic, SD-257 wxc. My old one is still going, but the bread pan is no longer non stick and it's become a battle to get the loaf out when cooked. It's now going to be used for dough only when making the dough for the weeks rolls on the weekend. I'll use both machines and have 26 rolls done in one session. The new features are diamond-fluro coated breadpan and automatic Brioche. The Super non stick bread pan is simply brilliant. I just shook a loaf out, not expecting it to be quite so "slippy" the loaf shot out with no problem and shot across the work surface. There really is no need to shake hard to get the loafs out now. The automatic Brioche is a real treat, as I love to make Brioche with my old machine, but it was Dough only, so I still had to prove it and wait. Now I'll simply set it off in the same way as the main loaves. The only problem I found with the new styling over my old square styling, is it's higher on the front than my old one, so lifting the pan out was not so easy. The new ready beep is also a lot quiter than my old one, I doubt I'll hear it above normal household noise, so I'll need to set another kitchen timer to ring loudly when the bread is cooked. If this ones goes on like my old one, I'll not have any complaints and a freezer full of prober bread and rolls.