Lekue Silicone Bread Maker, Model # , Brown

I’ve loved baking bread for ages, but am losing hand function, and got this wondering whether it might make baking all of my own bread easier. Wow, does it! I can now use a no-knead recipe, mix it right in this bread boule with a dough whisk (another purchase that’s made my baking life immeasurably easier — no pun intended!) in minutes, and then just close the boule up for 24 hours to rise before baking — again in the boule. So there are no mixing bowls to wash, no counter mess, no kneading, and no worries. I now bake bread several times per week, and without any physical strain. This little item takes practically no room to store, is lightweight, insanely easy to clean, and it works like a charm. I get a lovely crust on my bread, and am the only one who knows what a breeze it is to make!

I'm learning to make sourdough bread with a natural yeast starter. It's quite expensive to buy the Lodge or Ceramic bakeware needed to get the crispy crust sourdough is known for, and I wasn't sure I could keep even my yeast alive let alone create a loaf of bread with it. I bought two Lekue bread makers. They have worked well and saved me a lot of money. After some experimentation, I have been able to make delicious and crusty sourdough bread. I'm grateful for the low price while experimenting in this new type of bread making, and I don't actually see a reason to purchase the more expensive bakers. Sourdough Tips: There is leeway in the amount of water that can be used in a natural yeast sourdough recipe. I've found the crust bakes crispier and thicker in the Lekue the wetter my dough is. Also, I like to rise my dough for 24 hours and I keep a wet towel or plastic wrap over the closed bakers the entire time so the open edges won't harden the dough as it proofs. As for browning the crust, the quality of the loaf is the same whether the bread browns or stays completely white. So for my bread I only needed the brown crust to make it pretty, which is what I want when I give my bread away. It was hard to figure out how to brown the loaf because it didn't matter whether I baked with the Lekue open or closed, the bread would stay completely white. I learned to use enough dough to rise to the top of the baker, because everywhere the dough touches the baker, It gets a nice brown color. My investment into Sourdough breads was nominal because of this baker. Easy use, easy to store, and super easy to clean.

I bought this utensil to create a more crusty bread in a period when I could not use my Dutch oven. The results are not the same but can give a nice bread. I don't use it as recommended by the manufacturer. I use a more traditional method instead and use this silicone for final proof and baking.

This clever product has made baking everyday loaves of sourdough bread for my family even easier. Being able to mix the dough, let it ferment & rise, and bake a single loaf in one easy-to-clean container makes it practically effortless to make a loaf of really tasty bread several times a week. It's the perfect size for the loaves produced by the recipes in my go-to bread baking book, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple. Cleanup is easy: just toss it in the dishwasher. Dried on bits of dough and even bits of melted cheese that may leak out from our family favourite, cheddar/jalapeno bread, wash out in the DW. It's easy to store in a drawer. It took a few tries to figure out how to get a nice crust and maximum oven spring. When shaping the loaf prior to rising, I make sure there's enough surface tension on the dough so it holds its shape. To get a "football" shaped loaf, close the top during the rise and for the first 25 min of baking. Placing the Lekue on top of a preheated pizza stone in the oven, baking at 430 degrees (the maximum rating for the silicone) with the top closed for 25 min and then open for the final 20 min of baking produces a beautiful, tasty, dark golden crust and a soft but chewy inner crumb for sourdough that has been allowed to rise slowly (15+ hours) in the refrigerator, then an additional 1-2 hour rise at room temperature. For novices: the recipes in the enclosed booklet aren't very good. You'll find lots of bread recipes on line that produce better results. This Lekue is the right size for loaves that contain about 800-900 g of dough (about 4 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups water). Have fun!

After reading almost every Q & A and review on Amazon, I bought this Lekue to bake single-loaf, no-knead artisan bread as an alternative to my oblong enameled cast iron dutch oven. My intent was to save time, keep the kitchen cooler, and free up the dutch oven for homemade soup + bread meals...but I’m really struggling to like it. After baking bread several times a week for decades, I have the old no-knead dutch oven method down to a science and can practically do it in my sleep. But this Lekue is a different animal! My standard recipe (3 C flour, 1.5 C water, yeast, salt) oozes out the ends and blows the top of the Lekue open while baking. Is it supposed to do that? Manhandling the hot football-shaped loaf out of the Lekue and back into the oven (which I’m not convinced is even necessary) can be a challenge. My relatively successful trials produced decent bread, with a moderately loose, even crumb and crisp artisan crust that quickly turned soft and very chewy. Though the silicone is lightweight and easy to clean, the Lekue’s actual ease of use is pretty similar to my one-pot dutch oven method...I mix the ingredients directly in the dutch oven, cover and allow to ferment, then transfer to floured parchment paper while I wash out the dutch oven and preheat it along with the oven. Transferring the parchment/loaf directly into the heated dutch oven means I don’t have to wash it again. The only notable differences to the process are that the Lekue doesn’t have a lid and doesn’t require parchment paper. Some reviewers have used this Lekue “bread maker” to roast meat and veggies, but it’s quite floppy — so not something I’ll try when I can use a dutch oven instead. The open Lekue looks like a bowl but can’t really be used as one. And, for classic kneaded sandwich bread, I use 12” bread pans for uniform slices. Bottom Line: even though I’m an avid cook, baker and kitchen gadget fiend, this odd single-purpose contraption reminds me of an As Seen On TV product and takes up more real estate than it’s worth. BTW, Amazon won’t let me attach photos to this review for some reason.

