Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker
Customer Review: Quality product
Summary: 5 Stars
Costs more, but well designed, engineered, and manufactured. . . A refreshing change from the junky trash that we usually get these days.
This was the first time I have ordered anything from Amazon.com; and I am very pleased with their service. It was fast and shipping was FREE! The other place I looked wanted the same price plus an additional $40 to ship to the Islands . . .
Any fool can bake perfect bread using the recipes included with the machine.
This machine is VERY Quiet--I was a little concerned because I live in a high-rise filled with old folks and I like to do stuff like this in the middle of the night. Many bread machines have a problem with the pan attachment doing a lousy job which means that the pan rattles around in the machine and it sounds like a bunch of elves are trapped in there hurling marbles against the sides of the machine--not so with this one.
The flip side of this coin is that the notification beeps are also not very loud--I just set the stop watch on my wristwatch--I know that the "add stuff" (like raisins, etc) comes 17 minutes into the "rapid-bake" cycle and act accordingly. Also there is a countdown clock on the face of the machine so you can check at any time to see how much longer before it's done,
Caution--this machine is not at all programmable. I was aware of this when I purchased it, but my thought was "Well so what? What am I going to want to program anyway?" Since then I have become interested in sourdough which takes a much longer rising time than the machine allows--OOPS! Also, When using recipes from other sources (notably "Bread Machine Magic" which has all recipes in one-pound size) I sometimes find that the loaf is a little on the damp side and I'd like to cook it a little longer, but this machine lacks the flexibility to do so.
The finished loaf from this machine fits into a container 6"Lx4.5"Wx6"H. I believe that the slices will fit into a normal toaster, although I don't have a toaster and haven't tried it.
Last caution--I am not a big bread eater, but this bread is so good that I find myself easily consuming half of a fresh-baked loaf when my intention was just a "taste test". I'm an older single guy, and I find myself eating about a loaf a day (this will probably change as the novelty wears off) so if there's more than one of you, you may want to go for the larger Zojirushi.
The larger machine is practically the same price as the smaller one (only a tiny bit more expensive) and has some programming flexibility. Although it is advertised as baking 1, 1.5, or 2 pound loaves, I have read that it does a lousy job on the 1 pound loaf (just not enough dough for the big pan, I guess).
See the Yahoo bread-machine group for lots of helpful info.
If you're like me, you'll need some way to slice evenly. After much research, I ended up with the Black & Decker EK700 electric knife. It's also available from Amazon, it's cheap, and it does a good job. You will not need to purchase an additional "slicing guide".
Nothing like waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh baking bread (timer feature allows you to set it up the night before for a delayed start).
I guess you can tell that I think my money was well spent on this machine!
Customer Review: A Bread WINNER :)!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been living on my own since I was 23 (I'm 27 as of the time this review was written;). It was hard to get adjusted to having to have a full time job while still maintaining an apartment. One thing that was a little tricky was getting used to cooking for myself. Since I live alone, and live 30-45 mins away from work, I usually prepare simple things like salads and sandwiches because I didn't find a reason to make extravagant, time consuming meals for just myself and well... I am also extremely lazy lol, I am a successful young professional but lately the domestic housewife in me has been slowly coming out. However, my limited cooking skills and experience, as well as my busy life (and ok.. LAZYNESS TOO lol) were still nipping at me. Being able to bake my own bread was something that "Domestic Danielle" always wanted to do, but "Clueless Baker Danielle" showed me a flash into the future and all I saw was my kitchen covered in flour and a cage match between me and a lump of dough trying desperately to knead that thing and then having it jump on my face and start to consume me like the blob. OK.... not a pretty sight I know!! There was only one way to satisfy both of my desires, and that was a BREAD MACHINE!!!
My sister has a bread machine and she loves it. When we would get together for family gatherings she would bring a loaf and it was always so delicious, and that too inspired me to start researching them. When I came across the mini Zojirushi, I knew it was love at first sight and absolutely PERFECT for me!! It makes a nice and small 1 pound loaf, which really can last you a couple days if you make small slices. It is also incredibly easy to use and the manual that comes with it is great because those recipes were made strictly for that bread machine. I also love the timer option on it! a couple times I have dumped the ingredients in either before I go to bed or before I go to work and set it so that I can have fresh bread when I wake up or when I come home from work (and waking up or coming home to that wonderful smell is ALWAYS a bonus hehe). And probably the best thing about this machine is that it does EVERYTHING for you!! It kneads and rises and bakes it all in the same cute contraption! As long as you measure everything as it is supposed to be measured then your bread will come out fine. I have made several loaves and they always come out great!
The only word of warning is that you might become like me and become a bake-a-holic. Since its so easy to do and since its so cute to watch it in the machine (I love the little window on the top hehe), you might find yourself becoming bake-crazy! Lately I have been experimenting with the recipes in the book and have been baking loaves for work or baking loaves for friends and people I associate with. I am thinking about baking one for my personal trainer and her family, because I mean what says thank you for helping me attain a hot body like a gift of an adorable bread loaf lol!!
Bottom line is that this is a great product that makes great bread! I am THE bread winner and this bread machine is a winner too!! Its just win-win all around!! I am also psyched to try out the dough function and try to make my own pizza and soft pretzels!! The possibilities are endless!! Uh oh world watch out!!! DOMESTIC DANIELLE IS TAKING OVER!!!
Customer Review: Excellent results on all but French bread cycle
Summary: 5 Stars
We're extremely happy with our purchase. It's our first breadmaker, and we're a couple living in an 800 sq ft apartment.
