Loaf Capacity

Think about how many people you want to feed with your freshly made loaf, and consider how much bread you can finish before it goes bad. Many bread machines have settings for various loaf sizes, but the maximum sizes vary between devices.

Most bread maker machines make loaves between 1 and 2 pounds, but some models can bake larger 2 1/2-pound family-sized loaves. In theory, you could add more or less flour and water to any bread maker to make larger or smaller loaves.

However, if you try to bake a 2-pound loaf in an appliance designed for a 1-pound loaf, it may be pale, undone, or protrude too far from the pan. And it’s vice versa; if you bake a small batch in a giant machine, the result comes in a very short loaf with a dry texture and a too dark and thick crust.

Keep in mind that a larger loaf of bread requires more energy. Most bread maker machines have capacities between 500 and 1000 watts of power. If you’re going to bake a denser bread or loaves with many supplements, like nuts, seeds, or dried fruit, you’ll need to find an appliance on the higher end of that wattage range to make sure that it can effectively bake heavier loaves.

Machine size and weight

Larger machines are less convenient to move and store, but they tend to have more options for making bread. Smaller devices are easier to keep when not in use, but they may have fewer settings and cannot produce large bread loaves.

Loaf Pan Shape

When baking bread in the oven, you can choose your loaf pan’s shape and size, or you can make free-form bread rolls by hand. However, when you bake in a bread maker, all your bread will have the same basic shape as only one loaf pan can be used. Most bread maker machines make either rectangular/tall/vertical or rectangular loaves.

Kneading Paddles

Affordable bread maker machines will include at least one paddle, but higher-end devices usually have two. Use multiple paddles for best kneading results.

If the paddle (s) remains in position during baking, the loaf will have one or two holes where the paddle was located. Most users accept this aesthetic flaw in the final product as a trade-off for the ease and convenience of enjoying freshly baked bread.

However, if you prefer a loaf without any holes, look for a bread maker with collapsible or removable paddles. The devices with the detachable paddles will beep after kneading so you can take the dough out, remove the paddles, then put the dough back in the pan for the last to rise and bake.

Pre-Programmed Settings

Today’s bread maker machines have a ton of features, which might be fun to test out, but a machine with too many features might be too complicated for your needs. Would you like to try different types of bread, or will you only make bread loaves every week?

The most straightforward machines offer several variations, but some include sweet loaves, whole grain bread, sourdough, French bread, pizza dough, and more. Each of these settings adjusts kneading time, rising time, and baking time to create the best possible loaf for those types of bread.

Additional settings are helpful for people who want to experiment with different types of cereals and bread. A simple bread maker will suffice if your goal is to make basic bread instead of buying in-store bread.

Crust Control

Most bread makers have settings to choose your crust’s desired darkness, from light to medium to dark. While this feature is not necessary to bake a delicious loaf, it’s great that you can control the crust’s darkness when you make special loaves.

Sweet loaves can turn brown very quickly, while other doughs may take a little extra baking time to turn the crust color pale. How dark you like the crust is personal, so you can choose the exact result you want every time.

If you want to observe your crust when it turns brown, consider a bread maker with an integrated observation window on the lid that allows you to monitor the bread-making process from kneading to baking.

Gluten-Free Options

If you’ve ever made gluten-free bread, you’ll know that the process is different from making traditional bread and that the dough works a lot differently. While many bread maker machines now offer a gluten-free setting, look for one that prioritizes that function if you plan on focusing on gluten-free bread. Some devices have just a single setting for gluten-free bread, and others have multiple options for different gluten-free bread styles.

Of course, the results will vary depending on the type of flour you are using, so it’s best to consult gluten-free recipes suitable for a bread maker machine. If you were going to make gluten-free bread in a machine previously used for regular bread, you would need to clean every corner to remove any leftover gluten residue that could cross-contaminate your gluten-free loaf.

Delayed Start

Whichever machine you choose, the best quality bread will take about four hours or more to mix, knead, rise and bake. Some devices have a quick baking cycle to make the whole bread in less time, but even that may not be fast enough if you want your fresh bread for breakfast without waking up early to measure flour, water, and yeast.

A delayed start option lets you have freshly baked bread whenever you want if you wish to wake up with toast scent or have some bread when you get home from work for dinner.

Price

On average, you can spend between $100 and $150 on a decent bread maker machine from a mid-range brand. Some devices from budget brands can cost under $100, while other high-end brands like Hamilton and Zojirushi can cost $300 or more.

Warranty

The bread maker’s typical warranty is one year, which usually covers manufacturing defects instead of wear and tear or misuse. The specific coverage may vary depending on the manufacturer and model, so it’s a good idea to check the details before you buy. Additional warranties are available upon sale when purchasing from vendors like Amazon.

Types of Bread Makers

There are two kinds of bread makers available on the market, including vertical and horizontal bread makers. Let’s follow us to know what the difference is between them.

Vertical Bread Machines

When bread maker machines first went on sale, they produced tall and rectangular loaves in shape. Bread pans are square or slightly rectangular, but the finished loaves tend to be too tall and have a vertical form compared to traditional bread, resulting in an unusually shaped loaf of bread. These vertical bread maker machines are still popular today. They tend to be smaller in space, so they take up less counter space and are easier to store. They are also cheaper and make smaller loaves, so they are a good choice for a small family or those who don’t eat that much bread.

The downside of a vertical bread maker is that the shape can be odd for sandwiches, and you may need to cut slices to make them fit your toaster. Also, the heating element is located at the bottom of these machines, so the loaves in tall shape can be baked unevenly with a darker brown color on the bottom, and the top crust is very pale.

Horizontal Bread Machines

If tall loaves have a too confusing shape for you, look for a bread maker that produces horizontal, rectangular shape loaves that look like bread baked in a standard loaf pan. These machines have longer bread pans and larger baking chambers and tend to bake larger bread than vertical bread maker machines. However, the increased baking capacity means that this machine’s style will be larger overall and will take up more space in your kitchen

Since there is more room for the dough to move in a horizontal rectangular bread pan, machines equipped with only a paddle may be less effective at kneading the dough. Sometimes the dough can stick on one end of the pan while the paddle rotates on its own, leading to unevenly shaped loaves with more dough on one end or in the high middle with the shorter end. Higher-end machines may have two paddles for kneading, so the dough is kneaded more efficiently, and the shape of the finished bread is more uniform.

Horizontal bread makers tend to be more expensive than vertical ones. You will find affordable horizontal bread maker machines, along with some of the most expensive bread makers on the market.