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We recently found out that Panasonic has made an upgrade to its ever-popular SD-BMS105 bread machine. The new one is called SD-BMT1000 and it is rockin’ a drop-dead gorgeous purple. Forget black, white, and silver. Those are boring. Panasonic made the machine purple! And they picked an attractive, darker shade that will match any kitchen yet provide a nice focal point on the counter. It’s a bold choice by Panasonic and a good one too.

If you read our review of the Panasonic SD-BMS105 you will know that we raved about its ability to make cool things like udon and mochi. We were also impressed by how well it handles baking bread – and not only the expected wheat bread or whole wheat bread, but rice bread and melon bread too. It is the best bread machine we have used and is a very fun machine to make all sorts of treats. We enjoyed making udon, mochi, and pizza with it. It’s so versatile that you would find yourself using it almost every day. Since it’s already such a great machine, we wondered how it compared to the new SD-BMT1000. In this review, we will take a close look at the Panasonic SD-BMT1000.

Our Panasonic SD-BMT1000 Review

We got our hands on the Panasonic SD-BMT1000 on Amazon.com. Like the SD-BMS105, it is only sold in Japan so you will most likely have to find it online. The Panasonic SD-BMT1000 began selling in September 2014.

The other little quirk about this bread machine is all the instructions and recipes are written in Japanese. We were already familiar with the older model so our learning curve was small. But figuring out the settings and labeling them in English can be a daunting task at first. There’s no English manual on the Panasonic website either.

Last time, we suggested that you find someone who knew Japanese to help you translate, which may or may not be feasible. But there might be another solution. Do you know about the Google Translate app? It’s available on Android and iPhone and it uses the camera on your phone to directly translate in real-time between languages right on your screen. You can also snap a photo of whatever you want it to translate. So you can use it for the bread machine’s instruction manual and recipes. If you have another solution idea, let us know in the comments below.

Language aside, let’s talk about the features. The Panasonic SD-BMT1000 has the same awesome fruit/nut and yeast dispensers as the SD-BMS105. Only these two machines we’ve reviewed have both dispensers. They will automatically release any fruit, nut, and yeast at the right time.

As far as pre-programmed settings go, there’s a ridiculous amount on both machines. The new Panasonic SD-BMT1000 has 34 while the older Panasonic SD-BMS105 has 30. There’s not much difference here. The menu settings are listed on page 6 of the manual. Just to name a few, the Panasonic SD-BMT1000 has settings for pain de mie, plain bread, soft bread, 60-minute bread, rice bread, rye bread, whole wheat bread, brioche, “arrange” bread (the setting for melon bread), dough, chocolate, compote, mochi, udon, and pasta. These are all found on the Panasonic SD-BMS105 too.

The Panasonic SD-BMT1000 setting to make chocolate takes 17 minutes. The manual teaches you how to make milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate using the machine. You “cook” it in the machine and let the mixture set in the fridge. This is a really cool feature. Who would expect a bread machine to make chocolate? The manual is actually filled with great recipes. We always find nice surprises here and there. We still haven’t gone through the whole thing yet.

The compote setting is a unique feature. You can make compote in about 90 minutes. The LCD menu is easy to use once you get past the language. For example, if you want to make compote which is menu setting number 31, you just select #31.

The menu setting we want to point out on the Panasonic SD-BMT1000 is marble bread. Using the marble bread setting you can make fancy marbled loaves by adding ingredients like coffee, green tea, and chocolate (see the video demonstration below). We enjoyed using it to make coffee bread. You just add instant coffee.

Panasonic SD-BMT1000 Features At A Glance

• Makes a tall 1-pound loaf
• Bakes bread in 1 to 3 hours, and has a 13-hour delay timer
• Has both a yeast and fruit/nut dispenser
• Has a large LCD display
• Has a plethora of pre-programmed settings: basic bread, French bread, whole wheat bread, rice bread, rye bread, marble bread, brioche, red bean bread, dough, pizza dough, cake, pasta, udon, mochi, steamed bread, jam, compote, chocolate, quick bake, and more!
• Comes with instruction manual, recipe book with many uniquely Japanese recipes, removable bake pan with two kneading blades (one for bread and one for noodles/mochi), measuring spoon, and measuring cup

Concluding Thoughts

To conclude, the newer Panasonic SD-BMT1000 is very similar to its previous version Panasonic SD-BMS105 that we reviewed. One main difference is one is dark purple and the other is silver white. Furthermore, the Panasonic SD-BMT1000 has 4 more menu settings, and of those, there’s a marble bread setting (#14) that can make swirled chocolate, green tea, coffee bread. This is a great enough feature to warrant an upgrade. But in the end, both are highly capable machines in their own class. It’s hard to find any other machines that can compare to them. If you can find one outside Japan, get it.

Purchase the Panasonic SD-BMT1000 on Amazon for the best price and FREE shipping!