Bread Machine Bread-How To Make It
About 25 years ago I bought a bread-making machine for each of my daughters when they married or went away to college. They were cheaper than a Bosch Bread Mixer, at the time.
The bread maker I’m showing you today is about the same price as a Bosch Bread Mixer. I wanted the girls to be able to make bread and survive on homemade bread and soup with their limited budgets. We all remember those days, right? Actually, those days are back! LOL!
I wrote a post about making bread and how a bread-making machine can make the process much easier. I can’t remember which post it was, but in response to reading that post, a reader commented to me that she loved her Zojirushi Bread Maker.
Well, one of my daughters still has her bread machine but has determined it’s on its last leg. I ordered one of the Zojirushi units for us to use, and haven’t looked back.
After reading my reader’s comment I wish I had written her name down. If you’re reading this and it was you who commented about the Zojirushi Bread Maker, please remind me who you are so I can get in touch with you. I knew I wanted a bread mixer, I just didn’t know which one to choose.
In case you missed this post, French Bread In One Hour
Bread Mixer vs. Bread Maker
Let me clarify the difference between a bread mixer and a bread maker.
Bread Mixer
Most of us know about the Bosch bread mixer, it mixes and kneads bread. I love mine, I still use it to make the bread dough. We can mold the bread dough when the mixing is complete and the bread has had a chance to rise, and then I bake the loaves in the oven.
I can mix and knead 8-one-pound loaves in my Bosch. Yes, I freeze a lot of bread for another day.
I wanted to mention, my Bosch has a very strong electric motor. It can mix some fairly large batches of dough. I have to keep an eye on the machine since it’s been known to shake and shift on the counter as the dough is being mixed.
Yes, it does have some suction pads on the unit’s feet, but again, the motor is strong enough that it can cause the machine to move along the counter. I’m careful to make sure it doesn’t get too close to the edge, I’d hate to see it fall on the floor.
How do I know this? I was teaching a class about making cinnamon rolls, and I asked my “helper” to stand watch over the Bosch. She didn’t realize it could bounce off the counter, it can, not often, but it can. Yes, it cracked the lid. But the class kept going, no lid attached.
Bread Maker
I wanted something to make less bread without having to use my arthritic hands to physically knead it. This machine makes just two loaves, so this is just what I needed. Small loaves, fewer dinner rolls, and a way to make less pizza dough in the batch.
A bread maker is a machine like this one I’m showing you today that mixes the bread ingredients, kneads the bread dough, lets it rise, and then bakes it. Well, I don’t enjoy the bread baked in a bread mixer as much, I like baking my own. More often than not, I’ll let the machine prepare the dough and then I’ll bake it in the oven.
My daughters and I have always taken the bread dough out after it mixes, kneads, and rises. Then we mold the dough into our greased bread pans and bake it.
Zojirushi Bread Mixer Tips
I’ll be honest, I don’t enjoy going through Instruction booklets to figure out how things should work. I don’t like reading them as a means to learn all that goes into a successful result.
BUT, I had to today. I opened the box, washed the measuring cups, spoons included, and washed the bread pan. Here is what I learned:
- The liquid measuring cup is for the liquid ingredients.
- The nested measuring cups are for the dry ingredients.
Items You May Need In The Kitchen:
- Bread Mixer (this is the one I purchased)
- 2 Bread Pans (I use smaller ones-7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 Inches)
Bread Machine Bread
Ingredients
- Water
- Bread Flour or White Flour (I only store bread flour)
- Sugar
- Dry Milk (I use Instant)
- Salt
- Butter
- SAF Instant Yeast
Step-By-Step Instructions:
Step One
Measure the dry and wet ingredients before you start the process.
Step Two
In order to remove the baking/mixing pan from the machine, you hold the Baking Pan Handles and then tilt the Baking Pan towards you to unlatch and lift it out. Do NOT pull the bread pan straight up. You can see Mark’s thumb on the right tilting the pan forward.
Step Three
Attach the Kneading Blades to the Rotating Shafts in the Baking Pan (look at page 14) to confirm the blades are positioned correctly.
Step Four
Carefully add the water and then the dry ingredients to the Baking Pan (the instructions say make a depression in the flour and add the yeast to the middle of the depression so the yeast doesn’t make contact with the liquid at the bottom of the pan). I dumped everything in, that’s how I roll.
Step Five
Set the Baking Pan into the Main Body and close the lid. Insert the Power Plug into an electrical outlet. Press the “COURSE” UP button until it reaches Course #11 (for DOUGH ONLY), this is what I did today. Push the Start button.
