Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker review: a high-maintenance machine that makes a great loaf

I’m no stranger to baking bread. Even when I’m not putting the best bread makers to the test, there are stand mixers to knead with and pizza ovens to review, so I would like to think I know a thing or two about what makes a good loaf. Making bread is an art form in itself, but the Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker takes out almost any human error from the process. Simply add all the ingredients in the order specified in the recipe, and press start. Then come back in a few hours and slather your first slice in butter. 

In this Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker review I put numerous recipes to the test, both included and extraneous, to find out just how good this bread maker is. My tests included a white sandwich loaf, a small wholemeal loaf and a gluten-free recipe. The verdict? This is a high-maintenance bread maker that has a few difficulties to overcome, but there’s no denying that it makes a beautiful loaf. 

Lovely to look at and easy to use, I was particularly impressed by the recipes included with the Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker. Every one of them yielded delicious bread and they had clearly perfected the recipes for pairing with the machine. 

Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker

Morphy Richards Homebake: Specs

• Size: L36 x W26.5 x H28.5cm
• Loaf capacity: 2lb
• Programs: 14
• Gluten-free mode? Yes
• Browning levels: 3
• Loaf sizes: 2
• Cleaning: None of the parts are dishwasher-safe, but the tray is easy to clean

What’s in the box? 

The Morphy Richards Homebake comes pretty much ready to go. It has a tall and narrow loaf tin with a capacity of 2lbs, and this screws into the base of the machine. It has a metal handle for easily removing the tin once your bread is done cooking. 

The box also comes with a plastic cup measurement and a teaspoon and tablespoon measurement for accuracy with ingredients. The recipes are included in the handbook, and marked in both grams and cups. I realised very quickly that accuracy is key, so I stuck to grams where possible to make sure the dough was proportioned well. 

The lead on the Morphy Richards Homebake is fairly short, which made it a bit tricky to plug into my kitchen. It is usually very crowded! Another feature worth mentioning is the delay start feature, which means you can add your bread ingredients and choose the exact amount of time you want to wait before your bread is ready. This came in useful when I wanted some freshly baked bread with my soup for dinner, but because I encountered a few issues when leaving the Homebake unattended I worry that you may end up coming home to uncooked or unmixed bread unless you are in the vicinity to keep an eye on your bread maker. 

Using the Morphy Richards Homebake: first impressions

The handbook instructs you to add your ingredients in the order specified in the Morphy Richards Homebake recipes: wet first, then dry, and topped with yeast so this doesn’t activate until the right moment. This is easy enough to follow, and the cup measurement was useful to measure out the water as it is marked in millilitres. 

My first time trying this bread maker was a bit tricky. The paddle attachment flaps down (which leaves a far smaller dent in the bread when done) but it can fall flat when you’re filling the bread tin with ingredients. It is meant to be kept upright for the mixing and kneading process, so I spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out why my loaf wasn’t mixing. Eventually, I realised I had to stick my hand in and lift up the paddle manually - not the most enjoyable experience! This wasn’t a one-off either, I had to do this for a couple of the loaves I’ve mixed in the Morphy Richards Homebake, so pour gently to avoid this happening. 

Once my first loaf (a medium wholemeal with a dark crust) was ready and mixing, I kept an eye on it to see how the machine works. It kneads and then rests, beeping as it starts each new stage, and then bakes in the given time. Another issue I encountered was that the mixing motion was so strong it knocked my tin out of its position, so I had to go back in and twist it into place for the cooking to resume. On the plus side, this is a surprisingly quiet bread maker. It's certainly not going to distract you if you're working in the kitchen, and at times I barely knew it was switched on. 

Morphy Richards Homebake recipes

It is clear that the Morphy Richards team put a lot of thought into the bread recipes, because I made some of the best bread I’ve ever made in this machine. I’m sad to admit it far exceeded my own homemade bread and the first loaf had a significant dent in it before it had even finished cooling! 

The recipes specify a lot less yeast than I’m used to using - often less than a teaspoon. This is all you need though, and all of my bread rose beautifully. I have tried a fair few recipes in this machine, but my two favourites are the sandwich loaf and the wholemeal batch. The wholemeal was lovely and dense, perfect for toasting and amazing when slathered in marmalade. The sandwich loaf is very light. It looks like something you’d pay a lot of money for in a bakery, and both the medium and large sizes are suited very well for slotting into the toaster.

Cooking gluten free bread in the Morphy Richards Homebake

The Morphy Richards Homebake has gluten free recipes included, with a delicious-sounding sundried tomato loaf and a gluten free cake. What it does lack is a gluten free recipe for plain bread, so I decided to follow the recipe for Doves’ gluten free white machine loaf - a perfect pairing given that I used the Doves Gluten Free Bread Flour for this review.

At first I was very concerned. I put the bread on Gluten Free mode and watched as it turned to a paste to more of a soup. Even an hour before the bread was meant to be done, it was very liquidy and I couldn’t imagine the kneading was achieving much. 

The end result did not look good, but it was surprisingly tasty. The top was pale and cracked and there wasn’t much of a rise (the online comments suggested adding xantham gum to address this) but the bread held up well and had a thick doughy texture. Just as well, because I hate waste and would have eaten it regardless. It was a shame that the bread maker didn’t come with a plain gluten-free loaf recipe for me to follow, but this bread maker is compatible with most online bread maker recipes as long as you check the intended capacity and size. 

Cleaning the Morphy Richards Homebake

You can’t clean the bread tin or the paddle in the dishwasher, but the cup measurement and teaspoon/tablespoon measurement can. The tin is easy enough to clean because it has a non-stick coating and is left fairly clean once the bread is removed. The paddle can be removed and scrubbed down too, but it is a shame that neither attachment can fit into the dishwasher. 

The interior of the Homebake sometimes gets a sprinkling of flour, which can burn if not wiped away. It is quite deep, so I have cleaned this using a damp cloth, making sure to dry thoroughly. 

Should you buy the Morphy Richards Homebake Breadmaker?

There are some undeniable problems with this bread maker. For a start, I’m not the only one who had issues with the paddle falling down - a handful of Amazon reviewers also reported this issue. The fact that the pan dislodged is less common (it only happened to me once) but still concerning. If you did want to leave your bread to cook while you left to run an errand, there is a risk you could come back with an uncooked loaf waiting for you. 

If you are able and willing to check on the Morphy Richards Homebake every so often, I would recommend it. Despite the trouble I had, I still really enjoyed using it and the bread it made definitely came out better than other bread makers I’ve tried. If like me you’re working from home and return to the kitchen for a semi-regular cup of tea, I see no reason to not buy the Morphy Richards Homebake as you can check in as it works. If you want a truly hands-free experience though, it may be a bit high-maintenance for your kitchen.

About this review, and the reviewer

Millie Fender heads up all things small appliances at Future. There’s nothing she loves more than testing out the latest and greatest cooking gadgets, for indoor and outdoor use, from toasters to air fryers. She reviewed the Morphy Richards Homebake from her own kitchen, testing it rigorously for a couple of weeks before writing this review. 

Millie lives in South London and is constantly squeezing more appliances into her modest kitchen.  If it makes it onto the kitchen counters full time, you know an appliance is worth the hype.