Cuisinart Compact Automatic bread maker review

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REVIEW – I owned my first and only bread maker about 20-years ago, I loved it, but it got lost somewhere along the way. Since then I’ve told anyone who would listen how much I missed it and that I needed to buy another one, but of course, I never did. So when I received an offer to review the Cuisinart compact automatic bread maker, I couldn’t pass it up. Time to see if the Cuisinart compact bread maker can rekindle my love for making homemade bread.

What is it?

The Cuisinart compact automatic bread maker is a compact automatic vertical bread maker that offers a variety of crust colors and loaf sizes, as well as 12 preprogrammed menu options.

What’s in the box?

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  • Bread maker
  • Bread pan
  • Kneading paddle
  • Pan hook
  • Quick reference guide
  • Instruction booklet/recipe booklet

Design and features

The first thing you notice about the bread maker is how light and compact it is. It only weighs 10.75-lbs and has a very small footprint (10.25″ x 13.25″ x 11.25″). The size is perfect for me as I don’t have a whole lot of counter space in my kitchen.

I also liked the look of the bread makers contemporary brushed stainless steel exterior.

On top of the unit, there’s a bread door with a viewing window and a control panel with an LCD display.

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The control panel has buttons for programming, crust color, bread size/light, and stop/start. Plus/minus buttons let you adjust the time for the bake only program and delay start timer. 

The easy to read LCD display shows program, crust color, and loaf size selections. You can also view cycle and delay start timing.

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Features

Even though the bread machine is compact in size, it doesn’t lack in functionality.

To start with it has 12 different pre-programmed menu options to choose from, all fully automatic.

  1. White
  2. French
  3. Whole Wheat
  4. Ultra-fast
  5. Sweet
  6. Gluten-free
  7. Artisan dough
  8. Dough
  9. Jam
  10. Packaged mix
  11. Cake
  12. Bake only

Other features include your choice of crust color: light, medium, or dark and loaf size: 1-lb., 11/2-lb., or 2-lb. loaf.

A 13-hour delay start timer allows you to program the bread maker up to 13 hours in advance.

The included recipe guide has several foolproof recipes to get you started. Everything from gluten-free and artisan bread options to jam and sauce recipes. I found the recipes to be concise and easy to follow.

Let’s make some bread!

Making bread in this machine couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is add your ingredients, and the bread maker does the rest.

To start out I wanted to make something easy, that didn’t call for a lot of ingredients. I chose to make the French bread recipe from the included booklet.

I added the ingredients to the bread pan and placed it into the unit. I then chose the French program option and my loaf size. I chose to make the 2lb loaf because I wanted to see what this bread machine could really do. Because I was making French bread, I didn’t have the option to choose the crust color.

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After selecting my preferences, I pushed the start button and let the machine do its thing. The unit automatically takes care of each step of the process until the loaf is done. An indicator on the LCD display shows the current function: Knead, Rise, Bake, or Keep Warm.

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Before the bread begins baking, you have the option to remove the kneading paddle which I did. There’s a signal of 10 short beeps to let you know when it can be removed. If you miss the initial beeps, the display will show “paddle” for one minute.

Being as curious and impatient as I am I really liked having the ability to check in on the bread as it went through the process. The viewing window and built-in light made that very easy.

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As the bread was baking, I remembered why I loved making homemade bread so much. The AROMA! The entire house was filled with the wonderful smell of fresh baking bread.

After the bread is done baking the unit beeps 10 times, and the LCD display window will read 00:00. There is a keep warm cycle that will keep your bread warm for 60 minutes. At the end of the keep warm cycle, the unit will emit one long beep and then it will shut off.

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When the bread was finished I took the bread pan out of the machine and gripping the bottom turned it over, my finished loaf slid right out. I then placed it on a wire rack to cool. As you can see from the pic below my French bread loaf turned out fantastic.

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Time to taste my creation(s)

After cooling and slicing my French bread loaf, it was time to give it a taste. It tasted great! The bread was soft on the inside, and the crust had that perfect French bread crunch. Needless to say, I was pleased with my first loaf of bread from the Cuisinart compact bread maker.

Since then I’ve made two other loaves, jalapeño cheddar, and cinnamon swirl. The jalapeño cheddar recipe called for ingredients to be added during the kneading process. The unit lets you know when it’s time to add them with an audible signal of 4 sets of 5 long beeps. Then you just lift the lid and add your additional ingredients.

Like the French bread loaf, both loaves turned out perfect and tasted wonderful.

I found that the 2-pound loaf was too much for just myself, so when I made the cinnamon swirl bread, I opted for the 1-pound loaf which turned out to be a perfect size (see the pic below).

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What I like

  • Compact size
  • Easy to use
  • Can make up to a 2lb. Loaf
  • Easy to clean
  • The included recipe booklet

What needs to be improved

  • Nothing

Final thoughts

The Cuisinart compact automatic bread maker is easy to use, doesn’t take up a lot of space, and produces perfectly baked great tasting bread. It does everything larger bread makers do and for a fraction of the price. In my book that makes it a winner. And more importantly, it rekindled my love for making homemade bread.

