Russell Hobbs 4461

The Russell Hobbs 4461 'does what it says on the tin' ie you can make a range of loaves with the minimal fuss that you would expect from a breadmaker.

What you might like to know as a potential purchaser is 'can I get spares if it goes wrong'? If you want a new paddle (the bit that kneads the dough), no problem. If you need a new baking tin, again no problem. I need a new seal for the shaft at the bottom of the loaf tin. Just a small rubber o-ring seal, value a few pence. However, the spares outlet (Salton, the parent company of Russell Hobbs) will only sell a complete loaf tin (cost £17). I have pointed out to them how customer unfriendly this is not to mention the environmental damage of making a new metal loaf tin to get the use of a small rubber seal but they simply repeat that they 'unfortunately' only sell the loaf tin as a complete unit. If, like me, you object to disposing of devices for the want of sensibly priced spares you might like to take this into account when choosing which product to buy.

The Russell Hobbs 4461 is an excellent device. We have been baking loaves on a daily basis for the past 5 years with it. One new tin, and it still keeps working. We have used a range of different flours, and have always had good results - apart from the odd occasion when we forget to put the yeast in - or the paddle!

The only good thing about this Russell Hobbs 4461 breadmaker is the recipe book and here I do not include the recipes which are very hit and miss with flour quantities.

A cupful is a measurement of volume and not of weight. The various types of flour will have different weights for any given volume.

The descriptions of what each item in the recipe does towards making the bread was interesting.

I bought a Panasonic and it makes breadmaking easy and so a friend of mine asked me to have a go with her Russell Hobbs 4461 and would I tell her what she was doing wrong. I shall after several attempts be pleased to tell her that she was not doing anything wrong. It is the bread maker and something is going wrong probably in the last hour of the process.

The main thing that I want to report about this Russell Hobbs 4461 is that it is easy to use, which is great. I have made a few loafs of bread and so far they have not been too bad.