Purchased this to make bread while traveling, visiting friends. Baked three loaves in a week. Worked very well for us. Would definitely purchase again, would definitely recommend to friends and family. Able to mix dough, proof and bake in one vessel. Cleanup was easy.

Lekue Bread baker/ recipe to amazon This is a really fine product. I’m 84 years old and was having difficulty handling the weight of the Dutch oven that I used in making bread, particularly when it was 400 degrees, so I thought I would give the Lekue a try. Admittedly the booklet’s recipes aren’t too helpful. What I now use it for is making whole wheat Irish soda bread and it does a great job. My recipe is simple, and I mix it right in the cooker, so I don’t have any dirty bowls to wash. For what it is worth here is the recipe: Tools needed: 1 teaspoon measure, 1 tablespoon measure, 2 cup mixing cup for the flour, bran, and buttermilk and an optional egg-use the cup for measuring the flour and bran first, plastic scraper for mixing, a fork for whipping the egg, and the Lekue cooker. Turn on your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 to 205 Celsius, so it has time to heat. Dry ingredients (put the ingredients directly into the Lekue cooker): 2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour 1 cup of bran--½ cup of wheat or oat bran and ½ cup of ground flax or chia seeds or a mix of the two. Remember to use your mixing cup for measuring the flour and bran before you use it for the wet ingredients. 1 teaspoon of salt ¾ teaspoon of baking soda-in Ireland it’s called bread soda-tip from the Irish housewives; baking soda and baking powder tend to form small clumps which will ruin your day if you bite into a lump at breakfast, so put the baking soda and baking powder it in the palm of your hand and press it with the back of a spoon to break up any clumps- then dump it in the Lekue baker 2 teaspoons of baking powder (why I don’t know, but it works, i.e. the bread rises) Mix the dry ingredients well with your plastic or silicon scraper/spoon. Make certain they are very well blended. Wet ingredients: Crack one egg into your 2 cup measuring cup and whisk with a fork. I’m not certain if an egg is necessary, but I think it makes the bread hold together better Add 8 to 12 ounces of buttermilk start out with 8 ounces (you can use dried buttermilk--one brand is Soco Cultured Buttermilk--which is ok, and if you use dried buttermilk mix it with the dry ingredients, but I think liquid makes a somewhat better bread). Start out with 8 ounces of buttermilk or water if you used dried buttermilk and mix it with the egg. Using your tablespoon add 2 tablespoon of cooking oil to your buttermilk and egg mix and stir it up. Using the same tablespoon you used for the oil add 2 or 3 tablespoons of honey—by using the same tablespoon you used for oil with no cleaning the honey will roll right out with no sticking and no mess. Procedure Mix all the liquids well, make a hole in the center of your dry ingredients and pour the liquids in. Here I depart from the Irish ladies. They mix with their hands, and I have done so, but it is a very wet dough and your hands will soon be covered, so now I just mix with the spoon. You will undoubtedly need more liquid to get it all mixed together, so just keep adding liquid and stirring until you don’t have any more dry ingredients to mix. Shape the mix into a loaf shape crosswise in the Lekue baker. Cut or poke a line down the center of the loaf, so the bread can expand. I just use the fork I used to beat the egg. Irish ladies use a knife to cut a quite deep cross in the bread to let the Fairies out, or to protect the bread against the Devil, or maybe to just make certain the bread is cooked through. Close the top of the Lekue cooker and put the bread in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, then open the top of the Lekue and cook for another 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for an hour or so. Use a rack, so air can circulate below. No rack--tip from the Irish ladies—two upside down forks work as well as a rack. Tip from me—I cool it on a turned off burner on the stove—works fine. This is a very good bread. 100% whole grain with added fiber and minimal cleanup. I only wash the Lekue cooker after, give or take, a dozen loaves. Since I am both the baker and the dishwashing machine clean up is important, and the cooker does a great job of being both the mixing bowl and cooking the bread.

Bought as a gift and easy to use and works great for baking bread

Great size for Portuguese bread. Love it and will buy another.

