Product Review: Sunbeam Breadmaker

Everyone knows what a breadmaker is. It's a machine that mixes, kneads and bakes the breads of your choice and all you have to do is put the ingredients in, select the type of bread and push start. They are very easy to use and very worth the money spent on them, in my opinion, and the Sunbeam Breadmaker is not different. It is very easy to use and makes the most delicious breads I have ever tasted. After months of asking for one, I finally got my Sunbeam Breadmaker for Christmas. It has been used many times over the last few months and I suspect that it will be used a lot in the years to come.

The Sunbeam Breadmaker retails for approximately $40-$50 at places like Wal-Mart and online. It is well worth that price too. I comes with the breadmaker, the baking pan and paddle that the ingredients go into, a plastic measuring cup, a plastic measuring spoon, a hook to help remove the paddle and an instruction manual that has several yummy recipes in it ready for you to experiment with.

The Sunbeam Breadmaker comes programmed with twelve different breadmaking settings and three different bread color setting. You can make your bread as light or as dark in color as you would like. This is great for those of us who like lighter colored bread as well as those who like their breads darker than most people make. The breadmaking settings include French bread, Sweet breads, an Express Bake setting when you don't have all day to wait on a loaf of bread to bake. The Sunbeam Breadmaker even has settings to bake cakes, make dough that you will bake yourself (great for dinner rolls) and even a setting to make your very own fresh jams. There's nothing better than fresh jam on soft, warm bread. The Sunbeam Breadmaker makes up to a 2lb loaf of bread, giving you the option of a 1.5lb or a 2lb loaf. It even has a nice digital display that counts down the breadmaking cycle so that you will always know how much time is left before your bread is finished.

The recipes that come with the Sunbeam Breadmaker include regular white bread, classic french bread, whole wheat bread and even a few sweet breads like banana-pecan bread. The instruction manual even includes a cake recipe and an easy jam recipe to get you started. If you would like more great breadmaker recipes then check out my article titled Great Bread Machine Recipes or check out a few good recipe sites like AllRecipes.com.

Before using your Sunbeam Breadmaker for the first time you should wash the bucket and paddle. You should be sure that you do not wash the baking pan and paddle in the dishwasher. It can effect the stick-proof finish on them and cause you to have trouble removing your bread from the breadmaker after it has baked. Always handwash them and dry them thoroughly before returning them back into the breadmaker. Always doing this will help prolong the life of your Sunbeam Breadmaker.

When you are ready to use your Sunbeam Breadmaker for the first time all you have to do is follow the simple instructions in the owner's manual. One thing I will point out is that you do not plug the breadmaker into the outlet until you have all of the ingredients placed inside the baking pan and ready to start the breakmaking cycle of your choice. After all of the ingredients are in and you have plugged the breadmaker into the outlet then you will simply choose the bread cycle that you want (basic, french, sweet, dough, sandwich, etc), choose the bread color (light, medium, dark) and choose the loaf size (1.5lb or 2lb loaf) then press START and off it goes.

The only thing that I don't like about the Sunbeam Breadmaker is how large it is and, in turn, how much counter space it takes up. It is approximately 12 inches tall, 15 inches from front to back and 9 inches wide from side to side. Which all means that it's a fairly large kitchn appliance. If you have a lot of counter space or have a large kitchen with a lot of storage then this aspect may not bother you but if you have a smaller kitchen, like I do, then you may want to make sure that you will use the Sunbeam Breadmaker enough to justify having it out on the counter all the time. I use my breadmaker almost weekly so I just leave it out so that I don't have to constantly take it in and out of a cabinet.

In the end, the Sunbeam Breadmaker is a wonderful product that has always produced the most beautiful and tasty breads and dinner rolls that I've ever had the chance to taste. If you like fresh breads or just want to save yourself a little money and make your own bread products then this is definitely the breadmaker for you.