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: PERFECT for Empty Nesters!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my second Zojirushi breadmaker. The first made a huge loaf and once the kids were gone I didn't use it much so I sold it. I love Zojirushi cooking products and the Zo Mini is my fourth appliance by the company - I don't care about the high price - the quality, dependability, service make up for it.
This little machine makes perfect bread if you follow the directions exactly. My first loaf was perfect. Second loaf, perfect. You get the idea. As for slicing, I use an electric knife and slice from top to bottom to get about 10 really nice, tall slices. (One reviewer said the top and bottom slices are wasted - he/she needs to slice the other way!)
One of the best things about the machine is how quietly it runs. Another thing is how easy it is to clean. The loaf size is perfect for the two of us to have more than enough bread for a day, or two (if a Certain Someone doesn't eat a lot of toast for snacks!) And, it's great when my house smells like baked bread.
One caution - you need to learn to make bread machine bread - if you have baked a lot of bread in the oven you know that you can always add a little bit of this or that, add flour, throw in some nuts, whatever. Bread machine baking is very exact. If you don't like to make precise measurements, stop! Don't buy a bread machine!
Donna German's book is my favorite recipe book. The Zo comes with quite a lot of recipes and it's easy to adapt them once you get the hang of it.
This machine does not have a "whole wheat" cycle like my old one, but with adjustments it is still possible to make a great loaf of ww bread in this machine - you just have to add enough gluten to get a good rise. It's also great for making dough for other projects.
The footprint is quite small and the handle makes it easy to carry from place to place. My college daughter has threatened to steal it!
This would make a great Christmas gift for a single, childless couple, or maybe a couple with one small child. Otherwise you will want a bigger machine - the bread is so good it gets eaten right away!
Customer Review: My Mini Zo Arrived!
Summary: 5 Stars
*****UPDATE!!!!
I received my Mini-Zo and am overjoyed. Made my first loaf of basic white bread using the Zoji's recipe. The bread baked beautifully. The crust was crispy but light; the bread was soft with nice little air pockets. Not too dense, not too light but just right!!!
Others have called the loaves "tiny" so I was expecting little child-size play loaves. However, the loaf is a nice size which I would describe as a "half-loaf" of bread. It sliced beautifully and tasted great.
I had two small problems. First, it was difficult for me to remove the loaf from the pan. However, I expect that as I bake more loaves, they will release more easily.
My bigger problem was that darn kneading paddle. It baked right into the bottom of the loaf and I could not get it out. It's still in there and I will remove it when I get to that portion of the bread. I tried removing it while it was still warm, however, the paddle just went deeper into the loaf and I did not want to destroy my beautiful first loaf of bread.
I e-mailed Zojirushi and they immediately responded back. To release the bread, remove the pan and turn it upside down to rest for 10-15 minutes. With regard to the stubborn kneading blade...they advised me to remove the blade at the beginning of the LAST rise after the stirdown. Simple.
Regarding the size of the machine....I would compare it to the size of a KitchenAid food processor. It is surprisingly heavy and well made. It is very quiet and runs smoothly.
Today I placed an Amazon.com order for the bread machine book (Bread Machine Magic and More Bread Magic) that was recommended by one of the other customers. I ordered it because it specifically has recipes for 1 lb loaves. Most other bread machine cookbooks offer recipes for 1 1/2 to 2 lb loaves.
All in all, I am extremely pleased with my mini Zo and so happy that I ordered it online from Cutlery and More with free shipping. I placed the order and the next morning it was shipped out and on it's way to me.
Customer Review: Worth every inch of its tiny little footprint
Summary: 5 Stars
This machine stands right next to my coffeemaker, and is worth every inch of its relatively small footprint (it's actually smaller than said coffeemaker-a Keurig). I've only had it a week, but have made 3 loaves of bread and a batch of jam. All delicious. The loaves are a nice size for my family (only about 2 of us eat bread on a regular basis, so a full size loaf spoils before we finish it). These loaves yield ~8-12 slices (depending on the thickness) and are eaten up in 2-3 days. The loaves I've made so far are shaped like bread, but a bit taller (the tops stick out a bit from my toaster. It doesn't bother me, but I could see why it might bother some people).
