Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Home Bakery Supreme Breadmaker bakes a large traditional shaped 2 pounds loaf of bread. Use Zojirushi's exclusive Home Made Menu function to adjust to the knead, rise and bake times. Also prepare dough, cake, jam, sourdough starter and even meatloaf in this versatile machine. Use the 13-hour programmable timer to have freshly baked bread ready as soon as you wake up. Homemade menu setting to bake meatloaf Capacity - 2 pounds loaf of bread Electric Rating - 120 volts, 700 watts Dimensions - Width 17 x Depth 10 x Height 12 inches Color - White
Amazon.com Review
The Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme is a state-of-the-art bread maker that combines a range of automatic controls with easily tailored options. Its 10 cycles are designed for making everything from wheat bread to cinnamon rolls and can also be put to work for non-bread items like cakes, fruit jam, and homemade meatloaf. Versatile controls let you use the dough-only function or make a loaf from start to finish, and handy programming options include a sourdough starter, a 2-hour quick-baking cycle, and three crust settings. The timer allows you to set all controls up to 13 hours ahead, and three memory settings store your most-used recipes. Built with a durable plastic body, the Home Bakery Supreme has many structural plusses, including twin kneading paddles, a broad viewing window, and an angled control panel. A welcome alternative to the cylinder-shaped bread maker pans, the nonstick baking pan here turns out traditionally shaped, 2-pound loaves. Streamlined and manageable, the unit measures 16-3/4 by 12 by 8-1/2 inches and comes with a detailed manual, a recipe booklet, and a how-to video. Zojirushi includes a limited 1-year warranty. --Emily Bedard From the Manufacturer What Makes the Home Bakery Supreme Special?  | Bread made in Zojirushi's Home Bakery Supreme appeals to all your senses. The horizontal shape makes it look like an oven-baked loaf, and the crust control function allows you to select light, medium, or dark crust. The two kneading blades knead the ingredients more thoroughly to make it taste better, and waking up to the smell of freshly baked bread has never been easier with the timer function. You can also prepare the dough in the Home Bakery Supreme and shape it yourself to bake in the oven. The loaf of bread you bake at home should look like a regular loaf of bread. Unlike other bread makers that produce vertical loaves, Zojirushi's Home Bakery Supreme bakes a large traditional-shaped 2-pound loaf, so the bread comes out the way it should, horizontally, and doesn't have to be sliced on its side. The Home Bakery Supreme makes it easy to prepare and enjoy the delicious taste of freshly baked all-natural breads in the convenience of your own home. Never again will you need to wonder if that store-bought loaf contains preservatives or additives. | For Beginners and Experts | Not only is the Home Bakery Supreme an excellent breadmaker for beginning bakers, it's also a useful tool for expert bakers. Because it controls the temperature while the dough is rising, it takes the guesswork out of the leavening process. Additionally, the two kneading blades and the enclosed temperature-controlled environment knead the yeast dough better than any other method. Whether you're baking in the scorching sun or during a blizzard, the Home Bakery Supreme will give you consistent results. All the bread cycles on the Home Bakery Supreme automatically preheat the ingredients to bring them to room temperature. However, if you find it unnecessary, you have the "Preheat Off" option to save time and immediately begin the kneading process. |  | Two Are Better than One  | The Home Bakery Supreme features two kneading blades instead of one to make sure all ingredients are thoroughly kneaded. Additionally, the two blades knead yeast dough better than any other method. Not only does thorough kneading make the bread taste better, but it also prevents unsightly flour on the side of the bread. | A Host of Amazing Features - Recipes
Not only does the Home Bakery Supreme come with an instruction video, it also comes with lots of recipes. The recipes range from basic white bread to raisin bread, whole wheat and fat-free bread, pizza, pretzels, cinnamon-raisin rolls, strawberry jam, chocolate cake, sourdough bread, and Zojirushi's original Meatloaf Miracle. More recipes are available at Zojirushi's Web site at www.zojirushi.com. - Easy Gluten-Free Baking
If you are allergic to gluten, you can make gluten-free bread in the Home Bakery Supreme. No more rock-hard gluten-free bread bought at the store. Experiment to create your own new recipes. - Some Like It Sour
