Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker

About a year ago we bought a Breadman Pro breadmaker, which was OK. But it has started to have the spindle for the paddle fall out, which can be a bit awkward if it happens at the wrong time. Parts are hard to find, so I decided to get another breadmaker. When I was looking last year, I was very taken by this Zojirushi, but we got the Breadman Pro locally for about $50, so we went with that. The Zojirushi arrived very quickly and in good order. I washed the pan and paddles, set it up, and decided to try the Basic White loaf. Result: a really good loaf of bread. The best I've ever tasted? No, but very, very good! Comparisons. The Zojirushi is much, much quieter in operation. Very quiet, in fact, which is much appreciated. I am careful with my measurements for bread, but I got this loaf as a far better 2 lb. loaf than the Breadman Pro could do. The shape was better, it had a nice crust (I think it was the butter), and was more even within in terms of texture and form. The two smaller paddles came out of the loaf very cleanly and left far less disturbance than in the Breadman Pro (which has one larger paddle). And the indentations were crusted, rather than torn bread. The larger pan of the Zojirushi allows a 2 lb. loaf that is longer (about 1.5 inches) and so not as high as the Breadman Pro. It doesn't spill over the sides of the pan. The shape fits nicely into the bread cutting form we have, so we can slice it nicely. At present, sandwiches for all 5 of us for lunch consumes a whole loaf, less a couple of slices, so this longer loaf will allow us more slices per loaf. I had cut back to 1.5 lb loaves with the Breadman Pro, as the shape of the top of the 2 lb. loaves wasn't good for cutting and using for sandwiches, but these 2 lb. loaves will do us very nicely. Still to be tested is whole wheat bread and various specialty recipes. But this good start is very promising. Will report back later. June, 2011, Update. This machine is still amazing. It produces excellent raisin loaf, and the recipe for the custom Crusty French Bread can be run through the ordinary cycle with excellent results: it's my more common loaf. We've produced a loaf a day for most of the time we've had it, and it has worked very, very well. Loaves are a good shape for sandwiches. It produces very good bread with some wholemeal flour, but fully wholemeal loaves are still a bit heavy, but the family still eat them: I need to experiment more! Various other loaves from the recipe book have been great. Points to watch. As noted in other reviews, you do need to get the paddles out when washing the pan, but the non-stick surface makes this easy. The non-stick material on the 6 rivet heads on the base of the pan seems a little less effective, and a little material may adhere to the spindles, but these are simple checks you washed it properly. I don't think I've had a time where a paddle has stayed in a loaf, as they seem to bake a crust around themselves. Wiping with your finger in a wet cloth after washing seems to clean it well enough. The fact that there is a supporting website and spare parts is very comforting after the vacuum of support for our old Breadman Pro when it failed. I'd rather pay more and get longer life and support, as well as better bread. I don't think that the Zojirushi has produced a loaf one could call 'below average.' I am not sure why the people who couldn't get it to work had problems, but a little fine tuning can make a difference, e.g., I use a tiny fraction less yeast than the recipe for a better loaf. In summary, an excellent piece of equipment that is a fixture in our kitchen. It works well and without drama. It's not cheap, but you get what you pay for here: a quality product which does what it's supposed to. November, 2015, Update. Still working well, without any dramas. We had to cut back on bread, as two of the four people now living here can't have gluten, one of them seriously. So the breadmaker sat on a shelf for quite a while. But the arrival of gluten-free bread mixes (especially Bob's Red Mill) have revived the Zojirushi, and it didn't miss a beat. We now have three gluten-free styles (whole grain, white and raisin), which produce great bread. I tend to add extra yeast to help them rise a bit quicker in the available time, and the resulting loaves are greatly appreciated. I am very glad I bought this machine. It has been flawless and is so easy to use, and produces great bread. Would that all kitchen appliances were so well made and work so well. Six or more stars, if that were possible! May, 2019, Update. It's still going strong. I just made a gluten-free loaf yesterday and a regular loaf today, and both turned out very well. Several years ago I bought a pair of new paddles, as the original ones were starting to lose their coating and bread was sticking to them. That was quick and easy and we have since settled back into a regular routine with bread without any drama or concerns. This has turned out to be an excellent investment. Far better bread than any previous bread maker we've used, and trouble-free operation. It's simply an impressive product that I am very happy I bought.

