The Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 is pretty much the typical cheap bread machine.
Does that mean that it’s not good?
Of course it doesn’t. It’s actually the opposite.
I like this bread machine a lot and that’s why I want to review it.
It’s very similar to the Oster CKSTBRTW20, in case you’re interested in knowing more about these affordable machines that make loaves, dough, and jam, without too much input from the user.
Bread makers bring fresh bread into the homes of people who are too busy to bake. Or simply don’t have the skills or the patience.
I think they’re amazing, I couldn’t do without one.
I’m just too lazy, that’s the scenario with me.
Or ease the workload by making the dough – an alternative to a stand mixer.
That’s how I ended up making pizza at home for family and friends, it’s always a big request but it’s nice to know exactly what ingredients went into making a recipe because you’re the one who picked all those ingredients.
There are so many great aspects about owning a bread maker, the Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 can be the perfect choice for someone who doesn’t want to spend too much money on one.
There are many people who use a bread maker just for making dough and they finish the baking in the oven because they prefer how it tastes after oven baking.
Even just for that, some people use expensive bread machines, like the Zojirushi bread makers, which are indeed amazing, but not everyone can afford them.
That’s where machines like the Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 come in.
I let my machine do all the work, I love the taste, although lately I’ve also experimented with various bread machine recipes.
Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 Features
Before talking about technical features, the reasons why the Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 is such a popular machine are:
- good loaves of bread on any setting, including whole wheat
- great for making dough
- affordable price
- anyone can use it successfully
- easy to clean
- even though it doesn’t have a gluten-free setting you can still make a gluten-free breads, you just need to find a recipe that guides you well
Now, let’s move on and see about those technical features for the Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891:
- it’s not a small bread machine – it weighs almost 17 pounds, it will most likely need a permanent space on your kitchen counter
- it’s not the prettiest – the design is definitely not impressive but the white color blends pretty well
- it has a very simple control panel, anyone can use it
- large viewing window
- this Sunbeam bread machine is quite a silent bread maker, some models can be quite noisy during the kneading phase
- 2 loaf sizes: 1.5 and 2 pounds
- 3 crust settings: light (L), medium (P), and dark (H) – I prefer the medium – the Color button is used for selecting the crust
- the Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 has 12 settings: basic (white bread), French, whole wheat, quick (recipes that contain baking powder/baking soda instead of yeast), sweet, Expressbake 1.5lb and Expressbake 2.0lb, dough, jam, cake, sandwich, and bake
- it’s a basic list of settings but they cover a wide array of loaves that you can make by simply adding the ingredients in the pan and pressing a few buttons
- under the two Expressbake settings, either 1.5 pounds or 2 pounds breads are made and baked in just under an hour (58 minutes), there are additional instructions to be followed, like the water temperature and using fast-rising yeast instead of dry active yeast – this is a really fast substitute for the basic cycle
- I don’t see the point of using the Expressbake cycles because the loaves are not as tasty and that’s why they’re not very popular
- the basic white bread setting will be complete in 3 hours, which is really fast
- it makes really good whole wheat loaves, too
- you can use the 13-hour delay timer to have fresh bread whenever you want withing that 13-hour time frame – just don’t let milk or eggs in the pan overnight
- 1 hour keep warm setting – once the bread is done, the machine will keep it nice and warm, the crust will be just a bit crunchier, it won’t turn soggy unless you let it sit in the pan past that 1 hour mark
- there’s no gluten-free setting – if you’re looking for a very good cheap gluten-free bread maker, I recommend the Hamilton Beach 29882
- 1 year warranty
- there aren’t that many recipes in the user manual but you could get the The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and truly see what this Sunbeam bread maker is capable of, there are 300 recipes in that cookbook, it’s so full of resources or you can search bread machine recipes online, there are a lot of those
- just make sure to add the ingredients in the order stated in the user manual: first liquids, then dry ingredients, and last yeast so that it doesn’t come in contact with any liquids
- to add the yeast, you have to make a small indentation on one side of the flour and then add the yeast in the indentation, make it small so that it doesn’t reach the liquid ingredients
- you can easily find a replacement pan but it’s a bit expensive so, take care not to scratch the nonstick surface
- the Sunbeam bread maker is easy to clean, just don’t add anything in the dishwasher
The Sunbeam Bread Maker 5891 is an affordable bread machine well under $100 that works perfectly, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do and that’s the best thing that you can say about a product, no wonder it’s so popular.
