Bread Machine Reviews

This is the beat machine i have ever had. Makes great bread and butter.

My sister-in-law bought this bread machine first and let me taste the butter and bread that it made. I fell in love with it so I had to have it. I make the butter first and when I take the butter out, there is always a little left. I add the ingredients for the rolls to it. My rolls are the best. I take them to work when we have pot luck and everyone says my rolls are better then the ones that they make in their bread machines. The only problem I have with this machine is what most everyone has. The bread it makes is to big if you want to use it for regular sandwiches. I still love it.

...so I don't have a true basis of comparison against other machines. However, I did my homework and bought a machine with the features I wanted in the price range I could afford. I've had the machine about 3 weeks, and have made about 15 loaves of bread. So far I have had fairly good outcomes, however, most loaves collapse. I have tried adjusting the ingredients as I have read in the book that came with the machine and on several websites, but there seems no rhyme or reason as to why the tops to cave in. Raisin bread came out great twice, and I made a loaf of Country White that didn't collapse. Other than that, every loaf sank, but I must say that even though they weren't exactly attractive, they tasted good. They weren't "bricks," they were just flat on top. I am not going to give up; I enjoy using the machine, I am an experienced breadmaker, and I know how to find and use resources. I believe I will be successful.

As for the machine itself, I find it easy to use and to clean. So far I have had no problems with the machine itself, only the recipes. (That's what I believe, anyway... I don't think it's the machine causing the tops to cave in, but the ratio of ingredients.) I could recommend it for anyone who has the time to stay with the machine and adjust the ingredients while the dough kneads. I haven't tried the delay timer or the ExpressBake features, as I thought it best to keep an eye on things while I'm still a breadmachine beginner.

By the way, this model appears to be exactly the same as the Oster 5838, but they call it Inspire and only sell it through Target stores.

We have been using this gem for many, many loaves of bread. It far surpasses our first "Welbilt" brand breadmaker we used to its 'bitter end'.

I have this machine for one month and have used it four times and it works well. English is not my primary language so I am very careful when measuring the ingredients and I am also using a digital scale... so far no problems, the bread tastes good and I am happy with it.

I have owned a panasonic bread machine in the past which just quit working. I thought I would try this machine because of the high recommendations of the earlier model. Boy, is this a dud. I made 3 different loves of bread. I followed the instructions as printed but each one came out terrible. Even with the crust color selection mode, the top of the bread barely bakes and the sides get hard. The so called non stick pan is certainly not.I do not recommed this machine to anyone. If I could rate it as a zero, I would!!!!

I have owned many different bread machines, and still do. The Zojirushi, the Panasonic and the Breadman Ultimate.
This Zojirushi is becoming my favorite!
It turns out great tasting, great looking loaves of bread every time.
And the sourdough starter cycle does wonders.
My only complaint is that the pan is not very nonstick. You have to shake it pretty hard to get the bread out. But big deal - as long as it comes out I'm happy!
As far as Zo's customer service, I've never had any trouble. I have called them to order spare parts for my rice cookers, and to order a spare pan for this bread machine in case I ever need it. By spare parts I mean just that - spare. I have not had any defects. I just like having a spare pan etc on hand in case one gets scratched. No trouble getting them on the phone, no trouble with my order.
I have absolutely no complaints. Zojirushi makes great, innovative products and you should not hesitate to get this machine.

This is the third bread machine I've owned. The first one was one of those old ones that looked like R2D2 with the glass dome. It walked off the counter one too many times. The next was a Breadman. The motor burned out after only a couple of years. I'd always heard that the Zojirushi's were the best, and the reviews were good on this one, so I bought it. It makes beautiful bread with great ease, and I like the more conventional shape of the loaf. However, it's made for a 2-pound loaf, and if you make a smaller one it's going to come out lopsided. Evidently with the two blades, one gets greedy and gets more dough on it than the other one. I don't mind the lopsided loaves for my personal use, but if you really want a beautiful loaf, make sure it's a 2-pounder.

My husband and I chose this breadmaker as a 10 yr. anniversary gift from his employer. I have used it only 2 days and I have two main complaints about it. One, I don't like that this is a vertical machine, I like the top of the bread to be like the bread found in grocery stores. Two, on the basic medium cycle, the bread got way too dark and I had to turn off the machine even though it had 32 minutes left to bake the bread. My son said the bread was burning. Who knows what the bread would have looked like if I had left it in the machine until the end of the cycle!

