Breadman BK2000B Bakery Pro Bread Maker Review

The Breadman BK2000B Bakery Pro bread maker has a few interesting features such as a dual bread pan baking system, two collapsible kneading paddles and a fruit & nut dispenser. These features are great, but it is not without problems. Will it bake bread or go bust?

BK2000B Bakery Pro: Key Features

Let’s take a look at the main features of this bread maker before we discuss it in more detail:

• Three crust color options.
• 1-hour keep warm feature.
• Automatic fruit and nut dispenser.
• Two collapsible kneading paddles.
• Three bread pans: a 2.5-lb pan plus two 1-lb pans.
• Loaf sizes: 1.5, 2, 2.5-pound loaf or two 1-pound loaves.
• Viewing window for looking inside without lifting the lid.
• The 15-hour delay timer can delay the start of a bread making cycle for 1 to 15 hours.

Loaf Sizes And Bread Pans

Let us start with the loaf sizes and baking pans. The Breadman BK2000B has a button for baking the following loaf sizes: either two 1-lb loaves or one 1.5, 2, 2.5-pound bread loaf. This bread machine comes with not one, but three baking pans. You can use the two smaller baking pans for making two 1-pound loaves at the same time. The bigger pan is used to make a single 1.5 to 2.5-pound bread loaf.

This double loaf pan setup is quite a unique feature that is not found on other bread machines. This gives you the flexibility to bake two different loaves at the same time, e.g. brown bread for the main meal and sweet bread for after the meal.

You can also bake two of the same 1-lb loaves and give the extra one to a guest as a gift. If you want to make just one small loaf, you can do that as well. Just use one pan and one paddle. The bread pans are coated with a nonstick Teflon coating, which makes the baked bread loaf slide out easier.

Buttons And Menu Options

Push the buttons on the Mylar control panel to select one of the menu options, choose the crust color, set the timer, change the loaf size and start or stop the machine. Here is a list of the available menu programs:

1. White
2. Rapid White
3. Whole Wheat
4. Rapid Whole Wheat
5. French
6. Sweet
7. Rapid Sweet
8. Gluten Free (use the gluten-free recipes in the instruction booklet)
9. Quick Bread
10. Dough (let the bread maker knead the dough and give your wrists a rest)
11. Low Carb
12. Jam (make your own fruit jam to spread on the bread you made)
13. Bake Only (buy or make your own dough, then bake it in the bread maker)

Two Collapsible Paddles

There are two kneading paddles and both of them are designed to collapse after the dough is kneaded, just before the baking cycle starts. The collapsible paddles fold down flat, which leaves only a shallow indentation instead of a hole in the bottom of the bread loaf. This decreases the need for removing the paddles before the baking starts. Yet, if the paddles fail to collapse completely, it might still leave holes in the bread and make it difficult to remove the baked loaf from the pan.

Automatic Dispenser

The automatic fruit and nut dispenser can be loaded with a maximum of 2/3 cup of extras. There is no audible signal that tells you when to add the extras. The dispenser adds it automatically, so you do not have to wait around in the kitchen to do it manually.

However, the dispenser might not hold enough fruit and nuts for a 2.5-pound bread loaf size. Raisins might get too warm inside the dispenser and might not drop into the bread dough. Instead, the raisins stick to the inside of the dispenser. You then need to manually push it into the bread dough. This might be annoying because the dispenser is supposed to be fully automatic, no extra help needed.

Another point that is not immediately obvious is that you cannot use the automatic dispenser if you are making two 1-pound loaves, it only works with the 2.5-pound bread pan. You certainly do not want nuts or raisins missing the pans and accidentally falling into the baking chamber.

Breadman BK2000B: Advantages

• It is quick to use and easy to clean.
• It has a dough and bake only cycle.
• Automatic dispenser works well with nuts.
• Make two 1-pound bread loaves simultaneously by using the twin bread pans.
• Collapsible paddles are easy to remove from the baked bread if they collapse completely.

Breadman BK2000B: Disadvantages

• You cannot program your own custom bread cycle.
• The rapid baking cycles only allow a 2-pound loaf size.
• Automatic dispenser does not work well with sticky stuff like raisins.
• It does not have a pre-heat cycle to warm up cold ingredients before mixing.
• Sometimes the paddles do not collapse, which make it difficult to remove the bread from the pan.
• The manual lacks information about how much time the machine spends in each stage of the process.
• Replacement parts such as the collapsible paddles are scarce.

Will The Breadman BK2000B Bake Bread Or Go Bust?

The Breadman BK2000B Bakery Pro combines a few interesting features such as the three baking pans, two collapsible kneading paddles and raisin dispenser into a single bread machine. However, the BK2000B might suffer from having too many unique features, which cause reliability issues. Some owners have had trouble finding replacement parts such as bread pans and paddles.

The Breadman BK2000B bread maker is not built like a tank and might not last for more than a few years of irregular use. It might bake tasty bread until something breaks, and it goes bust.

Anyway, the Breadman BK2000B model seems to be unavailable, and I do not know if it will ever be available again. So, another bread machine bites the dust.