The rock musician Adrian Smith, 41, was born in London’s East End. For Hinari, call 0181 787 3111.! For information about De Gustibus bread-making courses, telephone 01235 555777. “It’s very important to get the quantities right, and other kitchen spoons vary in size quite a lot,” she complained. “The other major drawback is that you have to heat the water yourself to 80C and spend time watching over the initial kneading process to determine whether more water or flour is needed.” Clare’s first attempt yielded a plain white loaf which was slightly over-proved on top and close textured Her second attempt proved disastrous “It didn’t rise and was an inedible lump,” she reported. “At last,” said my long-suffering colleagues – who tasted all the results of the trial – “bread you can actually feel proud of.”*HINARI AUTOMATICpounds 99Ranking among the budget machines and capable of making loaves in only one size, the Hinari has a delay timer and measuring cup, but no spoon, which Clare Bawden thought a crucial omission. “The first white loaf had a nice, light texture,” said Clare, “and this was what encouraged me to be brave and try the 100 per cent organic wholemeal, which was so brilliant, I just couldn’t stop making them.” Other panellists were impressed not just by the loaf’s crumbly texture and good flavour, but also by its shape: the hole created by the kneading arm was small and concealed on the underside of the rectangular loaf.

It was deemed the winner in our trial because Clare Bawden turned out consistently successful bread over a period of two weeks which other panellists found comparable with shop- bought loaves. The touchpad is smooth and the controls are simple to understand. Rabaya Ahmed judged the bread from this model to be yet another sweetish, bland white loaf which had little to recommend it to the Ahmed family apart from novelty value. Rabaya said: “The bread isn’t as tasty as bought loaves, and the process seems too complicated to me.

Chapatis don’t have yeast in them and I can make them very quickly by hand.”*****PANASONIC SD206pounds 169.95In the medium price range, this Panasonic has the standard features of viewing window, delay timer, measuring cup and spoon and the option of making loaves in three sizes. It makes regular and large loaves; has a “keep warm” function to prevent the bread getting soggy; and has an added ingredient signal for if you want to add, say, raisins after the dough has been kneaded. The 11 programmes are quite sufficient – by the time you’ve worked out a more complicated machine like the Zojirushi, you may as well have made the bread yourself.”**MELLERWAREFrom pounds 79Produced by the same manufacturer, this is effectively an economy version of the Morphy Richards. This tasted better than the basic loaf, but had the texture of a crumpet. All loaves exhibited a sizeable L-shaped hole from the kneading arm.

I also attempted to adapt a Delia Smith recipe with the “creative program”, but gave up. As Nicholas Allen cautioned: “If you don’t know how to use the video recorder, don’t imagine you can do this.”**MORPHY RICHARDSpounds 99Nicholas Allen made white loaves and a half-white, half-wholemeal loaf in this and commented: “A bread makermakes a big footprint on your counter top and it’s heavy if you intend to put it away and get it out for each baking session. I thought the bread tasted fine but it’s nonsense to compare it to specialist breads. The timing on this model is excellent, and there are very clear instructions. But I didn’t get that lovely baking smell and I didn’t like the lunar landscape tops to the bread. The power lead is too short (less than 60cm), but it is built well. After making several basic white loaves, which had an acceptable texture and occasionally a nice brown crust but tasted sweet, like brioche, I progressed to making rye loaves (half rye and half white flour) with far less sugar than instructed (one teaspoon as opposed to two tablespoons).

It even gives the option of programming a “creative home-made menu”. The instruction booklet is complex, as you might expect with a sophisticated computerised machine. I even tested the yeast to make sure it was fermenting and I didn’t want to give up, but after the fourth attempt I was furious.” For a second opinion, we went to Steve Caplin, who bought the LG some months ago especially to make gluten-free bread for his son. We’ve also tried to make wholemeal and other breads – sometimes it works, sometimes it just doesn’t.”**ZOJIRUSHI HOME BAKERYpounds 259.99The most expensive of the bread makers in the test, Zojirushi’s Home Bakery, looks smart and has a host of other features which include jam, butter and cake programmes. “The bread always tastes a little stale,” he said, “even when freshly made. The crusts are bad – soft and rather pale, but it’s fine for making Fred’s gluten-free bread.