The recipe book is easy to understand and has a lot of information; I suggest that you read it a few times all the way through before you start to make bread. I have not used any of the cycles except Basic Medium and French. My husband and I feel that we will only use the 1 lb. and 1.5 lb. setting, because when I made the French Bread on the 2 lb. setting, the bread was not dense like normal french bread--it had a lot of holes due to the need to expand the dough to make a bigger loaf. I made the second loaf of bread--the one I had to remove early--on the 1.5 lb. setting, and it was fine, nice and dense. The machine is noisy when mixing the bread, but that doesn't bother me. The inner pan is very easy to clean, though it cannot be immersed in water/dishwasher. Bread is very easy to remove from the pan.

Lastly, I found that as soon as I start the machine, it mixes, but I have to open the lid and give the machine a little help by scraping the flour from the corners and bottom with a rubber spatula. The blade does not get all the flour from the corners and the bottom. The flour will lay there even after the machine starts mixing the dough ball back and forth. This doesn't bother me either, I don't mind scraping the flour; I'd rather do that than have lumps of flour in the bread or flour on the outside of the loaf.

Since we didn't have to pay for this, this breadmaker is an ok machine. It does what it is supposed to do. My husband is a fresh bread lover, so he is pleased with the bread. However, if you are paying $100 and up for a breadmaker, look at other models first.

If you don't mind the horizonal shape, this machine does it all. It's very simple to use. Regardless of the type of bread you are making, there are only 2 buttons to push to start the process, 3 if you want to delay the start time. The only drawback is the cooldown time between loafs. I have found you can make 2 loafs back-to-back, but it needs to rest (about 30 minutes) before making a 3rd. It's the next best tasting to the honest labor of love effort.

I used to have really expensive Panasonic bread maker(model SD_-YD 250), but after 1 year of use it stopped working completely Soo.. I bought this toastmaster breadmaker almost 1 year ago. I didn't expect this less expensive breadmaker was going to be my favorite kitchen machine. The best thing of this machine is definetely 3 things. 1. price 2. durability 3. simplicity. Since I bought this machine I am using everyday for my 3 kids and bread loving husband. Last week we decided to buy the same machine as 2nd bread maker( I have 2 of this breadmaker now!) since I can't keep up with my family guys' eating bread speed. Almost everyday I make 2 kinds of bread!
This machine is defenetely worth your money.

Machine works great but the metalic covering on the plastic paddle is comming off. Logically, this covering goes into our bread (we do not tast it but it cannot be good for us). A new paddle ought to be the logical solution. It is afterall, a very small part. But, we can not locate the manufacturer to order a new part. If we cannot find a replace paddle, we shall have to dump the machine for a new machine (Panisonic?). Manufaturer address not on instructions, not on machine itself nor available on internet. For want of a paddle, the machine is lost!

I've been using this machine for about three years. The breads are really good, but I have some issues: if for any reason do you want to stop the machine, you have to re-start the whole process again; the kneading process is too strong and takes too long. I also don't like the big hole in the breads. I take care of my kitchen appliances very well, but the chrome is starting to show some brown spots. If you don't have another option, this is a good machine.

Having made my bread from scratch for many years, I resisted even thinking about a bread machine. I only purchased it because of the terrific price deal. Two days after receiving the machine & the 'Bread Machine Cookbook V' by German, (which I highly recommend also) I chose three recipes: Onion Cheese, Pumpernickel, & Stollen - Each loaf turned out perfect. Absolutely no problems of any kind! I had read opinions from buyers for other bread machines, which bothered me, but none of their complaints interfered with my bread results. It preformed exactly as promised, was easy to clean, & the bread was delicious even though I altered the recipes to suit my tastes (daring for a first time user). I set the machine on my washer, in my laundry room, out of any drafts, watched the mixing & kneading periods (as the book recommended) & left it to finish. The only disappointment to me, is the lack of the traditional loaf shape, & I will use my machine's 'stop after mixing' mode & shape my own for oven baking, when I have time. I hate to admit the machine is as good as I am at bread making. Onita

Noisy first of all!
The first machine worked for a while and then went dead.
They sent us a new one and it had problems too.
The part that turns the turns the paddle slips on the motor shaft making a loud popping noise every few seconds.

Weare sending it back for a refund and getting something else.

