Sunbeam 5891 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker, White
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Sunbeam 5891 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker, White
Customer Review: Great Machine, Great Price
Summary: 5 Stars
Not having owned a bread machine before, I did my online research and decided to try a reasonably priced "good-enough tester" machine... Well, I'm VERY glad that I decided to purchase this "more-than-good-enough" model!
This particular model is fairly quiet while in operation, beeps after the 1st rest to indicate that it's time to add the nuts/raisins, etc., and beeps after the baking cycle is completed (if the bread is not removed from the machine as soon as it's done, it might lose moisture during the auto keep-warm cycle). I've twice made the following recipe with pine nuts and twice made raisin-pistachio bread (from "the Big Book of Bread Machine Recipes")--delicious.
The best part about this machine baking process is that it's not at all difficult in any way. Here is the typical baking process: Warm the liquid in a glass measuring cup in a microwave, stir in the salt/honey/sugar/butter in the warm liquid, pour the mixture into the baking pan, place the pan on the scale, adjust the scale to zero, add the required flour (1 cup flour = 4 to 4.5 oz), level the flour, add the yeast, twist to lock the pan into the breadmaker, plug in the breadmaker, select the crust color (best to try the "Light" color first), select the baking setting, after about 5 min. check the dough and add water/flour if necessary (very important step), remove the bread to a cooling rack as soon as it's done, then wipe the baking pan when it's cool enough. (It's helpful to have a portable timer on you to remind you to remove the bread, wherever you might be.)
The clean up is SO MINIMAL that the bread tastes just that much better! And, whenever we want oven-baked loaves, I'd simply use the breadmaker's dough cycle to lessen the clean up and do the rest as usual.
However, there are some negative aspects related to this bread machine:
1. The user manual is very uninformative for a new user, so don't even bother. Instead, buy "The BIG Book of Bread Machine Recipes" by Donna Rathmell German (on Amazon; 600 recipes from 5 of her bread machine cookbooks) or other bread machine cookbooks and rest assured that the resulting loaves will be enjoyable and varied.
2. On my machine, I had to make sure to select the "light" color, else the loaf gets too brown/too thick crusted.
3. So far, all 4 loaves have slightly caved/sunken/deflated as soon as the baking cycle kicked in. Although the loaves are just slightly sunken, and the appearance and taste were not affected in any way, I will try using less liquid than normal (for a firmer dough) or less yeast (to slow the dough expansion process for this machine) to prevent the sunken look next time.
Useful tips for new bread machine user:
1. Get a dependable scale, instant-read thermometer, and a liquid measuring cup--approximations might not work well when you're new at using bread machines.
2. For the basic cycle, if baking the bread right away, you can just place all the ingredients right into the baking pan regardless of the liquid-first order stated on the manual.
3. If adding additional flour/liquid to the baking pan, add carefully. Any spilled gunk on the bread machine's bottom or heating element might take some scrubbing if baked in.
4. If additional kneading time is desired, just stop and restart the machine for additional gluten development/knead time.
5. For the initial confidence-building 2-pound loaf, try this tested recipe (might have to set your Sunbeam to "Light" color): 1 1/3 cups milk and/or water, 2 tb honey/sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons butter, 4 cups bread flour (I used Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose), 1 1/2 teaspoons active yeast, 1/4 - 1/3 cup of pine nuts/other chopped nuts (optional). Remember to check the dough consistency after about 5 minutes and add liquids/flour if too wet or too dry.
6. If the bread dough is over-rising at the top of the bake pan, either:
a. simply scoop some dough carefully off the top, put the extra dough in a greased baking vessel of suitable size. Let dough rise a bit in the oven with the pilot light on, take dough out, preheat the oven at 350F-375F, spray some water in the oven to encourage crust formation, and then bake until the top is golden brown (internal temp. of about 180F to 200F); bake the other portion in the bread machine as usual; -OR-
b. remove dough from the machine completely-- separate the dough into two greased baking vessels of suitable size. Let dough rise a bit in the oven with the pilot light on, take dough out, preheat the oven at 350F-375F, spray some water in the oven to encourage crust formation, and then bake until the top is golden brown (internal temp. of about 180F to 200F).