If so, I may have to propose to mine. Um, OK, maybe not, but seriously... this thing might just be my favorite possession in the whole world. It's the first bread maker I've ever owned, and I bought it 18 months ago (pretty much immediately after Zojirushi brought out the black/silver model) after spending maybe six months umming and ahhing and vacillating and reading every review posted on Amazon for this (or at least, its previous incarnation that's exactly the same, only white) and the comparable Breadman and Panasonic models. I finally sprang for the Zojirushi as a birthday present to myself despite the relatively steep price tag as I'd decided it was "the one" and that I was pretty sure I wouldn't be quite as happy with any of the other models I'd been contemplating. I've not regretted my decision for a moment since, and have baked a TON of bread in the year and a half since I bought it. That's not to say every loaf has turned out perfectly; I've had my share of disasters, but I can count them on the fingers of one hand and each and every one of those disasters has been down to operator error rather than any failing on the part of the breadmaker. Disaster number one (loaf didn't rise at all) involved using old/bad yeast, and all the others have been down to my mis-reading of the recipe or otherwise failing to follow instructions precisely. Accidentally putting in two tablespoons of salt instead of two teaspoons, that kind of thing. Right now I have a disaster in the making sitting in my Zo; guess who didn't spot until it was too late the part where the recipe said to leave the starter in the machine for 8-10 hours before proceeding to the next step? Yup, that would be me. Oops. I can tell you that EVERY time I have properly followed the instructions (either in the manual that came with the machine or in the Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook that I, along with many previous reviewers, can't recommend highly enough as a companion purchase), I've been rewarded with an incredible loaf of bread. If you're a novice or near-novice breadmaker like me, I'd recommend trying out several of the recipes from the manual included with the machine to get the feel for how it works before you start getting more adventurous with different breads. Once I'd turned out a few perfect loaves of a few different kinds (the ones in the instruction manual are surprisingly good, but you'll want to expand your repertoire before very long!) I started pretty much working my way through the above-mentioned bread machine cookbook and am constantly finding new "favorite" recipes. This machine lends itself very well to whichever kind of recipe you want to follow. There are a ton of recipes that you can use with just the basic pre-programmed bread or dough settings, but if you find you need to tweak things a bit, the three programmable "homemade" settings allow you to vary your knead/rise times as required by the recipe you're following. Anyway. There's precious little I can say about this machine that hasn't already been said by a couple of hundred other reviewers, but here goes! I had wanted to get my own bread maker for a long time; I consider myself a pretty good cook but for some reason have always been utterly terrible when it comes to baking of any sort. I can cook just about anything, but baked goods? Forget it. That involves some special kind of witchcraft that I just don't possess. But I do LOVE freshly-baked, interesting bread, and I was getting heartily sick of the bland, HFCS-filled offerings in the grocery store with their unfeasibly long lists of unidentifiable ingredients that have no business being in a loaf of bread. There is something so satisfying about being able to measure out a few simple ingredients, dump them all (in the right order, of course!) in the bread pan, set the machine, then come back to find that those ingredients have, apparently by magic, turned into an amazing loaf of bread. I love setting the machine before I go to bed and then being woken up in the wee small hours by the wonderful smell of freshly-baked bread wafting through the house. It's also so easy to use the Zojirushi for all the tricky, messy stuff involving mixing and kneading and rising and then shape the resulting dough into a loaf to be baked in the oven... only to be rewarded by an impressive rustic-looking loaf that looks (and tastes) like something from a fancy artisanal bakery. I think I have waxed lyrical about this bread maker for long enough now, so I'll just finish by saying: if you're on the fence about getting one of these, go for it! I very much doubt you'll be disappointed. Did I mention that I love my Zojirushi?

