I tried the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker and even my picky kids loved the loaves

Let’s face it, nothing beats the taste and smell of fresh, homemade bread. But kneading dough by hand and baking bread in your oven can be tricky — you need to find just the right temperature to prevent your bread from over-proofing or falling flat. Automatic bread makers help bridge the gap, so you can make artisan bread at home without the hassle.

The Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker is just one example of the many bread makers on the market. With 20 different settings, it lets you bake anything from a basic white loaf to a complicated brioche, or even a cake. Other options include gluten-free bread, pizza, French, and raisin bread — and you can even make your own sourdough starter from scratch.

I tested out the Panasonic bread maker to see how it compared to the best bread machines out there. I was impressed with the recipes I made, and even my picky kids loved the French and raisin loaves. Here’s how it performed in my kitchen and why I think it’s worth the cost.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker review: Price & availability

The Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker is available from Amazon for $369 and on Panasonic’s website. This specific model isn’t available in the U.K., though you can buy similar models at Amazon U.K.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker: Design

At first glance, the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker looks… big. It’s stylishly designed, with stainless steel and black elements that should suit most kitchen counters. It comes with a loaf pan, an artisan-style kneading blade, a measuring cup, a measuring spoon, a sourdough cup, and a sourdough starter spoon.

Everything slots together easily, so even bread-making novices should find it simple to use.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker: Performance

The main differentiator between the Panasonic and other bread makers is its temperature sensor, which detects room and internal temperatures to determine the optimal time to rise and rest the dough. This helps ensure the finished products are as perfect as possible.

I tested the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker in my kitchen, selecting several recipes and settings to get a well-rounded picture of how it performs. The machine comes with a quick-start guide that has several recipes.

For this, I decided to choose a couple of those recipes and try making some of my own tried-and-tested recipes to fully understand the Panasonic’s performance.

French bread

For my first recipe using the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker, I chose a simple French bread loaf. The recipe called for dry yeast, bread flour, whole wheat flour, salt, butter, and cold water. Interestingly, it specified that the cold water should be 5 degrees Celsius, but didn’t specify a temperature in Fahrenheit.

Since my digital thermometer is set to Fahrenheit, I had to do a little conversion math to figure out whether my water was cold enough. Turns out, my tap water was too warm, so I added some ice to cool it down.

For this recipe (and all bread recipes for this machine), add the dry ingredients first, then the wet ones. Per the instruction booklet’s recommendations, I weighed the flour rather than using measuring cups. I added the ingredients in order, placed the bread pan in the bread machine, selected the French bread setting, and pressed start.

The French bread setting takes a total time of 5 hours and 40 minutes. Most of that time is kneading and rising. Once the cycle finishes, the machine emits a series of beeps to signal it’s time to remove your loaf. You don’t want to leave it in for too long once it’s done, or it can become soggy.

I removed my finished loaf once I heard the beeps and gently shook it out onto a cooling rack. After it had cooled for an hour, I started slicing. The bread sliced easily and uniformly, and it tasted delicious. The bread’s texture was quite delicate, especially in the middle, which made spreading butter a little tricky. I just let the butter warm slightly on the bread, which worked great.

Raisin bread

For my second loaf, I made white raisin bread using the basic raisin setting. The recipe used dry yeast, bread flour, butter, sugar, dry milk, salt, and water in the main bread pan, plus raisins in the raisin/nut dispenser. This cycle lets you choose from medium, large, or extra-large loaf size, plus two crust shade options. I made a medium loaf with a light crust, which took 4 hours.

I removed the finished loaf once the machine beeped, indicating that baking was complete. This loaf was even easier to shake out of the bread pan than the French loaf was. It smelled delicious, so I only let it cool for about 30 minutes before slicing and sampling it.

My verdict? A delicious loaf of bread that would be perfect with butter and cinnamon sugar, or used to make French toast.

Pizza dough

I wanted to test out the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker’s dough setting, so I used it to make pizza dough for family pizza night. I went a little rogue with this recipe and used my trusted pizza dough recipe rather than the one in the quick start guide. I placed the ingredients in the bread pan, starting with the dry ingredients and adding the wet, then chose the pizza dough setting.

The machine mixed and kneaded the dough, which I usually do by hand. It kneads the dough twice, then lets it rest. The setting took 45 minutes total, and the dough was perfect for my homemade pizzas. I found it easy to work with and was able to stretch the dough without tearing it, so this was a win in my book.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker: Cleaning

The main part you’ll clean after each use is the bread pan. Once you’ve removed your dough or loaf from the pan, wash it with mild dish soap and a soft sponge, then dry it thoroughly. When you do this, make sure you remove the kneading blade, which might be tricky. If it’s stuck, you can pour some warm water into the pan and let it sit, though Panasonic warns against soaking the bread pan for longer than that to prevent damage.

I found that cleaning the kneading blade with a straw cleaner worked wonders. I noticed that there was still dough left in the center of the blade even after washing, and the straw cleaner dislodged the stuck dough, leaving the blade clean and ready for next use.

Perhaps the only downside is that none of the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker’s parts are dishwasher-safe.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker: Competition

At around $370, the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker is on the higher end of the price range for this type of appliance. It’s comparable in price to the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker, which is our pick for the best bread machine. The Panasonic has five more settings than the Zojirushi, including pizza dough, bake-only, and kneading-only. And while the Zojirushi offers only one loaf size, the Panasonic offers three.

At almost $100 less than the Panasonic, the Breville Custom Loaf Bread Maker is a better value without skimping on style or function. However, the Breville only has 13 settings, which could be a deal-breaker if you want to bake brioche, sourdough, or French bread.

But for basic white and wheat breads, as well as jam and pasta dough, the Breville could be a good alternative.

Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker: Verdict

Despite its relatively high price tag, the Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker is ideal for the average home baker who wants to delve into the world of homemade bread without the physical work involved with kneading and mixing.

It makes light, fluffy loaves that go well on their own, dipped into soup, or used for sandwiches. Ultimately, the Panasonic is a worthy investment for anyone who loves bread but wants to quit store-bought loaves with long ingredient lists.