Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker

My new "Mini Zo" just arrived today, January 5, 2007, which was amazing since I had just ordered it in the afternoon of January 2! I have enjoyed my two-pound loaf Zojirushi since I purchased it from Amazon in 2002 and will still use it for larger loaves, but this will be the perfect size for just the two of us and for special breads that we may want for one or two meals. The loaf I made today was for "soft" white bread. This interested me since there is a setting for "regular" and "firm" bread as well, but I thought I would see what the "soft" would be like--this takes three hours rather than the longer time for the other syles (we wanted it for dinner). The loaf could not have been more perfect! The texture was wonderful and the taste excellent! The bread came out of the bread pan perfectly. There is also a "Quick" setting which requires two hours or less, depending on the light or dark crust selected. This machine fits very nicely on the counter taking up only a little more space than a blender. The carrying handle on the machine makes it very convenient for moving it to a storage area if you do not have much counter space. I look forward to many wonderful loaves of bread from this machine. I have a wonderful book of bread recipes that I got several years ago entitled The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook by Tom Lacalmita, 1993. It has about 200 pages of recipes with measurements for both one pound or two pound loaves. This will add to the choices that come with the machine. This book may still be available at Abe Books or other used book sellers. Bread Machine Baking by Lora Brody and Millie Apter, 1993 also has many recipes for small (one pound/2cups flour) loaves. Happy bread making with the Mini Zojirushi! Update (April 26, 2013).... My breadmaker is still working beautifully after more than 6 years of two uses per week! I replaced the paddle about six months ago, as it was losing it's non-stick ability. I still make the "soft" recipe from the Zo booklet; however, I substitute 1/2 cup of the 2 cups of bread flour with semolina flour, which I purchase at a health food store (Bob's Red Mill Semolina Flour). The difference it makes to the texture is quite amazing. I also use this substitution (1/2 cup) in my (2 cups of all purpose flour) pizza dough, which is wonderful. I use the recipe from "The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints"--2nd revision--by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway, which is a wonderful resource for all things related to bread machine baking. I tried this idea based on a pizza dough recipe I saw at King Arthur Flour that used beer and some semolina flour, which is also excellent. One more change I have made over time is that I now use bottled water rather than city water, just to eliminate any reaction to the chemicals in the tap water.

El producto es de buena calidad, muy fácil de usar. El pan es pequeño pero más que suficiente para dos o tres personas. Llegó en buenas condiciones y días antes de lo esperado.

I wanted this machine for a while, based on the reviews, but held off due to the price. So when it came on sale around Black Friday, I couldn't say no. So far I haven't regretted it. This is a great little machine, made well, easy to use, and not too large. It works for three people who don't eat a lot of bread; the loaves are only 1lb (small). Get a bigger one if this seems too small. It does come with a recipe book with basic breads. Pick up another recipe book if you want to be more creative. Just keep in mind that 1-lb loaves aren't as common, so you will have to adapt recipes for this machine (such as halving a 2lb recipe). I haven't had a chance to try any of the other features such as jams or dough, but I will update once I do. Update: 2015 - I have had this machine for 2 years and it is still going strong. Very well made. I mostly use it to make pizza dough, as I've not been eating bread as much. The dough setting or quick bread setting makes epic pizza dough and pockets. The quickbread setting seems to go faster for making dough, because the dough setting can take up to 1.5 hrs to make dough. (It takes the whole kneading and rising thing quite seriously) and I'm not too picky about the pizza dough being a certain way, so pulling it out before the quickbread starts to bake is long enough for my taste. Other thoughts: Cleaning isn't difficult but handwash only. The non stick interior helps, but it is not PTFE free. (The coating has not chipped at least and I have taken care not to scratch it.) But being teflon, you cannot dishwash it. Additionally, since it has some iron on the outside, you cannot soak it - soaking may cause the outside to rust. So handwash the inside only and you will need a chopstick to clean the area around the paddle. They used some sort of silicone seal down there and it tends to collect dry baked on crumbs. The paddle is removable, so you will also find that the hole collects crap that needs to be cleaned with a small skewer. This is the only thing I really don't like about the machine. I'd love to upgrade to a larger size that would allow me to dictate how long to rest, kneed and rise but the larger footprint is holding me back for now (Not enough cupboard space). I haven't tried to jams but I did try the cake setting. Personally I found the baked banana bread/cake to be almost too small and the square shape was...odd? Not a big deal, but ultimately, because desserts don't rise and don't need special kneading, it would be just as easy to use a stand mixer and pour it into a traditional baking pan. This would also be easier to clean. But the cake feature is still nice to have and would work well if you didn't have an oven or mixer. You also can't control the temperature so you have to watch that it doesn't over bake your goods. I would still recommend this machine. Just make sure to invest in a good quality bread knife and pizza cutter.

I waited to post this so that we could use the breadmaker before sharing thoughts. Almost two months later, we're still thrilled with it. The bread comes out perfectly (I don't use the recipes in the book, as they're a bit different than the bread we're used to here in Canada) and we haven't had any problems with the machine. The taste of the bread is excellent and the smell is amazing. Granted, it definitely doesn't taste exactly like store-made bread, but there's something wonderful about homemade bread and its unique taste. We use our bread machine at least three times a week (occasionally more, especially as Christmas is coming) and the bread is properly baked every time, there have been no issues at all with the machine, and it's very easy to use. The bread texture itself is remarkable. The crust is crispy (if that's what you want, but there are also "soft" and "regular" settings) and delicious, the inside is fluffy and not heavy at all. We use bread flour as well as all-purpose flour, and they both work well. We use only bread machine yeast (granule size is slightly different, and there is one added ingredient in it that allows bread to rise better). It may sound like a lot, but it isn't. Once you have all the ingredients and a good recipe, you're good to go (always add the yeast last, into the flour, and make sure there's no liquid touching the yeast.) The bread is a compact, cute size and perfect for one or two people (or more, depending on how much bread each person has). The machine is great, the quality of the bread is great, and we would easily buy another of these little Zojis if we needed it. It's outstanding and has earned every bit of its reputation.

Excelente producto, hace el pan perfecto, también probé hacer mermelada y funciono genial.