EASY TO CLEAN One of this machine's standout features is that it is so remarkably easy to keep clean. With my past bread machines, their paddles (that knead the dough) were a misery to clean (think toothpicks and dough-goo). The Zojirushi's paddles, when briefly pre-soaked, easily rinse clean inside and out. With past machines, the baking cavity, observation window, and the baking pan quickly became caked with flour dust. If I didn't wipe the interior of the machine out frequently and thoroughly (an annoying task), my kitchen would smell of burning flour when I next baked bread. The Zojirushi eliminates this problem, by beginning the knead cycle at a very slow speed that doesn't kick up flour dust. Once the flour and water are combined the knead speed increases. Because we eat a lot of bread, I also very much appreciate that this machine makes a larger 2-lb loaf, and that the loaf is traditionally shaped for sandwiches and Panini. RECIPES (that work with this machine) For those of you that are new to bread machine baking, I recommend two places where you'll find recipes that work well with this machine. First, The Bread Machine Cookbook (2005 release) by Donna German includes three loaf sizes for every recipe, and the Large size works well with the 2-lb Zojirushi. Second, the King Arthur Flour site includes bread machine recipes (bread, desserts, meatloaf, etc.), that have been tested in Zojirushi bread makers. FLOUR (try different brands) I also suggest that you use a good quality bread flour. Over the years, I've tried many brands of commercially available flour, and have come to agree with reviewers that different brands of flour affect the taste of your bread. Based on my experience I've found that I prefer King Arthur Bread flour. DIGITAL SCALE (very helpful) Finally, I recommend you purchase an inexpensive kitchen scale (like the Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale, in Elegant Black that I use) to measure your flour. With a bread machine, it's nice to be able to dial in a recipe and then repeat it time after time, without having to hover over the machine to see if it needs more flour or water. After I purchased the scale, I learned why our loaves had such variability: my spouse's cups of flour were running from 5.5 to 6 ounces each and mine about 4.5 ounces. The scale allowed us to determine the optimum amount of flour needed, and use that amount each time. It also allows me to match the recipes on the King Arthur Flour site, since they provide the option of measurements in ounces. And if you're thinking that using a scale seems like too much fuss, it actually makes the process easier. I place a small mixing bowl on the scale (then zero out the weight of the bowl), and pour flour into it directly from the bag, until I hit the ounces I'm looking for, and...happy days...no cups, no leveling over the bag, no cleaning up spilled flour. I then add sugar and salt, and pour the contents of the bowl into the bread pan. SAVINGS (eventually) If you're like me, initially, you'll try lots of recipes. Eventually, you'll settle on a few favorites and begin perfecting them for your bread maker. The quality of the bread makes the effort worthwhile as well as the cost per loaf; however, before you jump to the conclusion that a bread machine will result in a cost savings, you need to factor in the cost of the bread machine. For example, I was paying $6 a loaf for artisanal bread at the local grocery store. A cost-benefit analysis showed that I had to use the bread machine to make about 45 loaves of bread to get to the point where I was spending less to make bread versus buying it at the store. Since we make bread and rolls several times per week (sometimes per day), it didn't take long for us to recover the cost of the bread maker and see a dramatic drop in the cost of our bread.

Update: I'm technically on my 12th year now, bought this May 2, 2003. I use this bread machine often, about 2-3 times a week. Sometimes for dough, sometimes for banana bread on cake mode, often for simple breads. I've probably saved thousands on bread products over the years. Zojirushi is a great brand, I have 2 of their rice cookers, which are also phenomenal. Wishes are that this has a dumper for warm yeast water (I like extra foamy yeast, sugar, milk powder, fat mixture), a dispenser for add one like nuts and stuff, and one day a more robotic approach for baguettes and whatever - or make the dough, rise for 8 - 12 hours, dump a baguette into a cooking surface. We can dream right? Original review from 2003... Okay, so I waited for months and months to get this, and finally saw one from Amazon Warehouse Deals that was about a hundred dollars less than the current Amazon price.... it arrived, was in perfect condition (I think it was just a returned item that was never used), and in a few minutes I was using their basic bread recipe.... first loaf was a disaster, but I was using old flour and old yeast that had been in my cabinet for at least a year. I went to Costco, bought a 25 pound bag of bread flour and a giant package of yeast, and have now made 4 loaves in the past 3 days... as well as sourdough starter. Their "basic sourdough" recipe is amazing - the bread is chewy and elastic, and tangy, and perfect. The loaves come out great, everything is perfect. If I were to change a few things: * a nicer display... sheesh, if a $69 printer can have a full color touch screen, this can too... * the ability to make a 1 pound loaf and a 2 pound loaf.... perhaps it's possible just with a smaller recipe? I was thinking about this forever, and really, these 2 pound loaves are pretty sizable, but I'm always making people happy by giving away bread... perhaps have this come with two pans? UPDATE: it's possible, they just dont look as pretty without that "muffin top". * what's with Zojirushi and their weird measuring cups? I have their rice cooker (another one of god's greatest essential appliances, trust me), and it has this special measuring cup too... Anyway, buy this bread machine - if you don't like it, return it or sell it... but you're going to love it... especially after that first loaf of mouth-watering sourdough bread! UPDATE! Zojirushi, if you're reading this, I really think that the screen should be a larger screen with a graph of everything that happens from start to end, and when to add items, and show a moving arrow along this line. Also, have the screen have built-in recipes to follow. And if possible, maybe an auto-dispenser for the "add-on" items so you don't have to wait around. So far I think I've made 30 loaves of bread... I bought a 25 lb bag of bread flour at Costco, but also bought 2 bags of flour on amazon (7 grain and whole wheat) and it took me two loaves to realize that you still use 2-3 cups of white bread flour for every cup of whole wheat or multi-grain.... unless you want very, very, very dense bread. ;-) I find if I add items as soon as the "add" beep comes on, that they get pretty pulverized... I wait an extra 3 or so minutes, then add items like walnuts.

