Secura Bread Maker Machine

9/12/19 Update It's close enough to the 9 month mark that I thought I'd give a quick update. It's still going strong and is a really nice bread machine. I use the soft bread cycle the most. Although, I think I actually prefer the french bread cycle because the crumb actually comes out a little softer than the soft cycle. Go figure lol. Adding gluten to the recipes also helps with a softer and stretchier crumb. And no, it's not going to make the same types of loaves you get from making bread by hand. But for a machine it does a really good job. I still highly recommend it. Original Review I decided to review this product, because at the time of writing this, it only has two reviews. I took a chance on buying it because of the price and settings it offers. I've had a cheap Magic Chef since the early 2000's that's still going strong, but it lacks the ability to customize, only takes 1.5 lb loaves, and I've never liked how every cycle overbakes the crust. This unit is stainless steel with a plastic shell on the lid. It looks very nice. The display glows blue when pressing buttons. It turns off quickly, but pressing the menu button lights it up again. The display will show the time for each cycle as well as each step of the baking process it's in. It's sturdy enough to not walk while kneading dough. As for how it functions, time will tell if the machine is durable. So far it makes better loaves than my Magic Chef. I'm really glad I purchased it. It's way cheaper than similar machines sold on Amazon and works great. As I try out the cycles I'll update this review. As for the pictures, the white loaf is the quick bread cycle using all purpose flour. The brown loaf is the multigrain cycle (recipe below). The manual lacks information and clear instructions. Below is an explanation for each cycle. Soft Bread This is your basic white bread cycle. It's the one you'll use for most recipes that call for white bread flour. Sweet Bread This is for breads high in sugar or fat that will burn if baked at a higher temperature. Natural Sourdough This is for recipes containing sourdough. French Bread It lacks a separate European bread cycle, so this one can probably be used for all European type breads. Whole Wheat This is for breads with a high whole wheat content. Quick Bread Deceiving name. This is actually the rapid/express bake cycle. The settings and times as it counts backward are, stir1: 3, stir2: , ferment3: 1:18, bake: 50, keep warm: 30. This makes a decent semi quick loaf. I actually recommend activating the yeast first for this cycle. Just mix the sugar & water a recipe calls for, pour it into the pan, add yeast and stir again. Let it sit for 10 minutes. The yeast should have bubbled and expanded. Pour in the rest of the ingredients, with salt going in last, and start the cycle. Sugar Free This is for breads that use sweeteners like sucralose, xylitol, stevia, etc. Multigrain This is for breads that are made with multiple types of whole grain cereals. This can be actual flour such as rye, or cereal grains normally eaten as hot cereals (oats, quinoa, etc). This recipe makes a delicious loaf of multigrain bread. It's good with butter, peanut butter & jelly, sandwich meat, etc. 1 1/2 c water 1/4 c honey 2 1/2 tsp yeast 2 tbs oil 1 1/2 c bread flour 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour 1 c 5, 7, or 10 grain cereal 1tbs + 1tsp vital wheat gluten 1 1/2 tsp salt If using instant yeast, add the wet ingredients, dry ingredients, and yeast last. If using regular yeast, measure out the water, stir in the honey, then yeast. While it's bubbling, measure out all the other ingredients. Pour the water mixture into the pan followed by the oil and dry ingredients. Select multigrain, 2lb loaf, light crust. Gluten-free For breads made with gluten free mixes that contain ingredients such as corn & potatoes, and lack gluten. Buttermilk Bread For breads that contain buttermilk. Bread Dough & Pizza Dough Bread dough has an extremely short cycle of 23 minutes. Pizza dough will go through the entire 1 hour and 25 minute process since it's not going to have another rise once it's taken out. Pasta Dough This is a default 23 minute stir cycle. The 'Knead' button on the machine's interface goes directly to this menu setting. The time can be adjusted up & down in 1-minute increments. Leaven Dough This one is perplexing. Bread and pizza dough are leaven doughs, so why the need for another one? The manual says the time is 1 hour and 24 minutes. I don't understand the point of another separately named setting that does the same thing as Pizza Dough. Cake Cake is for wheat batters containing baking powder and/or baking soda. This can be actual cake or quick breads like banana. Jam I tried the jam cycle using mashed strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and pectin. It came out more like syrup, but it was my first time and I probably didn't use enough pectin. It cooked the strawberries down and tastes amazing. I highly recommend giving this a try. Yogurt For yogurt. Bake The manual says this is for premade dough. The increments are 10 minutes up to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Custom Mode This allows you to set times for each default step. The steps to program are stir 1, rest, stir 2, ferment 1, 2, & 3, bake, keep warm, reservation. I tweaked the quick bread cycle slightly to have a shorter bake time, stir1: 3, rest: 0, stir2: 10, ferment3: 22, bake: 40. The recipes in the manual probably aren't worth trying. The pizza dough recipe calls for sugar the same as the bread dough recipe. Real pizza doughs don't have sugar. If they can't even get a pizza dough recipe right, I don't trust any of them. The recipes are also in grams, so without a food scale, they're best ignored.