The Best Bread Maker Machines for Homemade Bread

While many people love the delicious taste of freshly baked bread, baking it yourself can be frustrating, time-consuming, and complicated. Sometimes, even though it seems you did everything right, your bread will come out of the oven looking (and tasting) more like a brick than homemade bread. Thankfully, there are many great bread-making machines on the market today that make baking your own bread an easy, fun, and time-saving experience. We made this guide to showcase the best bread makers you can buy so that you can find the perfect option for your kitchen countertop.

Shopping for a Bread Maker

Here’s what you should consider:

• Capacity: A bread maker machine’s capacity will determine how much bread you can make in one cycle. For families, finding a unit that has at least a 2-pound capacity is a good idea. For those with lesser bread needs, a 1-pound unit will produce plenty of bread for one or two people.
• Ease of Use: The best thing about bread maker machines is how easy they are to use. Thus, finding a product that is not complicated is very important. Before settling on a bread maker, go through its automatic programs to ensure it features an automated means to baking your favorite types of bread and baked goods.
• Useful features: While making bread will always be the primary reason you will purchase a bread maker machine, some models offer easy ways to make other fun treats for you and your family. If you like fresh jam, yogurt, or cake, seek out a model that offers functionality for these foods.

Best Overall: Cuisinart Bread Maker

For those seeking a bread maker that will take the guesswork out of making bread, the Cuisinart Bread Maker is our top pick. Featuring 12 preprogrammed menu options and three crust shades (light, medium, and dark), this bread maker is one of the easiest ones out there for beginners to pick up and use. While lesser bread makers struggle to evenly bake bread throughout the entire loaf (and really struggle with making pizza dough), you will find no such problems here. This bread maker machine also gives you three loaf size options between 1 and 2 pounds, making it a good choice for single-person households as well as families.

Best Value: Hamilton Beach Bread Maker Machine

The Hamilton Beach Bread Maker Machine does nearly everything that pricier bread makers do at a fraction of the price, making it a perfect choice for budget-savvy bread lovers. Featuring 12 cycles and the option between 1.5- or 2-pound loaf sizes, this model is also surprisingly quiet while working when compared to similar products. While the included pan is not the nicest you will find with a bread maker machine, it does resist sticking well and is also easy to clean and dishwasher-safe. As a bonus, this product comes with 25 reliable bread maker recipes to get you started.

Best Mini: Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery

While it may seem odd that the priciest item in this list also has the smallest capacity, the Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery is definitely worth the price for those seeking to maximize counter space. This bread maker machine makes it simple to produce 1-pound loaves of cake or bread and includes helpful settings for pasta dough, pizza dough, and delicious fruit jams. While quick-bake functionality can be incredibly hit-or-miss with similar products, it definitely works here, so delicious french bread can be yours if you have only two hours to let this product work its magic. This bread maker machine is also one of the most durable and solid units out there, making it an amazing buy for those who don’t mind spending a little extra for a quality product.

Easiest to Clean: KBS 17-in-1 Programmable Bread Machine

Featuring a sleek, stainless steel design and an impressive 17 automatic programs, the KBS Programmable Bread Machine is a great choice for those who love variety and simplicity. It’s also insanely easy to clean since the high-quality ceramic pan that comes with it is nonstick in the truest sense. Just lightly rinse with soapy water, and you are ready to move on to the next loaf. This product also scores some major points for its simple gluten-free program, intuitive touch-pad interface, and automatic nuts and fruit dispenser.

Largest Capacity: CalmDo Bread Machine

Rounding out our list is the CalmDo Bread Machine, which features a large 2.2-pound capacity and 15 automatic menu options to help you bake everything from basic bread to gluten-free bread and even cake. This bread-making machine is great at uniformly heating bread dough to ensure a strict consistency of hardness and color throughout the loaf. It even features an automatic fruit and nut dispenser, and the 1-hour automatic “keep warm” function and 15-hour delayed start timer can really help ease stress for busy families during dinner time.