We bought one!! Bread machine

My wife has asked about one and today we finally picked one up. A Zojiurushi Model BB-CEC20. WOW!! Making our first loaf right now. Just pour the ingredients in and push a couple buttons. WOW!! Now I can sit and do nothing for an hr. Just Kidding. My wife usued to make all her bread by hand but was very hard on her hands. Had to make it a little easier. I am not one for new tech but this one was a must. Anyone else have one and would like to chare your stories and tips.

If you are not thrilled with the loaf... you can use the bread machine on the "dough" setting and then bake in the regular oven. I do this routinely. I was just never satisfied with baking in the bread machine. I use the dough setting for all my bread and pizza dough. Let us know how it turns out!

Lesa said:

If you are not thrilled with the loaf... you can use the bread machine on the "dough" setting and then bake in the regular oven. I do this routinely. I was just never satisfied with baking in the bread machine. I use the dough setting for all my bread and pizza dough. Let us know how it turns out!

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Just took out my first loaf. I am very pleased with it. I will try and do pizza dough tomorrow night and have family game night. I am going to change a few things in the process I did. All ingredients room temp and yeast in a small volcano. I think I need to et my yeast to work better. I am happy with the loaf but was only got to the top of the pan. Still a good size loaf. Same as a store bought. Don

While I do mix some of my recipes by hand I have to say that I would be lost without my bread machines(yes I have more than one) The first one I got by default.. my daughter wanted one and when my mother got her one she had changed her mind(only a $5 one from a yard sale) I figured that if I took it and figured out the recipes and made a few kits with my bulk stuff she may change her mind and so it ended up at my home. The very first loaf of bread I made was.. well... disgusting... it bakes the worst bread ever.. but. It makes a great dough.
so I only use it for making dough and I set my clip on timer to me so that no matter what I am doing I will remember to stop and take the dough out and form it into what ever I want to make.
I used it so much that first year that I killed the first one.. lucky for me that same year I saw the exact machine for a buck at a yard sale and it was still in the box unused. So now I have one machine with two pans. I have often had it knead the dough till it was time to let it rise.. taken the dough pan out to let it rise in the kitchen and got the second pan going. great for pizza parties.
My mother just got me another one(different brand /pan shape) for back up for $4 at a yard sale.


I must say that I have never really had a good bagel from my hand kneaded recipe but in the machine.. it turns out just wonderful.

Jalapeno cheddar
and whole wheat


and onion

Wow, Emerald! You are really creative with your bread machine! I make bread! Those look really delish! Glad you were happy with your first try Thefan! You will be using that machine all the time! Enjoy!

Would love the recipe for the bagels if you can part with it........
I always thought bagels took all day to make, don't you have to boil them first or something?

Today we are making pizza dough.

Love the bagel idea too. Love bagels and creamcheese.

You're gonna love having this appliance. I'm not familiar with that brand, but I will say the possibilities are endless and once you get the hang of it, you'll enjoy experimenting with new recipes.

I have an older Oster & the book has tons of recipes for the machine. I have to admit I've only used a few mostly from lack of specific ingredients. I also have a bread cookbook 'The Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr' for homemade by hand. I have used a few of these recipes in my machine but because of size I've cut it down by 1/2 or 1/3.

I'm curious about your instructions being so specific as in "everything room temp & volcano for yeast".....I've not done that & still got good results. I usually just put in the water first, then flour, then other stuff with the yeast being last to go in. Maybe it has to do with how the different machines were made.

Happy bread making!!!

My first one and the second one are both older Osters..clunky square ones that weigh a ton.. hubs thinks that he can fix the first one as when you take the belt off the motor runs.. he thinks that it needs some grease on the something or other.. we just haven't had time to do it.

My bagel recipes are somewhere.. gonna have to go find them.. I tend to just do pinches of this and a smidge of that kinda cooking even with my baking... there are rules that I follow tho..
The main thing with my bagels that I do remember right off the top of my head is I take out the dough right when the machine clicks over to "rise" and only let it rise for about 15 minutes.. I then add any extras like the jalapeno and cheese or the caramelized onions. Then I cut the batch in 8's (8 pieces) and roll tightly into balls and then for normal bagels I poke my thumb in the middle and carefully "roll" it around my fingers(two hands) and stretch them into loose circles, put them on greased silpats to rise for another 15 minutes and that they have risen to almost double(if you let them rise too much they don't have that "bagel" feel to them they get too light)
While they are rising I get the water boiling.. Now this is the trick(I think) I add a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and a heaping Tablespoon of amber malt powder(the same stuff I use in making beer) you can use malt syrup if you like the syrups better. (I also get the malt powder/syrup at the brew store but it is available online) The soda and malt give the bagel(and a good soft pretzel) that hard outside with the soft insides. I only boil them at the roiling boil for 1 minute on each side.Only about 2 or 3 at a time. they get removed to a cake cooling rack to dry a bit and this is when I sprinkle stuff on top if I want like poppy seeds or sea salt or sesame seeds, and I sprinkle cornmeal on the baking pan put all the bagels on and then bake... I will see if I can find them on my old computer this weekend and put them up.
It sounds so complicated but it is really easy once you do it once.

I got the "star of david" looking bagels by doing it like one of the blogs on "a year in bread".. that too is on the old computer so I may have to really look to find the link to the page.. once you get balls made you take a clean "credit card"(I use an old rewards card that I keep just for that) and you make three "cuts" in the middle of the ball.. / \ | it will look like a star and you "fold" the cuts towards the outside and when you lay it down and it rises you get that nice pattern... I am thinking about trying that with donuts.
When I find the recipes I may try to find links to youtube for the right "techniques" for the stretching of the dough.. I watched several shows on tv before trying. But once you get over the "can I really do this" cold feet it ends up being simple.
Wait till you do croissants.. they are simple but sound so complicated..

Those bagels.....