Budget 😉 Zojirushi BB-PAC20BA BB-PAC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker With Gluten Free Menu Setting 😍

2 reviews for Budget 😉 Zojirushi BB-PAC20BA BB-PAC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker With Gluten Free Menu Setting 😍

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Sandy Toes – December 24, 2014

   After trying and returning 2 other bread machines (Hamilton Beach 29881 and West Bend 41300) I dug in and did some heavy research. Here’s what I found. The HB and WB machines both bake at what I consider an unacceptably high temperature. The West Bend’s stated temp for a light crust on the Sandwich setting (which is supposed to bake softer bread) is 320ºF. In a small chamber with a thin pan, that is way too high, resulting in a crust that is much too crunchy and thick, and over-baked, dry bread. Not at all a “sandwich” loaf. Removing the bread 15 minutes early still resulted in an internal temperature of 205ºF. I had exactly the same problems with the HB, same timing and temperature. This would be okay if I wanted hearty, crusty bread, but I want a bread machine primarily to bake soft whole wheat or white sandwich bread, with a tender crust and moist crumb. And I want “set and forget” timing, without the need to set a timer to stop the baking cycle early. I want nice even, pretty loaves without monster size paddle holes (both failed here), and no beepers going off to wake me up in the middle of the night (another fail for both).Enter the Zo Virtuoso. Here’s why I love it:It bakes at 248ºF to 305ºF, depending on course and crust. Excellent for soft sandwich bread. And fewer sunken loaves from too much oven spring.It’s loaf pan is a classically shaped pan, not the weird hybrid “horizontal” pan that many machines have. Those pans give a really tall, shorter loaf. It also appears to be heavier than other pans. The upright handles are a nice feature, too.It’s paddles leave really small holes, and don’t get stuck in the bread. This makes it a true “Set and Forget” machine because I don’t have to set a timer to remind me to remove the paddles before the last rise. Oiling the paddle posts and paddle holes makes it easy to remove them with a brief soak when I wash the pan. When I’m going to be home for the full cycle and want almost no hole at all, I set a kitchen timer to beep right before the 3rd rise begins. I remove the dough and paddles, re-oil the paddle post, shape the loaf and drop it back into the pan without the paddles. It bakes up with a perfect shape and tiny little holes.Aligning the paddles before adding ingredients to the pan makes my loaves rise and bake evenly. No lopsided loaves.It knows how to tell time. There’s no need to figure out how many hours & minutes to add for the Delay Timer. I tell it what time I want bread, and that’s when I have bread.The “add stuff now” beeper is disabled when using the Timer. I can sleep through the night.The upper baking element gives me loaves with lovely golden crowns, instead of the pale tops from most machines.My USA Pan loaf pans fit into the baking chamber. Nice when I want a loaf without any holes at all for guests.I find the manual is very clear and easy to read, with gram weights alongside the volume amounts for all recipes. No need to convert and calculate.Per Zojirushi, opening the lid will indefinitely pause any program, allowing me to extend the rise time or take as long as I want to shape a loaf. This will come in handy when I want to make Monkey Bread in the Zo’s pan.I’ve made many white and wheat sandwich loaves, and cinnamon raisin bread (from the manual). All have been delicious, not a dry, over-baked loaf in the bunch. I’ve perfected White Sandwich Bread by modifying the recipe in the manual so that it bakes soft and fluffy, but full of flavor. For a 1.5-lb loaf I use: 1 cup water (8oz), 3 Tbls dry milk, 3 Tbls honey, 2 Tbls butter (unsalted, room temp), 1tsp table salt, 375 grams bread flour (3 cups), 1 Tbls vital wheat gluten, 1 Tbls KAF Instant Sourdough flavor, 1.5 tsp SAF yeast. Use the Basic course. I prefer the Light crust setting. The addition of sourdough flavor not only enhances flavor (it will not make your bread taste like sourdough bread), it also helps preserve the bread because it contains vinegar. For a Light Wheat Sandwich Bread with the same character, I use 10 oz water, 2Tbls dry milk, 2 Tbls honey, 1.5 Tbls butter, 1 tsp salt, 241 grams bread flour (2 cups) and 149 grams whole wheat flour (1 cup), 1 Tbls vital wheat gluten and 1.5 tsp SAF yeast. Use the Basic course and Medium crust setting. The Light Wheat Bread is modified from the recipe of the same name found on food.com.My only quibble, and it’s really minor, is that it’s not as whisper quiet as the HB and WB machines were. They were REALLY quiet. The Zo sounds like you’d expect a bread machine to sound. It can thump a bit when it first begins mixing, but soon settles into a nice, quiet knead cycle. The thumps aren’t loud at all, they’re just unique to the Zo. Like I said, a minor quibble. And the other machines beep when using the delay timer. My kitchen is near my bedroom. I can sleep through the Zo’s mixing, but not those timers.If you only want a bread machine to make dough that you’ll then bake off in your oven, consider the Hamilton Beach or another inexpensive machine. You do not need to spend a lot. But if you want to bake gorgeous bread in your bread machine and not have to mess about with timing and beepers in the middle of the night and paddle removal issues, if you don’t want to have to babysit your bread machine, IMO the Zo Virtuoso is the clear choice and worth every penny of it’s price. It gives excellent results, and that upper baking element sets it above the rest of the Zo/Breville pack.UPDATE – It’s now the end of April and temps here in Tampa are solidly at 85-90ºF most days. I