7. Store bread in the freezer for fresh-tasting bread any time: divide the bread into serving portions, place in Ziplock bag(s) and store in the freezer; defrost (in the bag) in room temperature (or wrap the bread in a moist paper towel and microwave for a few seconds) before devouring. Make life even easier--bake extra loaves and freeze them.
Conclusion: If you like the taste of "just-baked" breads, but don't like the messy cleanups and the typical baking-related efforts => well, this one is worth the try, and it is worth the price. Just remember to get a big bread machine recipe book and enjoy all the possibilities. Great machine (and great book)!
Customer Review: Great for the price!! Gluten free tips and recipe.
Summary: 4 Stars
This not only makes bread, also cakes and jelly! I purchased this particular machine because of the low price and high customer review satisfaction. For the price, it's great, albeit it's oversize takes up alot of counter/cupboard space.
I had a problem six weeks in with the time display being faint, but the machine worked, so I used a flashlight and magnifying glass to read the numbers. I called the 800 number and they sent me a replacement, no questions asked, told me to cut the cord and discard it.
I bought the machine to make gluten free breads, and was successful, albiet I had to experiment.
Note to gluten free bakers, if the bread is too dense for eating, cube it,
dry it, grind in food processor for breadcrumbs. Sweet breads/cakes I use for cheesecake crust. Quick convenience, I make individual plastic bags of dry ingredients, so all I do is add wet ingredients and yeast.
Overall, I like this machine.
Additional review:
Gluten free baking, October 22, 2006
After I wrote my original review, I felt I should come back and give my
tips for gluten free bread.
Gluten free does not need the several dough punch downs that wheat flour uses for get the gluten working.
Gluten free needs only to mix and rise. This machine does not have a rise only cycle.
Step 1) Add ingredients using 1 Basic bread BUT only use the first mix
cycle to blend the ingredients. Press Stop and unplug the machine.
Step 2) Take out the pan and put in a warm place to rise. I have a gas oven with a pilot that is the right warmth for rising bread (heating pad in a cupboard also works).
Step 3) Let rise to double size
Step 4) Carefully replace pan into the Sunbeam bread baker. Carefully!
Step 5) Plug and set cycle to 12, Bake. Start machine. DO NOT OPEN THE COVER DURING BAKING CYCLE OR BREAD MAY CAVE IN!
Step 6) Remove immediately and cool inverted. Do not slice until bread is
cold.
If the bread tastes a little dense in texture, next time allow a looser batter.
If it caves in, it over roze, the batter was too wet, too much xanthum was used or lid was lifted. Recipe using variety flours like tapioca might cave in, but if cooled inverted, will slice okay.
Milk and butter make a flakier, tastier loaf than oil and water.
Eggs and xanthum replace gluten to make flour molecules stick together.
If using eggs, stagger: add warm liquid, 1/2 of dry ingredients, eggs, rest of dry ingredients so egg does not cook in warm water.
Here is a basic recipe I tweaked, originally from Central Iowa Gluten-Free Information submitted by Joe and Juanita Greener
GF BREAD MACHINE WHITE BREAD
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) bread machine yeast
1 C brown rice flour (Bob's Red Mill)
2 C white rice flour (Bob's Red Mill)
3-1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
1-2 T flax seed or rice bran
1/4 C white sugar (brown Sucanat works, the taste will differ)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C melted light butter or margarine
1 3/4 to 2 C milk, approximately, less if it is raining out.
4 egg whites or 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites, beaten
Step 1) Stir all dry ingredients together in a bowl for several minutes until well combined.
