The Oster 5838 Expressbake bread maker can make a bread loaf in as little as 58 minutes when using the Expressbake setting. The Oster 5838 is an affordable bread machine that does not have some newer features such as collapsible paddles or gluten-free programs, but it has been on the market for many years. It has proved to be a cheap and consistent kitchen companion. Take a peek at its features, advantages and disadvantages.
Oster 5838 Expressbake: Key Features
- 13-hour delay bake timer.
- 60-minute keep warm feature.
- 8 menu selection options for making bread and dough.
- Aluminum bread pan with nonstick coating.
- Built to North American Electrical Standards.
- Glass viewing window.
- Prepares 1.5 to 2-pound bread or dough recipes (no loaf size button!).
- Three crust color options: light, medium or dark.
- User manual with recipes are included.
Control Panel
The basic process of making bread with the Oster 5838 is started by pouring the liquid ingredients into the removable baking pan. Then you add the dry ingredients and put the yeast on top. Now you can snap the baking pan into the bread maker and start choosing your settings by pushing buttons on the control panel.
The control panel has three parts: the left side has the programs with its selection button. The middle part has a crust color button. The right side has the display screen, timer set buttons and the start/stop button.
There is no loaf size button. The Oster 5838 is made for preparing a 2-pound bread loaf, but you can also prepare 1.5-pound bread loaf or dough recipes.
You can choose one of these eight bread or dough making programs:
- Basic (can make most bread recipes)
- French (longer knead, rise and bake cycles for total time of 3:50)
- Sweet (bread recipes with high sugar, fat or protein content)
- ExpressBake 58 minutes (denser texture)
- ExpressBake 80 minutes (more airy texture and taller loaf)
- Whole Wheat (longer rise cycle, total time 3:40)
- Dough/Pasta (prepare dough recipes for bread, pasta or pizza)
- Bake (total time of 60 minutes)
Check The Dough
It is a good idea to check the dough after it has been kneading for a while. You can add a teaspoon of water if the dough is too dry, or add a teaspoon of flour if it is too wet. Use a rubber spatula to make sure there are no flour stuck in the corners. If you are using the delay timer and are not around to do this, then don’t worry too much about it. The bread will still turn out well enough.
Automatic Keep Warm
The one-hour automatic keep warm cycle seems to be an unnecessary addition since it might over bake the bread. Try to remove the bread as soon as possible after the baking program has finished baking. Let the loaf cool on a cooling rack before slicing it.
Oster 5838: Advantages
- The aluminum bread pan with its nonstick coating is quick to clean after baking.
- Use the program selections and recipes to make a variety of bread loaves as well as dough.
- Expressbake settings can bake a bread loaf quickly, if you don’t mind sacrificing quality for speed.
Oster 5838: Disadvantages
- The dark crust setting might turn out too dark and crunchy.
- The kneading paddle leaves a hole in the bottom of the loaf.
- It can be noisy and full of vibrations when kneading heavy dough.
- The bread pan shape produces a tall, squarish bread machine loaf.
- There is no button for selecting the loaf size.
Conclusion
This Oster bread maker seems to be simple to use and fairly reliable, even though it is not the best bread machine out there. It appears to be a good, inexpensive, uncomplicated bread maker. Just make sure it does not accidentally fall off the counter when it kneads heavy dough!
To conclude, the Oster 5838 Expressbake is an old bread maker which is getting very difficult, if not impossible, to find and purchase. In fact, I suggest that you consider getting another Oster bread maker, instead of wasting time trying to find someone who still has an Oster 5838 bread maker to sell.
For example, I think that the Oster CKSTBR9050 is still available, even though it is also an older model bread maker.
Nonetheless, it has 13 menu programs to choose from, including a gluten-free setting. In comparison, the Oster 5838 only has 8 menu programs, which does not include a gluten-free option.
Therefore, the Oster CKSTBR9050 is probably a slightly better choice, even though I dislike the gray background color of the control panel (check price on Amazon – paid link).
In addition, I see that the Oster CKSTBRTW20 might also be available for purchase, so you could consider buying that model instead of the Oster 5838.
For instance, the Oster CKSTBRTW20 has 12 menu program options, although it does not have a gluten-free menu option.
You could consider buying the Oster CKSTBRTW20 if you are never going to use it for making gluten-free bread loaves. Click here for pricing on Amazon (paid link).