Cindy recently wrote:
Hi everyone!
While at my local shopping mall today, I happened to see quite a variety
of bread machines that were on sale. I've never used one before, but am
seriously considering purchasing one --- especially after reading all of
the wonderful testimonials about them on this list. My question is which
brands do you recommend? There are four of us in our family --- 2
adults, and two teenagers ( who will be going off to college in
September, but who love bread when they are home ). I don't want a
machine that is enormous in size. Any brands that I should stay away
from? Your input is greatly appreciated
Cindy
cdryan@juno.com
I have had a Mr. Coffee and (now) a Zoji BBCC, and the Zoji wins, hands
down. I have found the bread machines are great places to hide things,
like motors and gears that are not heavy enough to mix dough. Ever wonder
why it costs $200 to get a mixer that will mix dough, but you can get a
bread machine to do it for about $100? I think the reason is because it
is well understood that a mixer the mixes dough must be pretty heavy duty.
The Zoji is quite heavy duty. I have used it at least 3X a week for about
a year, and it is still going strong. A gourmet store near me says that
they used an identical machine to teach breadmaking classes for several
years, and had no problem. Another feature that I use often is the
cool-down fan. It works quite well for white or whole wheat bread, and I
quite often start bread and then go to bed. Sometime in the early morning
it is done, and I have finished bread when I get up.
I have found that it takes about 10 minutes to throw together a loaf of
white or whole wheat bread, and for three of us, I do that about 3X a week
to make all the bread we use. So for you it would take 4X to 5X a week to
make all of your bread.
Good luck!
Ron Cochran
cochran@vbe.com