 "If you are living gluten free. . ." | 2009-12-31 |
| - Reviewed By liat2768 from dallas |
I bought the zojirushi a couple of months ago after my 8 year old was diagnosed as having celiac disease - our home is now gluten free. This review will probably be most relevant if you are going to use the machine for gluten free breads.
First and foremost, the machine does NOT have a preprogrammed gluten free cycle. I tried using the quick cycle and found that it did not do as well as I had hoped. Luckily I had ordered the gluten free cookbook by Annalaise Roberts (reviewed seperately) at the same time and the best part of the book was that she gave detailed programming instructions for this specific machine. They worked like a charm for recipes I've used from different gluten free cookbooks.
The Zojirushi is BIG. It requires being pulled away from the wall and not to be under a cabinet when baking since it senses the temperature of it's environment and adjusts the baking temperature accordingly. This makes for better baking accuracy but count on a big chunk of your counter top being reserved for this machine.
It does an excellent job with the gluey gluten free doughs and the motor does not seem to strain in the least. I've tried out about 5 different recipes and have baked over a dozen loaves since I bought it. It does well every time, although getting the paddles out of the bread is annoying. However, I think that most breadmachines have this problem. I have read that people remove the paddles before the bake cycle but I haven't tried digging into the dough to do that. Frankly, I like to throw everything in and walk away.
The crust control is excellent although the top does remain a doughy brown color.
I like the fact that it can make jams but have not tried it out yet.
As other people have mentioned, it has an annoying beep signaling when you can add in nuts, etc. It is no big deal to me but it would be a nice perk if you could turn off that option.
Basically, the biggest thing I was bummed out about was that it did not have a pre-programmed gluten free setting and a few more gluten free recipes in its tiny cookbook.
The dvd it comes with would be super useful if I was baking regular breads in it but it was not terribly instructive for a novice to gluten free baking. It does make using the machine for the first time very easy.
All in all, it is an excellent machine. I think the strength of its motor and integrity of it's construction are going to make it well worth it's price.
|
| |
| "Fantastic breadmaker" | 2009-12-31 |
| - Reviewed By queen geek from La Mesa, CA United States |
| We bought this on the recommendation of a friend, and we were extremely pleased at how easy it is to use and also at the quality of the bread. The instructions are clear and concise (a rarity in today's world) and it literally takes about five minutes of effort to produce a great loaf of fresh-baked bread. Definitely worth it. We've only had it for about a week, and I've already baked three loaves of bread that haven't lasted very long because they've been devoured by the family. |
| |
| "Fantastic Machine" | 2009-12-31 |
| - Reviewed By ElCzort from United States |
I've had this machine a few months now and I bought it based on reviews. Whatever you buy, there are bound to be some bad ones due to those putting them together or some defective parts and I always keep that in mind. I found very few negative reviews on this machine and I wanted a quality, built to last bread machine. I never even heard of this machine prior to my recent search so I took a leap of faith. It was worth every single penny !
I've had machines in the past and had varied luck with them - so many things seem to change the outcome of the breads everytime I made a loaf and I was really fed up with wasting my money on expensive ingredients.
Room temperature, water temperature, other ingredient temperature, etc. has not caused any problems in the Zojirushi BBCC-X20, which seemed to wreak havoc on my other machines. I have not had one bad loaf in this machine - not one. I've even used yeast that required being proofed prior to using, without proofing it, just dumping it in a small hole I made in the flour on top, just to see what would happen. I expected a bad loaf but it came out great - just didn't rise quite as high - maybe an inch lower to be exact. I usually always make the 2 lb. loafs.
Sometimes the breads are a bit tough to shake out of the pan as the paddles are holding it in, but those are the heavier breads.
One fantastic, huge bread book I'd like to recommend with this machine is The Bread Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook. It is fantastic - what a spectacular gift with both of these together, even for yourself. |
| |
| "Terrific breadmaker" | 2009-12-30 |
| - Reviewed By cooking enthusiast from Western Montana |
This is my fourth bread machine and I bake breads all the time, not just in the machines.
This is clearly the best machine available. Sure it has some limitations, but the others do as well.
Every type of bread I've made in and out of the machine (meaning baked in the machine and those with the dough settings) has come out perfectly.
I will say that it's important to have a solid, tried and true recipe and for those I go to King Arthur Flour's website.
The recipes there are practically guaranteed to produce flawless results (and they will answer any questions about their recipes).
The other brands of breadmakers I've used have been very, very good, but this one is clearly at the front of the lot. |
| |
 "New user of bread machine" | 2009-12-25 |
| - Reviewed By fleming1 from world citizen |
| I am a new user of a bread machine. I did my research and bought the Zojirushi. My bread came out extreamly heavy. I had to keep adjusting my flour content. So far it is getting lighter and lighter each time I reduce the flour content. I want it more like store bought bread. So far I am happy with the machine. I would suggest it to anyone looking to buying a bread machine. I called the help phone # and the person was very helpful with my problem of the weight of the bread.The help section of the book should have more trouble shooting solutions. I had the machine a little over 1 month at the time of this posting. |
| |
 "Very disappointing experience" | 2009-12-22 |
| - Reviewed By J. Bridges |
After a very good experience with a Breadman model I decided to upgrade to this Zojirushi breadmaker. I liked the idea of making more traditionally shaped loaves and thought it would be worth the money since I use my Breadman so frequently. What a disappointment. The dough is not even. I need to reach in to reshape the loaf over both paddles. When I add raisins, nuts, etc. They don't incorporate into the dough evenly. I need to pull the dough out and manually add these items. Even a simple white bread recipe is disappointing because the loaf is not evenly shaped.
I would not recommend this. My hope is that the Breadman brand will come out with a traditionally shaped loaf bread maker. Sorry.... save your money. |
| |
International Available