Okay...my perspective is that of a novice. I bought this maker because I wanted to have better control of the ingredients in my bread. I buy a loaf of bread from the store each week for toast (mainly) and sandwich bread. This is what I was looking to replace. I was also interested in trying out more specialty breads. I bought is around Thanksgiving last year and have used it approximately once a week since then. First let me say I am a TRUE novice. I don't bake if I can avoid it. I make cookies a couple of times a year and that is it. I find baking too restrictive and I can't modify the recipes too much. Plus it is MESSY and I hate a mess. All that kneading ugh! Not for me. So I thought a bread maker would be prefect for me. I went with Zojirushi because we have their rice maker and it is the best one we ever had. Very high quality. I saw this choice as low risk. It's expensive, but I have to say worth it. It is very well made and works well. So from a novice perspective here's what I have learned. I haven't tried anything to complex yet (just white and wheat loaves), but now that I'm comfortable I am going to branch out. 1. DO NOT USE THE CUP TO SCOOP THE FLOUR!!! This one is what totally screwed me up when I first started this. Now maybe if I had baked before I would have known not to do this but as a noobie I had no clue. You need to use a spoon to pour the flour into the measuring cup before you scrape it off even. Otherwise you end up with WAY too much flour. Ever since I started pouring the flour into the cup it has been perfecto! 2. If you are using traditional yeast (standard cycle) set a timer for 1 hr 50 min when you hit go. When the timer goes off the final knead cycle is ending and the final rise cycle is starting. When this happens move the dough to one side of the pan and remove the exposed paddle. Either spray the post with non-stick spay (Pam etc.) or cover it with non-stick aluminum foil (just the post...my preference is to do this one). Then push the dough to the other side and repeat on the other paddle. After this is done mold the dough to the shape of the pan and close the lid to allow the cycle to complete. This way you don't have huge gouges in your bread from the paddles. I do this if I'm not using the timer function and will be around 1:50 after the cycle starts. This way I only have small post holes in the bottom of the bread. 3. I have only used the timer function one time and my bread was HUGE!!! It over rose. I think if I do that again I'm going to add a little less yeast. 4. It is damn near impossible to find a slicer guide that will fit a 2 lb loaf from this bread maker (it's even hard to find a guide that will fit the 1.5 lb loaf). The loaf is always too tall for the guide. This is really frustrating because I bought it so that I could slice up the bread for toast and I CAN NOT cut straight free hand to save my life. If anyone has suggestions of a good one I am all ears! DB-Tech Bamboo Wood Compact Foldable Bread Slicer is the one I am currently using, but would love a better one. 5. The bread is really hard to cleanly cut with a manual knife. I ended up buying an electric knife to slice my bread. When I used a manual knife the bread was too soft and would just crumbble/shred. I can't explain it correctly, but when I use the electric knife ( Cuisinart CEK-40 Electric Knife ) it looks just like store bought slices. Well I have had the maker for about 2 months and these are the biggest lessons I learned. I really like this bread maker and the bread I make it in is much more tasty than what I would buy in the store. I LOVE IT and would buy it again in a heartbeat. I hope to not buy store bread again. Good luck and happy "baking"...just like me. ;)

The wife had been using a bread maker for over 30 years. Her original machine was about worn out. But she could not find a new one that she liked. I bought this one and gave it to her for Christmas. She loves it! It has the capacity of the old one and many updated features. As we speak a batch of dough is in process that she will turn into cinnamon rolls in the morning. I can't wait.

