Panasonic Bread Machines

Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker

 

The Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker has been around for quite a while now, but it remains one of the best machines on the market. While it's one of the larger units around with a 2.5 lb. loaf capacity, this means that the size of the machine will also eat up your counter or cupboard space: you need just under 14" of width and height, and 10" of depth, so bear this in mind when you order.
The bread consistency is excellent, even in the ‘rapid’ mode, though the results are a bit better in the standard bake mode. Also, the ‘rapid’ mode for whole wheat or multigrain bread is 3 hours as opposed to 5 hours standard, so it's not like you can start the machine at the beginning of a meal and have completed bread before you leave the table. The fastest full cycle is ‘rapid’ bake mode for white bread, which takes 1hr 55min.
The SD-YD250 is quieter than most bread makers; however, you'll still hear the clicking and whirring as it mixes and kneads the dough. It's a neat idea to wake up to the smell of freshly-baked bread but the machine isn't quiet enough to run in the bedroom but who bakes bread in their bedroom?

The bread maker has these options :
o basic/rapid bake
o immediate start/timer delay
o white/whole wheat/multigrain
o sandwich (soft crust)
o crust color light/medium/dark
o raisin (pause and beep to add fruit or nuts)
o dough knead without bake
o bake without dough knead

Note that you can’t combine all of these options. For instance, you only get crust color selection for white bread, and sandwich mode for white and whole wheat; multigrain bread always has a dark, tough crust (although the bread inside the crust is moist and well-textured).
The container inside really is nonstick and the kneading blade does very little damage to the finished loaf. Ease of use and cleanup are both excellent.
Bread results are quite sensitive to variations in the ingredients in either weight, consistency, or age. Always use fresh BREAD flour and fresh yeast (bread machine yeast recommended) and the right amount of salt, sugar, and flour. The recipes in the included book specify flour weight in units like 16 3/4 oz., so it's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you get a digital kitchen scale for good results. Note that this will require still more counter space.

Summary: a very good machine, but you'll need a fair amount of counter space and attention to detail to get the best results from it.

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