My Morphy Richards breadmaker sat there unloved for weeks. “I’ll get round to it,” I told my husband, “In the meantime you have bread in the fridge.” This post was originally written in 2011, after being given a review model of the Morphy Richards breadmaker. See the 2025 update below to find out how I eventually killed the bread maker. It was my own fault really, now I need a new one.
First adventures with Morphy Richards Bread Maker were not encouraging, but…
My first effort was gluten free fruitcake. It was dry and crumbly and needed more butter and fruit.
As a newbie, I don’t know what to expect from a bread maker, hadn’t read any bread maker reviews, nothing.
Next was malt loaf that sank in the middle. Probably due to too much liquid.
Our first wholemeal loaf was more successful but a bit doughy. Reading the instructions I realised not to let the loaf cool in the machine as condensation gets in. After this we had more success.
First things first with the Morphy Richards Bread Maker
So my advice is to master the basic loaf first…
Oh joy! A perfect loaf of white bread. Don’t you love how the crust has cracked like on a baguette?
Mmm! and the smell of proper baked bread filled the house! I think we’ve cracked it guys…
Next came the sandwich loaf, still plain but using butter rather than oil. Firm textured enough to slice for sandwiches.
Toast with Bread Maker loaf – yum!
Spreading butter on toasted sandwich loaf… to dip in our dippy eggs from Friday’s post.
A few weeks later and we’re no longer buying bread.
Ted loves it. He likes watching the Morphy Richards bread maker knead the ingredients, “Lift me up mummy” he asks wanting to look.
He always eats his sandwiches now!
Our favourite Morphy Richards bread maker loaf is granary or granary 50% white using Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference wholegrain bread flour.
For plain loaves we’ve used Sainsbury’s standard strong white bread flour and for gluten free, Dove’s Farm blend. We’ve used Hovis strong wholemeal bread flour for wholemeal loves.
Wholemeal loaves can be baked with crushed vitamin C tablets to give a better rise. I use Ester C capsules filled with powder.
Finally I revisited gluten free. The booklet doesn’t give a plain gluten free bread recipe but instead sun-dried tomato bread or cheese and mustard. This loaf benefits from being toasted or refreshed for a few seconds in the microwave.
As a Morphy Richards‘ Home of the House Proud Innovator I received a premium plus Morphy Richards Bread Maker to review. All views are my own which is why it’s ok for me to gripe about the lousy instruction manual.
Pros and cons of the Morphy Richards Bread Maker
Pros:
- Easy to use, just tip everything in in the right order
- No need to weigh ingredients, convenient plastic measuring cups and spoons provided
- Easy to clean, loaves turn out of the tin easily (see note about blade below)
- Cheaper than buying artisan bread
- Loaves stay fresh in a bag in the fridge for up to a week
- 19 programmes to make different loaves (plus cakes, jam and even pasta!)
- Substantial gadget that feels like it will give good service for years (I’ll get back to you on that!)
- Quick, five minutes work then walk away
- Clean hands!
- No kneading!
Cons:
- Flimsy paper instruction manual quickly gets tatty
- Information poorly laid out, everything is there but there’s a lot of flicking backwards and forwards to find what you need.
- Keypad not very intuitive, so few buttons it takes a while to remember what sequence to press them in.
- Tiny display panel doesn’t light up. Some people might struggle to view it.
- Takes up as much room as a microwave and heavy to move – well it is an oven you know.
- End of time beeper could be more obvious – unclear whether it’s finished baking or in keep warm phase
- Loaves all look the same
- Blade difficult to remove when cleaning
- Loaves have a hole in their bottoms – more prominent in some recipes than others
Verdict:
Don’t expect overnight success, get to know the Morphy Richards Bread Maker gradually.
As someone with weak wrists, not having to knead is a real boon. Making bread with this machine, once sussed is something that has seamlessly entered our lives with very low effort.
We noticed big air bubbles with a packet mix but never with our own mix. The texture makes wonderful sandwiches and we’re smitten so much we’ve stopped buying mass produced bread.
My only criticism of the Morphy Richards Bread Maker is the appalling black and white manual that does nothing to inspire and has a layout that serves only to confuse. A single panel with instructions for a basic loaf would help people get started more easily.
2025 Update – The Death of a Morphy Richards Bread Maker – reader I killed him
After many years of service, sadly I killed my Morphy Richards bread maker by storing it in the cellar. Apparently bread makers can get dampness into one of the parts if you put them in garages or cellars. After a while wondering why the fuses kept tripping whenever I mixed pizza dough (my favourite use in later years), I realised the bread maker was bust beyond repair. Various instructions online described dismantling it and ironically BAKING the affected part in the oven. Instead I threw it in the skip when we had the bathroom decorated. Someone went fishing around and pilfered the dead bread maker within thirty minutes. In the words of Chappell Roan, good luck babe!
Bread Maker Recipes featured with Morphy Richards booklet:
I’ve only managed about six or seven so far but here is the whole list:
Basic
Soft grain
Soft grain 50%
Brown
Italian herb
Cheese and onion
Raisin
Sugar free
Sugar and salf free
Sun-dried
Wholewheat
Wholewheat seeded
Granary loaf
Granary 50% white
Mixed fruit loaf
Orange and cranberry
Brioche
Sandwich loaf
Soft grain sandwich
French bread
White bread rolls
Wholewheat bread rolls
Hot cross buns
Ciabatta
Bagels
Croissant
Tea cakes
Marmalade
Raspberry and apple jam
Bread mixes from packets programme
Malt loaf
Irish soda bread
Corn bread
Gluten free sun-dried tomato loaf
Gluten free cheese and mustard loaf
Gluten free chocolate cake
Gluten free fruit cake
Fastbake programme
Pizza dough
Pasta!
Banana and nut quick bread
Porridge oats bread
Madeira cake
Mixed fruitcake
Packet cake mixes (apparently?!)
For further Morphy Richards gadget reviews see:
Morphy Accents Toaster and Kettle review
Morphy Richards One Cup review
Morphy Richards Intellisteam steamer review
Morphy Richards Daily Loaf mini bread maker
I have to say, I am slightly surprised. I would have expected a bread maker to make bread perfect every time, without much hassle. I have always liked the idea of a bread maker, but because i have a small kitchen, I’d never buy one. I hate having loads of stuff on my kitchen counter, it means there is less space to work.
*kisses* HH
I’d fight anyone off who wanted to take it away now!
I had two Morphy Richards breadmakers and wore them both out! The company was brilliant with spare parts and discounted replacements but I’ve now moved onto making my dough in my Kenwood and baking it in the oven. Your review has made me miss my good old breadmaker though. I used to put all the ingredients in it the night before set it to finish baking just as we got up. What a marvellous machine.
That’s good to know although I hope I don’t wear mine out!!
I really need to get myself organised & get a breadmaker – espec now I read that they magically get kids to eat their butties! Great review, thanks.
You got there Sarah It was worth the trial and error. That crusty white loaf looks fantastic!
Glad you had some eventual success with it! I’ve never used a breadmaker and prefer to do by hand, though it would be more convenient with the machine I think will just stick to elbow grease!