Sourdough starter is a form of the original "leaven" for bread. Traditional sourdough starter usually takes 7 to 10 days to prepare, but the Home Bakery Supreme comes with a Sourdough Starter cycle that prepares light sourdough starter in 2 hours - Large Viewing Window
The large viewing window allows you to watch the kneading, rising, and baking processes, so you can make adjustments if you find it necessary. If you need a better look, lifting the lid to peek won't stop the kneading or baking operation. Just be sure to close the lid when you are done looking. - Wake Up to the Smell of Freshly Baked Bread
It has never been easier with the 13-hour programmable timer. Just add the ingredients and set the timer before going to bed, and by the time that alarm clock sounds, you will smell the bread waiting for you. If you hit snooze, don't worry. The Home Bakery Supreme also has a Keep Warm feature to keep that bread warm up to an hour after baking. - Beat the Clock
In a hurry? Enjoy the aroma of freshly baked bread in just 2 hours with the Quick Bake cycle. - More than Just Bread
The Home Bakery Supreme can do more than just bake bread. It has a cycle for jam, cake, and sourdough starter. It also works as a portable oven, so you can make other dishes such as meatloaf or lasagna without heating up your larger oven.  - Easy Creativity
If you like being creative, you will love the Home Bakery Supreme. The Home Made Menu function allows you to adjust each cycle to your preference and remember it, so you can make that perfect bread. If not bread, cake. Or meatloaf. Or anything you wish. Invent your own original recipes and see what you can make in the Home Bakery Supreme. With the three memory settings in the Home Made Menu setting, you have plenty of space for many of your favorites. Zojirushi Quality and Innovation For nearly a century, Zojirushi (pronounced zoh-gee-ROO-shee) has established itself as a company that uses cutting-edge technology to bring comfort, ease, vitality, and affluence into the lives of its customers worldwide. Look for the friendly elephant logo (Zojirushi means "elephant brand" in Japanese) and know that a product that bears the name Zojirushi is innovative, high in quality, and reliable.
| Customer Reviews: Read 367 more reviews...
 Pleased but only after making some adjustments November 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is going to be long, but I hope it will help someone else who is having trouble with their Zoji.
I have been baking bread for years, and it's been a challenge to find a new bread machine. I literally wore out a GE breadmaker after almost 10 years of use, and was disappointed to learn they no longer make them. First try, I purchased a Breadman Ultimate, and took it back after using it twice - it was *very* poorly made, the pan would not stay locked in the clips and it banged around horribly during mixing. The bread turned out ok, but even hubby said it would not last and the racket it made was unreal. You needed ear plugs just to stay in the same room with it.
I really wanted a machine that baked a more traditional size loaf, and initially balked on the price of the Zoji. However, after the disaster with the Breadman, I decided there had to be a better option.
The Zojirushi is very solidly built - the pan is probably twice as thick as the Breadman Ultimate, and even thicker than my old GE model. The unit itself is large, so be prepared to sacrifice some counter space, but it's heavy enough that I can't see it taking a dive off the edge of the counter either. Another huge plus is that it is EXTREMELY quiet! I never thought a bread machine could ever work almost silently, but this one does. I had no trouble talking on the phone while it was running (you could never do that with the Breadman Ultimate!).
However (yes, you knew that was coming), I've had to do some tweaking to get it to make decent bread. I have read almost every single review on this breadmaker, and for those who give it glowing accolades right out of the box, all I can say is that you must have had a machine that was programmed better than mine. I think it's arrogant to assume that it is always the fault of the user with this breadmaker rather than the machine itself. I have owned a bread machine for almost 10 years, and even I almost returned this one initially and called it trash.
I watched the video that came with it, and also read the instructions. I used the Zoji recipe for their basic white bread first, and it turned out "ok" - but not great. Definitely not what I was expecting.
So I decided to use my tried and true Golden Egg Bread recipe that I've made literally hundreds of times over the years. The results were appalling! The bread did not rise as it should, was almost burned on the bottom, and the top looked like it had never seen heat - it was a sickly pale color (and this was on the medium crust setting for basic white bread). I could not believe this highly rated machine turned out a loaf this bad!
