Expert review Panasonic SD-YR2540 bread maker

When I take the bread maker out of the box, it's easy to lift. The sleek design directly catches my eye. The programs are listed on the lid. Useful, because you can see which program to use right away. Besides the fact that it's easy to have them at hand, I also notice how many there are. The box also includes a measuring cup, measuring scoop, and 2 dough hooks.

The lid has an extra cover that you can open separately. This has 2 compartments, one for yeast and one for extra ingredients. I find this very useful. Thanks to this, you don't have to add yeast or extra ingredients at a later time, like raisins. You can set everything up at once and don't have to worry about it anymore.

I find the extra supply of ingredients very easy, but does this really work? I tested it and I'm very happy with the result. The raisins are distributed evenly throughout the bread. I used the recipe for raisin bread from the included book to use the right amounts. I like the bread-to-raisin ratio. Do you prefer more raisins? The compartment is a little small, so you might have to add them yourself.

This bread maker has 32 automatic programs. The included book has a recipe for each program. Useful, because I knew which ingredients I needed right away. Most programs allow you to choose between 3 sizes of bread and you can adjust the color of the crust to your preference. In addition to different types of bread, you can also bake a cake or make jam with this bread maker. You can even make pizza or pasta dough. I really like the versatility of this bread maker. Are you allergic to gluten? The bread maker has 4 gluten-free programs, one for bread, cake, pizza dough, and pasta dough.

For wholegrain bread, the bread maker has a normal and a fast program. The normal program takes 5 hours and the fast program 3 hours. I was curious about the difference and baked bread with both programs. The normal bread (right) seems a little finer structure-wise than the quickly-baked bread (left). The breads are the same size. While tasting, I barely notice a difference. So I'd definitely choose the fast program next time, just to save time.

In addition to bread, you can also bake a cake or make jam with this bread maker. I find the cake very airy and moist in taste, so definitely a success. I accidentally baked the jam for too long the first time. Make sure you adjust the time of the program. The second time worked out well. The recipe tells you that you need pectin powder. You can't buy this in the supermarket. I replaced the sugar for jam sugar and left out the pectin powder. The result was very tasty. Especially the jam and cake together.

You can also make pizza and pasta dough in the bread maker. You can do this with flour or a gluten-free alternative. The program for pizza dough takes 45 minutes. You put all the ingredients in the bread maker and 45 minutes later, you'll have fresh pizza dough. So very easy. The recipe didn't say anything about an oven time or temperature. I rolled out the dough to the size of a baking sheet and baked the pizza for 13 minutes at 250°C. The right time and temperature depends on the thickness of the dough and your oven, of course.