I am a baker with two years of experience. Two years ago, the Hitachi 303 bread maker was bought and the interesting world of bakery and this site was discovered.
Even then, there were a lot of Panasonic fans.
After moving to my own household, I bought my own Hitachi 303 bread maker. But the quality of the bread was initially somehow worse than that of the first one…. and then a thick crust began to rise generally badly. Based on the results of comparing the operating modes of two bread makers at the same time, the conclusion is that the processor of the new bread machine is out of order. Since she was under warranty, skillful actions made it possible to return the money back from the seller.
And then the pangs of choice arose. What to buy instead?…. two weeks of reading various forums ..
And in my head a complete mess….
I agree with the opinion of those who believe that a real review is possible if a person has had experience in baking on two or more bread makers. The rave reviews of those who liked store bread yesterday, but today they baked their first loaf cannot be taken into account.
So the options were analyzed:
Option 1. Hitachi 303 - discontinued, there are no more copies left for sale.
Option 2, which is a thread from LG - somehow I don't really relate to this company, in the forums there are reviews - the non-stick coating of the bucket quickly peels off, the test "Test of the LG HB-156 JE bread machine: who can save yourself!" - not impressed: the scapula remained in the bread, the crust is thick, the crumb is not very good on the cut, the strawberry jam is somehow liquid.
Option 3 KENWOOD BM 350 - reviews are persistent and there are not many of them, most of them did not get bread ... although there are very tasty photos of breads from Kenwood ... again, everyone speaks badly about Kenwood service
Option 4 mulinex with baguettes - the problems with adjusting the bolt were scared off, the top crust was not regularly baked, the large mass of the loaf and the volume of the bucket ... pros from our site ... yes, the baked loaf was not impressive during the test. Again, in general, my opinion about this company is no better than about LG
So, squeaking my heart ... it was concluded that the only possible option is the much-praised Panasonic ... The disadvantages of this option - the absence of a window, long programs compared to Hitachi, the presence of a long stage of temperature equalization - were assessed as significant .. but there is no choice ... Eh ... No in the world of perfection…. And Panasonic 255 was acquired
So, finally, it is possible to objectively and personally compare the vaunted Panasonic 255 with Hitachi 303 .. Uraaa .... for work ))
1. Immediately faced with the problem of the absence of any indication of the operation of the bread machine when plugging the cord into an outlet and a manic desire to press the Start button in this case .... Thanks to the site and the members of the forum, after watching the carefully laid out video, everything became clear…. And the digits 00:00 appeared on the display in the third turn on
2. The first bread was baked according to the technology of setting products in the instructions - first yeast and flour, and then water. But the laboriousness of this method turned out to be much higher (the yeast - all the time strove to roll out all over the bottom of the bucket) than the more usual method for Hitachi - first water, and then flour, and in the deepening - yeast. I agree with other members of the forum. That the choice of method does not affect the result in any way, the bread is the same, regardless of the choice of method.
3. Distance time. Enrages ... It has been noticed that the use of water from the refrigerator reduces this phase to the minimum specified in the instructions. And therefore, in this case, the time for raising the dough increases. And as a result, the bun comes out flatter and higher. The presence of this time also makes it difficult to control the kolobok.I turned on the bread maker in the hitachi, it started working right away, checked the bun - in about 5 minutes - and went quietly about business. In Panasonic - I pressed start, and you don't even know when you will need to control the bun, in 25 minutes or in 60 minutes (according to the main program). When this temperature equalization comes…. xz
4. The absence of a window is very annoying…. In hitachi you see the whole process in full - you gain experience, at what consistency of the kolobok the bread rises faster and better, at what stage does the main rise occur, how is baking there ... etc.
5. Absolutely not informative display compared to Hitachi. There it is always known at what stage the program is (the corresponding inscription lights up on the display) - on kneading, raising or baking ... Here you have to constantly look into the instructions and guess about it from the table.
6. The noise level of the engine is the same. The vibration of the instruments is also comparable.
7. The quality of the batch. In the forums, there was an opinion that supposedly Panas kneads the dough better in comparison with hitachi (this was the opinion of a person who happened to bake on both units). Let me doubt this opinion ... The stage of mixing according to the Hitachi program lasts approx. 30 minutes + 5 minutes pause, and Panasonic kneads only 15-20 minutes, depending on the program. You don't need to be a Nobel laureate in mathematics to understand that 30 is more than 20. And according to my feelings, the rotation speed of Hitachi is higher (there are two stages of kneading - slow and faster, so this is the second and faster than Panas)
8. Power failure. Everywhere it is written that Panasonic keeps the parameters of an interrupted program for up to 40 minutes in case of a power failure. The instruction speaks about some 10 minutes. So, without any ulterior motive, I decided to move the bread maker from one place to another while working, and for this I took the plug out of the socket and plugged it into another, the whole operation took 20 seconds. From the hitachi, such operations took place without any consequences. In Panasonic, a few minutes later, the display showed the inscription "Poweralert" and that's it ... The instruction does not give clear recommendations on what to do in this case. Well it happened at an early stage, I had to save bread with tricks ...
9. Removing the finished bread. Thanks to the last stage in Hitachi - the work of the fan (the instructions say that the structure of the bread is improving at this stage) - the bread falls out of the bucket without unnecessary movements, turned the bucket over, did not shake it too much, and that's it - the bread fell out. Imagine my surprise that the first bread (by the way, and all subsequent ones) did not fall out after the usual manipulations. I had to use a plastic spatula, lightly walk along the walls - and shake it hard so that the bread fell out.
10. I was surprised by the need to choose the size of the loaf ... Hitachi somehow managed without it
Here is a comparison of the work of programs in different bread makers, from my own experience, we can say that the longer the last time the dough was raised, the better the result.
Column 1 - Hitachi HB 303
Column 2 - Panasonic 255 normal program (room water t)
Column 3 - Kenwood 350 French Bread
Column 4 - Panasonic 255 (t water = + 5) French bread
Column 5 - Panasonic 255 (room water t), French bread
1 2 3 4 5
Proof - 60 - 40 125
Mix 1 9 10 3 15 15
Pause 5 1 - - -
Mix 2 18-22 10 30 - -
Raising 1 60 - 70 50 32 95 55
Release 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3
gases 1
Raising 2 70 60 30 65 40
Release - - 0.3 0.3 0.3
gases 2
Raising 3 - - 55 90 70
Baking 63 50 53 55 55
Fan 10-19 - - - -
(Improvement
structures)
TOTAL, 3:50 4:00 3:19 6:00 6:00
hour: min
It can be seen that the most balanced program is in terms of the duration and the time of the last climb at Hitachi.
So, we compare the result - after all, the main thing is taste. A favorite recipe was in Hitachi - Italian bread (water, salt, sugar, butter, yeast) and flour. Liked the French bread program for this recipe. The taste of the bread is comparable to that of Hitachi, only a very crispy and tasty crust to boot. On the main program for this program, the result was somehow not impressive, it turned out to be rather small ....although of course the taste is still better than the store
