The Ten Best Bread Makers Reviewed

This is the Japanese company’s updated version of the previous Virtuoso, without the “Plus”. The main differences are that the Plus has an improved control panel and better support for specialty loaves of bread. In our opinion, it’s definitely worth paying more for the newer model.

On the other hand, this is far and away the most expensive of the home bread makers we’ve selected. If you’re not willing to shell out quite this much, you may want to look at the BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme from the same manufacturer, which shares several of its virtues.

An important quality that sets this premium product apart from the pack is the fact that it has two kneading blades instead of one. This leads to better, more consistent mixing and, since each kneading paddle is wide but shallow, leaves smaller divots in the finished loaf. More importantly, the Virtuoso Plus applies heat from both above and below, giving you a much more evenly browned crust.

The Breville BBM800XL Custom Loaf Bread Maker is kind of severe-looking, but at least takes up less counter space than many comparable machines. A smallish window, along with an interior light, improves insulation while still letting you see how things are coming along.

One of its better features is a very simple and in fact self-explanatory LCD interface which includes a rotating selection knob, while other options rely only on buttons. Instead of having to look up what a number means, you can select what kind and size of loaf you’re baking using words and graphics.

An integrated fruit, seed and nut dispenser that holds about ¾ cup further expands this machine’s possibilities. Adding these ingredients at the right time helps to disperse them properly without crushing them.

Like Zojirushi, the Oster company has a pretty good reputation when it comes to domestic appliances. Their design philosophy is very different from the Japanese firm, however: instead of specializing in high-end, painstakingly designed products, Oster tends to think in terms of serviceable, workaday bread machines that combine durability with value for money.

In other words, the ExpressBake isn’t really anything fancy. Its white color scheme and a compact footprint will fit well into many kitchens, though, while it’s small and light enough to stick in a cupboard even with limited overhead space. With a large window, raised buttons, and intuitive menu operation, it’s also a bread machine that children will love to use.

On its fastest setting, it can produce a somewhat palatable loaf in only an hour, or be loaded up with ingredients and programmed to start up to 13 hours later.

Depending on your taste in appliances, the styling of this KBS product may be enough to sell you on the whole package. A nifty blue-and-white backlit display is easy to read even in dim light, assuming you’re tall enough to peek over the top. Below this, you’ll find a spacious touchpad that’s easy to wipe down, unlike the physical buttons of the Cuisinart CBK-200.

Sadly, the KBS does not allow you to enter custom baking programs, though the 17 presets should satisfy most people. This selection of programs includes options for gluten-free baking, whole wheat, jam, store-bought premix, and even yogurt. The latter might not be something you’re planning on making every day, but this can quickly turn into a habit. If you can produce healthier, better-quality food for cheaper than it costs at the store, why wouldn’t you?

When used simply as a mixer and kneading machine, this bread maker actually distinguishes between “Raw Dough”, which isn’t allowed to rise in the machine (like pasta or recipes that use baking powder instead of yeast), “Leaven Dough” which contain yeast (pizza dough, for example), and “Ferment”. You can set it to produce loaves of 1, 1½, and 2 pounds, with, as usual, three crust settings for how dark and dense you’d like the crust to be.

One of the outstanding features of this bread maker is that it offers good support for gluten-free recipes, with 3 separate wheatless programs including one for gluten-free cakes.

Unfortunately, its range is somewhat limited: with three settings that only knead, rise, or bake, plus another two for cake and jam, only seven remain for conventional bread. In addition, you can’t set a loaf size for any of the gluten-free options.

That having been said, many loyal users of this brand boast about getting pretty good bread out of it every time, including when baking without wheat flour and using their own mixes. You can introduce a little variety by adding seeds, dried fruit, or whatever catches your fancy; the bread machine beeps when it’s time to put in these.

Another nice feature is a super-rapid setting, which takes under 1½ hours from start to finish. There’s also a less hasty program available which produces slightly fluffier bread, at the cost of taking about 30 minutes longer.

If you’ve already read the review covering the Breville BBM800XL, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this Cuisinart. The two are cast in pretty much the same mold, and not just in terms of appearance; the basic difference is that the Cuisinart CBK-200 lacks many of the features that make the Breville stand out, and therefore costs significantly less.

What the CBK-200 convection bread maker has going for it, aside from price, is the inclusion of a fan that promotes air circulation and even heating. Many bread makers, with the notable exception of the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus, don’t distribute heat all that evenly, often leading to bread that gets somewhat too crusty on the bottom while it’s still pale on top.

On the flip side, the lack of an internal light makes it more difficult to get a mouth-watering view of your loaf’s progress, while people who want to adapt cooking times to specific recipes will be out of luck.

This bread maker is somewhat similar to the Virtuoso Plus from the same manufacturer, at least as far as having dual paddles for even mixing and a fairly long bread pan goes. However, it’s significantly less capable and lacks a top element to help a good crust form on the top without the bottom and sides becoming too chewy.

It also lacks the array of settings that you’d expect to find on a bread machine costing this much: though there are nine pre-set courses, three of these are just condensed, faster versions of others. It does allow you to make sourdough starters, cakes, jams, and dough, but lacks a dedicated gluten-free setting.

There’s also no particular setting for making loaves smaller than 2 pounds, though you can easily work around this limitation by using a lighter crust setting. As with most bread makers, you can ask the machine to wait several hours before starting to mix, knead, rise and bake, and it will beep to let you know when it’s time to add solid ingredients like chocolate chips or walnuts.

At 17 pounds in weight, this low-cost bread machine is a little more substantial than either the Oster Expressbake or Cuisinart CBK-110P1. Despite this, it only offers 12 baking programs without the option of customizing any of them or designing your own. Fortunately, these twelve settings allow it to handle a good variety of bread types as well as cakes and jam.

Something which will bother many people used to store-bought bread is the shape of its baking pan, which is roughly the same length on all sides. Combined with a somewhat underpowered heating element, this means that your bread typically won’t brown and cook uniformly, nor will it be shaped like a “normal” loaf of bread. Unless your family members have different tastes, you might end up having to negotiate over who gets the “good” part of each loaf. Still, it does produce a decent crust with a noticeable difference between the three doneness settings.

The Cuisinart CBK-110P1 is a simple, compact bread machine comparable to the Oster Expressbake in many ways, but with a stainless steel exterior and a significantly higher price.

Depending on what you’re looking for in a bread maker, this may be money well spent: this Cuisinart has a 3-year warranty compared to the Oster’s 12 months, the seemingly minor but convenient feature of an interior light and rubberized feet for stability. Both share similar controls – neither should give even a total beginner any trouble to operate.

The quality of the bread you get from any baking machine is probably the single most important factor. The CBK-110P1 does pretty well in this regard, though it makes the crust somewhat darker than you’d expect.

From another brand that’s thought of highly, this bread machine shares a stainless/black color scheme with the T-Fal and is deeper than it is wide, making it a suitable option for certain kitchen layouts.

It’s neither the cheapest nor the most expensive bread maker out there, striking a good balance between quality, performance, and price. Aside from basic savory and sweet breads, it comes with programs for gluten-free baking, cake, jam, and dough as well as an “Artisanal” setting that gives you a long rise period at a lower-than-normal temperature. In case you’re in a hurry, it can also create a loaf in 1½ hour using fast-acting yeast.

It’s a little quieter than the Oster when kneading, but also has a tendency to explore tiled or veneer countertops by itself when kneading. Again like the much cheaper Oster, it’s easy to use, not too temperamental with variations in recipes and will make a valued addition to most kitchens.