thekidexperience

Fresh-baked bread has got to be one of life’s great, little pleasures. The aroma in the house alone is enough to send one off into… ahh… where was I again?

Oh yes – It would be easy to say that we rationalized getting a breadmaker because of Emma’s nut allergy. But that would be untrue. It was one of those things where over the years, we’ve envied friends and family who’ve served up a fresh loaf with dinner or just as a delicious snack. So a couple of months ago we decided to finally make the investment and start making our own fresh-baked loaves.

After researching extensively (or neurotically, as Janey would argue) a number of different models, we settled on the Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme.

We landed on this particular brand/model because it had good quality reviews, a solid motor and two kneading paddles (which I guess makes a difference). I also liked the fact that it makes the “traditional” style loaves as opposed to the “tower” style ones. (That’s more just personal preference than anything, though).

Other than just making good bread, we weren’t as concerned about all the bells and whistles that you can get, although the Zojirushi does have quite a few, including a number of automatic settings for various bread-types and the ability to make jams, cakes and even meatloaf!

Ease of use was another key factor and it doesn’t get much easier with this model. You literally drop all of the ingredients into the baking pan, select your baking mode and crust colour (light, medium, dark) and in just under four hours you are in bread heaven. The Zojirushi works though all of the kneading, rising and baking cycles automatically. Once you push the “Start” button you’re done until the loaf is ready to drop out of the pan.

The machine comes with a book that has a pile of recipes for white, whole-wheat and multigrain breads as well as dough, cake and sourdough instructions. And as mentioned, jams and meatloaf.

A standard white loaf is what we bake most often (although we have tried a number of variations). We’ve been thinking of giving the jam a try - so I’ll save that review for another time!