Because the following post was so popular, it was updated Sept. 2011!
I received three emails this week asking which was the best bread machine for gluten free breads, so this must be on your minds. This is a photo of the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich mix made with my old Breadman machine:
First I have to admit that I do not use my bread machine that often. With my new bread recipe only taking 30 minutes to rise, I find it just as quick and easy for me to make bread "the old fashioned way." However, I am a stay-at-home Mom, so I realize it is easy for me to be around to watch to make sure it does not rise too high and turn the oven on. What if you can't be at home? Or better yet, you are not as nostalgic as I am about watching bread rise. That is where the bread machine comes in.
My first bread machine was the Breadman - it worked fine with standard mixes like the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix, but because all of the cycles on it are automatically programmed (in other words, you cannot set the rise and knead cycles yourself), it did not work well with some standard mixes such as those by 'Cause Your Special and other recipes that I wanted to try.
When shopping for a gluten free bread machine, you want one with a programmable cycle, so that just a knead and rise cycle can be selected or one that features a gluten free cycle. Breadman, Cuisinart and Zojirushi all sell bread machines wiht these features.
I recommend the Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme 2-Pound-Loaf Breadmaker,
It has a programmable cycle to set for gluten free bread. In fact, BreadInfo.com test the Zojirushi BB-CEC20 by preparing several types of bread in it. They say it does a good job making white bread and bread dough, but they're particularly impressed with its ability to produce "remarkably high-quality" gluten-free bread.
Buying the right bread machine from the beginning will save you time and agony and the expense of buying a second machine, but this is just the start. For a detailed guide to making gluten free bread in a bread machine, I recommend Annalise G. Roberts book Gluten-Free Baking Classics for the Bread Machine
I'd love to share Annalise's recipe with you, but I think she might prefer it if you buy the book! I'd share one of my own, but have not developed one yet, and in all honesty Annalise has spent much more time perfecting bread recipes than I have, so I am sticking with hers for now.
We have slowly but surely moved away from mixes, but we still like the Toro White Bread Mix and the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix (although this one is moving down on our list of favorites). You can purchase both of these from 
.
We also like the "Cause your Special Home style White Bread Mix.
What are your favorites?
