Showing posts with label cuisinart bread machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cuisinart bread machine. Show all posts

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Cuisinart Bread Machine - cuisinart bread machine, cuisinart


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I bought this breadmaker for my wife for Christmas. She uses it at least twice a week, and so far has truly loved it. She likes making beer bread and cinnamon raisin bread, and every loaf she's made has been big, aromatic, and absolutely delicious. Have you ever looked for Texas toast to make that killer French Toast for breakfast? This machine - which makes some substantial 2-pound loaves, is the perfect thing for 'em.



Personally, I might add that if you buy one of these machines, you may never need another air freshener. I love the smell of baking bread!



I chose the Cuisinart CBK-200 because I've purchased several Cuisinart products and I've been very impressed with all of them. It's a solidly constructed piece, wieghty, and good-looking on the counter. After looking at so many of the other breadmakers in local stores, I got the feeling of plasticky engineering, and envisioned them lasting an amount of time not worth the $50 or $60-something dollars they were asking. I also envisioned smaller loaves, noisy breadmakers which shifted around on the counter. I admit this is all speculation, but these are real concerns we all have, and we speculate because we want to make the best decision we can. In the end, I feel very satisfied with the choice I made, and more importantly, my wife is thrilled with it.



A previous reviewer mentioned the only downfall to the machine is that you can't change some of the options mid-cycle. This is true, but I got the feeling that reviewer was as expert a bread-maker as one could be! My wife loves baking, but I think even at two or three loaves a week for the next five years, she's not going to have that reviewer's expertise to make those mid-cycle decisions. Actually, if my wife is accustomed to this machine, then I think those decisions might be made before the process even begins, knowing how the machine operates. That said, I think the reviewer was probably correct for upper-echelon bread chefs, and those with that kind of experience might want to go with a $300+ machine.



For the price, which was just under $100 at the time of my purchase, my wife and I are thrilled with what we've gotten back. We're both convinced that the convection oven aspect of the machine only adds to the thoroughness of the baking. She reports that the crusts come out exactly how you want them to, and I know that's important to her! And the bread is scrumptious. The only thing I wish it would do is cut the bread, too!



In summation, we're very satisfied with this purchase, and most of my satisfaction comes from my wife's happiness with it. The Cuisinart CBK-200 may be $30 or so more than other bread makers, but with that investment, you get repeated satisfaction that those dollars were very, very well spent.

I am an experienced bread baker (with and without machines) and this is my third bread machine. It kneads better than others I have had BY FAR. This machine makes excellent bread, but there is one big problem. You cannot cancel mid-cycle to start a different process if you like. As an experienced baker, I like to tweak my loaves by using various different risings, etc., but I can't do that with this machine because once you start a cycle you are committed. Even if you turn the blasted thing off, it does not reset. Other machines allow more flexibility for experienced bakers. This machine does come with an excellent cookbook, and seems easy to operate. I can't explain the negative reviews, except to say perhaps they got a defective machine. This one does not budge on the counter like other machines I've had, either. I have used the dough cycle and have baked in the machine - each time with excellent results. I do recommend that those who are having trouble make sure they are using the proper flour and yeast - see King Arthur Flour company web site for lots of info!

I spent many hours reading the reviews on the Cuisinart, the Breadman and the Zoji. I was hesitant to buy this machine because of all the negativity, but in the end I wanted 1)the low carb cycle, 2)the beep to remove paddle, 3)the horizontal loaf, 4)the jam cycle, 4) the pause option, 5)the power failure backup and 6)I really like the convection fan idea. I bought the machine at Amazon knowing their exchange policy was good, and waited before sending the warranty card.

Now I have 4 weeks of busy holiday baking to report and the results are wonderful! I am so happy! I love being able to remove the paddle and lose that hole. I can only assume that Cuisinart's quality control has not been up to par and that I was lucky enough to get a one of a good batch.

There have been some disappointments. The LowCarb cycle was a total failure with my own recipes and the Cuisinart recipes didn't meet MY definition of low carb. However my own recipes (from Dana Carpender's 500 Low Carb Recipes)come out perfectly on the whole wheat light or medium settings. The Pumpernickel was to-die-for.

I also use the Jam setting frequently to make sugar-free jam and cranberry sauce. The first batch was a hit as far as taste and consistency of the sauce, but a disaster in terms of cleaning up the machine afterwards. Cranberries had flown all over in the first 10 minutes or so and burned on the heating elements. The second time, I covered the pan with a 10 inch square hot pad of silicone able to withstand 550 degrees, held in place by the handle. It worked perfectly. I leave it on until the second phase when the paddle goes more slowly and berries aren't flying anymore.

I was also helped enormously by the Bread Machine Magic books, which recommend checking on the bread at the early stages and adding more flour or liquid as needed to get a nice loaf. I have used this several times, and it has definitely reduced my failures to zero.

I'm looking forward to trying the artisan bread cycles, and to many more loaves of Pumpernickel and Whole Wheat low carb bread.

