CSN Stores Product Review: Zojirushi Mini Breadmaker

CSN stores recently offered us a $75 store credit to review a product, and I decided to buy a bread maker.  With the Bibliophile's food allergies, our choice of breads is very limited.  We had been buying a loaf of rice bread at the market, and he likes it toasted, but it is not very good.  I discovered a local bread shop that sells a safe bread for him, and it is delicious.  But, we had a scary incident in which the ingredients were changed and not properly labeled.  I also have recently cut the top 8 most common allergens from my diet (egg, milk, wheat, nuts, fish, etc.) while we figure out if our baby girl has food allergies (since she is exposed to what I eat when she nurses).  So, we could use some homemade bread around here.  The model I chose was the Zojirushi mini model.  The Zojirushi name seems to receive high praise in bread maker reviews.

Inspection

The Bibliophile fell in love with it immediately, grabbing hold of the recipe book and the accessories and running around the house excitedly pretend baking me bread, cake, and cookies in it.  It was quite an effort to get him to agree that I could use it up on the counter.

I chose this model because of its compact size.  It makes a 1 lb load instead of the typical 2 lb loaf.  Since gluten free bread tends to be far better tasting on the first day, and I like the idea of smaller appliances, this seemed like the better choice.  I also like that the beep for adding ingredients mid cycle (raisins, nuts, etc.) isn't as loud as it is on some other models.  If you are buying it for gluten free baking, though, you might consider the benefits of the double paddle and gluten free setting that the bigger Zojirushi offers.  So far, I haven't noticed anything lacking by using the mini, but I'm not much of a baker.  This is the first bread I've ever made.  I was excited it was edible.  The machine could not be any simpler to use (I just pushed start!), and the bread slid right out of the pan when it was done.

For our first loaf, we used the Gluten Free Pantry French Bread mix.  And it was delicious!  And pretty!  The outside was crusty, the inside was soft, and the taste was nice.  It reminded me of bread you'd be brought in a restaurant with olive oil for dipping.  I think I'll buy the mix again and try making it with olive oil, basil, sun dried tomatoes, and rosemary.  Since we only use 1/2 the box for use in the mini bread maker, it was probably slightly cheaper than the specialty bread we had been buying (admittedly, not by much), but we also didn't have to leave our house, and we controlled the process and the equipment, which is worth paying for when you have food allergies.

A couple of days later, having scarfed down my first loaf in record time, I decided to get a little more adventurous.  I used an Arrowhead Mills all purpose baking mix as my flour, and cobbled together a few cinnamon raisin bread recipes from online.  Sadly, my bread never rose.  I can't blame the bread maker, because I think my recipe was doomed before it hit the knead cycle.

Next up is a King Arthur's gluten free bread mix.


As for the Bibliophile, I'm trying to get him to settle for this, but he still makes me pull down the Zujiroshi for him every couple of days:

Comment: Do you have a bread maker?  What is your fav recipe for it?

Disclosure: We received a $75 store credit to CSN stores in order to purchase a product to review.  We paid the remainder of the purchase price ourselves.

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