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: Sunbeam breakmaker
Summary: 3 Stars
For 40 dollars it's not a bad machine. I haven't had another one before, so I have nothing to compare it with. The bread is fine, although I am not particularly impressed with the way it looks when the machine actually bakes it. For some reason after the dough raises,when the baking begins, it deflates, so the bread ends up being a little concave. No way does it look like the picture they have on the box witht he bread pushing the lid open!
So far I have used the dough setting and I bake it in the oven, either on my pizza stone or in a regular round pan. I am quite happy with the results when I do that. If I let it raise outside the machine for another half an hour or so and then bake it, the bread turns out quite good.
I have yet to try the other settings, but since I don't have a lot of time to experiment, for the time being I am sticking to what I discovered that works.
The recipes in the book have too much yeast. I keep experimenting with recipes found online and keep reducing the amount of yeast. If I find a perfect recipe I'll add it here.
All in all, the machine saves time and effort. If you use the dough setting ad then bake the bread in the oven you'll be happy.
OK, I am back after three months of continuous use.
The machine is great, but the problem remains the same.
Since I bought it I've been baking perfect loaves of French bread - perfect crust, perfect texture, perfect taste. the trick is that I bake them in the oven. When I try to bake them in the machine, they don't raise or the texture is way too coarse. I don't mind baking them in the oven, though. The square bread never turned me on, and I like experimenting with shapes.
It's unbelievably easy to make bread and by now I don't even bother about really weighing everything or measuring the temeprature, etc. So don't worry about that, just put the ingredients in there, let it raise for 20 minutes outside the machine once the dough cycle is completed, shape it the way you want to, and bake the bread in the oven (I do it on a pizza stove and the results are amazing each time).
The recipe that works best for me:
3 cups of white flour, 1 cup of whole wheat
1 cup and 3/4 of water
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast.
TRY IT. you'll love it
Customer Review: Lasts 6-8 months with daily use...then you get oil/grease in the bread!
Summary: 2 Stars
Having read all of the reviews here, I'm shocked that no one has mentioned that with daily or semi-daily use, this product wears out in 6 to 8 months! What happens is that the bottom of the bread pan, where the paddle sits, begins to leak black machine oil or grease, which then gets kneaded into the bread making it unfit to eat. I've owned 4 of these machines, because they were relatively inexpensive and the only ones available at the time at our local Wal Mart. (No, we don't have a mall or any other stores in town that carry any breadmakers whatsoever! And now, even our Wal Mart doesn't carry any at all.)Each and everyone of them leaked oil into the dough within less than a year's time, and one of them started smoking and the motor had burned up!
I'd love for someone to explain to me, specifically someone from the Sumbeam company, where this oil is actually coming from and why this machine continues to break down in this manner. I follow all of the specified rules in their manual as to care and use of the breadmaker and the washing of the bread pan and paddle, but it still happens every darned time! Surely this is an engineering flaw that can be corrected?
You should also be aware that a replacement bread pan, new, will cost you at least $20 plus shipping, which considering the initial price of the machine is not worth investing in because sooner or later the electrical parts of the machine will also give out, and you will have a new bread pan and no machine to use it in.
If money is no object for you, then I would recommend buying another product; but since money is an object for me, and my family will no longer eat store-bought breads that are full of additives, preservatives, air, and ground sawdust, I am once again buying another Sunbeam 5891. When it does work, it does what it claims to do. It just doesn't do it for long.
The recipe book it comes with very insufficient. I would recommend that you either have bread machine recipes on hand or purchase some books on that topic along with this machine.
If I could afford it, I would buy the Zojirushi 2-lb. machine, because that seems to be highly esteemed by those who have bought it previously. I wish I could take the time to save up for a Zojirushi, but unfortunately my family likes to eat bread on a daily basis and there is no time for that.
Customer Review: Works great and all I think I need
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sunbeam 5891 has been great for my purposes. After considering buying a bread machine for a year or more I finally decided to move down to a low priced machine if I could find one with good reviews and this Sunbeam fit that description perfectly. I wonder now what the more expensive machines are offering that would justify paying the higher price since this machine seems to do so much so easily.
Pros: Attractive, fits in our small kitchen, easy controls, nice viewing window, non-stick surface on paddle and pan almost rinses clean, user manual and starter recipes are nice and easy, not too loud (admittedly - I have nothing to compare it to).
Cons: None realized yet but maybe the lack of a few added features like a timer to tell you when to add nuts or an automatic yeast feeder but, actually, I have never thought to use these even if they existed.
I have had almost 100% success with about 1 loaf per day for 3 or 4 weeks. My only failures I attribute to my recipes and ingredients and not the machine. Success was easier when I ditched the 7 month old and open flour and yeast for fresh bought and recent date coded ingredients.
