First bread--Thanks to all!!

11 years ago

The Zojirushi arrived yesterday too late to play with. Today was busy, but I had time to ''assemble'' a loaf of bread.
It just finished. I sliced off a corner. It is delicious.

More later when I have had time to play. For now, here is my first ever loaf of bread i baked--er, assembled:

Minus one delicious corner!!

And the whole house smells wonderful.

(Incidentally, I chose med. browning for the crust! It is perfect. This is the basic recipe from the manual.)

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Comments (12)

jude31
11 years ago
Beautiful! And how could you not sample that corner!
Congratulations on a job well done!

jude
centralcacyclist
11 years ago
It's a beauty!

Eileen
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bellsmom
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, Jude and Eileen. But all I did was dump in the ingredients. What a great machine. I am SO grateful to the people here who helped me choose it.

And I can't wait to play with some other recipes.
annie1992
11 years ago
that is one beautiful loaf, and I agree, the Zo is one great machine, isn't it?

I make all my bread with the "dough" cycle, let the machine do all the work, then shape the loaves or rolls, let them rise and bake them in the oven because I like the crust better.

And I always take the end off the hot loaf, in spite of all the killjoys on the baking sites that say to never cut hot bread, LOL. It's MY bread, if I want to eat it hot with butter melting down my wrist, I get to. That's my favorite part, the crunchy "heel" of the loaf, still hot so the butter melts.

Pssst. Sometimes I turn the loaf around and take the picture, so no one knows the end's gone. (grin)

ANnie
gwlolo
11 years ago
That is one gorgeous hunk of bread.. I remember the first bread we assembled in the Zoji... we just sampled it away in a course of 2 hours:) Tell us what your family thinks?
lakemayor
11 years ago
Beautiful loaf of bread. I wish I had a slice right now!!!

Karen
mustangs81
11 years ago
You are so tempting me with that Zojirushi. I love bread in the Dutch oven but the ease of a Zojirushi is compelling. I look forward to hearing/seeing more of your creations and feedback on your Zo.
User
11 years ago
Most bread machines do not produce a loaf like that. It really is a beautiful loaf. Glad you are enjoying your new machine.

~Ann
bellsmom
Original Author
11 years ago
GWlolo
My breakfast this morning was a thick slice of toasted heel topped with peanut butter and a sliced granny smith apple. Really, really good.

Karen, Wish I could offer you a slice--with or without peanut butter and apple.

Annie and Ann
I had no idea what to expect. I certainly did not expect the perfectly browned top crust. Wish I knew more about baking bread. Would the crust be better if I baked it in the oven? Hard to imagine.

I weighed the ingredients and there was no need to adjust anything during the kneading process. It was SO much fun to watch the kneading happen through the little lid window!

Mustangs, I think this may be nearly at the top of my small kitchen appliances. The Breville toaster oven is my absolute fav., but this promises to be second.

Last night I was wondering about flavored breads: a line of what ifs formed in my head. For instance, what if I added basil and dried tomato to the assembly line, subbed out olive oil for the butter? Would it be as pretty as I imagined and taste as good?

And questions--do I need to change the liquid amount if I sub oil for butter?

The next loaf will be a whole grains loaf, I think. I bought some of the Red Mill 10 grain cereal as suggested by someone in GWlolo's DH tutorial thread. Gotta do some reading about this.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for the help in deciding. I could not be more pleased with the result.
shambo
11 years ago
Bells, that loaf really is beautiful. It looks like the Virtuoso has solved the problems with underdone top crusts. Now I'm sorely tempted to upgrade from my Supreme. Good luck with all your future baking adventures, and be sure to report back on how your new machine continues to perform. Between this post and all the mentions of the Breville toaster ovens, I may have a nice list prepared for my birthday in March.
lsr2002
11 years ago
It looks fabulous, but how could you resist slicing off the whole end to try - that's what I would have done.

Congratulations on your success!

Lee
annie1992
11 years ago
Bess, the newer machines might do a better job on crusts, but I like mine crunchy, almost crackly. The bread machine crust always seemed more chewy than crunchy, so I bake in the oven.

Sometimes I want a softer tender crust, and I can control that in the oven too, but I can't control the machine, it does what it does.

It still looks delicious, and I often sub oil for butter, or butter for shortening or whatever I have vs. whatever the recipe wants, LOL. I like to use olive oil in French and Italian loaves but Grandma's Farmhouse White needs butter, as does Sol's Honey White dinner rolls.

Annie

First bread--Thanks to all!!

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jude31

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First bread--Thanks to all!!

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