Customer Reviews

Breadman TR520 Programmable Bread Maker for 1-, 1-1/2-, and 2-Pound Loaves

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

For the price, it's a pretty good bread machine. One thing I would add is this... If you are not using the brand of yeast recommended by Breadman, your results may not be good. Their recipes were tested using Red Star Yeast Active Dry Yeast. Not all yeasts will yield the same result. Know how the yeast you're using will perform.

I use an organic yeast, and when I used the amount recommended in the first white bread recipe, (1 Tbsp for a 2 lb loaf), the bread rose and fell. The taste was okay, but I knew when the loaf didn't dome, that the problem was too much yeast.

I used (1 3/4 tsp of organic yeast for a 1 1/2 lb loaf) for whole wheat bread, and it came out absolutely perfect. The bread was just as good as the whole wheat bread I used to purchase at the grocery store for $3.50 a loaf. Now that I know that I have to adjust the amount of yeast since I'm not using the one tested for their recipes, I am very happy with my machine. I would not use a bread machine for quick breads because I prefer to do them by hand. I will only use my machine for yeast breads.

I have experience using bread machines and I know how my yeast performs thru trial and error. A novice would not have known that there are differences in brands of Active Dry Yeast. Also, through experience, I know that the relative humidity will affect the outcome of your bread. Check your bread while it's kneading on a humid day to see if a little flour needs to be added, only adding a Tbsp at a time.

I bought this to replace a more sophisticated programmable Breadman Ultimate that I had used once or twice a week, sometimes more frequently, for several years. The machine still worked, but the kneading assembly finally just fell out of the bread pan (the shaft, etc.), and there were no replacement bread pans available for that machine. (I looked high and low!)

I looked at a number of different machines before choosing this one. It seemed that people who bought Breadman machines were satisfied with this one, but the successor machine to the Ultimate received disappointed reviews from people who had owned the Ultimate. I also looked at other brands, and for one reason or another, rejected them. One of them, when you look at the manual, you discover that the ONLY setting for one pound and one and a half pound loaves is the "fast" setting, and the other settings are available only for the two lb loaves. Since I almost always bake one and a half pound loaves, this surprised me. (I find that the "fast" setting is hardly adequate even for a plain white loaf, but forget it for anything involving multiple whole grains.)

The Breadman TR520 isn't programmable the way that the Ultimate was, but I had only used that feature rarely, so it was something I was willing to forego. It has a plain dough setting, but no pizza dough setting, which my previous machine had. Pizza dough does not require the time and rises that a bread dough would, but that's easily worked around -- I set my kitchen timer for an hour and take the pizza dough out after an hour and it's perfect. (I use my own traditional recipe for pizza dough, not the one in the manual that comes with the machine, which calls for sugar and dry milk, which I found bizarre.)

Some of the differences between the TR520 and the Ultimate:
- the TR520 cannot be custom programmed, although it does have the "delay" feature so that you can set the machine up the night before (or in the morning before work) and set the bread to be baked up to 13 hours after you put the ingredients in the machine.
- the TR520 is MUCH quieter than the Ultimate.
- the TR520 does not have as many settings as the Ultimate (such as "pizza dough"), but it still allows you to "mix and match" your loaf size, crust setting, and loaf type (e.g., basic white, whole wheat, French, etc.), and it does have the "plain dough" and "bake only" settings.
- The display does not tell you what stage of bread-making the machine is on, only the time remaining. With the Ultimate, it was nice to glance at it and see that it was on its second rise, or whatever.
- The key to the programs and the labels for the buttons, as noted by other reviewers, is printed on the machine in white with a yellow background and is very difficult to read, though I didn't find it impossible (really a stupid design mistake). You can always refer to the manual until you memorize them.
- The casing seems to get hotter than the casing for the Ultimate used to, but that may be a subjective impression that is actually incorrect.
- It has a slightly smaller footprint than the Ultimate, and is more of a square machine than rectangular, although the loaves are the usual rectangular loaf-shape.
- Rather than having a receptacle for extras (raisins, nuts, etc.) like the Ultimate had, the TR520 has a loud beep, instead, signalling you to add the extras.
- The Ultimate had a pause button, and the TR520 does not. I would like to be able to pause the machine early on and use my spatula to push dough from the corners if necessary, and pause it when adding the extras.
- Neither the Ultimate nor the TR520 have two paddles, but they handle stiff bialy dough very well with just the one, and they don't make two holes in the bottom of the bread.