I thought I'd try it one more time just to see if it was a fluke, and got the exact same results. One thing different this time though was that I paid attention to how much the machine kneaded the dough, and how long the rise cycles were. I finally decided THAT is the problem with the machine - the timing is way off as it is originally programmed.
Thankfully, I kept my old GE user manual and it had the times for each cycle listed in the book. I used the HomeMade setting and programmed my own times/cycles into it, plus turned one of the rise times OFF completely (why there are three on the Zoji, I have no clue). As the original Basic White Bread cycle is set up, it does not knead the dough long enough, does not rise as it should, and bakes WAY too long.
Yesterday I used my own program for the first time and made a wonderful loaf of bread! It even browned on top. :o)
If you are having the same trouble with your machine, get out your instructions and manually program the following into the Memory (under HomeMade):
Turn PREHEAT OFF - this is a waste of time and electricity if your ingredients are at proper temperature.
Set the KNEAD cycle to 30 minutes (my old machine had 33, but 30 minutes is the max Zoji will allow).
Set the first RISE to 25 minutes.
Set the second RISE to 64 minutes.
Leave the third rise turned OFF.
Set the BAKING time to 40 minutes for light crust, 55 minutes for medium crust, and 65 minutes for dark crust.
I left the KEEP WARM turned off, but that's just my preference.
You may have to tweak these settings just a bit for your own recipes, but this worked beautifully for me - 100% better than what the Basic program runs.
I did remove the paddles at the beginning of the 2nd rise and gently shaped the loaf back into place. It wasn't lop-sided and was very smooth. I think the lack of proper kneading is a major culprit on the cracked tops of some loaves mentioned. I also take a plastic spatula and scrape the corners as it's mixing just to be sure it all gets incorporated. Sometimes water/flour adjustments have to be made too - you normally can't just throw it all in and walk off without checking the consistency. It shouldn't be dry and crumbly, but it also shouldn't be so sticky that it sticks to your fingers when you touch it. You develop a sense over time of what good dough feels like.
For dough only recipes, I plan on programming a 30 minute knead and 60 minute rise.
Overall, I'm pleased with the machine with the above changes, so I'm giving it 4 stars. I think it's sturdy, well-built, and above par for most bread machines I've seen on the market. However, I do think it needs the ability to customize the temperature, and a pause button would be helpful. It has the potential to be a great machine with some changes. I hope it holds up for many, many years after the high price tag on it.
Good way to start making bread! November 22, 2008
I used to make bread the old fashioned way every Sunday morning, but being retired has shaken up my old routine. I bought this machine and found it simple to use; so far have made about 8 loaves of various breads, all good, if frankly, not as good as plain old up-to-the-elbows in flour made bread. But good enough to beat the almost $5 a loaf "rustic" breads in the local market. Easy to use and clean up. Takes some practice, but that's easy. The best part is when it's done, with butter and home-made jam.
 Two paddles a mistake November 16, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
We bought this machine because of it's size -- it would fit in our appliance garage. However, in order for it to be narrow, the loaf pan is elongated, and hence there are two paddles instead of one. This results in poor kneading, because the dough gets repeatedly torn, tearing up the gluten strands as they're forming (at least this is my conjecture). It works OK if you make a large amount of dough, but you can't make a small loaf or a smallish amount of pizza dough. I have not tried baking in the machine, but I doubt this would work well either, because when I lift the lid to get the dough after the first rise, it's usually lopsided. It's very expensive too! The one I had before that was only about $50 and did a fine job. That one, however, started "schooching" on the counter while kneading and finally smashed to the floor. I have not had good luck with bread machines. A caveat: I bake all the bread for the family, so it gets used 3-4 times a week.
 A First Impression November 15, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Since sourdough bread is essentially unavailable in our town in West Virginia, we decided to purchase a bread machine and make our own on a regular basis. I have to make it clear at the beginning that I have never owned a bread machine or baked bread the old-fashioned way. Nor am I a bread aficionado (read: elitist). But I do like to learn new things and experimentation.
I read through many (no, not all, not even close to it) of the 368 reviews posted on Amazon for this machine. I also read reviews of other machines. I came away with the impression that everyone has a bread machine that they love. Many times, reviewers gnash their teeth because their favorite machine is no longer made and would gladly sell their soul to have it back. Clearly, people who use bread machines take their bread very, very seriously (even passionately).