like the Zo even more in hot weather than in winter. It doesn’t heat up my kitchen, and I can cook some things in it without sweating over a hot pan. Last night I made Sloppy Joes. Throw everything (use your own recipe) into the pan in no particular order with no need to brown the beef or onions, select JAM and let ‘er rip! If it needs a little thickening (cooked in a closed system means no moisture loss), add a cornstarch or flour slurry at the end of the cycle and give it a stir while you toast the buns. Also, monkey bread is the bomb. And really easy. Make the dough in the Zo. When it’s ready, shape into balls, roll them in the sugar/cinnamon mix, then pour your caramel and nuts into the pan, dump the dough balls in, and continue to bake. There’s no need to use the dough and cake programs (although you could), I did it on the Basic program. Stupendous! Next week, risotto!1-Yr Update – Still going strong, making a loaf of bread every week. Last summer our 4 grandsons stayed with us for the whole summer and I used it every other day for their favorite white bread. I thought my paddles were getting loose so ordered another pair. Turns out I’d forgotten how much play there is in them. The original pair is just fine. I routinely remove the loaf for final gentle shaping and rise, remove the paddles and stick the dough back in the machine. My loaves are perfect every time. Basic cycle, light crust timing for this is 1:04 with rest off, 1:35 with rest on on a kitchen timer. When the timer buzzes, open the lid of the Zo and proceed with paddle removal and final shaping. When you replace the pan and close the lid, the program will proceed to the 3rd rise and bake. If you misjudge timing a little and open the lid before the punch down, it won’t matter, because the spindles (provided you added a little oil to them before dropping the shaped dough in the pan) will spin around without disturbing your dough.2-yr update – For New Years day I need some cranberry sauce and had way too much to do, so I dumped everything into the Zo and set if for the Jam cycle. Perfect cranberry sauce without needing to monitor it on the stove. I’ll be making it the same way this Thanksgiving.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Arjun – August 28, 2016

   My mom and I spent 5 days comparing the reviews and articles on the Zojirushi BB-PAC20 and Breville BBM800XL. We finally ended up comparing both models side by side because a friend has the Breville. For us, it ultimately boiled down to these key features:Zojirishi:+Longer loaf tub (makes a more normal sized loaf like you’d buy at the store+Heating element in the lid for consistent and even browning all aroundBreville:+4 loaf sizes+Nut dispenserPICTURE DESCRIPTIONS: First loaf we baked was white bread (regular speed, medium crust). I could have shaped it more evenly so it wasn’t taller in the middle. Notice how small the holes are since I removed the paddles. The loaf in plastic wrap is wheat bread from the grocery store. Also compare it to a mostly eaten white bread made from the Breville. See how the top is much lighter than the sides? The Breville doesn’t have a top heating element. Second bread we made was olive bread from an online recipe. I shaped this one better, also the recipe called for 2 tsp yeast instead of 2.5. Again I compared it to the size of a regular bread from the grocery store (half the bread is missing from the plastic bag).Neutral points:+Breville has a much nicer user interface. Pretty surprising Zojirushi has an interface that looks like it’s from the early 2000s. But ultimately, our decision is going to be purely about bread quality.+Zojirushi allows you to create 3 custom profiles in which you can adjust the timings for each phase (Rest->Knead->Shape->Rise1->Rise2-Rise3->Bake->Keep Warm) whereas the Breville allows you to create 9 custom profiles and adjust the timings AND temperature for each phase (Knead 1->Knead 2->Rise 1->Rise 2->Rise 3->Keep Warm).We realized we didn’t care too much about the number of custom profiles, because for most bread, the tried and tested standard settings provided by both machines are already sufficient.+The Zojirushi has a “Shape” option where it will beep before the first rise phase and give you an hour to open the lid, take the dough out and shape it with your hands so it looks nice and even, put it back and then close the machine. Don’t recall the Breville having this specific feature, but realized it doesn’t matter because the ideal shape time is right after the last punch down phase. More on that later.+The Zojirushi has 2 paddles and the Breville has one. The number of paddles isn’t specifically a benefit in either machine’s favor. It is more of a result of each machine’s tub shape. The Breville is narrower and taller, and the Zojirushi is shorter and long. I think that the tub shape goes in favor of the Zojirushi, as I mentioned earlier.+Breville has foldable paddles. Don’t really care, because we remove the paddles before the final rise even on the Zojirushi, so the holes are super small (1 centimeter diameter)+The Zojirushi has much sturdier build quality, whereas the Breville is made of thin, unpolished brushed aluminum. As others have noted, it dents very easily. In fact, our Breville arrived with a dent in it. Again, not too big a deal. Ultimately which one makes better bread?+Breville looks more modern and sleek. Zojirushi looks like a typical appliance.+Zojirushi makes less noise. At its loudest, it has the deep droning sound of a washing machine. Breville makes a banging noise as the paddles spin..which is pretty loud.