If it's been decades since you thought about yourself bread machine – and if the memory of it brings to mind pale, soft, clotted loaves with lumpy tops and spade-shaped hollows in their bases – I can relate. Back in the 90s, when I was just learning how to bake, the bread machine was my go-to device for homemade bread, and while I loved it then, I can attest that my bread was far from perfect. Thankfully, my skills have come a long way since then – and so has my bread.
Because with a little know-how, a bread machine is a useful tool capable of much more than just set-and-forget sandwich breads. The trick is to learn to take control of the machine, viewing it less as a passive device that produces bread at the push of a button and more as a tool that can simplify some steps and improve your baking practice.
Photography by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Liz Neily
What is the best bread machine?
While all bread machines generally work the same way (mixing, kneading, proofing and baking a loaf of bread in a closed chamber), Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus it performs these tasks far better than any other model I've used.
With a powerful motor and two paddles (instead of one), it cooks the dough thoroughly and evenly, strengthening it through strong stretching. Zojirushi also bakes traditional-shaped loaves rather than tall square ones, so your finished slices have a familiar shape and your sandwiches aren't clunky in size. And I love the durable non-stick coating of the pan – mine hasn't gotten scratched and scratched at all despite using the machine several times a week for the past year.
Danielle Sykes
Why you can (and should) customize the settings on your bread machine
One way to think of your bread machine is as a temperature-controlled mixing and baking chamber with optional presets, which I hope expands the way you think about its uses. Because while I often make a loaf of bread from start to finish in my machine, I often bypass some settings or isolate only the dough or baking functions, forcing the machine to adapt to my recipe and my schedule. This is especially useful if you want to extend the first rise of the dough when baking bread with natural yeast, for example.
For example, you can mix and cook the dough in your bread machine for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is soft and elastic. Then stop the machine, cover the pan with plastic wrap or a bowl UNCOVEREDthen transfer to the refrigerator for a long, slow overnight rise. The next day, you'll shape the loaf for your pan, return it to the baking chamber of the bread machine, close the lid, and proof the bread a second time in the machine while it's turned off. When it's time to bake, select a custom “Homemade” setting on the Zojirushi and set it to “Baking” for about an hour, and you can finish baking the bread right in the proofing machine. (This may seem like a long time to bake, but because of the machine's relatively low temperature—between 325°F and 350°F—and the large size of the bread machine's loaves, baking in them usually takes longer than at home oven.)
This may sound complicated, but once you try it, you'll see that it's not – and more importantly, you'll see how the machine can be manipulated to suit your recipes and baking habits.
Photography by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily
How dough placement helps you make (almost) any type of bread
One of the best ways to experience the benefits of a bread machine is to use the “Dough” setting, which is as simple as it sounds: The machine simply cooks the dough and then creates an optimally warm environment for it to rise at first. . get up It usually takes about an hour and a half total, and is extremely useful for any sourdough, including scratch recipes and baking mixes. For example, to do Soft rolls for dinner from a mix, simply combine all the ingredients in your bread machine and select the dough cycle. The machine will mix and knead the dough until it is perfectly smooth and elastic. Then, after boiling, a warm environment is created for the dough to rise.
The Zojirushi even has a punch-down step, which deflates the batter in the middle of the first rise and keeps it from over-rising. Once the cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a work surface, shape your dough into rolls (or a loaf, or a braided loaf, or mini loaves … I encourage you to get creative), test the rolls in a warm form . place in your kitchen and after they have doubled in size, proceed with baking in your home oven.
Baker's tip: Due to the heat generated by the bread machine, start with cold or cold ingredients. This helps prevent over insulation.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Is using a bread machine easier than a stand mixer?
Because it performs all of its functions inside a lidded chamber, machine baking is an extremely clean and tidy process, much more so than using a stand mixer in my experience. And because a bread machine is also more energy efficient than a home oven, creating far less heat in the kitchen, it can be an ideal way to bake bread when you're dealing with a warm environment or even if, for some reason, you need to bake bread, but you don't have access to a full kitchen.
And for dough mixing, both boiling and first rise can be done at the push of a button, and the temperature for dough rising is reliable and consistent, like a small electrical insulating box. This makes the weather much less of a factor when making bread, as a cold kitchen (or a swampy summer) won't interfere with the fermentation and proofing of the dough.
Baker's tip: For convenience and efficiency, use a digital scale. Place the baking pan of your bread machine on your digital scale and reduce it to zero. Then add your ingredients one at a time, bringing it to zero each time.
Photography by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily
Can I stop or interrupt the bread machine cycle?
With all the buttons for presets and the promise of hands-free baking, it can seem like you can't stop a bread machine from doing its job. But this is not true, and in fact, for the best results of the bread machine, it is better to intervene from time to time. Interrupting the cycle or even just lifting the lid to get a closer look at the dough inside will NO cause the machine to restart. Rather, Zojirushi will stop its operation if the lid is open and then resume once it is closed.
Start by checking the progress of the dough as it cooks, using a flexible shoulder to reach into the pan and scrape any dry bits from the corners or sides into the batter. For new recipes or unfamiliar environments (such as dry climates or high humidity), it's also a good idea to stop periodically to monitor the hydration level of your dough, adding a little flour if it seems extremely sticky or runny. if it looks dry. .
Also, during the first rise, I like to open the lid and give the dough a quick stir stretch and fold. This is not strictly necessary, but it helps me gauge the progress of the dough and test its strength and elasticity.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
And after the dough has undergone its first rise, I often stop the cycle and shape the dough myself instead of letting the machine do it, which gives a more attractive baked bread with even, round cubes. You can do this by paying attention when the second punch occurs on your computer and stopping it afterwards. Lift the lid, remove the dough to shape the loaf, then put it back into the machine and let the machine pick up where it left off.
But Zojirushi offers an easier option, in which you can create two “Homemade” or custom cycles. In the first Homemade cycle, choose the course “Knead” for 15 minutes and “Rise 1” for 45 minutes to 60 minutes, for the first rise. At the end of this cycle (and after the dough has doubled in size) remove it from the machine and shape the dough by hand. Then return it to the machine and program a second Homemade cycle, choosing the “Rise 3” course for 45 to 60 minutes, which will resist the dough for the last time before baking, and “Baking” for 1:00 to 1:20. minutes.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Baker's tip: When you stop the machine to shape your bread, you can also remove the paddles from the pan; there will still be small holes in the bottom of the baked bread, but they will be much less painful. But be careful that the exposed paddle holders aren't lined with non-stick, so to prevent sticking, lightly coat the two small sticks with butter or non-stick spray before turning the dough into the pan.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
It may seem like a bread machine can only be used for one-stop sandwich bread, where you have no choice but to surrender to the machine's settings and whims. And they are certainly optimized for it. But for each sourdough – from sandwich bread, dinner rollsAND cinnamon bunsTHE focaccia dough, pizza doughAND pan fried dumplings — a bread machine is a reliable and useful tool. Because with a little attention to the process, small interventions and clever use of presets such as the Dough program, it makes high-quality, homemade bread more and more accessible and even more of a regular fixture in the kitchen.
Take a Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus bread machine and see for yourself how it can improve your home baking practice. And bonus: free shipping!
Cover photo by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily.