I LOVE OUR MACHINE! We married in May and got one of our dear friends gave us $100 specifically for a breadmaker. We researched the purchase thoroughly and, about a month ago, lucked into the special deal Amazon.com had: $(...) for a machine listing for $200!! The other machines rated in Consumer's Report were mentioned as being noisy, producing a vertical rather than horizontal loaf, and making a poor wheat bread. NONE of these complaints were attributed by Consumers Report to this model, and we concur. So far it's been wonderful. Each loaf has been absolutely perfect (I set it on medium to brown). The bread always comes out easily and never sticks, and the paddle is very easy to remove from the bottom of the loaf. I've read the reviews speaking of the noise level but, honestly, I would not say that it's particularly noisy. I'm very pleased with the quality for the cost and feel that this machine is well worth $100 compared to the apparent quality of other lower priced brands available. However, I must say that, if one could spend more than $100, a 2-paddle model would probably be more advantageous. Synopsis: Don't hesitate to BUY IT if you can get it for $...!!

I've had one of these makers for 3 years and I love it. It's worked incredibly consistently for me at least once a week making bread, dough, jam. I do have a few warnings for potential owners:

1. If the dough ball is too dry, the motor can't turn properly and makes a popping sound. This is probably the noise that all the other reviews are talking about; otherwise the noise is no worse than any other breadmaker I've been around. If this happens, add water a bit at a time until the dough is of a better consistency.

2. This machine causes bread to rise like crazy. I've had to reduce the yeast in all the recipes I use by at least half, and a 1.5-lb loaf fills the pan. I didn't need to do this with my old machine--breadmaker cookbook recipes always worked great as-is.

3. Like any other breadmaker, none of the parts can go in the dishwasher, and you have to be really careful of the nonstick surface. The manual says these things, though.

4. Sometimes a small amount of flour gets stuck in the corners if the dough was pretty dry to start out with. If I'm around when it's mixing, I push the flour out of the corners with a spatula. If not, I brush the flour off the completed loaf.

5. When making jam, I reduce the pectin required by the recipe by about half and the jam is still sets up almost hard.

I love this bread machine. It's great having fresh made bread, and the Breadman Plus TR-810 makes it easier than you can imagine. Just put the stuff in the pan, hit the button, and a few hours later you have a fresh loaf of bread. The thing I liked about this model is that the loaf is baked in a horizotal pan, I like the "classic" loaf shape rather than the weird cylindrical loaves that come from vertical machines.

Something I noticed about my machine, maybe this isn't common amongst other TR-810s, but mine runs a little hot. I found that moving it away from walls and cabinets helps, but I would still scorch loaves enough to make the crust really hard, even if they were set properly for a 2-lb whole grain loaf, for example. My solution: Everything is set to 1-lb, white, light crust, and since then any type of bread I've baked has turned out great.

I haven't used it to make jam or pizza dough, because frankly .... I'm sure it would work fine for this, but at this point the only thing I don't have the patience for is kneading bread dough and remembering to punch it down once it's had time to rise. Thankfully the Breadman takes care of this for me. The best thing is my family can enjoy fresh, healthy bread made in my kitchen and I can spend the time doing other things.

The reason I rated it 4 stars, however, is because the mixing paddles seemed to wear out pretty quickly. After about two months of use I started to see some wear in the hole that fits over the rotating pegs in the pan that hold them in place. They held out for about a year, and recently I've started noticing that my bread comes out uneven, or flat and hard. ...

The bread pan is pretty decent. I had a couple of loaves stick pretty badly, but this was related to the scorching problem. When my mixing paddles were young, all loaves slid out with only a little shaking on my part. I found that if I let the bread cool, it would come out easier. As a previous review stated, I use a chopstick to pull out the paddles should they get stuck in the bread. I found that the paddles get stuck in the loaf about half the time, but they're easy to remove and don't affect the quality whatsoever.

There are also other features which I find marginally useful, like the alarm for adding ingredients and the power interrupt feature so it doesn't forget where it was should you have a power failure in your home. The alarm I've needed only a handful of times but was glad to have it, and the interrupt feature proved useful when I accidentally unplugged the machine in the middle of a loaf.

If you're on the fence about which bread machine to buy, know that you can buy this one with confidence. It has a lot of fancy bells and whistles which you probably won't use, but most importantly it makes a great loaf of bread. I'm a real cheap-o and never get an appliance like this without doing a lot of research beforehand. The Breadman Plus has exceeded my expectations.

This machine consistently produces evenly-baked, nicely risen bread with a good texture. The crust control is a great feature. The horizontal loaves look like loaves baked in a traditional oven in a regular loaf pan.

