Panasonic SD-YD250 Automatic Bread Maker with Yeast Dispenser, White

I've had my Panasonic SD-YD250 for about 2 months now and have used it many times to make various breads and doughs. I have to say that I love this machine.I got it from Amazon- delivered for about $114. So it was considerably cheaper than most of the other similar machines. I'm not sure what would make the others worth so much more, because this one does everything it sets out to do very well.I've had a few loaves come out less than perfect, but that's mostly because I've experimented with ingredients. Most loaves have been great. I also feel good about using all natural, mostly organically grown flours and ingredients, and glad to have left behind breads with preservatives and chemical additives. And of course, there are few things better than fresh, warm breads and their fragrances!If you follow the recipes that came with it, you'll get good results. Some other recipes, especially those for denser breads, like Ryes, are trickier. While you can make basic beads easily and time them to bake at night while you sleep, when baking denser, multi-grain or rye loaves, it pays to be around during the initial part of the kneading cycle to ensure that the dough is the right consistency. One of my Rye loaves was very dense and too dry, which gave the kneading paddle a hard time. Fortunately, being around during kneading and ready to add a bit more water or flour to get the right consistency will save the day (and the machine's motor). If you do add liquids like milk while the machine is kneading, do it VERY slowly in VERY small amounts- once I poured too much in, too fast, and it got splashed inside the unit, which then made a difficult to clean, baked-on mess.Overall, if there have been issues, it's because of my measurements or the ingredients. I have come to add gluten to some recipes to get the bread to stick together better- but gluten can affect the liquid ratio. Some flours are thicker/grainier and have different moisture contents than others. So, getting a feel for what combination of things work best can take a little time. But for those less adventurous, if you stick to the basic recipes, it's a breeze to make good, wholesome bread with this machine. And it's just as easy to clean the pan- I rarely even use detergent- just some hot water and a sponge and it's ready to go again!My favorite tip from others so far: put a little cooking spray or oil on the paddle before adding ingredients to make the paddle easy to remove from the finished loaf (usually, if the paddle is greased, the loaf slides right off the paddle and out of the hot pan with no effort).So, if you are considering a bread maker, (and are willing to devote a good-sized chunk of counter or cabinet space to another appliance) look no further- this machine does a range of types and sizes of breads and doughs and does them all well. It's a pleasure to encounter an appliance that actually performs (maybe even out-performs) it's claims. And it's fun!Eliminate additives, preservatives, colorings, and chemicals of any kind from your daily intake. Bake bread with just the stuff you like and the stuff that is good for you and the clan- that's what home bread making makes possible. Use a machine or not. Get great results, save money, get compliments, have fun and feel personal satisfaction- it's easy and it does not take that much time.***Update***: Breadmaker now in use for about six months. Still works great! I have made many great pizza doughs with it, in addition to a great variety of breads. The results have been very good, using recipes with varying ingredients from a wide variety of sources.To get crustier "artisan"-type breads, I have lately taken to using the machine only for mixing/kneading and a short first rise. If I want to do it quickly, then I actually use the pizza dough setting, which does not have an initial "Rest" period. It just starts immediately mixing and kneading, then adds the yeast. I can get a better grip on the consistency by popping the lid and checking after about 10-15 minutes. If needed, I add more flour, but more often, more liquids (milk/water/oil) to get a dough ball that is smooth and rounded and sticking mostly to the bottom of the pan only. I take the bread dough out of the machine at the end of the "pizza" cycle and then let it rise (sometimes for 3-4 hours, especially for sourdoughs and "heavy" multi-grain breads) in a covered, lightly oiled mixing bowl. After the rise, I "punch it down" and then shape it and let it rise a bit more while I heat-up the oven. Then I bake the shaped dough (with egg/water glaze, a shallow pattern cut on the top and a topping like wheat germ or cornmeal)in the oven on a pizza/bread stone for 35 minutes (the first 10 minutes at 450 and then the rest at 375).People swear it looks/tastes as if it came from the bakery! The Panasonic does all the hard work, and then is easy to clean-up while I bake in the oven.This machine is very versatile. I can do things with it that usually require an expensive stand mixer, OR, I can bake right in it when I don't feel like oven baking. It's great, and I still highly recommend it- even more than when it was new!

