Panasonic’s new bread maker also makes ice cream – and it’s my favourite gadget of the year

I recently attended Panasonic’s Cooking Masterclass where I got to see its new microwave-air fryer hybrid in action. With 19 programmes to choose from, the 4-in-1 appliance can be used as an air fryer, convection oven, quartz grill and inverter microwave, and it cooks chicken insanely quickly.

At the event, I also got to see more of Panasonic’s new and upcoming launches, and its latest bread and ice cream maker hybrid has quickly become my new favourite appliance of the year – here’s why.

As Panasonic – and other brands like Ninja – have proven is that hybrid appliances which do more than one thing have become increasingly popular. Aside from offering two or more cooking functions in one, this hybrid make-up means you save money as you’re only buying one device, while also saving a huge amount of countertop and cupboard space.

Panasonic’s latest hybrid appliance, the new Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker is the perfect example of this. When I first heard that there was a device that combined these two actions, I was initially skeptical. Bread and ice cream sounds like a weird mix, but you’d be surprised how logical it actually is.

Bread machines and ice cream makers work in an almost identical way. Making bread and ice cream both require a certain amount of time and mixing – for bread, it’s kneading and for ice cream, it’s churning – so it’s a surprisingly similar action.

Ice cream makers have also surged in popularity over the years. However, unless you eat ice cream on a weekly basis, having a dedicated machine just for ice cream seems a little pointless for some, especially if they only intend to use it for a few months out of the year. Doubling this action with a bread maker means you’re more likely to use the appliance more often – at least that’s the case for me.

The Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker has three auto ice cream programs, and 12 dessert programs, including ice cream, sorbet, frozen yoghurt and even mochi. With the machine, you get a dedicated ice cream container which you need to pre-freeze for up to eight hours before you can use it in the machine.

Once the bowl is frozen and you’ve removed the bread tin, you can slot the ice cream container into the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker. From there, you simply pour in your pre-made mixture which doesn’t need to be pre-frozen, and you select your option on the machine – very simple!

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While I love ice cream as much as the next person, what caught my attention the most with the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker was its bread functions. It fits up to 500g loaf sizes, and has 34 programmes to play with, including French and Italian breads, basic and whole wheat breads, gluten free options, and even pizza dough.

My favourite part of the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker is its yeast and raisin/nut dispenser which sits separately within the lid of the machine. I love my bread maker but I’m always cautious about adding in yeast and salt too close to one another as the latter can dehydrate the former, which can cause yeast to act slower, resulting in flat loaves.

To counteract this problem, you can add your main ingredients to the machine’s bread tin and add yeast into the dispenser at the top. As a fully automatic machine, the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker kneads, rises and bakes bread in one, and dispenses the yeast at the right time. If you’re adding seeds, nuts or raisins to your loaves, it’ll also add this later in the process to avoid over kneading or crushing.

I found the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker extremely easy to use. While I didn’t get to see my bread as the event was shorter than the bread-making process, the pre-made bread I tried was delicious. Sadly as a lactose intolerant person, I didn’t get to try the ice cream but the other people at the event loved it and many went back for seconds – a high endorsement indeed!

I can’t wait to get my hands on the Panasonic Mini Bread and Ice Cream Maker, so stay tuned for when I finally get to test it.