For me the taste of home made bread is one of life’s pleasures.  I remember my mother standing over a blue-and-white ceramic bowl kneading the bread dough until it began to 'blister'.  When I asked her how she could tell if it was ready to rise, she said it must feel right.

As a result of her early influence, I developed a taste for homemade bread that has never left me.

What I did lose, however; was 'my taste' for making it myself.  I didn't have the hours to spend making homemade bread and with all the bread machines on the market, I didn't have to feel that I was missing out on the home made taste of mom’s bread.

I wouldn’t have to ‘slave over a ceramic bowl' and turn the dough over and over again until it started to ‘blister’.  Now all I have to do is add ingredients, push bake and the machine does all the work.

Through the years, I bought many bread machines.  When my Cuisinart died (the kneading blade quit working) I decided to try a new brand.  This time, I’d get a machine where the bread pan was easier to get in the right position.
 
It was at Fry's that I came across the Panasonic SD-YD250.  It wasn't a bargain, with tax, (Washington state)  the $149.99 asking price brought the total up to  $164.24.

But after a dozen or more loafs of different kinds of bread, and every single one done to perfection, it’s well worth the money.

The Panasonic SD-YD250 is lot easier to slide the bread pan to the correct position in the unit. I didn’t have to keep taking the bread pan out and putting it again until like I had to do with the other bread maker.

With the handy accessories, spoon and measuring cup it was a snap to put in the ingredients. 

I press the menu to select the type of bread, (basic, whole wheat, etc.) and then select the bake option, BAKE, BAKE RAPID, BAKE RAISIN, DOUGH OR DOUGH RAISIN, next I choose size, crust, and then push START/STOP.

That's all there was to it;  I was good to go.  Four hours later, I had bread that would have made mom proud.

The next time I chose the BAKE RAPID option, and had bread in one hour  and 55 minutes. 

Now,  here is where the Panasonic really shines.  When I used the rapid bake on my last machine, it didn't taste like ‘hurry up’ bread.  The texture and taste of the rapid rise in the Panasonic was identical to the four hour bread.

Since then I use RAPID BAKE for all my sandwich bread. 
In the “Bread Bakery” operating instructions (easy to read and understand), there is a section in back with bread recipes.  In addition to the Basic White, I’ve made the Egg Bread and Milk Bread.  Both turned out delicious. 

When I made my home-made pizza, (I used the pizza dough recipe in my pizza book) and even it came out wonderful.  
 
You can use the time (BAKE option only) to set the amount of time in which you want the bread to be ready.  You can set the time for any length of time from 4 hours to 13 hours for BASIC, and from 5 hours to 13 hours for whole wheat and multigrain. This is a good option if you want to hot bread when you wake up in the morning.

The Panasonic bread maker is not magic; it won’t turn back time and magically transport me to my mom’s farm kitchen in the 1950’s, but it’ll do the next best thing; it'll give me the  ‘taste’ and ‘smell’ of the past every time I bite into a fresh loaf. 

Now, isn’t like that a little like ‘having my bread’ and eating it too? Or as my mom would say, it just feels right.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 149.99