Measure cafefully, spoon (don't pour) the flour into the measuring cups (no approximations using liquid measuring cups),scrape top with knife. Measure tsp the same way. Especially Xanthum gum needs
exact measurements, a little less is better than a little more, or it might make bread over rise and cave in center. I put the measuring cups into a splastic container and scrap off keeping the flours.
Then if I need a little extra flour for the bread machine it's there in
the scrape offs.
Step 2) Heat milk and light butter to very warm but not hot. Add to bread machine pan. Add half the dry ingredients. Add beaten eggs. Add rest of dry ingredients. This is so egg doesn't cook in warm water. Make a well in top and add the yeast. Start Setting 1, mix only for first mix. Remove pan and let rise elsewhere.
Watch the blending process. Scrape down sides with spatula. Mixture should be LOOSE like medium cake batter, NOT dry like normal bread dough. If too tight (it mounds at the paddle) add a drop or two more milk. If too wet, add a T of flour until it looks loose but thick and even.
Step 3) Remove pan to warm area, gas oven or heating pad in cupboard or cupboard next to heater or oven. Let rise to double bulk.
Step 4) Carefully set pan into bread machine, set at 12 and bake. Set it and forget it. Do not open bread machine lid at any time during baking or it might fall in center. It will compact a little but should not fall in the center.
Step 5) Let cool inverted until cold. Do not slice until cold.
If the bread tastes a little dense in texture, next time allow a looser batter. If it caves in, it over roze, or batter was too wet, too much xanthum was used or lid was lifted. Other recipes using variety flours like tapioca might cave in, but if cooled inverted, will slice okay.
Milk and butter make a flakier, tastier loaf than oil and water.
Eggs and xanthum replace gluten to make flour molecules stick together.
Customer Review: Excellent results when you find the right recipe
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had my Sunbeam for about a year now, and I'm only just beginning to work out how to get the best out of it. I know, I know - slow learner :)
Frequently, when I tried various recipes from the booklet that came with the machine, the result would sink in the middle and/or be so light in texture that it was virtually impossible to slice it without generating a pile of crumbs.
However... If you want a nice dense loaf (one that you can cut fairly easily and cleanly) then I recommend using a combination of half-and-half regular white and whole wheat flours. "Gold Medal" products have worked well for me when using the ExpressBake setting for a traditional 1.5 lb loaf (about page 17 in the booklet, depending on which version of the publication you have). Specifically the All-Purpose and the All Natural Stone Ground Whole Wheat flours seem to do well - one and a half cups of each.
You don't need to use ordinary sugar either - I have successfully used Splenda's baking sweetener in its place (Splenda is about 85% Dextrose which yeasts seem to be quite happy to munch on).
In place of the oil I have on occasion used a large dollop of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (Light) with decent results.
I have also successfully used NoSalt in place of regular salt. This can be helpful if like me you're very sensitive to added sodium in foods.
As far as yeast goes, I have read that it's important to use fresh yeast. In my case, my mileage definitely varied :)
Initially I tried some freshly bought Fleischmann's Instant Yeast and didn't get great results. What finally worked well was an out of date Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast (Jan 21, 2007 was the expiry date!). Two packets of that seem to do the trick every time.
Key Issues
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Two key things: one, it's very important to premix all the dry ingredients together thoroughly (all of them - ignore the instructions to add the yeast separately unless you really are going to use the delay timer) before adding to the non-dry ingredients. Only when I did that was the result anything like acceptable (i.e. uniform consistency).
Two, make sure the water is actually above the temperature the booklet specifies before you put it into the bread pan (about 150 degrees F seems to work well for me; I tend to microwave tap hot water and then check the temperature just before using it). The process of putting the warm water into the bread pan cools the water extremely rapidly and that has an impact on the metabolic processes of the yeast, slowing them down.
Finally, the loaves always come out looking rather anemic on top. That's not a fault, it's just a fact of life. So what I do is to place the finished loaf under the broiler (about 3 inches away from the element) for about 2 minutes just to brown the top so that it looks consistent with the sides of the loaf. Keep a watchful eye on the bread so that it doesn't burn!