+Zojirushi says it can be used for meatloaf and sourdough starter, Breville has a yeast free option or something…personally I don’t care, plus you can probably customize settings on the Breville to make those work. (Just look up online instruction manuals from either companies to see what their timings are for each setting, and you can custom program that timing into the other machine)+Breville has a light you can turn on when peeking through the viewing window. I use my phone’s flashlight when using the Zojirushi (though you can kinda see what’s going on without it)+The nut dispenser was a pretty awesome get sure in favor of the Breville, but I want to point out that the Zojirushi will beep when it’s time to add those ingredients. The automation is missing from the Zojirushi. So this isn’t a neutral point – it’s a big win for the Breville. But I wanted to point out the beeping of the Zojirushi as an FYI.+The Breville’s marketing material goes out of its way to mention the punch down phase, but in fact not machines have this. Right before Rise 2 and Rise 3, the paddle (s) spins slowly a bunch of times in order to let trapped air escape out of the dough.+The Breville has 2 programmable knead phases. The Zojirushi has 1. I don’t understand what this is about…They both knead for the appropriate amount of time, so maybe the Breville just let’s you get more detailed about the process if you want? If both bake great bread, then I really don’t care either way.+The Zojirushi has an optional rest phase in which it allows all your ingredients to come to room tepremature for optimal baking. Don’t recall the Breville has this. On both machines, you can always skip a step if you want (on the Breville, you hold down the start button, on the Zojirushi you hold down the up and down buttons on Select Course, if I recall correctly…it’s in the manual)Okay, so what was our verdict?Well, it ultimately came down purely to bread quality, and here the Zojirushi is the winner. Just check out the pictures I uploaded. The browning is ridiculously consistent on all sides of the bread. Not overly chewy on one end of another. I have to attribute this to the Zojirushi’s heating element in the lid, since I suspect the Breville ends up heating the sides and bottom longer in order to give the top a sufficient amount of browning.The Zojirushi also has a spectacular loaf size. The first time around, it was a bit high. But check out the olive bread we made on the second try…compared to a regular loaf you’d buy at a store, the size is spot on. I put a ruler next to the white bread pics so you can see. However, the white bread was our absolute first loaf we tried, and we could’ve done one or two things to make it as perfectly formed as the olive bread (see below).Loaf size was an important factor for us, because we want regular sized slices that fit in our toaster. With the Breville, you might be able to achieve these sizes by using a lower bread loaf setting and adjusting the amount of ingredients. But you’ll end up with less bread. While we really liked the ability to choose multiple bread sizes with the Breville, we liked that the Zojirushi makes a standard looking loaf right out of the box. And we found out that the recipe book does show you how to make 1.5lb sized loaves of wheat bread and some others.So how did we make the perfect looking bread you’ll see in the pics?Tips:1) Read the instruction manual precisely and/or watch the first part of the DVD (liquids first, dry things second, make a little pocket for the yeast, and be EXACT for the ingredient measurements)2) SHAPE YOUR DOUGH AND REMOVE PADDLES: Use the instruction manual to identify when the last punch down phase will begin. For the white bread regular setting, this should be 55 minutes after the Knead phase ends. The knead phase was 19 minutes and the Rest 30…so that means you should set an alarm to get back to your machine 1 hour and 44 minutes after pressing the start button. At that time, you will hear the paddles making one rotation every few seconds. It does this about 15 times. As soon as it stops doing this, it means the final rise phase will begin. Open the machine (it automatically pauses where it is in the process), and take the dough out with your hands. Put it on a table or mat or something (maybe parchment paper that is lubricated with olive oil – that’s what I did), and roll the dough a bit and shape it with your hands so it looks nice and smooth. Better is if you shape it to look like a rectangle that will fit the tub perfectly, and flatten it a bit so it has an even night all the way. Then, remove the paddles (they are slippery so use something that has a good grip to pull them out). Put your loaf back in so it takes the full space of the tub, maybe pat it down one last time, and close the machine. Your bread will have a great shape.+Bonus tip: one of the reviewers mentioned putting your paddles in the same orientation before putting in the ingredients. Not sure if it helped, but I definitely did this. I pointed both my paddles in the 6 o’clock position.The first recipe we used was the Basic White Bread Regular (meaning we used active dry yeast instead of fast/instant yeast). Medium crust setting, except we left it in for 5 minutes extra after it was done to let it brown more.The second recipe we used is some southern olive bread recipe I googled in which they happened to use a Zojirushi as well! I used the dark crust setting and took it out immediately. Here’s the “Kalamata Olive Bread Recipe from Southernfood/Aboutfood : http://southernfood.about.com/od/breadmachine/r/r70412a.htmDon't forget to let your bread sit for 30 minutes before slicing!Bottom line: The Zojirushi’s even browning and standard loaf size make me feel it makes an overall better bread loaf. Check out the pics!After seeing the modern look, cool interface, and more granular programmable control of the Breville (e.g. temperature control) I want to take one star away from this machine. I may not use all those features, but maybe I would! But c’mon – it’s the 21st century. Great looking user interfaces should be standard.