Mornings with the aroma of freshly baked bread is one of life’s pleasures than you can have but preparing it yourself can be annoying, hard, time-consuming, and prone to error. Even if you try, there is no guarantee that you will get it right after the initial umpteen tries that you fail. Bread from stores will never ever come closer to homemade bread. The tempting smell of fresh bread and eating it warm with butter and honey, or homemade raspberry jam is a pleasure you will never forget but it’s hard to make without a little magic.
That’s where the best Zojirushi bread makers come in. Like most kitchen appliances bread makers have evolved a lot over the past few years. The bread makers certainly cannot replace the joy of making bread by hand but they are fairly helpful when you are pressed for time. Whether you wish to control the ingredients of your bread or try to avoid artificial preservatives, the best Zojirushi bread maker will make the process much easy and simple for you.
Before you rush to buy a bread maker, you should know one thing a bread maker is just an appliance and you have to understand the proper ingredients and perfect ratio in order to get the best bread possible. Once you learn the programming features of a bread maker, it will do everything for you from pre-kneading to resting and attending to the rising and baking of the bread.
Before that, you have to identify what type of bread maker suits you the most. If you wish to make bread in an hour or so, convection bread makers are the simple and ideal ones. The convection bread makers circulate high-temperature heat around the bread to cook it evenly. On the other hand, premium bread makers are specially designed to bake bread that incorporates jams, nuts, and other additional ingredients during the process.
Our testing procedure involves buying all five Zojirushi bread makers, then we will take a closer look at some of the best bread makers from Zojirushi. Afterward, we will discuss how to choose the best Zojirushi bread maker, and at the end we will try to answer some of the most frequently asked questions from our readers.
Table of Contents
Best Zojirushi Bread Makers Review and Buying Guide
1. Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker Review
First on our list of Best Zojirushi Bread Makers is Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Bread Maker, an incredible and easy-to-use machine that produces appetizing loaves with a nice crust and boasts tons of additional features to make a range of other baked goods too. Although, Zojirushi bread maker is the most expensive on the market, but if you visit the nearby bakery more often, getting Zojirushi Home bakery will transform your kitchen into one where you can bake anything you crave for.
The Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker is a 120-volt, AC, 60Hz appliance with a 1-meter power cord. The machine has two heating elements: a main heater for the cooking pan and a small one in the lid. The heater in the lid is only to help achieve an even browning of the top bread crust else it is too small to do anything.
This bread maker is unique because it has two kneading blades instead of just one which do a superior job kneading the dough. The large LCD display is easy to read, and a viewing window in the lid lets you keep track of the progress of your loaf without opening the lid and disrupting the temperature.
The setup of the machine is incredibly simple and easy. First, you clean and dry the bread pan. Fill it with ingredients (measure the ingredients for perfect results), and select the menu depending on the recipe you are using. The process of measuring the ingredients, plugging in the bread maker only takes about 15 minutes. Once you have dumped the ingredients in the machine, press the menu button (Say White Bread). Once the baking process starts, the machine will let you know precisely when your loaf will be ready. Once the bread is ready, remove the pan carefully and there you have delicious, aromatic, and homemade bread without exhausting yourself.
14 preset courses available to choose from is another feature that makes it the best Zojirushi bread maker so far. There are 3 memory slots to save a customized program suited to your baking preferences. The presets include, White, Whole Wheat, European, Multigrain, Gluten Free, Salt-Free, Sugar-Free, Vegan, Rapid White, Rapid Whole Wheat, Dough, Sourdough Starter, Cake, Jam and Homemade (Custom Course).
With the bread maker, you get a liquid measuring cup, nested measuring cup, and a measuring spoon for a convenient cooking experience. The added recipe book provides recipes in English and French which you may consult whenever you struggle to find a new recipe.
Pros.
- Customizable memory settings
- Attractive black and steel finish
- Dual heater and a large viewing window to keep track of the progress
- Jam, cake, and dough cooking courses
- Light, medium, and dark crust options
- 13-hour delay timer
Cons.