Silicone di qualità, facile da pulire e comodo per panificare a mano con ottimi risultati. Il segreto è la parziale chiusura del recipiente durante la cottura che permette al pane di cuocere come in un forno a vapore. Praticamente sostituisce l’impastatrice, la spianatoia, la ciotola, il cestino per la lievitazione ed il forno a vapore. Nella foto il pane semintegrale che ho realizzato per la prima volta con Lékué: 2 gr. lievito di birra, 200 gr. farina tipo 2 e 80 gr. farina di forza bio, 200 ml. acqua. Prendendo spunto dal ricettario fornito col prodotto, ho lasciato l’impasto a maturare in frigo per 10 ore, poi ho formato la pagnotta ed ho inciso la superficie. Ho lasciato riposare 30’ con il recipiente chiuso e infine ho cotto in forno elettrico a 220 gradi per 40 minuti su pietra refrattaria. Per avere lo stesso risultato senza Lékué avrei dovuto cuocere a 250 gradi quindi si risparmia anche corrente. Gusto fantastico, crosta croccante senza essere bruciata, alveolatura e consistenza simile a quella del pane acquistato in negozio, super!

ótimo, todo o processo do pão é muito bem feito

Wer keine Lust hat lange zu lesen, der Kniff steht weiter unten separat. Wie es dazu kam und wieso ich mich für diese Form entschieden hab, steht im längeren Abschnitt. Ich habe mir die Form für Teige geholt, die gerne mal auseinander laufen. Ich hatte immer das Problem, das diese Teige zu weit auseinander liefen, in der "klassischen" rund gewirkten Form. Die Brotscheiben waren aufgrund dessen so flach, das man sie nicht anständig belegen konnte. Außerdem wollte ich keine Form aus Metall o.Ä. , da diese immer eingefettet werden müssen, damit nichts haften bleibt. Mein erster Versuch mit dieser Form, hat bis zum Backen gut funktioniert. Der Teig ging direkt in der Form auf, sodass ein lästiges umstoßen des Teiges nicht nötig war. Als ich jedoch das Brot (welches ich bereits häufiger gebacken hatte) nach der im Rezept angegebenen Zeit von 30 Minuten aus dem Ofen holen wollte, zeigte mir der "Klopftest" das das Brot noch nicht fertig war. Dies stimmte jedoch nur teilweise, da der Boden durch die Silikonform angefangen hatte zu "schwitzen". Die Feuchtigkeit am Boden konnte nicht verdampfen, deswegen war der Boden noch weich. Ich habe das Brot daraufhin aus der Form genommen und nochmals 10 Minuten gebacken, es war perfekt! Eine schöne Form, welche letztlich perfekt belegbare Scheiben lieferte. Als ich die Form mit dem selben Rezept noch einmal verwendet hab, habe ich nach 20 Minuten das Brot aus der Form genommen und normal auf dem Ofenblech für die letzten 10 Minuten Backen lassen. Siehe da: das Brot ist genau wie es sein sollte und ich bin mehr als zufrieden! Um es abzukürzen: Der Kniff besteht darin, ca. 10 Minuten vor Ende des Backvorgangs, das Brot aus der Form zu nehmen. Für den Rest der Zeit, einfach auf dem Backpapier weiter backen lassen, damit der Boden schön kross wird. Verarbeitung: 5/5 Robustes, wertig wirkendes Silikon, ohne unangenehme Gerüche. Funktion: 4/5 Macht was es soll, gibt dem Brot eine schöne Form und ist wirklich simpel zu "bedienen". Das Brot lässt sich leicht entnehmen und muss nicht herausgeklopft oder "herausgeschnitten" werden (wer kennt es nicht, mit dem Messer am Rand entlang fahren zu müssen, weil das Brot nicht so will wie der Hobbybäcker :P) Einziger kleiner Kritikpunkt: Das das Brot herausgenommen werden muss, damit der Boden kross wird. Ist ein bisschen aufwändiger, als bei einer Form aus Metall. (Mich persönlich stört es nicht, aber ich Bewerte aus dem Blickwinkel der meisten Anwender, welche ich so einschätze) Reinigung: 4/5 Einfacher geht es kaum. Da die Form aus Silikon besteht, kann sie ganz einfach mit Leitungswasser gereinigt werden, kein aufwändiges schrubben nötig. Um ganz kritisch zu sein, das Abtrocknen ist ein wenig schwieriger, da sich die Form aufgrund der weichen Konsistenz nicht richtig festhalten lässt. Eine starre Form ist hier leichter zu trocknen. Insgesamt bleibt die Zeit zum reinigen jedoch deutlich unter einer Kastenform, welche mit Fett o.Ä. eingerieben werden muss und später beim abwaschen geschrubbt werden muss. Preis/Leistung: 5/5 Wie ich finde völlig angemessen für ein derart haltbares und wertiges Produkt. Fazit: Ich kann das Produkt uneingeschränkt empfehlen! Wer eine leicht zu reinigende Brotbackform sucht, welche nicht umständlich eingefettet werden muss, ist hier an der richtigen Stelle!

Work on but tens to burn the bread at the bottom.