LILvoyce's Full Review: Sunbeam 5891 Bread Machine
Why is the Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker better than sliced bread? Because it makes so much more than bread! I have been tickled pink with my Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker. This is the second machine I have purchased from Sunbeam.
Why I chose the Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker
It seemed like every time I turned around, I was running to the store for bread. Nope, they didn't want the discount huge super size loaf of white bread, at a few bucks a package. They wanted the stuff from the bakery. It was running me between $4 and $5 a loaf. (I can make my own bread specialty loaves at a fraction of the price.) I would buy those loaves in the morning, and by the time it was dinner time and I wanted to put out a sandwich, we were breadless..lol. My family devours bread. They are carb addicts I swear. That brings me to another topic.
Counting Carbs
I am able to make a basic low-carb sugar free bread with my machine. I can replace a lot of high carb loaves for these lower in carb type loaves. They still get in a lot of carbs when I am not peeking , but this sure does help the big picture.
Sunbeam 5891 Bread Maker
The best way for me to describe this products is White, BIG, and BULKY. It takes up a lot of space on my counters. It comes with a non-stick bread pan, that has handles on it. The handles get HOT. So when removing the bread keep that in mind. My husband and I have burned ourselves a few times forgetting about that. The cord is decent in length. There are many settings, and buttons, most of which I don't bother with or understand. There is a neat see through top, so that you can see where in the cycle your bread is at. BE SURE TO NOT OPEN THE LID between cycles. I have done that and my bread fell flat a few times. I was so mad. It was my own fault though.
Bread Paddle and Pan
The bottom of your breadpan has a bread paddle. I was worried it would be hard to remove the bread, and that there would be a huge gaping hole in my bread since the bread gets baked with the paddles still in place. It was no big deal. My bread was able to slide out of the pan with little effort. The hole on the bottom of the bread is barely noticeable.
Directions: User Manual
Honestly, the user manual was very difficult for me to understand. I had a hard time figuring out the display and what the numbers and buttons mean. As long as I am able to figure out what size loaf, color crust, and type of bread setting, I am ok. I have just had to experiment with the buttons and prayed for the best to turn out. I have never made a burned loaf, or a loaf that was underdone, so I guess I am lucky..lol. I threw out the manual. (Hey Sunbeam: Your user manual is not very friendly. I hope you get a chance to revise it. I was scared to death to try my bread machine out for the first time.)
Cleaning:
Cleaning is a breeze, so is the bread pan... UNLESS..
Just from experience with playing around with this bread maker, and from trying out many hundreds of recipes, I can tell you that 99% of the time, if a recipe calls for more than 3 cups of flour, the dough will run down the sides of the bread pan and into the bread machine itself. That is a PAIN to clean. I just skip those recipes that call for more flour. I am fine then, and cleaning goes fast and is painless.
HOW it all works
Basically you find a recipe and dump the ingredients in order of the recipe. You make a dip in the mix so that it forms a little place to put the yeast. Make sure the yeast does not touch the liquid. Pop your bread pan in the maker, set the timer and forget it. It will beep twice. Once if you want to add anything when your dough has formed. By anything, I mean like raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, or any type of add ins like these. The second beep will be when your bread is done. It takes a while, so be prepared to stay home for the next few hours. I never leave my bread machine unattended.
There is an optional dough setting. I love this feature because if you want to pull out your dough and shape it a certain way, or make pizza, cinnamon rolls etc. you can do that. Sometimes I will pull my dough out, and then bake it in my regular oven. I love this feature the best.
There is also a homemade jam and jelly feature. Honestly, I couldn't figure it out. But thats ok. I don't feel like I am losing out. I probably wouldn't have used it very often anyway.
Recipes
I can find so many recipes online compatible with this bread machine it is not funny. I could make a different loaf everyday for the next 5 years and probably would still have recipes. There are many bread machine groups out there. I go to yahoo or msn groups for some of my recipes. They are tried and true, and always come out perfect. I don't even bother with the recipe manual I had received.
So much more than just Loaf breads
I can make fresh stromboli's. I make a basic pizza dough, or sometimes I can add some Cajun spice to it, or whatever floats my boat at the time. I roll out my pizza dough to a rectangle, and then add meats and cheeses. I roll the dough long wise with meats and cheeses in place. I will let it rise for about a half hour then bake. OH my goodness. These are a HUGE hit. I make them once or twice a week. My husband likes bbq chicken and cheese, salsa chicken with cheese and brocolli, turkey and swiss, tuna and cheese melt, sausage mozzerrella and pizza sauce, and you name it type of stromboli's.
I have made bagels, and cinnamon rolls, breadsticks, pizza, bread baskets, hamburger rolls, you name it thanks to the dough only setting.
My husbands favorite bread loaf that I make happens to be the Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese loaf. I love making specialty loaves because I can make them as spicey at I want them. He loves the extra added fire and spice.
Warning
As you can see, I mentioned that I had purchased 2 of these Sunbeam 5891 Bread Makers. That is because in one of the recipes I had copied it wrong, and hadn't added enough water to the dough. I placed it on the counter and forgot about it...... Until I heard a big BOOM..
I went into the kitchen, and because I hadn't added enough water, it must have shook the maker off my counter and unto the floor. I broke my beloved machine. Embarrassed, I went out and replaced it before the HUB got home from work. It was my own fault.
In the manual it does say to stay with the machine and if your dough starts to rock the machine, you can add a few spoons of water until it is the right consistency.
My best advice is to place your machine as far back on the counter as you can. I had mine close to the edge that day. Be sure to only add a spoon of water at a time like it says. If you add more the water will splash up and make a mess in the inside of the machine.
Complaints and Dislikes
I wish I were able to explain more about the features, but I am clueless. The manual might as well be in a foreign language. I think that Sunbeam should have an online tutor or something, explaining and showing all of this to us. It wouldn't be that hard, and I am sure customers would appreciate it so much.
Overall
I feel like I could sit here all day long and talk about this bread machine. I am that happy with it. I enjoy baking now. I was horrible at it. I am able to entertain family and friends now painlessly, with little mess to make in the kitchen. I don't feel my review does this product justice. I could almost be a spokesperson for this product I use it so much...hahahah.
Other
*Cost saving tip* I purchase my yeast in a bulk jar. It will last me for months, compared to those little packs. I have saved a ton doing it that way. Also, you can use regular all purpose flour to bake your breads with, but, they turn out sooo much better if you purchase bread flour. It is about the same price. For healthier bread, I somtimes mix half wheat flour, to half white bread flour. I store it that way in a bin. I use it in place of normal white bread flour.
Cloning my Grandmother's Sausage Bread
Take your favorite Italian or french loaf recipe, and make it with the dough setting only. Roll or press it out to a rectangle. Take some fresh italian sausage (raw) and take the casing off of it. Place bits of sausage on top of the rectangle. I like it clumply. Then I like to sprinkle the top with red pepper. I would skip the red pepper if you don't like spices, it will be spicey enough. Then I add grated parmasean and romano cheese to the top of that. I will roll it, let it rise, then bake it. OHHHHHH my.. is this soooooo good. Enjoy.
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