It is clear that, while some reviewers did not like the bread made by the Zojirushi, NO ONE felt it is poorly made. It looks to me like the previous reviewer (and others) who would NEVER again buy a Zojirushi when this one breaks are going to have a long, long wait. Interestingly, reviews of every other bread machine include a cadre of individuals who severely criticize that machine for poor construction, breakdown after a short time, and the like.
The quality of construction speaks volumes to me, so I purchased this one. I believe that a wide variety of factors lead to a "bad" loaf, and one can find a solution to the problem. Clearly, the Zojirushi company provides a good deal of support to the users--but it has to be used. Though, I have not accessed that help, so I don't know how useful it is.
I've noticed that almost every criticism of the Zojirushi relates to the crust being thick. Other comments on uneven loaves, etc., I discount as just annoyances. Homemade bread shouldn't look like a factory loaf, anyway. Or am I mistaken?
So, the crust seems to be the fly in the ointment for those who don't like the machine. I think this amounts to a matter of opinion. I love a thick crust, so the criticism is no issue for me. I'd have to say that if someone wants a thin, soft crust, you need to think carefully about this machine or be prepared to experiment. I have to think that varying amounts of ingredients, etc. must hold an answer to this.
I have not had a problem with the loaf sticking in the pan, and I see the paddles stuck in the bread as simply something you have to check. To tell you the truth, I was surprised that this divot on the bottom was characteristic of all bread machines. I never thought about how you would automatically knead the bread, then suddenly make the paddle disappear.
I have only made one loaf so far, so I may amend this review if I come across problems or new discoveries. Making the first loaf was a delight, just plain old white bread. The machine worked perfectly, and it tastes delicious. I should add that the automatic nature of the baking is essential, as I do not want to make baking a career change.
Sourdough should be a much greater challenge. I have purchased some mixes as well as starter to try making it from scratch.
*****Part 2: I have now made sourdough bread using King Arthur Alaskan Sourdough mix. Easy and deeelicious. A perfect loaf, even in shape (though it is a 1 1/2 pound loaf). I do have one complaint, though. The mix instructions say to put the crust setting on light, and the lack of hard crust was disappointing. So, I will crank up the crust setting next time. As a side note, the King Arthur mix is good, but not a strong sourdough. I think that strong sourdough is not possible with a mix like this. So, I am moving on to using the sourdough starter capability of the Zojirushi with some starters I have purchased. Imay even keep a starter culture going if that turns out to be better.
This will now provide us with sourdough bread in a predictable way. It takes less than 5 minutes to add the ingredients to the pan, then everything is automatic after that. Incredible. Plus, we can now experiment with all kinds of other breads.
I qualify my opinion with this: I am not a homemade bread elitist. What I readily accept, what I prefer in terms of crust and taste may not make the grade with those who take breadmaking very seriously.
Disappointed November 13, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I previously had a Panasonic which I used for many years and finally wore it out. It made wonderful bread. I debated whether to buy another one or go with a different brand. I decided on the Zojirushi because I liked the idea of having a loaf that, well, looked like a loaf of bread and I thought the two blade system would be good for mixing.
Well, I've had the machine about a year now and I'm disappointed to say the least. First of all, the bread comes out too well done on the bottom & sides. I've discovered if I take the bread out 5 or 6 minutes before the timer on the machine says its ready, it helps a little.
The other issue is I found that my 65 year old arms have great difficulty in getting the d...m bread out of the pan. It is so frustrating! I shake & shake and finally after about 15 shakes it will loosen and if I'm lucky the paddles with stay in place. Boy, my arms hurt after this struggle.
Then, when it finally does pop out it will land hard and squish the top or part of the top crust will flop off. What a mess.
Many times the paddles have stuck to the bread and when we go to slice, oops, we hit the blade at the bottom of the loaf.
I wish I had my old Panasonic back. When this one hits the dust I will not buy another Zojirushi.
However, it's only saving grace is that it does make decent dough for pizza and rolls. That's why I'm giving it a two star instead of one.
I do have a Zojirushi rice cooker which I love and use for oatmeal as well as great for white & brown rice. However, that is another product and another story
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