You’ll also see the word “Rest” next to #11 telling you that it is in the “rest” phase as the unit warms up the ingredients. This “rest” phase should last about 20-25 minutes. Note the estimated completion time at the bottom of the screen. We started the machine at about 4:00 PM, so the unit estimated the process would end at 6:02 PM.
Step Six
You’ll hear the unit move into the “knead” phase as the kneading blades start spinning to knead the dough. The screen will change from “rest” to “knead” during this period.
Step Seven
After a few minutes, the unit will make a buzzing sound and you’ll notice the word “add” flashing on the screen. This is the appropriate time to add things you want in your dough, like nuts, raisins, etc.
You can open the lid, add the desired additional ingredients, and then close the lid without changing any of the settings.
Step Eight
Once the knead phase is complete, you’ll see the word “rise” on the screen next to #11. This is the phase where the yeast kicks in and does its thing. I forgot to take a picture of the screen showing the “rise” phase. I will add it later.
When there are approximately 30 minutes remaining in the dough-making process, you’ll see the time setting change from the estimated completion time to 30 minutes, which means there is that much time remaining. This clock setting will change in 1-minute increments until the dough-making phase is finished.
I turned the machine off (plus, unplugged the machine) and pulled the dough out BEFORE it reached that phase. I could see that the dough was perfect and ready to mold through the glass window.
After it stopped, I removed the dough from the Dough Making Bread Pan to the kitchen counter so I could mold the dough.
Step Nine
Use a dough scraper to cut the dough into two equal sizes and then mold them into two loaves of bread. (I use bread pans this size: 7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 Inches.)
Step Ten
Here are the two molded loaves.
Step Eleven
Place the loaves into your greased bread pans, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough double in size.
Step Twelve
Remove the plastic wrap. Preheat your conventional oven to (350°F) = 176°C) bake for 28 minutes, or until baked through.
Step Thirteen
Remove the baked loaves from the oven.
Step Fourteen
Remove the loaves from the pans and place them on a cooling rack.
Finished Product
I love this recipe because it’s easy, once you realize how easy the bread mixer steps are to make bread, you’ll be a pro at making it. Here again, I only like my dough baked in the conventional oven, not in this bread mixer. Here is the bread sliced and ready for butter and jam, of course. I wanted you to see how perfect the loaves looked coming out of the oven. Often, I’ll take a stick of butter and rub it over the top of the loaves to make the bread crust a little softer. These looked so great I decided not to do that.
Bread Machine Bread Recipe
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons dry instant milk
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon Saf Instant yeast
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Add the ingredients listed to the Baking Pan in the order listed. Press the COURSE button and select Course No. 11 (for DOUGH ONLY) and press the start button. After it stops, remove the dough from the Dough Bread Pan. Use a dough scraper to cut the dough into two equal-sized pieces for the two loaves of bread. I use bread pans this size: 7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 Inches. Grease your bread pans and place the dough in them and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until double the size. Remove the plastic wrap. Preheat your oven to (350°F) = 176°C). Bake for 28-30 minutes or until baked through.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR BREAD MIXER BRAND'S INSTRUCTIONS.
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1. Set the Baking Pan into the Main Body and close the lid.
2. Insert the Power Plug into an electrical outlet.
3. Press the "COURSE" UP button until it reaches Course #11 (for DOUGH ONLY), this is what I did today.
4. Push the Start button.
5. You'll also see the word "Rest" next to #11 telling you that it is in the "rest" phase as the unit warms up the ingredients.
6. This "rest" phase should last about 20-25 minutes.
7. You'll hear the unit move into the "knead" phase as the kneading blades start spinning to knead the dough.
8. The screen will change from "rest" to "knead" during this period.
9. After a few minutes, the unit will make a buzzing sound and you'll notice the word "add" flashing on the screen. This is the appropriate time to add things you want in your dough, like nuts, raisins, etc. You can open the lid, add the desired additional ingredients, and then close the lid without changing any of the settings.
10. Once the knead phase is complete you'll see the word "rise" on the screen next to #11. This is the phase where the yeast kicks in and does its thing.
11. When there are approximately 30 minutes remaining in the dough-making process, you'll see the time setting change from the estimated completion time to 30 minutes, which means there is that much time remaining. This clock setting will change in 1-minute increments until the dough-making phase is finished. When I could see the dough was ready through the glass opening in the lid, I skipped this step. I turned off the machine and unplugged it.
