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: Have had this breadmaker for 10 years and am pleased!
Summary: 4 Stars
This breadmaker is a honey and has lasted longer than any other I've known of in my home or in the homes of any of my family. It is easy to use. I also noted that in the ConsumerSearch review findings it was a runner up to the top 3 breadmakers (all of which were substantially higher in price than the Sunbeam 5891). I've read complaints about the recipes in the user manual not being good but, being an experienced breadmaker owner, I've got my own recipes and I've never tried the recipes which came with the machine. There are lots of good bread machine cookbooks and online forums which share recipes out there so this is a moot point to me and should not be a deal-breaker at all.
There are plenty of options and features to make it a practical machine. The crust shade selections are wonderful and deliver your bread just the way you specify. It is a quiet enough machine, too. This is a big plus to me as we have an open living room-dining room-kitchen floor plan. I love the variable loaf size capability where you can make either a 1.5 lb. or a 2 lb. loaf. This is an important feature to me. I might add that it is also an attractive machine--not an eyesore at all. This could not be said of any of my previous breadmakers.
I did give it a 4-star rating instead of a 5-star rating because, after a decade of use, the seal in the breadpan has worn out. You cannot purchase just the seal and must purchase the whole pan, which I've just done from Ebay for $28.95 including shipping. Since I have gotten such good service from this machine it might not even be fair to take a star off for the bread pan seal but, since the machine itself has held up so well, I think it is not too much to expect that the pan should, too. I think that this is just likely a weakness in the design of the pan. For this reason I did not give it the 5 stars I was tempted to give it.
After 10 years of good service I'd sure rather pay less than $30 to replace the pan than to shell out $50 or more for a new machine. Given it's afforability, features, reliability, quiet operation, and looks, if this machine died tomorrow I'd buy another one just like it.
Customer Review: Excellent bread, excellent price
Summary: 5 Stars
My first bread machine - my first time making bread. No problems from the first loaf. So far I've only make the standard 1 1/2 pound plain bread and it's great. I want as little work as possible so here's my recipe and method, slightly different from the manual. Note: premix of yeast and liquid will not work if you use the delay setting.
3 cups white bread flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup oil (I use Canola), 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup water and 1 packet of active dry yeast. I measured my fully hot tap water and it's close enough (~120 F) so I don't bother measuring the temp anymore. I mix the sugar and yeast powder in a drinking glass, add the cup of hot water and stir it up, being careful to break up any clumps, and set it aside. While the yeast/sugar is activating and foaming up I spoon (NOT scoop) the flour into a measuring cup and dump 3 into a mixing bowl and add the salt. Then I measure out the oil. By that time the water/sugar/yeast has gotten frothy. Stir it up and pour the liquid into the pan, add the oil, add the flour/salt, and punch the start button. I no longer even look at the dough when the second knead starts. 3 hours later I have bread with a more open texture and a bit denser than store bought, nooks and crannies for butter, jam, peanut butter, etc. Makes the greatest toast too.
I originally sifted the flour and found I had to add flour during the kneading. Instead I fluff up the flour a bit with the spoon and spoon it into the measuring cup without packing it down. Level the cup with a knife so it's exactly one cup. I use setting #1 and 1 1/2 lb. loaf, and I get about a 1/8" nice crust. When done I pull the pan out and let it cool on the counter for 10-15 minutes in the pan, then remove the bread and let it cool on the counter for another 10 minutes. Then I put it in a ziplock bag to let the remaining moisture soften the crust so it's not to hard or crisp. I keep the loaf on the counter in the ziplock. I have no idea how long it might take to go stale because it's eaten within 3-4 days and then it's gone and time to start baking again. I wish I had tried these machines ten years ago. This is an excellent value.