I've found that placing the finished (cooled) loaf inside a sealed bread container in the fridge overnight appears to allow the loaf to settle down and be amenable to slicing. I go through a loaf in less than a week but generally speaking I've not had a single loaf develop any mold at all as long as I keep it in the fridge. I can't say the same for commercial loaves (probably because they're exposed to much higher temperatures and spores galore in the supermarkets before they're bought).
Occasionally if I want to tweak the flavor of the loaf I'll add a few sprinkles of Oregano to the dry ingredients before premixing. This may not always be a good idea if you want to spread preserves on the slices :)
I've found that toasting the slices from loaves generated from this recipe produces some really nice results - slightly crisp but not so hard that the toast shatters on being bitten into :)
Allow to cool considerably after toasting then spread with genuine Irish Butter (e.g. Kerry Gold) <slurp>. Yes, I know, what's the point when you've gone to the trouble of using Splenda, NoSalt, ICBINB Light and Whole Wheat flour. Give over, I like cold buttered toast :)
Postscript:
========
Add A Packet of Sauce?
Recently I've read that interesting results can be obtained if you add a Knorr packet sauce (dry materials) to the mixed dry ingredients. I'll try that and update this review accordingly.
Commercial Bread Mixes
I've tried Wolfgang Puck Bread Mixes and they seem to work well in this breadmaker (the results I've had so far are very acceptable). The key thing seems to be, again, that the dry ingredients are well-mixed before being added - which makes sense, when you think about it. You need the yeast and its nutrients to be evenly distributed throughout in order to get consistent results. For some reason this aspect never seems to be emphasized by the manufacturers.
Customer Review: Excellent Price for Value
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this for my Mother-In-Law for xmas 2007. I have an older Oster model (Oster = Sunbeam : Sunbeam = Oster, FYI - Oster discontinued my model but seems to have replaced it with this one - the recipe book has the same pictures as my 4 year old model). I made her first batch with her. It came out great. But the reason I made the first batch with her was due to 2 failures that could have been avoided during the manufacturning design process. This review describes my old machine experience vs. this newer model.
Oh, the jumbo display and buttons are so great so see and press but they come with these two detractions.
1. Upon my Mother-in-law's first batch failure, she was so excited (I wasn't present) that she leaned over the machine so many times at one point she accidentally leaned on the Start/Stop button and unknowingly canceled her cycle.
On my older Oster model they did not install raised push buttons. They had those clicky flat plastic selector buttons. It was impossible to accidentally lean against the machine looking into the window and shut down the machine without great effort because they were placed on the top of the machine.
2. The display on this machine is bigger and better, but only on first impressions.
On my older Oster machine the display was next to the clicky buttons on the top of the machine; which sometimes made it hard to read, cause you had to crane your neck over the counter to see the display. However, the main drawback to this newer display is that it has 12 cycles and when you select 10, 11, or 12, the 1's place can be shadowed by the permanent plastic overlay (not adjustable). So what happened to batch #2 for my mom? Well, due to a shadow and being anxious about her sencond try (and being 79 years old with ok (so so) eyesight, she pressed the cycle selection button to 12 and did not see the 1 due to a shadow. The 12 setting is 180 degrees from the function of the 01 setting which is used for making most all types of bread. The #12 setting is called the "Bake" setting. If you intened on making bread manually (on the counter) and want the machine to cook it for you - just as an oven, this is the setting you would use. So good ol' mom accidentally selected this setting, because she didn't or was not able to acknowledge the 1 next to the 2 designating 12 instead of 02 (the zero is not shown on the display, it is just typed for your clarity here) and therefore the bread machine started cooking her ingredients but not mixing them. Also the crust color icon could be hard to see in one of the rightmost positions.
Ok, nuff feature bashing.