I've owned the Panasonic SD-YD250 Bread Machine for about a year. It is my third machine. My first was a Magic Chef that did a fine enough job, but broke after three years. The second, the horrible Breadman Ultimate Plus, broke after 4 loaves, and none of those ever came out right.With both my previous machines, the bread pan, secured inside the chamber by side clips, would occasionally (the Breadman always, for every loaf) pop out of place. The ingredients would not be kneaded, very noisy. I thought it was just one of the quirks associated with bread machines.The Panasonic SD-YD250 Bread Machine doesn't have these side clips. Somone out there actually thought about things and designed the base of the machine to twist into place and stay there. The kneading blade turns, bread gets made, and then you eat it. Amazing. I didn't realize what a pain the dislodged bread pan was until I got this machine.I've made quite a bit of bread with it, including the "pourable" or pizza bianca pizza dough (chewy large holes) from the Sept-Oct 2008 issue of Cook's Mag. Also a wonderful pane alla cioccolata from the book I mention below. Heaven. They all seem to come out great.Pros:-Pan stays in place in the machine.-Pan is exceptionally sturdy and thick. (Much better than the thin, tin buckets of the Magic Chef and the Breadman) It is easy to clean too.-You can actually achieve a crispy crust.-Yeast dispenser. I didn't think of this as a 'pro' at first, but it means you don't need to be as careful about order of ingredients into the pan.-QUIET. Sometimes I don't know if the kneading has begun until I hear the yeast dispenser click to release the yeast.-The smallest loaf is size M approx. a 1.5 lb (3C of flour) loaf. I was disappointed at first, thinking that the M loaf would be too large for the two of us. But the 1.5lb is just right for two people. You'll have a bit left over, so you won't feel like such an oinker when you gobble up all the fresh bread.--The instructions are readable and very clear. The recipes now come with the volume measurements as well as weights. This was a complaint in earlier reviews. Has a nice chart of bread results (sticky, collapsed, flour on top of bread, etc.) and the probable causes. Great for beginners.Cons----The rest cycle can't be taken out. Although there is a pizza dough cycle that begins kneading right away and takes 45 minutes. If you're going to try to bake a french loaf in the machine, your going to need 5-6 hours.--Because the rest cycle is dependent on ambient temperature, the timing of the cycles aren't exact. The 'rest' period (where the ingredients are brought to optimal temperature) for the basic mode is approx. 30-60 minutes.You can see what this would do to the timed portions of the cycle.--No autolyse feature so if you are a crazed, fancy bread making fiend, the Panasonic machine may not be for you.--You can't program your own cycle, other than size, crust darkness and bread type. See bread making fiend comment above.Remember-- you can make a lot of kinds of bread in a bread machine. You don't just need the recipes in the manual. I recommend Rustic Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine. It's great fun.UPDATE: 2019 The machine went fallow in a closet for a number of years, but my husband who is a peanut butter and jelly fiend, could not consistently buy a bread he liked that would remain available. He'd find one kind of loaf, and then after a few months, it would disappear from the shelves, and the wailing and moaning would begin until he found the next kind of bread that worked for his daily sandwich.So I decided to bring out my trusty bread machine to attempt a loaf of sandwich bread. Big mistake. He loved it among all other breads he's been settling for. So now I've been making a loaf a week, (1.5 lb.) for two years, mixing the dough in the machine, and then forming it and baking it off in an 8x4" loaf pan. (This is how the folks at King Arthur Flour claim to use their machines, for the kneading and the rise.)This thing is still cranking away after ten years of ownership and now two years of weekly use. So if you can still find one, buy it.A note-- using the machine to handle the kneading is a great way to go. There is a dough setting that takes about 2.5 hours. if you want to autolyse, just use a spatula to roughly mix the water with the dry ingredients in the pan. By the time the machine begins to knead, you will have had a autolyse and the hydration benefits.