White Westinghouse Bread Maker Review

White Westinghouse may have been unofficially dissolved as a company in the early 2000’s, but many of their products are still available to purchase in second hand stores and places such as Ebay. They produced a few different bread machines, and one of the more popular models was the WWTR444A. This is the model we are going to have a brief look at today. Since it was manufactured about 15 years ago, the big question is how well does it compare to the modern and improved bread machines available on the market today? Lets talk about that below.

Product Features:
To begin with we take a closer look at the design of this model. Our initial thoughts are lukewarm, with this model looking quite standard for a machine from this time period. It is glossy white in color, so nothing too exciting here. The lid features a medium sized square window to keep an eye on the cooking progress, and there are vents at the back for releasing steam. On the top right of the machine are the main controls and lcd. The main controls are color coded, and these including the Start, Stop, Program and Timer buttons.

The lcd sits in the center, and above that are summaries of all the included recipes. The lcd is a little small, but again it is not too bad compared to competing models of that age. The power cord is a little on the short side, so the machine is designed to be used quite close to the power point. Aside from that there is nothing too exciting about this particular design. It doesn’t look too old, but at the same time it doesn’t stand out either.

Now let’s talk about some of the features. This machine claims to make three loaf size including the small 1 lb, the medium 1.5 lb and the larger 2 lb. The recipes on the control panel all reference either 1.5 lb or 2lb loaves, and strangely enough the manual doesn’t mention any 1 lbs size loaves. However, it does state that it bakes 1 lb loaves right on the front of the box, so presumably you use the 1.5 lb preset when cooking smaller loaves. There is no crust control on this model, but rather these are part of the selected recipes.

This machine has 18 built in recipes and these include White Medium 2 lb, White Dark 2 lb, Rapid White 2 lb, White 1.5 lb, Rapid White 1.5 lb, French 2 lb, French 1.5 lb, Fruit & Nut 2 lb, Fruit & Nut 1.5 lb, Batter Breads, Whole Wheat 2 lb, Rapid Whole Wheat 2 lb, Whole Wheat 1.5 lb, Rapid Whole Wheat 2 lb, Whole Wheat 1.5 lb, Dough, Pizza Dough, Bagel Dough and Jam. If you take away the duplicate recipes for different loaf sizes, then you are left with around 12 unique recipes which is quite decent.
The timer can delay the cooking completion time up to 13 hours, and this can be done in ten minute increments. The bread is cooking in the die cast nonstick baking tin. The manual explicitly states not to use any metal utensils with the baking tin, and it must not be washed in the dishwasher.

The White Westinghouse WWTR444A is a horizontal bread maker, so if you like standard store bought shape loaves then this may not be what you are looking for. There is no mention of what size motor powers this unit, and a single kneading paddle mixes the dough. If you are using one of the recipes that require extra ingredients to be added at some point, then the machine will beep to let you know it is time to insert them. Once the cooking phase is complete, the machine will switch over to a Keep Warm cycle which will last for up to 60 minutes. An advantage this machines has is the built in Power Failure mode. Often we see bread machines that can revert to their current baking task if left unplugged for 10 or 15 minutes at the most. This model offers a 60 minute recovery window, so if the power goes off then you have 60 minutes before the machine will forget what it is doing which is quite impressive.

Since this is quite an old machine, it is difficult to get a good idea of how well it functions. Cooking times are fairly average, with white bread taking around 3:00 in total and whole wheat bread taking around 4:00 for example. This is more or less standard cooking times, even when compared to modern bread makers. There have been quite a few reports that it works well with the built in recipes. The taste and texture of the completed products is said to be ok, assuming you are quite precise ingredients. There have been some users saying that the machine struggles with thicker kinds of breads, or recipes which make the recipe thicker such as raisins. People have suggested that the motor is a little underpowered to cope with this kind of task, but remember that this is only from a few users, so we recommend you do your own research before making a purchase. Aside from that, the limited info we have come across have said that the machine does a decent job with all the built in recipes.

So that is a quick look at the White Westinghouse WWTR444A bread maker. It looks a little dated now, but the built in recipes supposedly work ok. It is quite an ordinary model, so we wouldn’t go out of our way to buy one. It comes with a recipe book, and it did include a 1 year warranty although this will be long since expired by now!

User Manual: You can find a scanned copy of the users manual over here.

Pros:

• 18 recipes
• 13 hour delay timer
• Power Failure Mode (Up to 60 minutes)

Cons:

• Hard to find
• Looks a little dated
• Said to be underpowered for thicker dough

Summary:
The White Westinghouse WWTR444A is a somewhat ordinary bread maker, which is a bit dated now. If you can get it for a bargain price, then it should work fine for making basic bread. If you are desperate to get hold of one, then Ebay will probably be your best option.