There are two mixing paddles in the bottom of the pan, which insures even mixing of the dough. Sometimes they get stuck in the loaf when you remove it from the pan, but they are easy to remove from the baked loaf.

The bread machine comes with a recipe book which includes some new twists on older bread machine recipes, including one for Brioche bread which is out of this world!

I like the 2 1/2 pound size because these loaves disappear so fast in my family.

Bread machine or hand-made?? It's my secret!

I saw several comments on parts. I have a Breadman Ultimate and needed a new pan. Took about 5 mins calling the 800 number and the new pan was on it's way for about half what the Zo machine's pan was priced at.

I'm debating getting another machine and it's the 810 or the Zojirushi V-20. Our Breadman ultimate is 3 years old and chugging along so I thought I might get another Breadman. We have had some inexplicable failed loaves(cold yeast?) but for Raisin Bread at four bucks a loaf the machine has paid for itself ten times over easily(we eat it 2-3 times a week, kids). We have made every bread under the sun and our Kitchenaid mixer longs for attention :) I can truly say that after 500+ loaves it's worth the money.

The deal was if I spend the money we better never buy another loaf of bread. Except for some french bread we needed in a hurry we haven't.

Why 2 machines? We need white for school sandwiches and raisin for breakfast!! The Ultimate's loaves are too big or too small for sandwich bread.

:)

If you like to buy bread mixes in a box at the store, this may be a very good product. But if you like to mix ingredients from scratch, you will be annoyed by all the bells and whistles oriented towards scanning in product bar codes. The scanning technology probably accounts for the rather high price, too. On a positive note, it is attractive, and nicely sized at 16 x 13 x 9.

I have chosen this breadmaker because it can make up to 3lb loaf, based on the information in this web site. Unfortunately after I got it, the product can only make up to 2 lb loaf. I am so disappointed. But it's not easy to return it. What a spam! The money I spent is not worth it.

I purchased a Breadman for my wife for Christmas because our 12 year old other brand finally gave out. It had worked perfectly up to the end. The first loaf out of the breadman was great. Then 4 out of 5 loafs would not rise, regardless of recipe or factory setting. We exchanged this machine for another, and the same thing, the first loaf rose perfectly, the next three rose only about one third of the way. We tried White, Wheat, and French recipies, with the same failure rate. Calling the factory customer service was of no help.

Very easy to use and the bread comes out so good! I definately recommend this machine to anyone.

In our family, we make a fresh bread about every night. Sometime twice a day. So we are, I think, one of the most frequent users of this machine. And probably this machine is not made for being used so frequently. Still it has lasted longer than we thought. We bought our first one early 2000. That machine broke within the year, and we got a new one for free, late 2000. This one has now lasted about 3 years - wild guess: 1000 loaves ? - and is getting close to the end of its life. The cover glass is now getting loose, sliding away each time we open the lid, and the sides of the lid are literally breaking/burning off. So now we get some pieces of plastinc in our bread, now and then ... I just ordered a new machine, but chose for the Zorijushi, hoping (from what I can read) that it is stronger, better for frequent users as we are. Also, the Breadman has a 'vertical' bread, and we prefer the 'horizontal' type. I should also mention that we use the same recipe 99.9% of the time: it is not always easy to finetune your recipe with those machines, so once you do, stick with it!

So, overall, the machine did not bad, but (1) broke within the year, and (2) doesn't seem to last longer than about 1,000 loaves. Therefore, it doesn't deserve more than 3 stars.

I wasn't sure if I really "needed" a bread machine so I wanted to try one of the more inexpensive ones first, in case I ended up never using it. But I got this for Christmas and have made bread every day since then! This machine works great, the pan and paddle are totally non-stick, and we have been more than happy with every loaf from it. The rapid cycle is a great bonus if you forgot to plan ahead for dinner, but the crust is not as pretty as the regular cycle, so don't plan on taking rapid-cycle breads to a party or anything! It still tastes great, but the color is uneven. The recipes that come in the owner's manual have been some of our less favorite breads, so I would definitely recommend another source for recipes. (I have The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna Rathmell German-- 5 stars!) The kneading cycle is a little noisy, just as any appliance with a motor can be noisy, but it only kneads for 20-25 minutes total out of 3.5 hours, so not a big deal. The loaves are on the tall side, especially if you make a 2 lb. loaf, so they are not the usual shape we think bread should be. But when your house fills up with that fresh-bread smell, you will cease to care what shape the loaf is and just drool!!

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