- Bulky
- Price
2. Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker Review
Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme makes traditionally shaped 2 pounds bread loafs and is one of the perfect bread makers on the market. Zojirushi BB CEC20 offers a plethora of presets, customizable knead, rise and bake settings, a 13 hours delay timer, a dual kneading blade, and a removable baking pan that makes a 2-pound crusty loaf in about 2 hours.
The bread maker’s control panel consists of buttons and an LCD display for choosing the crust shade, time delay, bread, cake, jam, dough or customized homemade course. It is expensive as compared to other brands but with such amazing features and quality output, this best Zojirushi bread maker is worth the investment.
The 10 presets include Basic, Basic Wheat, Quick, Quick Wheat, Quick Dough, Jam, Cake, Sour Dough Starter, and homemade customizable mode that you can save as you please. The crust control button lets you choose between light, medium and dark crust. The crust color works for Basic, Quick and Homemade courses and the delay timer works for Basic, Basic Wheat, Basic Dough and Homemade course.
Once you press start to initiate the machine and baking process, the operation light will turn on. To cancel your selected presets, you will press and hold the start button until the machine beeps. Selecting and following preset programs might be easy but programming the customizable homemade courses can be tricky and complicated. For that, we suggest you go through the user manuals once or twice to properly understand how it works.
The construction quality of the Zojirushi bread maker is good and it should last a few years of regular baking. The kneading paddles and baking pan are easy to clean but not dishwasher safe so do not put them in the dishwasher. For baking pan, we recommend not to immerse it in the water and use a soft sponge and water to clean the inside. Overall, Zojirushi BB-CEC20 home bakery supreme makes great bread and can be programmed as you please.
Pros.
- 13 hours delay timer
- Customizable homemade mode
- Large viewing window
- Quiet bread-making process
- Makes delicious aromatic bread
Cons.
- Heavy & Expensive
3. Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery Programmable Mini Bread Maker Review
Singles or small families often find them in a situation where they buy bread from the bakery and throw half as it expires, or where they bake fresh bread but can’t finish before it starts to spoil. Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home bakery is a small bread maker that bakes 1 pound loaf of bread for singles or small families. Some large families might not find it enough to them hence we do suggest they to consider Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Bread maker or Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme 2-Pound-Loaf Bread Maker with large capacity.
The baking pan makes an almost square bread loaf. Remove the pan from the chamber carefully because it will be extremely hot after the baking cycle is complete. Cleaning the pan and paddles should be done gently with utmost care as rubbing with force may scratch the nonstick coating.
Although the bread maker has a 13 hours delay timer it is not available for all the presets. The delay timer only works with the basic, soft and French modes and doesn’t work with the rest of the courses. Also, it has a dough setting for preparing dough recipes that use active dry yeast. The user manual provides dough recipes including Butter roll, Doughnut, Brioche, Cinnamon Roll, Croissant, Whole Wheat Buns, Traditional Pizza Dough, Pizza dough with beer and soft pretzels.
But, this is not it. This small bread-making machine can prepare cookie/pasta dough as well. The instruction manual has recipes for preparing basic cookies, oatmeal cookies, and sugar cookies.
The Zojirushi BB-HAC10 is a mini bread maker with a limited capacity to bake a one-pound bread loaf. The smaller footprints mean it doesn’t occupy a lot of space on your kitchen counter. It is a well-designed and well-constructed bread maker with all the basic functionality. If you have a small kitchen space, this mini bread maker is one of the best zojirushi bread maker you can get!
Pros.
- Durable and unique design
- Suitable for singles and small families
- A small footprint takes less space in the kitchen
- 13 hours delay timer
- Customizable homemade mode
Cons.
- Too small for a large family
- LCD display is not backlit
4. Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine Review
Baking fresh bread at home is an art because it needs a pro to manually knead, rise and bake the ingredients properly. Because of the complicated baking process, a lot of us are turning to good bread makers to make things easy. The Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine is a new arrival on the market offering an extra hand in the kitchen.
