The Sunbeam 5891 bread machine is cheap and cheerful. It provides a low-cost solution to baking your own bread at home. The Sunbeam 5891 has a white plastic outer shell and a plastic lid, but it works well even though it is an inexpensive bread machine. Here is an overview of its features, questions, advantages and disadvantages.
Sunbeam 5891: Key Features
- Large viewing window for looking inside.
- LCD digital display (not back-lit).
- 12 baking functions for making bread, dough, jam and cake.
- 3 crust color selections: light, medium or dark.
- Choose between a 1.5-pound or 2-pound loaf size.
- Bake bread in 58 minutes with the ExpressBake settings.
- 13-hour delay bake timer.
- Removable nonstick bread pan and removable kneading blade.
- 1 year limited warranty from the manufacturer.
- It has a one-hour automatic keep warm setting after the baking cycle.
- Power supply is 120V AC, 60 Hz for North American Market.
- Power outage backup.
LCD Screen
The display is not back-lit, which might make it hard to read under certain lighting conditions or if you have poor eyesight. It displays the number of the bread setting cycle and the color setting. The display will show the time remaining until the bread setting is finished after you press the start button. The display will show “0:00” when the bread has finished baking.
Take the bread out as soon as the baking is done. Press and hold the start/stop button until it beeps to cancel the keep warm cycle. Do not press the start/stop button while the bread machine is busy because this will cancel the bread making process.
Menu Settings
The 12 bread maker settings you can choose by pressing the menu button are:
- Basic: a generic setting suitable for a broad range of bread recipes.
- French: it spends more time kneading, rising and baking.
- Whole Wheat: for breads containing more than 50% whole wheat flour.
- Quick: for yeast-free recipes containing baking powder or baking soda.
- Sweet: recipes that contain high amounts of protein, sugar or fat.
- ExpressBake 1.5-lb. (Total time equals 58 minutes).
- ExpressBake 2.0-lb. (Total time equals 58 minutes).
- Dough: mix and knead dough for pizza, rolls etc.
- Jam: cook jam from fresh fruit.
- Cake: make a cake.
- Sandwich: bake bread suitable for making sandwiches.
- Bake: use it to bake dough that you prepared outside the machine.
Nonstick Bread Pan
The bread pan is made from aluminum, which is coated with a nonstick coating on the inside. The manual states that the pan is dishwasher safe, but it might be better to wipe it clean by hand. Detergents might damage the nonstick surface and shorten the life span of the bread pan due to frequent washing in the dishwasher. It might also damage the sealed bearing.
Sunbeam 5891 Manual
The Sunbeam 5891 bread maker comes with its own instruction manual which elaborates on its features, functions and instructions. Some owners would have liked a better manual with more bread recipes.
Here is a list of the recipes available in the Sunbeam 5891 manual:
- Homestyle white bread (1.5-pound loaf)
- ExpressBake traditional-style white bread (1.5-pound loaf)
- Traditional white bread
- Classic French bread
- Whole wheat bread
- Banana-pecan bread
- Oatmeal date bread
- Chocolate walnut-zucchini bread
- Orange-anise braided ring (dough recipe)
- Standard cake mix
- Sandwich loaf
- Spiced peach jam
Other recipes in the manual are for various glazes, butters and spreads.
A few people believe that the bread recipes ask for too much yeast. They recommend buying a separate bread machine recipe book such as The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (buy on Amazon – paid link).
Power Outage Backup
The Sunbeam 5891 bread maker has a power outage backup system that remembers the settings for up to 30 minutes. If the power is quickly restored, the bread maker will continue with the current cycle. However, if the outage lasts too long, then the bread won’t turn out great or the machine will forget what it was supposed to do.
If you made a mistake while choosing the bread making settings, unplugging the machine is not going to reset it (unless you want to wait for more than 30 minutes). Press and hold the start/stop button for a few seconds until it stops and you can start over.
Does the Sunbeam 5891 have a gluten-free option?
It is possible to make gluten-free bread, but it is not recommended. The Sunbeam 5891 does not have a menu program for gluten-free baking. The bread machine manual does not have any gluten-free recipes.
Which menu program might make a gluten-free bread loaf? A comment from Sunbeam customer support recommended the whole wheat setting. A different customer at another website recommended the basic bread setting. I do not think that either of those programs would work correctly for making a gluten-free bread loaf.
Can it prepare pasta dough?
You might use the dough setting to prepare pasta dough, but the bread machine manual does not have a recipe for pasta dough. You need to use a recipe for bread maker pasta dough from an online source or from a bread machine recipe book.
Adding Fruit And Nuts
The Sunbeam 5891 does not have an automatic fruit and nut dispenser. Also, there is no audible tone for when you may add extra ingredients. Its product manual contains recipes for a banana-pecan bread and a chocolate walnut-zucchini bread. These recipes require you to add the bananas and nuts with the other ingredients into the baking pan. It is then kneaded and baked together.
As a general bread machine rule, fruit and nuts are added during the second kneading cycle. You could time the Sunbeam bread machine programs, see when the second kneading cycles start, and make notes.
Unfortunately, the Sunbeam 5891 manual only gives a timetable for the basic program. The second kneading cycle of the basic program starts at 2:30 (as the display timer counts down) and continues for 15 minutes. This happens 30 minutes into the basic program.
Sunbeam 5891: Advantages And Disadvantages
- It has a menu setting for preparing dough.
- The nonstick bread pan and kneading blade are easy to clean.
- It is not expensive, and it works well enough for beginner bread machine bakers.
- There is no gluten-free menu setting.
- The display is not back-lit, which might make it hard to read.
- The Sunbeam 5891 manual contains only a few recipes, and some owners dislike them.
Conclusion
Overall, the Sunbeam 5891 is popular, inexpensive and easy to use. It has a removable bread pan and paddle that are easy to clean. However, it has no gluten-free cycle and the manual does not seem to have enough recipes to satisfy everyone’s bread making adventures.
Besides, it seems like the Sunbeam 5891 bread machine is currently unavailable, so you probably will not find anywhere to buy it. I suggest you take a look at another budget-friendly 2-pound bread machine, such as the Hamilton Beach 29987 (click here to read my review).