Hinari HB174 Reviews

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Good Points: Cheap, simple to use, consistent performance, could save you money, durable, easy to clean

Bad Points: Only bakes one size of loaf, have to add extra ingredients manually, bread produced not to everyone's taste.

General comments: I bought my Hinari HB174 over a year ago while it was on Special Offer at Safeway for £29.99, but I've seen it on offer there again recently for £19.99 - bargain!

SHOULD YOU BUY ONE? Having read various opinions on breadmakers, let me say from the outset that the flavour and texture (and shape!) of the bread you will get from this breadmaker is nothing like your average supermarket medium-sliced. It's more like the 'country' breads you get in France and Italy, very substantial and filling - not to everyone's taste, I'm sure. DO find a relative or friend who's got a breadmaker and try some before you shell out your hard-earned on one of these machines. The resulting bread tastes best when it's freshly baked, but keeps well for a day or so if wrapped in foil. But if you don't eat much bread, it's probably not worth your while buying one. You'll also be more likely to use it if you have space to leave it out on a worktop rather than store it in a cupboard, which will only add to the 'I-can't-be-bothered' factor. The HB174 measures approx. 250 x 350 x 280mm and needs 470mm clearance to open the lid for access to the bread pan, so bear that in mind, too. It also takes 3 hours 45 minutes to make a basic white loaf, so you'll have to get a bit organised (but I did, eventually, so I'm sure anyone can do it). Having said that, I love my breadmaker and here's why...

IT SAVES ME MONEY. I know you can get a sliced loaf from Lidl for something silly like 19p, but I'm not talking about that kind of bread. I like to buy organic whenever possible, but I wasn't happy paying 99p for a 400g organic white loaf at my local Safeway. Now I can buy Doves Farm organic strong white unbleached flour for £1.29 for 1.5kg, with which I can make 3 x 600g loaves. I reckon it costs around 15p per loaf for the rest of the ingredients, and about 6p on electricity each time (well, that's what my husband reckons, and he used to work for Powergen, so he should know what he's talking about!). I know all this maths is probably doing your head in, but bear with me! To make it easy for you (well - for me, actually!), lets say I save 50p a time by making my own organic loaves. I make, on average, 5 loaves a week, so my breadmaker had paid for itself after 3 months and has been saving me money ever since at the rate of £2.50 a week or more if we have visitors!

IT PERFORMS CONSISTENTLY AND IS EASY TO USE. Apart from one or two occasions when the rising wasn't brilliant, my Hinari makes consistently good bread. On those occasions when the loaves didn't rise so well, the resulting bread was still edible though a bit 'heavy'! And the machine really couldn't be easier to use. It comes with a straightforward user guide which gives concise, easy-to-follow instructions and little illustrations for those who can't wait to get started. You get a measuring cup and multi-measure spoon, so all you need are the ingredients to make home made bread the easy-peasy way. (It's a shame they can't put a sticker on the box, saying something like 'This is what you need to make your first loaf..', so that you can make sure you have everything you need before you get home.) You also get another book that contains 27 recipes, like 'Basic White Bread' and 'Rosemary and Garlic Foccacia Bread', although others are dough recipes which need to be cooked conventionally, e.g. Apple and Cinnamon Doughnuts, which have to be deep-fat fried. There's a list of what you need, in the order you should put it in the machine, simple instructions alongside, then all you have to do is choose whether you want a light or dark crust, press the start button and that's it! You can go off and forget about it, there's a beeper alarm at the end of the baking cycle and a 'keep warm' facility if you want it. There's also a time delay option, so you can set up the bread to cook overnight ready for breakfast or to make fresh sandwiches - your choice! I've started experimenting with the ingredients a bit - for instance, I use 1 tbs organic olive oil instead of butter, and only half the recommended salt. That's the beauty of it, you're in control of exactly what goes into your bread, which could be a real boon to people on special diets, like gluten-free or low salt, for instance.

DURABILITY - SO FAR, SO GOOD. The HB174 has performed well and I've been using it almost daily for over 12 months now. It came with a 12 month guarantee, so I figured if it blew up after that ran out, I'll still be quids in! I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. You have the option of extending the warranty to 3 years for a payment of £14.99, but I decided against as I figured if Hinari were confident enough to offer it at that price, I probably wouldn't need it ('Famous last words?' I thought at the time, but it turned out I was right).

CLEANING? WHAT CLEANING? The HB174 non-stick bread pan only needs a quick swish in soapy water and the rest of the machine just needs a wipe. I wish the rest of the housework was that easy!

SAFETY shouldn't be a problem - just remember to unplug before wiping inside the machine, never immerse it in water, and don't forget the oven glove when removing the hot bread pan - this is even shown in the illustrations!

VALUE FOR MONEY. As I said, my machine paid for itself in a few months and is now saving me money daily. And the feeling of satisfaction when visitors say 'Hmmm! This bread is delicious," is just priceless.

BONUS FEATURES. The machine has a viewing window on top to enable you to check the progress of your bread - this has proved more entertaining than some of those makeover/quiz/celebrity-in-the-jungle programmes on the telly!