Customer Review: This is my second bread machine, and it works fine.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read the reviews, some of which cautioned against the loaf collapsing. I gave this cheap machine a chance, and I haven't been disappointed yet. I have used it for two weeks now, and have baked white, wheat, fruit/chocolate bread as well as made pizza dough. I am not sure why loaves collapse on other people--perhaps they live in a different climate (humidity, temperature difference?), their water comes form a different source, or they are using different kinds of flour? Since flour prices are on the rise, some companies are starting to use a different mix, with cheaper grains to defray cost. I don't even follow my bread recipies exactly to the "T," and my loaves come out great. My previous bread machine was a real animal when it came to kneading those tough wheat loaves. My only complaint about this one is that it kind of wimps out when the kneading gets tough. It starts to stall a little bit, and just throws the dough around in the pan instead of give it a good beating. But then again, I busted my last bread machine because I threw in a hard frozen strawberry, and my paddle busted off. Advantage of this whimpy kneading is that it will not over exert itself and break. It kind of knows when it should lay off and go easy. Also, there is no squeaking so far with this one when the kneading gets tough. Noise level overall is normal. I like that the bread pan twists in and out. Paddle comes out nicely, and I have less of a gaping hole in my loaf with this one than I did with my last bread machine. The piece of wire they give you to pick out the paddle from the bread is actually useful. The programs and buttons are pretty straight forward. Buttons are kind of dinky, but it doesn't really matter if you are in it for the bread. Having fancy buttons for an enhanced bread making experience is something that might not be an absolute must for most! I don't get why this doesn't work for some people--bread machines seem pretty straight forward and not that complicated. Isn't it just a coil of heat to warm the loaf and a paddle to knock the dough around?Customer Review: Great Product So far
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this product a few weeks ago from Amazon and have been enjoying my bread baking experience since. I've baked about 6 or 7 loaves so far and have absolutely no complaint thus far.
First, Amazon always does such a good job with shipping. I had my machine within the week. I followed the recommendation of other reviewers and purchased The Bread Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook and it was a few days later arriving, but I have really enjoyed working my way through some of the recipies.
My very first loaf while I awaited the arrival of my cookbook was a Hodgson Mill Mix. I had planned to start with a mix anyway because I was a little nervous about baking from scratch and wanted my first experience to be really positive as I get disappointed kind of easily in the kitchen. It couldn't have been easier and after that first perfect loaf, I couldn't wait to start baking from scratch.
The machine is a little bulky and I have to pull it out from it's place on the counter to use it, but I don't find that to be a deterrent at all. The controls are easy to read and use. The pan is a nice rectangular shape that makes for an attractive slice of bread. It doesn't look exactly like a regular slice, but the shape comes out good.
It does have a reasonable memory lenth for the cycles. If your power dies in the middle of your bread making; it will restart right where it left off. I learned this at a point where it actually worked against me. I was using the cake setting to bake a cake in it (out of sheer fascination) and decided that my cake had mixed long enough. I couldn't get it to reset for me, so I pulled the plug. I had to unplug it several times before I realized that I needed to leave it off for 5 to 10 minutes before it would reset itself.
So, that's a handy thing in case you have a power blip, but I wouldn't count on it for much more than a quick outage.
Anyways, overall super machine...Even a nonbaker like me can manage to make lovely loaves from it.
Customer Review: Good KISS Breadmaker
Summary: 4 Stars
I received the breadmaker as a gift because I enjoy making pizza (everything from scratch, it's more than worth the effort!). When I first received it, I mostly used the dough cycle to knead my pizza dough. This was a little frustrating because I didn't have as much control as I wanted, but the dough comes out pretty good. It saves me from kneading by hand for 40 minutes.
I've only recently tried to use it for making bread (I ran out of bread and I didn't want to drive all the way to the store). I tried a recipe online that came out ok... well, I'm not one to stick to a recipe, so I modified it. I had to download the manual to figure out how to take the bread pan out (lame... I should have been able to figure it out). I just looked over the manual and noticed the same inconsistencies that everyone else pointed out. But who needs a manual anyways. Today, I modified my pizza dough recipe to a full loaf and it came out great (even though I screwed up my own recipe in the process)! It very easily passed the peanut butter sandwich test (my test for a good white bread). I'm not 100% satisfied with the dough setting, but for baking breads, it does a pretty good job. I haven't experienced the collapsing bread problem a few others have had, but I've only tried baking 1.5 lb (incidentally, I've been baking it as if its 2 lb but it still has come out good). If your on a budget and are dying to get a bread machine, this may be the way to go.
Since everyone is saying not to use the manual recipes, here are my notes on the recipe I used today:
3 cups bread flour (be sure to have a little extra on hand just in case)
2.5 tsp fast acting yeast
9 oz of warm water
2.5 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
1 Tbls olive oil
Mixed the wet ingredients (including salt and sugar) together and put in the bread pan. Put in flour and yeast. Used setting #1 and baked as a 2 lb loaf (the loaf should have been 1.5 lb, but I'm happy with the result).