Amazon Basics Programmable Bread Maker, 2lb Non-Stick Automatic Machine, 3 Loaf Sizes, Cake and Yogurt Function, LCD Display, 3 Crust Colors, White

I have made 6 loaves of bread since receiving this machine a few weeks ago. Looking at all the different models I selected this Amazon Basic since it was the least expensive and seemed to have all the features I'd ever need ---- all I wanted to do is be able to bake a simple loaf of bread and didn't think I'd ever use the umpteen extra options available on more expensive machine --- in fact I anticipate using only one of the 14 or so options on this machine --- option 1, baking a simple loaf of bread. I'm not a meticulous person, so I love the idea of roughly measuring the ingredients and just dumping them in the recommended order into the pot appeals to me. Dump into the baking pot, press start & 3 hours later put a 2lb loaf on my drying rack -- after cooling put in a zip-lock and pop into the fridge.Well, using option 1 is not limiting my experimentation -- in addition to the first loaf which religiously followed the basic recipe in the instruction pamphlet, I have since made two varieties of a garlic cheese bread and a cinnamon raisin bread by just adding a few ingredients to the basic recipe.Now my son, who looks after my finances which are his eventual inheritance, asked me to do a breakeven analysis comparing the machine's bread to a loaf of store-bought bread. I figure I spent about $100 for the machine including a slicing guide gadget & all the initial ingredients. The flour is the main cost & I figure comes to just under a dollar a loaf - so for simplicity lets say the piddling amount of, salt, sugar & yeast added to the flour does come to $1 per loaf. Comparable store-bought bread locally comes to about $5 a loaf and is only 16 ounces. My machine made bread is twice as heavy. Without considering the additional value of the heavier bread, I figured it will take about 25 loaves of my machine bread to break even and cover the startup and ingredient costs --- every additional loaf is clear savings which increases with each loaf baked.Quality-wise, I'm finding I like my bread better -- particularly with the addition of a cup of grated Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar added to the mix, and that will probably be my main sandwich bread and toasting bread. I also like raisin bread with cream cheese a few mornings a week, so just adding a cup of raisins and a spoon of cinnamon accomplishes that. I have always kept my bread in the fridge to delay mold, and can keep a loaf fresh for a few weeks. If I get carried away and make an extra loaf, the freezer keeps it till I am ready to eat it.Of course it's a plus not having a bunch of artificial preservatives common in store-bought bread. At age 94, I've found a new & fun hobby to make my days more pleasurable & useful. Now when I visit people I can bring a loaf of home-made bread as a gift. The fresh baked smell in the apartment is always welcome when coming home from outside.

So, I bought this Amazon Basics Bread Maker because I’m tired of buying $7 loaves of sourdough that taste like regret and quinoa farts. I figured if a robot could bake me a fresh loaf while I binge true crime shows and pretend I'm productive, we’d have a win-win.First impression:It looks like a futuristic lunchbox mated with a slow cooker. Black, sleek, and ready to carbo-load my life. The LCD screen glows like it's about to launch bread into orbit. And the 14 settings? FOURTEEN. I don’t even have that many settings as a human.Usage:Drop in ingredients, press buttons, walk away. It's like having a tiny bread butler that doesn’t talk back or judge your midnight cinnamon roll cravings. There’s a setting just for dough, which means you can make pizza, soft pretzels, or fulfill your life goal of punching something legally (spoiler: it's the dough).Bread Quality:Glorious. My first loaf rose like it had seen Jesus. Fluffy on the inside, golden on the outside. I wept. I named it Carl. We ate Carl.Bonus Features:Gluten-free mode: For when your digestive tract is emotionally sensitive.Delay timer: So your house smells like a bakery at 6am, which is the only reason to get out of bed.Non-stick pan: Cleanup takes less time than explaining to your spouse why you spent $65 on a "robot baker."Downsides:No Wi-Fi. I can’t yell “Alexa, make me banana bread” yet.The beeping noise is a little dramatic. I thought the bread had staged a coup.Final Verdict:If you've ever wanted to feel like a wizard who conjures carbs from thin air, this machine is your wand. Five stars. Would let it raise my yeast children any day.

Produces great bread, but the instruction book is not very good. This is my second bread maker. The first lasted 30+ years and is still being used by my daughter. Like this one, it was considered a basic bread maker.With this one, the bread has been great, but the booklet that comes with it doesn't tell you anything about adding fruit or nuts to your bread. It just says you can. These things are supposed to be added near the end of the second kneading and most makers will give a beep to let you know when to do this. The manual doesn't give you this information, doesn't tell you what setting to use for fruit or nut breads (most bread makers use the sweet bread setting). I am baking by trial and error with this machine. If you are patient enough and accept that it might be a learning process, this is a very economical machine to produce some great bread. If you are completely new to bread machines or bread making, I recommend spending a little more and looking at reviews. Start with the basic breads until you are used to this machine. I am 80 years old and have been cooking and baking for many years. If I didn't have this, I would probably have sent this machine back. I still haven't tried making pizza dough in it. I took one star off for the poor manual and waste of supplies while learning how to make great bread in the bread maker.