I have baked several different loaves in the machine so far, including a buttermilk white loaf, a whole wheat oatmeal loaf, a whole wheat potato bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and a multigrain loaf, and they all came out well, just as I'd expected them to. My pizza dough has turned out beautifully each time I make it, too, and I do that about once a week. I have also made hard roll dough and bialy dough in the machine. It handled the very stiff bialy dough beautifully (bialy dough is like bagel dough), which pleased me.

I have never made quick breads and cakes in my bread machine, this one or its predecessor, since I found early on that they don't turn out well for my taste. It's also scarcely any harder to mix something like that in a bowl and put it in the oven to bake, provided you have an oven!

One of the things I love about the bread machine, aside from its general ease of use, is that I can bake bread in even the hottest weather without heating up my kitchen with the oven.

The manual that comes with the machine is good and quite thorough. It pays to read it -- it is important with this machine, as with the Ultimate, to keep it unplugged in between uses, for example, and not to soak or immerse the bread pan. The recipes, however, are not any I would use as written, although I may try the pita bread recipe and tweak it a bit. I have been baking bread for about thirty years, more if you include when I would help my mother when I was growing up, and I have never, either in old-fashioned manual bread-making or in machine bread-making, used TWO TABLESPOONS of sugar for one ordinary loaf of bread. The sugar is there to feed the yeast, not to flavor the bread (unless it's a sweet bread, such as cinnamon raisin, Portuguese sweet bread, or challah). Two TEASPOONS per loaf has always been sufficient, regardless of the bread/flour type. My loaves turn out beautifully risen and golden with a lovely texture and crumb. Some breads, such as traditional white Italian and French loaves and pizza dough, do not need sugar at all.

It was a a great price for a very good, perfectly functional machine. It had the features I found essential in a bread machine, though it didn't have some of the extras that would be nice. The only flaws that were real design flaws, as opposed to just being not-ideal, are the lack of a "pause" button, and the strange choice of white writing on yellow on the breadmaker lid. But the white-on-yellow is more-or-less a cosmetic flaw that can be compensated for. I do miss the pause button, though.

It's not perfect and it lacks some frills, but it's an excellent buy, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to buy a basic bread machine.

We bake a loaf about every 5 days, usually basic white or honey wheat. We've also made herb breads, seed breads and pizza dough. This is our first and only bread machine so we've nothing to compare it to, but seems great to us. The loaves are beautiful and almost always perfect - we've only had one loaf that didn't turn out (don't know why). There's a timer that lets us set it up the night before and wake to the smell of fresh bread baking... mmmm...... The paddle does tend to take a largish chunk of bread with it when the loaf comes out of the pan. The writing is hard to read as others have said, but we use the default setting 95% of the time so we don't have to read anything - just hit start. For an inexpensive breadmaker, it's really great. We've had ours 7 months.

This Breadmaker is exactly what I had hoped for. In all my years of skirting around purchasing a Breadmaker, I never realized how easy it would be to use one and then we found this one on Amazon.com. My husband is the primary cook in our 2-member family, we are retired senior citizens, and he is very pleased. The breads are delicious and there was no trial/error period! The aroma of fresh cooking bread is so good! We find ourselves waiting anxiously for the end of the cooking cycle, slice it after it's cooled, get out the butter/margarine and enjoy a very small piece and critique it. No failures! Thanks. jtf895@aol.com

I spent some time deciding between this machine and the Panasonic (which was more $$). I only considered horizontal loaves and I'm glad because they are still quite tall. I'm very happy I chose this machine and didn't spend the extra money. Having a window really makes a difference - to monitor whether or not to scrape the flour/dough down to make sure it all gets into the dough ball, and to make sure it's not too sticky (or dry). It's also just fun to peek! Of course maybe the Panasonic does a better job kneading all the ingredients together without "help"... I'll never know!
I was worried that the white-on-beige control labels might be a pain but I haven't found them inconvenient (although it could be designed better with more contrast). The options and controls are pretty simple and straightforward and easy to get used to.
I've made about 6-7 loaves and some rolls (dough cycle) and all have come out great. Although the daytime (monitored) loaves were more symmetrical than the overnight loaves, we were still very happy with the overnight loaves using the delay-timer.
I'm looking forward to doing a pizza crust and maybe some breadsticks, but for someone like me who just wanted a good alternative to the bread you get in the store (plus the aroma in the a.m!) this is a great choice. I just hope it holds up for a while being used 2+ times a week. I make sure and push it WAY back on the counter (it does "walk" a bit) and I don't immerse the bread pan (per the instructions - not sure why). The biggest problem with our breadmaker? The bread is so delicious and we eat WAY too much bread now (the homemade loaves are sometimes gone in a day compared to store-bought loaves which hang around forever!) But we're eating healthy, wholesome and delicious bread now (no calcium proprionate or other suspicious additives) and we couldn't be happier!