Price: $99.95
Where to buy: AmazonBed Bath & Beyond, and Home Depot.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Cuisinart.

23 thoughts on “Cuisinart Compact Automatic bread maker review”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
  2. How do you get the paddle out before the baking starts? My old bread maker always had the bottom few slices ruined by the paddle.

    1. Larry,
      Before the bread starts to bake the machine will alert you with 10 short beeps and “paddle” will show on the LCD display, at this time you can remove the bread pan and take the dough out to remove the paddle. Then put everything back into the machine and push the start button to begin the baking process.

      Hope this helps. Thanks for reading.
      Mike

  3. Hi,

    Thanks for the informative review and for including so many piectures. One question I have after reading it is would I be missing anything by buying this compact breadmaker versus other, full size models? For example, would the loaves be smaller? Anything else?

    Thanks!
    JB

    1. JB,
      You won’t be missing much with this unit. Loaf size is 2lbs which is a pretty typical size. The only difference is the loaf is vertical and some larger units produce a horizontal loaf. It’s really a matter of preference. If you’re looking for a compact bread maker you can’t go wrong with this unit. I suggest you research for yourself before making a decision. Different units will have unique bells and whistles, it’s up to you to decide what is important to you.

      Thank you for reading and the kind comments!
      Mike

  4. Just recently purchased the Cuisinart Compact Automatic Bread Maker
    It came but there was no rrecipe booklet inside – having to look up online for recipes – where do go to get a recipe booklet

    Thanks

  5. I bought this breadmaker but on the gluten free setting it has 2 knead settings and 2 rise settings. I thought this was a big no no for GF Bread. Do you know how I change this? Both loafs i have made have fallen short and are quite dense. ThankS!

    1. I had no luck making gluten free bread. It was a complete flop. Contents were not all mixed by paddle. Dough never rose. Machine did not beep for removing paddle before baking. Very disappointed after spending the money for expensive ingredients and cost of bread machine!

  6. Michael Strange

    Hi Julia,
    Unfortunately I can’t answer your question. The best advice I can give you is to call their customer service at 1-800-726-0190. Hopefully they can provide an answer to your question.

    Thanks for reading and commenting.
    Stay safe and be well.

  7. Meghan Meredith

    Hey Mike,

    Thanks so much for the detailed review. I used to have a bread maker and after several years it died. During the time I had it though, I occasionally made cinnamon rolls. There was a setting called “manual” that would knead the dough and let it rise for however long but would turn off for me to take the dough out and “manually” roll out the dough and prep the cinnamon rolls and let them rise again in the oven then bake. They were delicious – I must say!

    I say all of that to ask, is there a comparable “manual” setting?

    Thanks so much,
    Meghan

    1. Yes, the option “dough” will only knead and rise it twice. Then you can remove the dough, shape it and let it rise one last time. Or, you cand just take the dough out when the remove paddle signal comes up, and turn off the machine.

  8. I really enjoy using this machine, but have one issue. The crust is too hard on any of the breads I made, even on the light-crust setting.

    Any advice?

  9. So I just got one. Been trying the gluten free. And it looks like it need more water. This is my third time, ingredients are exactly perfect. So I’m wondering if it’s just the gluten free. Dough just doesn’t seem to knead all the way.

  10. Hi Mike,
    Great review. Loving my new CBK-110. Are the beeps audible or muted when using the Delay Start feature? Can’t find the answer anywhere. As you know the beeps are long and loud. Don’t need them going off while sleeping. Thanks so much.

  11. Horizontal loaf pans actually make the bottom of the loaf ragged where the paddle(s) mix the dough. Vertical loaf pans only leave one small edge (bottom) ragged. So a vertical pan actually makes a more “normal” loaf when you lay the loaf on its side for slicing.

  12. Can you add ingredients like raisins or nuts and when do you add if can. Also can you make your own recipes?

    1. Hi Diana,
      Yes you can add ingredients. This is done during the kneading cycle.
      Thanks for reading and commenting.

  13. I’m hoping you have some answers for me, before I try my next gluten free loaf. GF dough should only be kneaded once, and only raise once. Can you tell me how long the Knead1, Rise1, Knead2, and Rise2 cycles are? If it’s going to take too much babysitting, I may have to opt for a different machine.
    … For others looking for reviews, I believe if I weren’t trying to go gluten free, I would completely love this machine.

    1. Hello Janis,
      I couldn’t find the exact information you were looking for in the user manual and I’ve never made gluten free bread. It’s also been quite awhile since I used the bread machine, but if memory serves you really don’t have to babysit the machine during the kneading or rise functions unless you’re looking to add ingredients during the kneading cycle. And the machine does produce really good breads from my experience. Hope this helps. And thank you for making want to break the machine out again and make some bread.
      Thanks for reading and commenting.

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