Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first ever bread machine and let me preface that by saying I do not like to bake as a rule. What I do like is bread of any type as a snack and with meals - bread is simply my favorite food - I'll choose it over sweets every time. I have recently been diagnosed with a severe adult onset allergy to both soy and eggs, so this has put a dent in eating anything made commercially or at the local bakeries - no more store bought bread, rolls, etc for me. In desperation I decided to learn to make my own and figured I would buy the least complicated, least expensive bread machine on the market with the best reputation - I got this one from the Amazon warehouse. My theory was if I hate doing this then I'm not out a huge amount of cash in the overall experiment. Well, it's been almost three weeks and I've made 12 different loaves so far with great success and almost no trouble at all. This machine is extremely easy to use and relatively uncomplicated. The book is pretty simple and straight forward to understand - though the recipes in it aren't to my liking personally, that's just an individual taste issue. The buttons are large and easy to operate & the LCD screen is clear once you read the book and know what each code means. It is a bit hard to see without good light though. My unit came with a plastic cup for flour and a one piece combo teaspoon/tablespoon for salt & sugar. I am using King Arthur Bread Flour only and Fleishmann's bread machine yeast in the jar (I know there are other yeasts out there, but as a newbie, I went with what 3 of my experienced bread baking friends suggested) and I have absolutely no problems at all with any of my breads rising or correctly or having the right texture when cooked. I have also followed the tip of lightly wiping the paddle with a bit of oil before use so that it slips out of my finished loaf easily. The machine does beep after the first rise before it kneads a second time so you can drop your add-ins in before the second mix/knead session. I've done a loaf of bacon-beer-cheese bread, adding the bacon & shredded cheese in this way and everything incorporated into the dough perfectly. (I felt like a magician putting homemade bacon bread on the table and watching my husband's eyes bug out!) I am still learning something every time I use this machine, but it has earned a permanent place on my counter top and for now anyway, I cannot see any reason to spend more money and buy a two hundred dollar version. I can put the ingredients in an have hot, fresh, soft bread ready in three hours or a slightly denser loaf in an hour on the the quick bake setting. Now that I've got the basics down pat it only takes about 10 minutes to pull the ingredients out, put them in the machine, turn it on and clean up. Done. This is actually one of my favorite purchases of the past year. ******One Year Update Feb 2017 ***** I've been making bread on average twice a week with this little machine for a year. It just works right every time with no drama. I have only had one loaf fail to rise correctly and it turned out that I had used 1/2 the yeast needed....so my fault. I've made cranberry bread, pumpkin bread, peanut butter bread and your usual cheese or nut breads without any issues. The best though is buttermilk bread - it always ends up with a creamy, soft texture that is a big hit as a hostess gift. I would absolutely buy this bread machine again.