12. After it stops, you remove the dough from the Dough Bread Pan.
13. Use a dough scraper to cut the dough into two equal sizes and then mold them into two loaves of bread. (I use bread pans this size: 7.75 x 3.75 x 2.5 Inches.)
14. Place the loaves into your greased bread pans, cover with plastic wrap and let double in size.
15. Remove the plastic wrap.
16. Preheat your conventional oven to (350°F) = 176°C) bake for 28-30 minutes or until baked through.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR BREAD MIXER BRAND'S INSTRUCTIONS.
Final Word
Here’s my take on this awesome bread maker. I love it, I mean, I really love it. I’m so glad that a reader mentioned she bought one. I have big plans to teach the world how to make pizza, dinner rolls, French bread, and breadsticks using this great machine. I’m sure there will be other things I’ll want to make, so stay tuned.
I can use this machine to make bread from start to finish in about 2 hours. I’m not going to worry that it needs electricity. Mark and I live for today and stock up for tomorrow. This bread can be made with pennies compared to buying store-bought bread and will pay for itself within a year, depending on the amount of bread, dinner rolls, or pizza you make at home. Bread is so expensive, this is one more way to be self-sufficient.
I’ve been telling my readers for years that making bread is a must-have skill if you truly want to be prepared for the unexpected. You and your family can thrive if you have the ingredients handy to make bread, and know how it’s done. If you’ve been reluctant to learn bread making, now is the time to jump in with both feet. Learn and live through most anything!
I can always make bread in a bowl. But until then I will enjoy making bread without hurting my fingers and hands. May God Bless this world, Linda
Hi Linda! This sounds so easy to do. But, the machine is a little too expensive for my budget. I do make bread by hand. And Larry buys the frozen loaves and thaws them out. They’re pretty good, but Hand made is so much better.
Hi Deborah, yeah, I choked on the price, I get it. THEN I taught myself how to use it. I LOVE it. But then I make a lot of bread so it will pay for itself very quickly. Thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend. Check out thrift stores for one. Linda
I do have a bread machine, but prefer to make my bread by hand. I also have a Kitchen Aid mixer that I could use. Kneading the bread is therapeutic to me. LOL
Hi Deborah, I love hearing kneading the bread is therapeutic to you, I totally agree!! Linda
I was at D.I. and saw a bread machine for about $5, I didn’t need one but that seemed like a great price. I will try this as I usually make Honey French Bread in mine. MY only problems is trying to convince my husband that bread takes longer than 2 minutes to cool before he cuts it! You are right it is so much cheaper and so much better to bake your own bread.
I got a bread slicing tool from Prepared Pantry, it makes nice even slices. For some reason when I hand cut bread the slices are never the same thickness.
Hi Linda, oh my gosh, I just looked up that bread slicing tool from the Prepared Pantry!! I LOVE it! I know about the 2 minutes to wait to slice it, LOL!! There is nothing better than warm bread from the oven! Linda
P.S. $5.00 for a bread machine, squeal! Great buy! Linda
Linda, I had commented about the Zojorushi bread makers in one of your other bread making articles a few years ago. This brand was recommended by a friend who was a retired bakery owner & was the only brand he would use for his home.
Don’t be discouraged by the price… I found both of my Zojorushi bread makers in thrift stores for under $10 apiece. One of mine was still in the box & never been used. Do check any used ones out for missing paddles or damaged pans. Then plug ’em in to make sure the controls, timer & selectors work. The user manuals are available online for downloading & printing.
There is also a book available that compares all brands of breadmakers & lists recipes & user directions specific to each brand. I think that the title is “Electric Bread”.
The Zojorusjhi breadmaker can also be found at antique stores, estate sales & yardsales. Or check online sites like Ebay, FB Marketplace, etc. These online sites can also be a source for replacement parts.
Enjoy the new acquisition! God Bless you & your readers for all the wonderful information shared in the articles & comments!
Hi BDN, Thank you for the recommendation!! It’s so funny, I knew I wanted one after you mentioned it, thanks for reminding me it was you!! I LOVE it! I make so much bread, cinnamon rolls, breadsticks, dinner rolls, it will pay for itself in no time. I love hearing you have seen them at thrift stores. YAY!!! You found two of them for $10.00, oh my gosh! Now we will all run to thrift stores! Great comment, Linda
I had a Zojorushi bread maker when I lived in Japan. It lasted for ten years! I think the only reason it died after ten years was because I made bagel dough in it once a week.
