Panasonic SD-255 Bread Machine

The Pansonic SD255 is a great breadmaker. It can create virtually every kind of bread that you can think of as well as making dought that you can make into pizzas, croissants or buns. My favourite feature however is the timer function. You can load up the ingredients at night ( a job that takes less than 5 minutes) so that you can have a loaf ready for the morning. You can't beat waking up in the morning to the smell of freshly baked bread coming from the kitchen. It has a rapid bake mode as well which can produce a great loaf of white bread in under 2 hours.

With strong flour and bread mixes of all types available in most supermarkets, you will be producing loaves for between half and a quarter of the price that you pay for a mass produced, additive filled loaf.

Knowing exactly what is inside each loaf is a very reassuring feeling. I have had the machine for just over a month and used it almost every day - often more than once a day if the wife and kids are really hungry! It will have paid for itself by the summer ,and I have a feeling I will never be able to go back to the boring tasteless breads from the supermarket.

It is really easy to clean, and comes with handy measuring cup and spoon to help you get your amounts right. The bread comes really easily out of the non-stick bread tin, which comes with a handy handle.

Overall, this is the best christmas present I have ever bought, and I would recommend it to anyone.

I bought this machine on ebay after having tried my sisters bread machine on holidays. I was worried it would be one of these things that seems like a good idea but ends up being more trouble than its worth and I was wrong! I love it! It's easy to use, virtually no cleaning to do since the bread just pops out of the container very easily. You can program it and wake up to fresh bread and the booklet that comes with the machine has lots of different recipes so you don't need to buy another book if you don't want to. My best results have been using all ingredients from scratch rather than a bread mix. It's so much cheaper and the whole family loves it. Only one problem : the bread is so tasty it seems to go much quicker than it used to! It will keep easily for up to three days (even 4) but then the crust goes a little harder. Still fine for toast though. I have also made pizza and french bread which were also a success. Although being French myself I can't say that the recipe really tastes the same as a french baguette but still yummy enough to be gone in no time. Haven't tried the nut dispenser yet but palnning to soon.... Definetely recommends this machine without hesitation.

I purchased this item on recomendation from a friend who was very pleased with it.
Having now used my bread maker over the last 2 weeks i am also over the moon with its performance. The 50/50 white wholemeal recipe turns out fantastic very yummy, even the packets of ready to go mixes are fab. Well worth buying love it.

The reason we decided to go for the Panasonic Bread Maker 255 is that it is the best in it's class for ease of use and quality of finished bread, just put all the ingredients in, ste the timer and wait. There is nothing quite wakeing up in the morning to the smell of fressh cooking.

The Panasonic bread maker makes the most delicious bread. It is well worth the money. I have not yet tried the other receipes but if they are anything like the bread I can not wait.

I read a lot of reviews before choosing this model. It definitely lives up to its reputation, we have had other breadmakers in the past, this is the best. It gives a grand loaf of bread and takes only a couple of minutes to load once you know your list of ingredients.
Love the little nut dropper saves listening for the beep on other models just load it up and forget it. Timer function is great too and cycling through the options is also easy for the novice.

we brought the bread maker because of the ever increasing cost of bread. It has 'proved' its worth turning out excellent results every time

With a loaf now around £1.30 I bought the SD-255 after reading about five models from different manufacturers. From the start the instructions are comprehensive and easy to understand.
Having bought the best ingredients from my local Co-Op I set to work. Using the handy measures supplied I put in the yeast, salt snd sugar. Weighed out the strong white flour and topped off with the water.
I then plugged the breadmaker in.
Using the press button membrane controls to choose RAPID I set the loaf size to LARGE and the crust colour to medium. Then I pushed ON.
Two hours later, with the delicious smell of newly baked bread wafting around the house, I took the loaf, still warm, to my friends around the corner. They declared it a fine loaf. We tried it as a sandwich and as toast. Beautiful!

As a new user with limited cooking skills I find it's ideal.

Pro's:
Great performance/product. Easy to use. Versatile. Cheap too if you bother to track down enough suppliers: mine cost me just £59 new delivered. Others ask upwards of £70+del

Con's:
It's quite tall and the lid needs clearance - may be difficult to store/use as a result.

You have to set an external alarm as the built-in one is very weak in volume. As the loaf has to be taken from the machine asap to prevent sticking, it could do with a louder READY signal.

All in all though, I'm very pleased with my purchase!

Dave

I was slightly sceptical that these things would actually work without at least some culinary proficiency, but how wrong could I be? Anyone can chuck a seemingly random series of ingredients in a metal bucket, bang it in what looks like a miniature paper shredder and get a perfect loaf of bread every time. I love gadgets and this takes the biscuit (or loaf!). I know this is the Rolls-Royce of breadmakers, but even at a hundred quid (which is the RRP) it would be great value. Even just for the smugness you get when you turn out a "Mrs. Beeton" style loaf for absolutley zero effort. True, it may not be the cheapest way to get bread (what with the supermarkets doing "valoo" loaves at 2p), but there is absolutely no substitute for making your own. Makes the house smell good too. Get one, you have no idea what you're missing!

