Panasonic

I make white, brown or multigrain loaves nearly every day and as long as my yeast is not out-of-date and I've followed the recipe, my loaves are consistently excellent. Dough recipes are also really good although I have to say I prefer the sweet doughs to be a little sweeter. I've had two of these breadmakers over the years and not had any problem with the coating on the pan coming off but it does come off the kneading blade after a year or two.

Because the machine warms the ingredients before the mixing starts, the bread takes longer than other bread makers to cook. You have to be organised if you want fresh bread in time for lunch but that's a small price to pay for consistency in quality.

The bread is fantastic. Sometimes we will buy some bread or try another recipe but just cannot resist making another loaf just because we miss it so much.
We use the recipes from the supplied book. After much trying we have settled on the Italian bread recipe but use the French bread (08) cooking cycle. Also we use 150g of whole meal flour + 300g of white flour.

The big failing of this bread maker is the stopping position of the paddle. Why can't Panasonic make it stop when it is across the bread. That way one slice is affected, instead of half the loaf!
We have had the current breadmaker for three and a half years. After the 2 years the latch holding the fruit and nut dispenser broke so the tray hangs down all the time. Now the coating is coming off the paddle which causes the paddle to remain embedded in the loaf - most annoying.

Easy to use always get same perfect loaf.

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I've had this model for years, and purchased a Panasonic after hearing good things about its longevity and reliability. I haven't been disappointed! Unlike other reviews I haven't had any issues with the non-stick coating lifting. I tend to use other bread recipes (Alison Holst's bread book is a favourite) but I've had good results with both bog-standard white loaves, wholemeal loves, and adding fruit or nuts to the dough. I use it both for making a loaf start-to-end (loaves always come out easily and the pan cleans well) or making dough to shape and bake separately.

The delayed start option is good, but I'd love if you could also set dough to delay, rather than just loaves. The display isn't always intuitive to use - you need to refer to the menu printed under the lid for which number is which bae option.

Good bread, easy to use, lots of recipes. Nice design, small footprint.

The non-stick coating of the pan, has peeled off after about 1.5 years. The same with the previous one.
I can replace it, but it cost me $ 170 (!!!!)....I might consider to buy another bread maker. The company should do something about this "amassing" non stick coating. I'm sure they are aware of the problem, but not eager to solve it. It is too expensive to replace it every year or two. They could at least lower the price for a replacement pan.

This is our third breadmaker, but the first Panasonic and we are very happy. It has lots of different recipes and it is fun trying them out! The ryebread recipe is great, tastes like I remember ryebread tasting when I was a child. The rye/spelt mixture bread is delicious! Easy to use, it has my husband hooked on baking bread! He'd do one every day if only we could eat that much! Using tepid water gives better results.

None so far!

It is easy to use

The non-stick coating has started to lift on ours after only 18 months, especially on the paddle - no indication of how safe that might be and no meaningful response from the manufacturers. We seldom used it for the first 6 months and then used it every day for 6 months and didn't immediately put cold water in it at the end of cooking (always warm-hot) otherwise the bread would stick like glue. Perhaps this is wrong but still disappointed.

The bread is excellent. It also makes excellent jam, really easily - only two jars at a time, but it is absolutely non-fuss.

The cycle of 5 hours for a loaf of wholemeal is quite long. However, I've got used to that. Also, someone who has had two of these said it was great but he had to replace the breadmaker when the non-stick pan surface wore out - they don't sell replacements - I think that is rather mean. However, he happily bought another. It is usually closer to $200.

I had another make for years and was happy but when it finally 'gave up the ghost' I bought different make because of price. Well after using no more than six time I WAS NOT HAPPY so found one unopened Panasonic SD2501 Bread Maker advertised on TM at less than half price, and I can tell you I am a 'Happy Chappy" Great baking every time and even with the recipes I have in two Bread Baking books I bought and used with my first Bread Maker. Thanks Panasonic the SD2501 is Tops. I heartily agree with Consumer.

It does have a long baking time for some recipes but what the heck, to make bread its 'easy peasey' and you can get on with other things so no gripe here. And I was lucky, I certainly can't growl about the price!! Cheers Katydid

We replaced our older Panasonic breadmaker with the SD-2501. Another great product. It does everything the older one does with the added extra of a raisin/nut dispenser - no more hanging around to put raisins in the mix partway through. The non stick coating allows the bread to almost fall out when cooked.

The recipes have been altered slightly - we're using the 'new' white bread recipe, but assume the recipes in the older book would work just as well. The layout of the recipes is a bit confusing, it would be easier if the 'Oz' and 'NZ' recipes were separated. The instructions say to use tap water with temperature recommendations for some breads/cooking processes - we've found that it's best to use tepid water - (per the old book instructions) the bread results are disappointing otherwise.