Morphy Richards 48280 Breadmaker

This product won the Which Magazine best buy rating in May 04, so I was DELIGHTED to see I could get it here for just 35. So far, it's been on nearly every day, and I've been experimenting, with varied results. I've used some bread mixes (about 50p each) and have found they work best if you use slightly less water with them. I've tried the fastbake (one hour) option and its fine. I generally use it though for more 'speciality'-type loaves. You get quite a few recipes with it (including one for chocolate bread which is slightly odd but quite yummy.

What I like : 1. The price. 2. Its quite compact, so it doesn't take up much room on the worktop. 3. Its brilliantly easy to understand (no tricky programming menu's to get to grips with. 4. The smell in the house is heavenly, especially when using the one hour 'keep warm' feature, Mmmmm!

What I don't like : 1. The paddle getting stuck (but it's only inconvenient) 2. It would have been useful to have more than one set of measuring cups/spoons because you have to wash them between ingredients. Once the cup gets covered in flour it's difficult to read the measurement gauge

Look at the price. Get one. You aren't risking much, and you'll probably love it (I've since ordered one for my sister and my friend and they love it too!)I don't know whether they are about to replace this model (hence the cheap price) so get one whilst you can.


Convenient, but needs some experimentation   February 6, 2004
93 out of 95 found this review helpful

A good machine, produces reliable results. I looked at lots, but decided this was the best in terms of cost/features. Quite honestly though, the results are best when you let it do the dough an bake it in your oven...huge improvement, but then what's the point of a breadmaker?
Dough does tend to rise and wedge against the top when using 2lb loaf. Their own recipes are passable, but not always great. I'm on the lookout for a decent book. Measures are a problem - would be great if they provided more than one measuring spoon so you did not need to wash them out when using different ingredients. E.g. NEVER put dried yeast into a spoon that has just been used to measure salt.
To summarise - lots of good features, but needs some experimentation to get the very best out of it. Still, even the basic white is much better than your average supermarket loaf. Tried making a fruit loaf on the Fastbake setting - disaster! Given other users comments, that generally seems to be a setting to avoid.If I hadn't got for this it would have been the Panasonic 206D(?) but this was at least twice the price.
In answer to one user's problem: To get the paddle out, the trick is to wait until the bread has cooled about 20 mins. Too soon and metal is still expanded, so the blade will not detach from spindle very easily. Too late, and paddle gets moulded into the bread. A sharp tap with a heavy object on the base of the tin should do the trick!


It does the job, but don't buy it for the fastbake feature   December 2, 2003
88 out of 94 found this review helpful

Good points:
1. You can actually cook 3 loaf sizes (1 lb, 1.5lb, 2lb). Watch out with the 2lb loaf as it can touch the lid.
2. White, Granary and French breads are nice.
3. Timer delay is very easy to use
4. The machine is nice and compact, being deep rather than wide, so it doesn't take up much space on the worksurface

Bad points:
1. The fastbake loaf (1 hour) is disgusting. It requires far more yeast, sugar and salt than the normal loaf, doesn't rise properly and tastes horrid.
2. The machine beeps very loudly about 10 times when it starts, at the "add ingredients" point, then at the end. Unless you have a very large house this will wake you up in the night!
3. With wholemeal loaves, the paddle always gets stuck in the loaf


Excellent Results Every Time   January 22, 2004
J. Wilson (Holland)
84 out of 85 found this review helpful

I can not rate this breadmaker highly enough and have had superb results every time unlike the reviewer from Bedford above who seems more concerned about the fastbake feature. Yes I do agree that the fastbake recipies are not very good but then what do you really expect in 1 hour. If you really do want a bland tasting white loaf then its much quicker to pop to your corner shop and buy one, this only takes 10 minutes so why wait an hour for one? Joking aside if you are going to buy a breadmaker only to make a basic white loaf then my advice is to stick to your shop bought white sliced but if you are looking to make some great tasting interesting breads then a breadmaker is for you. The machine is well made and performs as intended and has a nice modern design which looks good in any kitchen. The recipe booklet that comes with it has some nice basic recipies which can be adapted to your own tastes after you have grasped the basics, Adding sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats and other ingredients to any of the included recipies greatly improves the bread giving a fantastic taste and texture. To get more recipies browse the internet where you can find a wealth of recipies for you to try out.