I have heard no clunking noises, had no burned bread. I would give it 5 stars after 6 months of trouble free operation. - Cuisinart Bread Machine - Cuisinart - Bread - Gluten Free Bread - Bread Baking - Gluten Free
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Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Gluten Free Baking - cuisinart, bread


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We bought this machine based on a recommendation from a friend at work and other reviews we read on Amazon. First of all, let me say that this is a great product. The recipes are easy to follow and the bread is outstanding. We brought the machine with us when we visited relatives over the holidays, and two of them are now going to get machines for their families.



FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WROTE NEGATIVE REVIEWS, AND THOSE WHO HAVE READ THEM, PLEASE READ THIS!! For my first loaf I went to the store to get flour. At the store I talked to the guy stocking the flour aisle about what kind of flour to use (note that the recipes specify "bread flour"). The grocery store guy and another woman who joined in the discussion assured me that I could use all purpose flour, so that's what I bought. The loaf came out so-so. It was quite dense, and the middle of the loaf was sunken instead of nicely puffed up (many of the negative reviews describe exactly this problem). So I googled "bread flour" and found out that it is significantly different from all purpose flour. It's higher gluten and protein content produces stretchier, chewier bread, but more importantly, it traps more of the carbon dioxide from the yeast so that the dough rises properly.



Equipped with this information, I went back to the store and bought King Arthur BREAD FLOUR. What a difference! My son described it as a 1000% improvement. Every loaf since then has been outstanding.



One more thing. The recipe instructions tell you to set the loaf size and crust color, then select the bread program (white, wheat, gluten free, etc.). You actually want to SELECT THE BREAD PROGRAM FIRST, then the loaf size and crust color, because setting the bread program first will RESET the loaf size and crust color to the defaults (2 lb. loaf, medium crust).

My wife has Celiac disease and a good gluten free bread is impossible to find ready made. We must bake our own bread if she is going to have a bread that tastes good. We have found the bread mix from Gluten Free Pantry is great. but our old bread machine, a Breadman Ultimate was not turning out a consistant product. It was less than a year old and quit working. Which turned out to be a blessing. Based on our experience with other Cuisinart products and the reviews on Amazon we decided on the Cusinart CBK-100. The gluten free cycle is perfect. It bakes the best gluten free bread we have ever had. We have used Gluten free pantry Sandwich bread mix and also Bob's Red Mill gluten free multigrain mix. WOW! THe bread is so good that I even like it. This bread is light and the crust is perfect. It even is easier to slice. If you are looking for a bread maker that turns out excelent gluten free bread this is the one to buy

When our breadmaker of about 12yrs. broke, I search the internet for a replacement. I thoroughly checked out many many many different types and prices. I settled on this Cuisinart CBK-100 and, have been very pleased with the texture of bread it makes. I do however use 2 tablespoons of sugar for a 1 1/2 lb. loaf and use only 1 teaspoon of fast acting yeast instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons. It operates very quiet compared to our older machine we had. I really like the beeps telling you it's time to take the paddle out of the bread so you don't have that gaping hole on botton of every loaf. I strongly recommend purchasing this machine.

Bought this last year and tried about 5-6 recipes several times, at different loaf sizes, using recipes that came with the machine as well as out of reliable cookbooks. No luck. Every loaf collapsed and baked into a dense, inedible mound of dryness. Tried to return it, but had passed the Amazon return time. Cuisinart was not particularly helpful--made us return and try another machine twice even though I explained that I thought the issue had to do with the rise times programmed as part of the equipment, not the product itself. Fortunately, since we live in California, the shipping back and forth costs were paid by the company (CA law). Finally, after the third return, they gave us credit, which we ended up using on a different product. That nonsense took a year and many phone calls to negotiate! As a longtime Cuisinart customer, I found their customer service lacking in quality. Since then, I have started baking by hand, using a wet dough recipe from the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. Also considering trying the cookbook, _Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day_--as making bread is relatively easy--but the timing is the hard part--while adapting some "high elevation" tweaking to the recipes (didn't grow up baking at high elevations so that has been a learning curve). The low star rating is for the issues we faced with Cuisinart in returning the product, which does not adapt to high elevation climates. I wish Cuisinart would address this issue by building better time options into the machine design.

I bought this product in August and it worked great for two months. Then the touchpad stopped working. Customer service told me how to reset it and that seemed to work. The paddle broke during making the very next loaf of bread; it took 4-6 weeks to get a replacement paddle as they were "back-ordered". I made one loaf successfully when the new paddle arrived. During baking the second loaf, the heating element quit and I was left with a half-baked loaf. I called Cuisinart asking for a refund and was told they don't do that, but would send a replacement machine, shipping at my expense. I did talk them into paying the shipping, but they have no expedited shipping so I will wait a couple of weeks for the replacement. I have to return the old machine at my expense. This, in my opinion, is poor customer service. I hope I got a dud the first time and that the replacement is problem free or I will be out $90. By the way, they only give the remainder of the original warranty on the replacement. When it worked, it made good bread, but think twice about buying this product.

Cuisinart CBK-100 Programmable Breadmaker - Cuisinart - Bread - Cuisinart Bread Machine - Baking - Gluten Free - Gluten Free Baking
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