I bought the West Bend 41300 breadmaker as a birthday present for my boyfriend (with the 'Betty Crocker Best Bread Machine Cookbook.) It's a well-made, good-looking machine & seems to work well. The first couple of loaves he made weren't that great but he figured out it was because we'd been opening the lid of the machine to check the progress while it was rising & baking. DO NOT DO THIS! It will cause the top of your loaf to sink, give it a very hard, brittle crust & make your loaf dense & heavy. If you want to peek at the loaf while it is baking, look through the window on the lid. This is not in the trouble-shooting section of the manual but should be - we just discovered it through… Read more