The machine has a horizontal design, allowing cooks to monitor the mixing and baking process. You can also add ingredients or change the cooking pattern as you please. Also, both manual and automatic options are available. The pan is nonstick coated, yet we suggest not adding hard nuts in the bread as it may harm the coating which is necessary to prevent the burning and sticking of the ingredients.
(Image credit: Zojirushi)
Previously even the best bread makers used to have a single mixing paddle, especially in the vertical models. The manufacturer have done great job by adding an extra paddle for perfect mixing. The glass window lets you monitor the entire process without opening the lid.
One of the reasons why people look for the best bread maker is for extra features. People just don’t make bread with machines. You can try lasagna or meatloaf in the bread maker also.
When you are out looking for the best bread maker, have a conversation with several machine users, check multiple reviews before making a final buying decision. The most detailed review cannot replace firsthand knowledge by a user or a friend who is using the bread maker himself.
Pros.
- 3 recipe memory feature
- 3-level crust control, cake, jam setting
- 13 hours delay timer
- Very little vibration or noise
- Easily available accessories
- Big enough window to monitor the cooking process
Cons.
- Expensive
5. Zojirushi Home Bakery Maestro Bread maker Review
Last on our list of best Zojirushi bread makers is Zojirushi BB-SSC10 home bakery maestro, a small but expensive unit that bakes mouthwatering 1-pound loaf. The tiny bread maker requires less space on the kitchen counter as compared to other Zojirushi models. If you have a small household and you need 1 pound loaf bread maker, this should be your pick.
We do not recommend this mini bread maker to large families. As one pound loaf can disappear within a few hours if there are four people in the family. Hence the small bread maker is only suggested for singles or people with small households.
The bread maker is a wunderkind when it comes to presets. It offers gluten-free, salt-free, and sugar-free bread-making preset programs. Also, it has a Vegan menu course. On the other hand, the homemade course gives you the freedom to create your own bread-making program from scratch. You can add custom time for kneading, resting, shaping, rising and baking suitable to your taste and preferences. Once satisfied, you can save your programs in 3 available memory slots for reuse in the future.
The preset menu includes white, European, quick white, whole wheat, quick whole wheat, multigrain, gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free, vegan, bread/pizza dough, pasta dough, cake, jam, and homemade custom programs with 3 available memory slots.
The automatic dispenser inside the lid of this tiny wizard opens and adds ingredients into the pan during the kneading process. The dispenser is removable which makes it convenient to fill with ingredients and wash after baking. If you feel the dispenser is too small for the ingredients, you can add anything by hand if required.
With this mini bread maker, you get a measuring cup for water and liquid, a measuring spoon with two sides (Table spoon and teaspoon), and a recipe book with 50 delicious recipes to try out. Overall it’s a small but tall bread maker with tons of presets and features to offer.
Pros.
- 50 delicious recipes in the book
- Versatile course settings
- Customizable homemade settings
- Easy to clean (Accessories dishwasher safe)
- Durable and attractive design
- Fits well with every kitchen décor
Cons.
- Expensive, small, and no window
How To Choose The Best Zojirushi Bread Maker
Now that you know which the best Zojirushi bread makers are, here are some tips to consider while buying a bread maker.
Capacity
First and most important, think about how many people you have to feed with your new bread maker. Some people eat in small servings while some eat in bigger servings. Most bread makers make loaves that weigh about 1-2 pounds while some models can bake 2.5 pounds of family loaves. Although you can add or reduce the amount of flour to make a bigger or smaller loaf but it will have a serious impact on the quality and taste of the loaf. A 1 pound loaf capacity machine might make a bigger loaf but it will not have a similar taste and quality of the crust.
The larger and heavier loaves require more power for baking. While most machines range between 500-1000 watts of power, if you are planning to bake denser bread with a lot of nuts and seeds, you should consider buying a bread maker on the upper end of the watts range to make sure it will bake the heavier loaves efficiently without any breakdown.
Machine Size
A small machine is easy to move around and store inside the cabinet but a bigger one is hard to move around or handle. On the other hand, a bigger machine offer plethora of features and impressive functions.
Baking Pan Shape
When you are baking bread in a machine, there is only one pan you can use. Most bread machines make tall, vertical or rectangular-shaped loaves.