One more thing before is say my last peace. The recipe/instruction manual (available in Spanish/English) does not include a large variety of recipies that my 4 year old machine included, even though the machines have the same settings and capacities. I can't imagine why Sunbeam would simply leave out 5 pages of already formulated recipes and give you so few to work with. For example, EVERYONE (I think) loves cinnamon raisin bread. Well, that recipe was removed from the instruction manual, including Cheddar chive bread. These are two great recipes I can't believe they skimped on. Anyway, if you go to a good bookstore, there are "Bread Machine" books and that can help fill the void. If purchasing a book kills you or you are too electronified, search for "bread machine recipes" on the Net and you are sure to find a ton of stuff to bake.
OK, this is really long winded but I wanted to help my fellow Amazonians, since I believe in these reviews and read them for almost every product I buy online.
FINALLY - BUY THIS MACHINE, I would have given it 5-stars if the two design flaws mentioned above weren't there; The machine makes excellent bread! My 4 year old Oster (remember Oster = Sunbeam : Sunbeam = Oster) is still going strong. I've made at least 100 batches of bread, had a few pitfalls (ie, don't add too much cinnamon to bread or it will kill the rising action - found that out the hard way - makes nice bricks for building houses though). Also, for the price, I can't see why you should spend 2x the amount on a more costly machine, unless the design flaws I mentioned make you sick to your stomach.
Have a good day. N-Joy ! :-)
Customer Review: Excellent breadmaker - worth every penny
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I purchased this machine, I read ALL the reviews, the good, bad and the ugly. I realized there would possibly be some trials and tribulations with my first attempts at using it since I am not only a novice to breadmakers but also living in high altitude country. I made bread from scratch many eons ago and am aware of the exact measurement problems.
So I crossed my fingers, ordered the machine AND, on the advice of several posters, I also bought 2 of the Donna German Bread Machine books(let's go ALL the way :-)
I rec'd it in a timely manner and read the manual thoroughly. Sonewhat of a brain overload but I thought very thorough in taking you from start to finish.
My first loaf was plain white bread from DG's Bread book (avoiding the Sunbeam manual recipes). I made minor adjustments to compensate for the altitude. Hmmm! Fine loaf of bread but a bit too heavy. My 2nd loaf was made using the exact measurements from DG's book and it turned out much lighter in texture and very good indeed.
I have since made fruit/cheese filled brioches, apple chunk bread (Oh, Lordy, Lordy, so sublimely delicious!), hot dog/hamburger buns and banana outmeal bread - all to the exact measurements, no adjustments. ALL have turned out extremely well and I'm quite pleased.
In calcing the cost of each loaf, I am making plain white bread (2 lb) for about $1.20/25 a loaf or 12 brioches or buns for the same. Unless I use a particularly expensive ingredient, none of these loaves should cost more than $1.50.
My future plans are to make regular pizza plus peanut butter pizza. While it can be intimidating at first, after reading the various problems people have had, I'm now perfectly comfortable with this machine and well pleased with my purchase.
To make some observations that may be helpful to others.....
1) It's not clear what caused many people to complain of fallen loaves but most did not relate the source of their recipe. My hunch is that most used the recipes from the manual. Several people have warned against this since these recipes appear to be flawed. GREAT machine! LOUSY recipes! If you still have your machine, try purchasing Donna German's book(s) or any other popular bread book and give it another shot.
2) DO use the plastic measuring cup and spoon that comes with the machine. Do your very best to have exact measurements. If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup, check the measurement equivalents and create your 1/2 cup from 8 level tbls rather than trying to eyeball just where 1/2 is in your measuring cup.
3) I have no explanation why recipes in DG's books seem to need no adjustment for high altitude (I'm a mile high). If you're H/A, try your recipe with no adjustments first and then adjust if necessary.
I really do suspect that, for the most part, most of the negative reviews have less to do with a defective machine and more to do with a defective manual. You should avail yourself of a good bread making cookbook. Many people, dependent on where they live (temperature and altitude), may need to make some adjustments. What eventually works for you may not work for the next person and that is just the nature of bread making.
At the price it's listed today ($44), I can only say - ORDER IT!