I had a cheap breadmaker (Pacific) and it developed a fault. I'd read that Panasonic were very good breakmakers and the 255 is the latest one so I decided on that model. I like that it makes very good bread, better than my previous model. I find the machine quiet when making a large loaf but noisy when making small quantities due to the small amount of dough being bashed around the pan when kneading. The fast bake setting (2 hours) is OK for bread mixes I think but for making loaves from recipes the longer setting is definitely better. The 255 makes rye bread but I haven't tried that, it makes better gluten free bread than my old breadmaker. The nut/raisin dispenser works well. It is easy to clean and the bread comes out (with the aid of a little tapping) without the kneading blade being left in the bread. I don't like that it spends an hour 'resting' before starting to mix ingredients, which seems excessively long, so the whole process takes 4 hours. Also it doesn't have a window in it to see what's happening. It has quite a lot of settings on it but I haven't tried them all yet. Overall though I am pleased with the machine and would recommend it.

I've only made one loaf so far, but it's really good bread, the proper texture, nice crust, everything, not the cake-like stuff that some other bread makers produce. The paddle came out of the bottom easily without leaving a huge hole.
It is easy to use, with a good instruction book with loads of recipes. It has a timer, so you can have fresh bread for breakfast, or set it before you go to work. It also has an automatic raisin and nut dispenser, which I haven't tried yet. It takes up a lot of space in my tiny kitchen, but I can see that it is going to be as indispensible as my dishwasher, which takes up much more!
I bought it because I wanted to make organic and wheat-free bread for a reasonable price, and the SD255 has gluten-free and rye & spelt programmes. I did a lot of research on the internet and among my friends, and Panasonic came out top everywhere. So far I'm thrilled. I expect it to pay for itself in about 8-10 months, then my bread really will be cheap!

i bought it because a friend of mine gave me a loaf of bread that she had made, she advised me to get a panasonic as she thought they were the best. i love it and have fresh bread all the time

I used to have the previous model, the SD-253 breadmaker, which broke after alot of use. I was so pleased with it, the sd-255 seemed like the best replacement.
The bread recipies have improved from the old model, and there are alot more recipies to choose from such as rye bread, and a sandwich loaf program which has a thinner crust.
This machine is the same as the SD-254, but has the nut dispenser.

This machine is highly recomended, i have tried bread from other bread machines but it seems you get what you pay for. The Panasonic SD-255 is expensive, but worth every penny.

Having had a great Panasonic breadmaker for 10 years, when it died I bought a Morphy Richards one on eBay. It was awful in comparison so I have bought the new Panasonic which is just like my first one but bigger and with more options. I just love it! I think other makes have shortened the time to make a loaf but Panasonic have realised that their times are the optimum and can't be shortened. If you are going to wait for 3 hours, why not wait 4 or 5 for a better loaf. There is no doubt, if you are going to buy a breadmaker, make sure it's going to make decent bread and this one makes excellent bread. It can also be used with spelt or rye flour which is an advantage to those with a wheat problem.

Needed a programme for gluten free bread and this model has this facility. Pansonic seemed to come highly recommended by anyone I spoke to re. breadmakers.

I thought a bread maker was just a bread maker but after my own packed in i was looking for a replacement and reading the reviews on this bread maker i bought one.What a differance the results were to my old one (morphy richards) that made good bread but this was so much better, well worth the extra money although i had a great deal off ebay with this. So far perfect bread every time even with the pre mix packets which i never had real sucsess with before

We bought the previous model 8 years ago, and it has been in constant use since (and is still going strong elsewhere). It makes really good bread, in contrast to some other bread makers. It is also very versatile, but the previous model did not have the capability of adding raisins or nuts (or olives) partway through (this is necessary if you don't want them mashed).

I have only just started using the new one, but it seems to work just as well. The only problem is that you tend to eat a lot of bread because it tastes so good!

Makes beautiful bread and the smell is delicious - a very good buy!

The only downside is the hole left in th bottom of the loaf by the mixing paddle.

Very easy to use.
Great accompanying recipe book.
Timer is great... get up to the smell of freshly baked bread.
10/10 for me.

had this breadmaker just over a month, and have tried most of the recipes in the book.
consistant good results with all types of flours, even some of the specialist ones. using the 'rapid' setting gives you a lovely warm crusty loaf in 2 hours, it would take that long to go park and shop in a supermarket!! the smell is heavenly!! worth investing in the panasonic range, as I havent had one single 'flop'.. even my 10yr old daughter makes bread in it, just as good. the loaves have a choice of size, i tend to use the large setting, as extra large is too big to cut straight... the only downfall.... is that my calorie intake has shot up, and the sales of butter doubled ....please can someone invent a butter maker!!!... an excellent product, left out on my worktop, and used every single day, would recommend 100%.

The bread maker has a few cracks as described but works perfectly and cost under half the price.A very good breadmaker..

Fantastic product. Fresh bread within 4 hours. all you have to do is put ingredients into bucket in the correct order, set your selection and leave until ready. Easy to clean items as well.

Really great to know exactly what is in your bread. Would recommend this machine to everyone.

When this product arrived I was a little disappointed that the XL loaf recipe actually contained less flour than my current large loaf on my old breadmaker. However, because of the extra raising time it does actually produce a much larger loaf. It takes a long time to produce each loaf (4hrs) but it is worth the wait.

It's a shame there isn't a viewing window or raisin/nut dispenser unless you want to pay a lot more money but apart from that it's a great machine.

Have always wanted a bread maker. However I wanted to buy a decent one without spending too much money, I got this for half the price of Argos for the same model.
It is fantastic, I make a fresh loaf almost every couple of days.
I recommend this, not only for regular granary or white bread but also for special breads like bacon and cheese, sundried tomato, olive bread etc...

the item bought around a month ago is really amazing,its a bit tricky until u get the recipe right but finally the end result is delicious.