One of the other reviewers talks about a hole in the bottom of the bread, saying that it was a waste of bread for this small size loaf. Two comments: 1) if you want to avoid that, use the machine to knead and rise the bread, then take it out and bake it in the oven. 2) I'm never going to go to that trouble, because in my opinion, the "hole" is really just a notch and it only affects a couple of slices in the middle. Really not worth troubling yourself over. It's kind of cute, really.
When I got this machine, I was worried that it might be a problem converting recipes down to a 1 lb loaf, since most machines are 1 1/2 - 2 lbs, but the machine comes with lots of recipes for making breads. If you're like me and prefer to use a mix for convenience, the Hodgson Mills 9 grain and Honey Wheat bread mixes have instructions for both 1 1/2 lb and 1 lb machines on the box. No math! Yummy breads.
Also, I was dubious about the machine's claim to make jam. The recipes supplied use simply fruit, sugar, and lemon juice. The results are extremely tasty, but somewhat on the soupier side. I'm going to try adding some pectin to see if I can get the jam to act a bit more like jam and less like delectable fruit soup in future trials. If it works, great. If not, I'll still probably make most of my jam this way. It's really easy, very tasty, and I love knowing exactly what goes in the jam.
Customer Review: Using the Zojirushi Mini with stone-ground wheat flour
Summary: 4 Stars
I've always loved baking bread but find I have little time for that now, so I bought this machine a few months ago with high hopes. I've found that the recipes and baking cycles work well for commercial white flour, but if you use all whole wheat flour particularly non-mass-produced varieties (I buy mine at a farmer's market from a vendor who stone-grinds his own flour), the resulting loaves generally turn out like bricks. I haven't even tried specialty flours like buckwheat or oat, which I presume would make the problem even worse. I suspect this isn't a limitation of only the Zojirushi but applies to bread machines in general.
I tinkered a lot with the recipes and have several suggestions for anyone who has a similar problem. First and most importantly, don't measure the flour by volume - weigh it instead. The specific weights will vary by the flour you use, so you need to test each recipe and flour combination separately. Second, you can circumvent the problems with the baking and rising times somewhat by increasing the amount of liquid and hence the size of the loaf - I found the machine can handle up to 1-1/4 cups.
If this sounds like a lot of work and effort, well, sadly, it is - and of course, I got this bread machine so I WOULDN'T have to spend so much time on this in the first place! So I mainly use this simple solution: use the dough setting and then bake it yourself. The Zojirushi does a fantastic job of mixing and kneading without leaving bits of flour in the pan. It doesn't hurt to let the dough sit in the pan for a while until you're ready - an extra rise just improves the bread. Or, you can refrigerate it until the next day. I've found that the loaves I get this way are just as good as the ones I used to make completely by hand, and far superior to anything I've ever pulled out of a bread machine.
So everyone, good luck and remember to buy local if you can!
Customer Review: Great Bread - First Try
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first bread maker I have owned and I have only made one loaf of bread with it. I expected to have to try a few times and tweak this and tweak that to get a nice loaf, but on the first shot following with directions for a basic regular loaf, I got excellent results.
The machine has many pluses
- Simple simple simple to use
- Clear easy to follow directions
- Hokey, but useful, if you don't like to read, video about how to use the machine
- Makes really good bread.
- Small footprint, and nice small loaf good for one or two people.
- Quiet, I haven't owned a machine, but I have heard one or two others run, this one is quiet.
With only one loaf of bread made, I can't really give you any real negatives. Few things I'll point out.
- on my one batch, the paddle did get stuck in the bowl, no big deal let the pan cool, put a little water in it, and in 5 minutes it came right out. Sounds common among bread machines.
- Had a few small really hard spots on the crust, I think that was just some flower and water that didn't get fully incorporated while mixing and then cooked hard to the sides. No big deal, next time I'll pick them off before cutting and eating.
- No it is not "programmable" like some other machine, so if you want it to add ingredients for you along the way, or you want to change the timing of functions, don't get this machine.
Cleaned up in a snap...
Very pleased and I'll update as I make more bread
UPDATE - I have had the machine for a few months and have made numerous loaves of bread. Can't say I could come up with a negative. I prefer the firm recopies and the machine is flexible enough that I can alter the recipes to get what I like. In my experimenting I have only made on Brick. But that's life when you try new things. I highly recommend the machine.