Breville Baker's Oven BB290

Leaking pan – Leaking for second time after replacement pan. Used it about once a week for about 2 years and started leaking once again, same problem. Replacement was very expensive and may be better off to look at another brand. Otherwise it worked fine. Could be design problem for this particular model.

Good – If you just want to make an easy loaf of bread occaionally, this is a good, inexpensive bread maker. I haven't actually tried out the jam maker but I am sure it would work well with minimal fuss. It has never had a problem, easy to follow recipes, and makes jam. Has a fold down paddle so that you don't end up with a big hole in your loaf of… Read more ·  1

bread. I don't like that it uses a Teflon baking pan, and I don't think the 3 hour machine lets the bread rise enough. A 4 hour machine would result in lighter bread.

Good – I have used this bread maker for over six years now and am really impressed. The baking instructions are straight forward. I have found that most breads turn out best when using the "basic white" option and a crust setting of "A" on the keypad. As with all bread baking, attention to detail is an absolute necessity. Invest in a digital kitchen… Read more ·  4

scale and follow the recipe exactly as shown. The breadmaker comes with a solid recipe book, and more importantly--baking tips. Most bread making frustrations come from measuring the ingredients incorrectly or using olive oil for the "fat content" instead of a better baking oil such as canola. I have found that water trumps the use of milk nine times out of ten also.

The Breville has been a fine machine that has really never let us down. Its vertical design allows the maker to fit nicely into the corner of our kitchen counter. I highly recommend this model but have heard that it has been discontinued. Makes a nice 1kg loaf of bread. Is compact in design so that it does not take up too much counter space. Simple keypad and baking options. Delay timer allows you to wake up to the fine smell of freshly baked bread. Paddle blade needs a bit of regular cleaning for it to function properly. Not exactly quiet.

OK – have used it on white and wholemeal breads and pizza dough, does a consistently good job. Those people who cant get a good loaf out of it are obviously doing something wrong - accurate measurements are critical, a 5gm error of flour or water are enough to cause variation in your loaf. I also found that some premixes leave a bit to be desired, in… Read more

one case a wholemeal premix i bought had dead yeast in spite of the fact the use-by date was well within its time frame. Safer to use your own yeast, or better yet, dont use premix, use fresh bakers flour and your own ingredients. Quick & easy to use, consistent results as long as you weigh ingredients accurately and take into account seasonal differences in flours. Only had mine 7 months making on average 2 loaves a week and the rivets holding the drive unit to the pan have movement and water leaks past the rivets. Was told by Brevilles Authorised repairer a new pan unit will cost $85 and is not covered by Breville's warranty as the item is considered a "consumable". I am currently fighting this with Breville. a consumable should cost more than half the cost of the whole machine, and the buyer has no way of knowing this item isn't warranted until the machine is purchased and brought home.

Terrible – The taste and quality of the bread was great and we threw in herbs and olives. But the machine no longer works. Very disappointing. I could make 6 loaves of bread. After six loaves the blade stopped working. Machine is unusable.

Excellent – Have had this machine for over 5 years and it still works perfectly. It's very easy to use, and compared with making bread by hand, it's a huge time-saver. I usually make bread with individual ingredients as per the Baker's Oven instruction manual, and these always turn out fine. However, for convenience I sometimes use prepared bread mixes, and… Read more

have found that you have to be careful with some of these. While certain brands are very reliable (e.g. Defiance plain white), others have given problems. For example with Lauke's Barossa Sour Dough Rye mix I have found out (the hard way!) that the amount of water specified is way too much - e.g. for 3.5 standard cups of mix you need about 300ml of water, not 400ml as it says on the packet, otherwise you end up with a sloppy mess.

The delayed start is a great feature. If you can remember to set up a mix the night before, there nothing quite so wonderful as waking up to the aroma of freshly made bread the next morning. Easy to use and seems to built to last. Makes pretty good bread. Delayed start is a very handy feature. The little paddle thing is difficult to clean, and it leaves a hole in the bottom of the loaf. But maybe all breadmakers suffer from this flaw?

