All about the West Bend Bread Maker – Its Functions, Benefits, and Downsides
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You’re here because you’re looking to buy a bread maker and giving serious consideration to the West Bend Hi Rise Bread maker.
Baking bread is obviously easier with a bread maker.
And making that easier can make other areas of your life easier, also.
Here, we’re going to do a pretty thorough review of the West Bend Bread Maker.
We’re going to look into all of the things that make it unique and we’ll talk about some of the features that it has.
We’re also going to talk about its cons and some of the things that may convince you not to buy it!
Believe it or not, my goal is NOT for you to buy a West Bend Bread Maker.
My goal is for you to find a bread maker that fits what you’re looking for.
West Bend 41420 Bread Maker Features
This bread maker has 5 features that make baking super easy and convenient.
- Preprogrammed settings
- Crust settings
- Automatic delayed start timer
- Loaf size settings
- Keep warm setting
Preprogrammed Settings
Preprogrammed settings are great to use, especially if you’re not used to baking in a bread maker.
It’s just a different way of baking, not better or worse, but definitely easier with the right bread machine.
These preprogrammed settings allow you to bake completely different types of bread with the push of a button.
The West Bend Bread Maker comes with 12 of these settings.
If you’re not used to bread makers and their settings, then it can be confusing.
Let’s quickly go through them so you know what they’re for!
Basic – This is for a regular white flour recipe.
French – This is for a loaf that is light and has white flour.
Whole Wheat – This is for recipes that need while wheat flour.
Sweet – This setting is for when your recipe calls for a filling in the loaf, like dried fruit or chocolate chips.
Super Rapid – This setting is when you need bread in 2 hours!
Sandwich – This is a setting that will make your loaf of bread light with a crust that’s on the thinner side.
Gluten-Free – This is the setting for gluten-free bread. Self-explanatory, right? Well, this is also the setting for keto or low carb bread.
Mix – This is what you use to mix dough that doesn’t have any yeast in it.
Cake – This is the setting to use for cakes (duh).
Jam -Believe it or not, you can make jam in your bread maker! This is the recipe for it. Jam really isn’t a big deal, the bread maker just warms it up and mixes it, but it’s cool to make your own.
Dough – This is the setting to use if you want to mix dough really well. Basically, it kneads together whatever you put in the bread maker. This is the setting you use to make pizza dough or pasta dough.
Bake – This is the setting that you use to bake dough without kneading or rising the dough.
Crust Settings
This bread maker comes with the standard 3 crust settings.
There are some bread machines that just have 2 settings, so I guess it’s a feature to have 3, but most do have 3.
The crust settings are light, medium, and dark.
I don’t really think that the crust settings are a big deal.
But some people bake specialized bread that requires one of those settings.
Size Settings
Having the ability to choose between loaf sizes is a great feature.
This West Bend Bread Maker gives you the option of 3 different loaf sizes, 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds, and 2.5 pounds.
What’s unique here is that these options are slightly larger than your average option.
Most bread makers start at 1 pound and might be able to go larger at 2.
The West Bend starts larger than normal!
Automatic Delayed-Start Timer
An automatic delayed start timer is a cool feature that allows you to delay starting the baking process.
It’s a useful feature because it allows you to set the bread maker up the night before and start it later so you’ll have fresh bread the following morning or afternoon.
For the West Bend 41410 Bread Maker, it’s auto delay start timer can go up to 13 hours!
Keep Warm Setting
This is another great feature that the West Bend Bread maker has.
The keep warm setting keeps your bread warm after it’s been fully baked but before you open it.
That means that you don’t have to rush to get it. If you’re out of the house, it’s not a problem.
Your bread won’t be ruined and won’t go cold!
West Bend 41410 Bread Maker Pros and Cons
Pros
- 5-minute power interruption – if the electricity goes out your bread is safe for up to 5 minutes!
- Bakes horizontally!
- Accessories – spoon, measuring cup, nonstick baking pan, two kneading paddles, and an instructional manual with recipes
- Looks great on a kitchen countertop!
- Affordable
- 1-year warranty!
Cons
No kitchen appliance is absolutely perfect.
And considering that this is an affordable bread maker, you would expect it to have a lot of flaws, right?
Well, not really.
It has a few, and we’ll get to those, but overall it’s a high-quality bread machine.
- It’s very noisy! All bread makers vibrate and make strange noises, but the West Bend Bread Maker seems to be much noisier than most.
- It’s not easy to tweak the settings and make your own “custom settings”. This isn’t a problem for novice bakers like myself. For me, 13 pre-programmed settings is sufficient. But for some people, it’s not enough.
Wrapping up with the West Bend Bend Bread Maker Review
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Will you buy the West Bend 41410 Bread Maker?
This is a great bread machine for those who may just be getting started at baking in bread machines.
It’s preprogrammed settings cover all of the basics, and then some.
Its delay start timer is super convenient, and its keep warm feature gives you a little bit of leeway in pulling out your bread!
We think it’s perfect for beginners, but not the best for bread making experts.
What do you think, will you consider it?