The simple wonder of bread making, made easier with automated bread machines, back in the days when hand kneading and ovens were the only way to make a good loaf of bread, an automated bread maker would have been considered wizardry, but not today as you can find quite a number of them, and cheap too.
A good example of a cheap but branded bread maker would be this large and not so in charge bread machine. Breadman TR875 has caused a lot of mixed reviews on Amazon, some love it and drop a generous amount of stars while swearing to never ever used anything else besides this, while others would prefer to tie it to a rock and toss it into the Hudson river. Well it will be hard to tell which of these reviews are true so I decided to take it on myself to do a review.
Gluten-free Bread
The first thing I noticed when I bought the bread maker is that it doesn’t look half bad, the stainless steel body and the display, all complemented by the black coloration, the design was really nice as well. After a few minutes of finding the perfect spot on my counter to maximize the “vista” of this maker I finally went through the manual, the moment I saw the Gluten free page my mind began to hover on one review which said it didn’t work well, so I decided to try it out first.
I made a small 1-1/2 lbs mix and followed the recipe book by the letter (with a few reductions and increase here and there), after a few hours the bread was done, I did notice it was a little more wet than if I were to use my BBCCX20 from Zojirushi, but the bread was not chewy and it was ok.
Pretty Good Features for a Budget Bread Machine
Breadman TR875 comes with all the regulars that you were to expect from a bread maker, an LCD display, a paddle (of course), nonstick dough pan and a see through window, which I personally favor since I can take a look at the mixing and baking to assure myself that it’s doing fine.
The other functions that were available were all regular ones that you would find on other break makers, like pizza and French bread, the one I liked the most is the delay start which acts just like a slow cooker, only thing is it only turns on after the programmed amount of time has passes, I use this function the night before so my family can enjoy fresh bread in the morning, I set it for 6 hours at 11 and wake up at 7 for some freshly baked bread.
Almost anything can be done with this bread maker, quite surprising for something under $70 on Amazon, and another feature which I seldom use but appreciate would be the fruit and nut signal which lets me know when I need to pour in that cup of almonds and raisins.
Not Sure It’ll Last Long
However this bread maker is a little flimsy. I haven’t had any problem with the electronics but I would say if your Breadman wasn’t functioning properly then you may have a problem with the electronics, not a big surprise with something as digital and complicating as this. Another concern would be the paddle getting jammed, I have gone through my fair share of bread makers and yes I have had a few jammed, but this is entirely due to having flour getting caught up under the paddle and turning stiff.
So if you are looking for a cheap affordable and particularly fancy bread maker with a lot of functions then you can try your luck at buying the Breadman TR875, but be careful not to receive the refurbished ones as I cannot guarantee how they will turn out.