For the Price - and excellent buy!!
When I got it home the first thing I made was Cranberry Quick Bread. It was really great tasting, no added bowls-everything was just put in the baking container, turned it on and done.
I use to make bread from scratch and this machine has taken the work out of making bread. Plus now, you can have bread in a little over an hour.
Great Buy if you like no work and homemade bread!!!

Add me to the list of happy Breadman users. My boyfriend got this machine about 2 years ago, and he's been making delicious loaves of bread ever since. This machine is great! With the FastBake option, you're eating bread in an hour. (Other machines, I researched have taken 2 + hours.) The recipe book is really good - I highly recommend the onion cheese bread! My boyfriend made a super fantastic banana bread just last night. We have only had one bad loaf, and that was completely user error. You really have to keep measurements precise when baking bread - the ratio of wet-to-dry ingredients is critical.

Cons: This thing is kind of loud. Also, depending on if you add enough liquids it "clanks" through the kneading cycle. Additionally, as another reviewer commented, the dough does travel all around the bread pan during the knead cycle. Depending on how much noise the thing is making, and how much the dough is moving, I will often times scrape the sides of the bread pan and add a little extra water while it's kneading. This will fix both problems (but is an extra step). Also, the bread pan can be a little difficult to get out of the machine - especially because it's hot!

But honestly, to me the cons are extremely minor and well worth the loaves of bread this machine turns out. It's cheap, fast and works great.

I've had this machine for a month now and I don't know how I got by without one for so long. Mainly I use it for the dough cycle because the arthritis in my hands doesn't allow me to knead my own dough anymore, but this machine does an excellent job. The dough rises beautifully and all I have to do is shape the loaf and pop it into the oven. I also have let the machine bake some loafs and I have been very pleased with the finished product.

The manual has some excellent recipes and I highly recommend the cinnamon raisin bread. I do substitute warm milk for water and I add a package of instant sugar free vanilla pudding mix for richer dough, but it's very good. The dough cycle doesn't have an alarm for adding fruits or nuts but I can add those to the loaf before baking. I've also used other yeast than the recommended Red Star and have had no problems.

Other reviewers have made comment about the white letters on a yellow background (not the wisest color combination). I haven't found that to be a problem because the program/timer screen is digital and not hard to read.

The machine itself is quiet and doesn't try to "walk" across the counter top but you can hear it during the kneading process. I don't think it is very noisy at all though. It's also very easy to clean.

All in all, I am very happy with this bread maker and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a user friendly, very good product.

Our old Sunbeam bread machine is still operative, but the non-stick coating is almost worn off from heavy use. We had the new Breadman on the table side-by-side with the old unit. It occured to my wife to try exchanging the bread pans of the two machines. Voila! The Breadman and the Sunbeam are basically identical. If the Breadman gives the same service as the Sunbeam, we will be pleased. As others have noted, the goofy color scheme of the control panel makes it hard to read. The price was right and the S&H fair. Delivery was prompt.

We have two of these as well as two older Breadmans and a Sunbeam. I make bread for us and another family on an average of four loaves or more per week. I use my own recipe - a type of oatmeal/honey bread - on cycle 1L.

Pros:

Makes a well shaped loaf with a nice top or dome. I have had no problems with falling after rising.
The bread has a nice moist texture with a light crust (see cons).

Cons:

Labeling hard to read. Letters should be a dark color.
We all like a light brown crust that isn't tough. In order to get this even on the light setting, I have to stop the baking cycle 15 to 20 minutes before it is finished. This requires that I monitor the time thus destroying the automatic feature. If I finish the cycle, the crust is dark and hard. This may not matter to everyone so, if you can but it for $60.00 or less, I'd recommend it.

I'm still looking for a machine that has an adjustable bake cycle.