Excellent – There is nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh bread. I like to set up the ingredients for the French Bread (in the manual) the night before and set the timer to have the bread ready 10 hours later. The timer is easy to use as you set it for the time you want the bread to be finished, so if you want the bread ready at 8AM and it is… Read more

currently 8PM, you just need to set the timer for 12 hours and the bread will be steaming hot!

I really love the included recipes in the manual. My favourites are the French Bread and the Pizza Dough.

Overall I am glad I bought this unit. Has made great dough and bread following the recipes in the user's manual!

Built in timer makes it easy to wake up to a steaming fresh loaf every morning. I have nothing to dislike about it so far.

Excellent – We bake a loaf every day & get great results. Extremely happy with performance and would recommend this model. Cannot figure why there are some -ve responses in regard to baked results - users not measuring with digital scales (we are always careful to measure accurately as this affects results)or not using decent flour (it is important to use a… Read more

recommended bread flour not just plain flour) or maybe have a vested interest in dissuading potential buyers??? I know a few people who also own & use theirs regularly & they are also very impressed. If the -ve responders are genuine owner/users, I suggest they try again, being sure to be accurate with measuring - the results are well worth it. If you still don't have luck then buy a bread mix and you definitely could not fail!!! Simple to use. Bakes an excellent loaf - EVERY time! Delayed start is a great feature and easy to use. Disappointed that the seal around the spindle (which the mixing paddle sits on) disintergrated and leaked water after only 14 months use. Probably will have to buy a new pan which is costly considering the cost of the unit as a whole when new.

WE can't stand bought shop or bakery bread any more - even take our breadmaker caravanning with us!!!!!

Excellent – Makes a great loaf every time. We have baked a loaf a day for over 3 years and could NEVER go back to "bought bread" whether from a store or bakery. Have had another brand with the loaf baked horizontally as opposed to vertically and the vertical wins hands down - better shape for cutting, toasting & storing. We have made basic fruit, wholemeal… Read more

and white crusty loaves - all with exceptionally good results. I would recommend this machine & I would definitely buy it again. Even with the cost of our replacement pan, we are way out in front as it is soooo much cheaper to cook your own. Makes a good-sized loaf (approx 1 kg) of excellent quality with exceptional ease. We have had a different brand but it's loaf was considerably smaller and because it baked horizontally it developed a "high top" which is not so good for fitting in toasters,sandwich bags etc. It's very easy to clean and simple to operate - foolproof (well I would have thought so until I read some past reviews). The Spindle leaked after 13mths but was replaced without any hassles by Breville thru' their Service Agent here in Hobart. We make a loaf every day and had developed a habit of putting water in for a few minutes after taking the loaf out to make rinsing out easy - we don't do that any more but we had a 2nd spindle fail and leak after a further 18mths and we decided to spend the $85 & bought a complete new pan. 6mths on we are still baking a loaf a day with great results. The seal failure is a small issue in the scheme of things as far as we are concerned and we would still buy this machine.

Terrible – I bought this after my Sumbeam died of old age and have yet to get a decent loaf of bread or even plain dough out of it. It doesn't seem to knead the dough enough or get a decent rise. I got a Breville because I've always been happy wiht their other appliance. Don't know if it was this particular model or not but I'll be looking for a better machine.

OK – Overall rating of 3. Function is fantastic, 10 /10 for that. Disappointed with the pan flaw - 3/10. I'd only buy another if convinced the flaw was fixed (or Breville offered extended warranty for it). This is a great machine. Easy to use, great loaves & dough pretty much every time You DO have to allow for 'tweaking' for seasonal variations with… Read more

flour, air temp etc. We use ours at least once a day - we even took it camping ! After 7-8 months, noticed leak between the pan and the drive collar, thought this was a seal problem, however at 14 months the base of the pan has fractured between the rivets and pulled away cmopletely. Looks like a fatigue failure (so a design or materials flaw). A replacement pan is prohibitively expensive, and looking on EG here, trademe and other sites suggests this is a common problem.