Kneading Paddles
Most budget bread makers have one kneading paddle but higher-end machines are equipped with double paddles or kneading blades. Two blades are preferred for best kneading.
The kneading paddle remain in place during the baking process, the loaf will have one or two holes at the paddle location. Some people are OKAY with this but others don’t like bread with holes. Opt for a bread maker with collapsible kneading paddles so you have perfectly shaped delicious bread.
Presets
Before you make your final decision, think if you are going to make a loaf every weekend or you will be using the machine every day. Today, machines are equipped with tons of preset options and features. But a machine with multiple features might be complicated to use. Simple bread makers offer fewer features and options. Extra presets come in handy if you wish to experiment and try new recipes. If you just want to make simple bread, a basic bread maker will get the job done.
Crust options
Almost every machine offers the freedom to choose the desired darkness of the crust. Typically the options offered are light, medium and dark crust. The features do not ensure a good loaf but it’s nice to have control over certain aspects of the bread you are baking.
If you wish to continuously monitor the progress, consider buying a bread machine with a viewing window in the lid that lets you observe the whole process from kneading to baking.
Delay Timer
No machine can prepare fresh bread in under 2 hour’s time. It takes about 3-4 hours to mix, knead, rise and bake delicious bread. Although quick bake feature takes lesser time to bake bread but it will not be able to help if you wish to have bread in the breakfast. That’s where delay timer comes in for the rescue.
Budget
A decent bread machine from a mid-range brand with basic to a few presets can cost you 100-150 bucks. The budget option are usually priced less than 100$ while the premium and high-end brands like Zojirushi bread makers can cost 300-400$. If you are not going to use all those fancy features, do not spend on a high-end machine rather go for a budget option.
Manufacturer’s Warranty
Normally, the warranty for a bread machine is one-year covering manufacturing issues rather than depreciation or misuse. It is always a great idea to check the details of the warranty before making the final purchasing decision.
How to Use Zojirushi Bread Maker?
Is the Zojirushi bread maker worth the money?
It depends on what you’re looking for in a bread maker. If you’re someone who loves to bake homemade bread but doesn’t have the time or patience to knead the dough by hand, then a Zojirushi bread maker is definitely worth the money. Not only does it make the process of baking bread significantly easier, but it also produces loaves that are consistently moist and fluffy. Plus, the variety of settings allows you to customize your baking experience depending on your preferences.
Which breadmaker makes the best bread?
The Zojirushi BB-PDC20BA Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus breadmaker is the best breadmaker on the market for a few reasons. It has a large capacity, so you can make larger batches of bread at once. It also has a variety of settings, so you can customize your baking to get the perfect results every time. And it’s easy to use, so even novice bakers will be able to make delicious bread with this machine.
How long do Zojirushi bread machines last?
They usually last around 10 years. Zojirushi bread machines are a popular choice for many people because they are durable and last a long time. Most Zojirushi bread machines will last around 10 years with regular use, but there are some that have lasted up to 15 years.
Is it worth buying a bread maker?
If you bake bread every day and need an extra hand to assist you in the process, or maybe you have a busy schedule, buying a bread maker would be worth it. at the end of the day, bread makers are very convenient, useful, super easy to operate and worth every penny.
Is it cheaper to make your own bread?
If you bake regularly and compare the cost per slice, definitely it is cheaper to bake bread at home as compared to baker’s bread.
Is bread maker Bread healthier?
When you bake at home, you know the quality of ingredients you are using. You can reduce the amount of sugar, salt, or whatever ingredient you think is not good for your health.
Conclusion
Zojirushi is one of the leading brands for they pay attention to every detail when it’s about providing you comfort and making life easier. At first glance, you can feel the sense of craftsmanship, ease of use, and overall quality in every detail and aspect of these incredible kitchen appliances.
The Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Bread maker is the best choice if you have a large family to feed. Zojirushi is not limited to bread makers; they make some of the finest rice cookers in the world. Check out our Best Zojirushi Rice Cookers if your kitchen counter does not have a rice cooker yet.
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