My kids who are picky eaters have not asked for store-bought bread even one time since we began making bread with the machine. The smaller loaf setting (1.5 pound) comes out with slices that are shaped and sized similar to store-bought loaves. The 2-pound loaf is a little tall so we now stick with the 1.5 pound especially since I am enjoying making many recipes so prefer smaller loaves to reduce waste.
Update Dec 27, 2009:
I have been using this now for all of our bread and it still works great. I had one minor problem where the c-clip on the bottom of the mixing unit broke disabling the mixer. That was fixed for a 15 cent c-clip from the local hardware store. It is in fairly heavy use (estimated average of 3 to 5 batches per week). It will be interesting to see if it lasts years and years are gets burned out. No sign of burning out but I have made back my purchase price many times over in savings on bread (plus, of course the bread is much better than store bought). I still cannot think of any reason why I would want a more expensive model than this - I am yet to notice somethign I need and don't have with this machine.
Customer Review: Machine awesome, get a good recipe book
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't let the negative reviews here fool you. This bread machine itself is great, and I can't believe how inexpensive! I picked it up for under $40 at Walmart only to see it is now $34 here on Amazon. It makes 1.5 or 2 lb loaves, has a jam setting, a "raisin beep" (signal to add fresh fruit and other ingredients during the second kneading), bake only (like cakes) and dough only (to mix in machine then bake in oven). Also has up to 13 hour delay so you can wake or come home to fresh bread.
It's the recipes that come in the booklet that are bad. They all have way too much yeast, which is a classic cause of fallen loaves. I can't imagine how they came up with recipes with so much yeast! To see what I mean, Sunbeam has all their bread machine instruction manuals available online at http://www.sunbeam.com/manualsearch.aspx?PCId=3
ANYhoo, I strongly suggest that if you've never made bread by hand before, pick up a good all-inclusive intro to bread machine baking book that includes recipes (I think Better Homes and Gardens and Betty Crocker both have well-rated ones on Amazon). Usually the front of these books include bread baking basics, regardless of whether you are using a machine. The booklets that come with bread machines have only a few very basic recipes anyway, like a crockpot instruction book. This machine is a sturdy, capable tool to use with a descent book. It's too bad the included free one is a dud!
Things to remember: you MUST measure carefully, even more so than with other baking. Don't use dry measure cups to measure your liquid ingredients. Fresh yeast AND flour are a must. Know that adding/substituting in yeast bread recipes is not as "OK" as with other baking.
Also, know that any bread machine is not as much of a "fix it and forget it" walk-away tool as a crock pot (at least, not if you want a perfect loaf every time). You need to check the dough during the second knead cycle to make sure it isn't too wet or dry (which will depend on the weather!). You may have to scrape the sides of the pan, or add additional ingredients (like fruit) later in the cycle. The bread machine is aimed at taking the physical labor out of breadmaking, and also conveniently bake in the same pan. Technically, the same can be accomplished with a heavy-duty mixer and a good oven.
Customer Review: Makes more than bread - and great job for the price
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't let the name "breadmaker" lead you to believe it simply bakes loaves of bread: I use it at least as often to make dough for pizza, soft pretzels, English muffins, dinner and hoagie rolls, etc. - even to mix up banana-walnut bread dough.
I purchased this machine 34 months ago and, based on my flour usage, use it 3-4 times per month. I've had no problem from the machine at all. In early 2007 this machine was $35 with free shipping. It was an incredible bargain then. Now (1/2/10)it's about $20 more but still worth it.
The manual is atrocious, but the learning curve is not high and a little time spent surfing the web should give you a good education - the procedures are basically standard from machine to machine. There are thousands of bread and pizza, pretzel, bagel, etc. dough recipes on the internet as well as tips for making breads.
I recommend also buying an electronic scale and weighing out water, milk, and flour - not measuring by volume. Some of my first loaves had too much water and fell. But since then, I've used an electronic scale to measure water and flour and all of my loaves have been fine. Here's a good set of standards:
Per CUP:
135g = Bread Flour: 4.75 oz
128g = Whole Wheat Flour: 4.50 oz
114g = Rye Flour: 4.00 oz
121g = All-Purpose Flour: 4.25 oz
114g = Cake Flour: 4.00 oz
227g = water = 8 oz.
236g = milk = 8.3 oz.
Note: 1 pound = 453.6 g, 1 ounce = 28.35 g., 1 tbsp = 1/2 oz.
Bread machines usually make dense loaves, which many bread lovers prefer, but if you want "airy" bread, like those in stores, buy a box of Vital Wheat Gluten in the flour section of your market. 2 tsp of active dry yeast and 3 tsp (1 tbsp) of vital wheat gluten used in most White Bread recipes will make a 1 1/2 lb loaf grow to the size of a 2 lb loaf - and cut 25% off both the ingredients needed and the calories per slice while producing store type "airy" bread.
It may take some experimenting to get the moisture/airiness/taste that's right for you in your breads, but that would be true of any machine. And the breads you can make - banana breads, cheese breads, onion breads, etc. are hard to find in stores.