Hi Linda, wow, that’s awesome!! Linda
Linda,
Jane and I have a really old WelBuilt bread machine that makes cylindrical shaped loaves. It belonged to Jane’s late aunt and we’ve never used it. Jane always makes her bread by hand, but arthritis is now making that difficult so I’m going to clean up that old machine and give it a try.
The Zojoriushi looks ideal and my thanks to BDN for the tip on looking for one in a thrift store.
Hi Ray, oh my gosh, you have one!!! I love it!! The BIG difference is baking the dough in the regular oven. I don’t like how it tastes when it bakes in the machine. I vaguely remember it crumbled like crazy! Linda
Linda,
Questions: Do you ever let the machine bake the loaf? I noticed you used the dough function, which apparently made enough for two loaves. Is that the way you normally do it?
Oh, our new cabinets are in and now we’re waiting on the countertops. They are Maple and all shelves and drawers roll out and self-close.
After the countertops and new sink are installed the plank flooring will be put in. My God! There is a light at the end of this tunnel.
Hi Ray, SQUEAL! I love hearing you have cabinets!!! Yay!! I bet they are beautiful!! I can’t wait to hear when you get the countertops and sink! Please send me a picture when you get them!! Here’s the deal, this machine makes a two-pound loaf, I normally make one-pound loaves. Mark and I can’t eat that much bread before it goes bad. Plus, when I baked it in the OLD bread machines we had, it crumbled a lot. It tastes so much better when we bake it in the oven. Linda
Linda,
I may try letting the machine bake a loaf just to see how it comes out but if it can take the mixing/kneading work out of bread making I’ll be very happy. Jane and I can do like you do and pull out the dough and bake it in the oven.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep my eye out for a thrift store Zojirushi BB-CDP20.
I’ll send you some pics when the kitchen is done.
Hi Ray, I can’t wait to see the pictures!! Fingers crossed you find a Zojirushi BB-CDP20!!!! Linda
Great post! I have had my Zojirushi since 2003, so an older model than you have, but it works just the same. It’s a great bread machine and was wonderful when I was working to put dinner in the crockpot and bread in the Zojirushi. When we all got home, dinner was ready and the house smelled amazing!
Hi Robin, thank you for the 5 stars! I love hearing you have used yours for years! It’s a great brand, I believe! I’m so excited about this purchase and how I will use it!! Thank you for sharing!! Linda
I have never been able to make bread the regular way but I love the bread I make in my bread machine I just love. I will look at the store for a bigger machine than I have that will make more than the one loaf that my machine makes.
Hi Jackie, thank you for the 5 stars, my friend! I am so excited to use this machine again and again. It’s so easy and makes the best bread!Linda
I have one of these machines and I love it. I like how it makes regular loaf shapes instead of cubes. Yes it was expensive but I had a cheaper one and didn’t like it. The Zojirushi one was easier to use and more reliable. I didn’t like the holes in the bottom from the paddles. All that being said, since you taught me how to make bread the old fashioned way, I haven’t looked back… I’ve not used my machine again. No complaints from the hubs either.
Hi Robbie, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! It doesn’t matter how we make homemade bread. It’s knowing how to make it and knowing we will survive because we have that skill. I love hearing you have the same brand!! I love it! Linda
Thanks to a dear friend, I was finally able to make this bread and it has been the best discovery ever! I’m so thankful that I can make bread for my family now. So happy!
Hi Jess, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! It’s a skill we all need! Making bread fills the belly and the soul! Love this! Linda
I love my Zojirushi, we haven’t bought a loaf of bread since buying it 2 years ago! But I have to say, I don’t understand the just using it for the dough cycle. That’s so much extra work. We have 4 different recipes we use, all designed for bread machines, maybe a smidge drier bread, but not a deal breaker. It’s so much easier to put it all in and it bakes a loaf. The key is to use recipes designed for bread machines.
HI Rebecca, oh yes, people bake their bread in them. I just don’t care for dry outside crust. I say do whatever works for you. I make the ingredient bags ahead of time and place them in the freezer. When I want to make bread I dump the dry ingredients from my silicone freezer bags in the Zojirushi add 1-1/2 cups water and turn it on and walk away. When I want to make my two loaves after it’s risen in the machine, I let it rise again in my pans and bake it. We can’t eat a two pound loaf fast enough. I’m so glad you love using yours! Linda