How do you choose a bread maker

Bread makers have different function for baking different types of bread. Ask yourself the following questions before you choose a bread maker:

• How much bread do you want to bake in one go?
• Do you want to add extra ingredients, like nuts and seeds?
• Do you want to make gluten-free bread too?
• Which accessories do you need?

Bread makers are available in different sizes. Which one is the most suitable for you depends on how much bread you want to make. Do you want to make large breads in one go for multiple people or do you want to make multiple small breads that you can put in the freezer? It's all possible. But it's difficult to determine the precise size of the bread. Keep in mind that a bread of 600 to 1000 grams is similar to the bread in the supermarket.

The biggest advantage of a bread maker is that you can decide which ingredients you add to the bread. This way, you can make bread to your taste. For example, you can easily add seeds, nuts, raisins, or herbs. You can add these manually or automatically during the baking process. If you want to add them automatically, you fill the tray with the extra ingredients in advance. If your machine doesn't have that, an audio signal will let you know when to add the extra ingredients.

For people with gluten allergies, it's extra important that bread is prepared the right way. It correlates with the ingredients you use, of course. There are bread makers with a special programs to prepare gluten-free bread. This prevents the bread from becoming dry and less tasty. You can also find gluten-free recipes in the manual of most bread makers.

A bread maker is often quite complete, but there are several accessories you can use to make baking bread even more fun. There are various cookbooks on baking bread, bread bins you can store your freshly baked bread in, and slicers you can use to slice your bread easily.