I purchased this machine to replace a Welbit bread machine that I had received as a gift back in '93 and have since nearly worn out. I read all of the reviews and had decided to go with the Zojirushi because it was highly rated. I should have read the negative reviews more closely because I experienced everything noted in those reviews. I got the machine on a Saturday and had paid more for 2 day shipping so that it would arrive in time to be the third machine to help with a big bake sale that my niece and I were doing. The machine arrived and I read the manual closely--taking an hour away from baking that I could not afford. Let me say here that I am an experienced baker and have been using a bread machine for over a decade and occasionally also bake by hand. The Zojirushi machine simply does not work up to its "reputation" and certainly not up to its cost! I placed the ingredients in the machine in the order noted in the manual and demonstrated in the video that comes with the machine. The first loaf of bread--maple oatmeal--was not browned on the top and had a crown that sunk. It was edible but certainly not something we could sell. I decided to try another bread before I threw in the towel and attempted to make a simple raisin bread. Again, disaster. This time not only did the crust not get dark--even when the setting selected was for a dark crust--but again a sunken crown. It was then that I read the negative reviews and found out that experienced bakers had noted the same problem. I should have paid more attention to the negative reviews. I immediately packed up the machine and returned it the next week for a refund. I can only surmise as others have who gave the machine poor ratings that the positive reviews must be from inexperienced bakers or from those who can't fathom that they can pay over $200 for a product and it not work even passably well. I have a 24 year old Kitchen Aid mixer and it's still chucking away. And thank goodness I had it for the bake sale because it was a workhorse, mixing double and triple batters and even kneading dough after I realized that the Zojirushi would be of no help. Unfortunately the Welbilt is no longer manufactured so I'll have to find another machine. But $230 for an appliance that simply is not well made or functions as it should is unacceptable. The week before I got the Z machine I found a machine in a thrift store for $3.88 and it works better than the Zojirushi!!! I guess the lesson here is that you don't always get what you pay for. And by the way the bake sale was fabulous thanks to the old Welbilt, the Kitchenaid mixer and good old fashioned arm power.

I have been making bread on average about 2 times a week for a solid year with this machine. It is still putting out great bread!! Is it perfect? No, But it is very good and reliable. I love the loaves that came out more sandwich shaped like store bought bread loaves, but a bit bigger. We make lunch sandwiches everyday and wrap them in plastic cling wrap - works like a charm! The timer feature works well too, you just tell it how many hours and minutes you want to pass until your loaf is done and press start. One thing to note for the bread making newbies: Weigh your flour, don't use a measuring cup!!! I started having problems with flat loaves after a while using this machine. I tried everything to get the loaves back to shape: changing to all new ingredients, adding a little more yeast, adding a lot more yeast, warming my water, everything. I was very frustrated!!!! I called Zojirushi support to see if there was something wrong with my machine, they suggested get a scale and weigh the flour not use a measuring cup. I thought, yeah right, I use a measuring cup and carefully level off the top with a flat back knife...I know I am accurately measuring. But I figured I would try it anyway. I got a kitchen scale EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, Silver . To my surprise and shame, I found that I had been putting in about 1/2c to 3/4c of extra flour into my bread!!! I was stunned! I guess it is easy to compact more flour into a measuring cup depending on how you scoop. Thinking about it, I guess that on all those baking and cooking shows, when they bake they always have a scale and bake by weight - so I guess i should have realized weighing is how the pros do it. Anyway...my first loaf with the weighed flour turned out beyond perfect - it was my best loaf ever!!! And I have not gotten a compact loaf since!!! Also I use this machine to make homemade pasta dough and pizza dough. You can refer to the manual and create a custom dough cycle for just about anything you want to make. I have a custom cycle that will just kneed for 20 minutes straight and then stop. Perfect pasta dough every time!! I also like the quick loaf feature: a perfect loaf in just over 2 hours!!! (Just make sure your ingredients are room temp including the water) Now something that I don't like is how the kneading paddles will get some dried and baked bread crust under them. I am sure that this does not effect performance for the next loaf, but i always take off the paddle blades and "crunch" off the crust underneath. but this is a minor grip. But overall, this is THE bread machine of choice for me. I always get rave reviews on my homemade bread and I always enthusiastically recommend this machine. Great product!!!