Morphy Richards homebake breadmaker
Buy now £75, Ao.com
- Power: 600W
- Dimensions: 36 x 26.5 x 28.5 cm
- Capacity: 1KG
- Settings: 14
- Rating: 9.5/10
If you’re looking for the prettiest bread maker then surely this is it – a curved base and a sleek flat lid, with a silver, grey and white colour scheme making it look very on trend in our kitchen. It also fit neatly into a corner when we’d finished with it.
With 14 settings it’s not got an extensive list of modes, but quality is better than quantity with this model. With a small viewing window at the top of the maker, it was big enough to see the loaves baking, while not taking over the whole top of the lid. It left room for the digital display timer, which also counts down the minutes and shows the settings, once changed, while the touch screen buttons for loaf and crust size are also clearly labelled.
The non-stick baking tin is easy to attach into the main machine, while the paddle folds up and down, unlike some other models – which we assume is better for the breadmaking process. However, it should stay up when adding all the ingredients, which we didn’t always find easy to do.
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The pan, which pulls out easily after use, doesn’t leave any sticky residue on the sides, even when making dough, so was easy to clean, with soapy water and a rinse, while it also came out sparkling and without a scratch on it after we cleaned it in the dishwasher. The only one downside about the exterior was how easily fingerprints showed up, so be ready to regularly clean the outside too.
PerformanceWe love a clear and detailed instruction booklet – and this one was like a dummies guide to breadmaking, showing you the set up and measurements for its 14 settings. And the measuring cup and spoon are also a great addition if you don’t have any baking utensils – clearly labelled to help you measure out ingredients.
We started with the third setting – a medium wholemeal loaf, with a dark crust. Unlike some other bread makers, we were surprised with the amount of additional ingredients we had to add and had to take an extra trip to the supermarket for sunflower oil and powdered milk. Once we were well stocked though, we loved how easy the set up on the digital display was, simply pressing the menu button until we found our setting, then changing the loaf and crust size. The power button to start the machine is quite sensitive, and needs to be held down to start, but the instruction booklet had already advised us of this.
The first part of the bread making, the mixing, was relatively noisy, with some beeping and whirring sounds, but once it calmed to resting and baking, we didn’t hear a sound until it was ready. The viewing window, although great, does steam up during the first part of the process, but thankfully clears so you can see it rising and baking.
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Our wholemeal loaf, which looked like it was rising well through the viewing window, seemed to deflate as it was baking. And even though it was fluffy inside it lacked the appearance we were hoping for.
The fast bake setting, meaning you can cook a loaf in just 90 minutes, was our next attempt. We tried a large white loaf on this setting, and as well as the great smell that filled the kitchen we were left with a well-browned loaf with a fluffy consistency.
We also tried the dough setting for bagels – rising fast, it was a much better result once we’d baked them in the oven – with a great texture and a good consistent crunch to them. But the cake setting was by far the best, cooking a chocolate brownie cake in the tin – it provided us with an aesthetically pleasing well risen cake, with a soft sponge and no soggy bottoms in sight.