The breadmaker is small enough to easily store away in a cupboard, with a footprint not that much larger than a toaster. Makes the perfect size loaf for two people to share over the course of a day. We've been using it on a daily basis.
Generally Excellent Results:
We've had great success with a variety of recipes, from plain white bread (too Wonderbread-like for our taste, but still amongst the best homemade white bread we've had), to whole wheat and even semi-improvised recipes (see below).
No Luck with the French Bread Cycle:
All recipies we've baked with this machine have turned out wonderfully using the regular, firm and quick bake cycles. However, the two times we've tried the French cycle, the loaves hardly rose at all, and had disfigured crusts, despite using fresh ingredients and carefully following the recipe. We've tried the French Whole Wheat and French Rye recipes from the owner's manual. We've read other here say that they really like the French bread, so maybe we'll try it again.
Want Rye:
We're still searching for a good dense rye recipe - the rye recipes that come with the machine are basically white bread with a bit of rye flour added in.
Cleanup:
Cleaning the pan, paddle and machine has proved very simple, with just letting soak in plain water then rinsing and wiping being all that seems to be needed. Our only minor complaint is that the paddle is finicky to remove from the pan.
Noise:
The machine itself is reasonably quiet when in operation. The worst noise is the mid-cycle beep to let you know when you can add ingredients such as fruit to be mixed into the dough. We like to set the machine to run overnight so we'll have fresh baked bread in the morning, but the mid-cycle beep keeps waking us up. If only there were a way to turn off that beep. Note that our kitchen is very close to our bedroom.
Overall:
Despite our lack of success with the French Bread Cycle, and the mid-cycle beep, we'd heartily recommend this machine to anyone who wants to be able to bake small loves that won't go stale before 1-2 people can finish the loaf.
Don't be Afraid to Improvise a Litte:
For instance, we've had great success substituting olive oil for butter - it's healthier, and we actually prefer the less rich, more delicate taste of the resulting bread. If the recipe calls for 1 tbsp of butter, just use 1 tbsp of olive oil instead.
To finish up, here is our favourite recipe so far, which is based on Zojirushi's recipe for 100% whole wheat bread, with a few substitutions. Makes a very hearty, healthy loaf. It's a little denser than some loaves, which depending on your preferences, may be a good thing or a bad thing. Cook on the regular cycle.
3/4 cup - Water
2 cups - Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup - 7-grain cereal
2 tbsp - Sugar
1 tbsp - Powdered Skim Milk
1/4 tsp - Salt
1 tbsp - Olive oil
1 tsp - Active Dry Yeast
Customer Review: Excellent, but not as flexible as I'd like
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this machine for about three weeks, and while I'm not at all disappointed with it, I would like to describe what I find good and "bad" about it (there's nothing really bad, just things I wish it could do). Please note that I am reviewing it only for bread that is made entirely in the machine - you can do a lot more if you only use the machine to mix, knead and rise once.
First, with just two of us living in a small house with a tiny kitchen, small size was absolutely essential. It satisfies this requirement perfectly, and makes pretty good bread, too (it would be worthless if it were small but couldn't make good bread).
I will never claim that bread that is completely made in any machine can be as good as bread that is at least formed and baked outside of the machine, but the quality is certainly at least "good", and sometimes "very good", though rarely "excellent". My main complaint is that most of the recipes and cycles result in breads that are substantially similar. They're generally medium-heavy and, due to the use of bread flour in almost all of the recipes (or even added gluten), have the distinct gluten flavor that this flour imparts (even when mixed with other flours). This is not necessarily bad, but it results in a lack of variety (even beyond the obvious uniformity imposed by the shape of the loaf).
A big factor in the similarity in consistency of the results is the lack of programmability, namely the rising times (and temperatures), of the various cycles. This was pointed out in the review considered most useful critical review, but until I started to make lots of bread with it, I didn't fully appreciate why this is a weak point. Given this restriction, in order to get more variety, you have to deviate considerably from the published recipes. Increasing the liquid, for example, will get a higher, softer loaf, but one which risks falling.
Other factors one can play with are the sugar and salt (again, to affect rising and texture), the amount of yeast, the proportion of bread flour to other flours, etc. I haven't tried everything I've thought of trying, yet, so don't know exactly how much variety I'll be able to get, but not being able to change the parameters of any of the cycles definitely limits what you can get out of the machine.
Of course I could use just the dough-setting cycle and do the rest of it by hand. But a great feature is waking up to fresh-baked bread, and that's not possible if you're forming, proofing, and baking the bread by hand.
I would definitely recommend this machine as being worth the money, especially if you require a small machine, but a little improvement in the machine's software would go a long way to making this a far more useful machine.
Customer Review: I CAN BAKE BREAD! WHO-DA THUNK?
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh my goodness...how I love my Mini Zo! Its very well made,cute as a bug, & fits nice & snug between my Kitchen Aid & blender in the appliance garage of my small kitchen.
Just 2 of us here so the compact loaves are the perfect size. I followed the advice of others & bought the 2 Machine Magic cookbooks by Rehberg & Conway and the cheapie elec. knife by B&D. All useful.
Did I mention fab french toast made with thick slices of homemade blueberry bread? How about Jalapeno Corn Bread, Pizza,or Onion Cheese Bread? UH-OH GOTTA GO...ZO JUST BEEPED, ZUCCHINI BREAD IZ DONE ;)