I think I just ran a loaf of white bread to burn off the oils. Toss the bread and start using it!

I don't have any but my daughter has a "Fat Daddio" hard anodized bread pan that's really nice. I like it because it doesn't have inside seams to catch bits of dough or cause things to stick and they come in several sizes. Norpro makes a stainless steel pan and USA Pans makes a silicone plated metal pan, supposed to not be harmful but I don't know anyone who has one so I can't tell you how it works. I did have a Pyrex loaf pan but I didn't like it, the darned thing stuck like crazy every time and the crust doesn't brown nicely. I know that was warned of on one of the on-line sites, probably The Fresh Loaf. A two pound loaf usually uses a 9X5 pan. Now, I know 9x5 should be just that, but there are differences of up to 1/4 inch in pans, so some are bigger, some are smaller. My KitchenAid 9X5 pans are actually 9 1/4 x 5 1/8. A pound and a half loaf is the 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch size, usually. I have KitchenAid pans and I like them, but they are non-stick. Annie

Hot Cross Buns and Greek Easter Bread come to mind, and Greek Easter Bread is a basic enriched Danish dough with anise flavoring or aniseed, and formed in a braid in a circle. #1. Find out how much the flour capacity is for your bread machine before using a non-bread machine recipe. For instance, my Zojirushi bread machines (V-20 and X-20) have a 5-cup capacity if I'm going to bake in it. The old Zojirushi S-15 had a 4-cup capacity. If I'm only use it to mix/knead the dough, I can use a larger amount of flour for a recipe - BUT - I take the dough out of the bread machine as soon as kneading is complete and proof it in a dough-rising bucket - NOT the bread machine. 2. As chas045 pointed out, check your dough. Check the condition of the dough during the first 5 minutes of kneading and adjust it for hydration at that time by adding more flour or adding more liquid - whatever is necessary - if the dough doesn't form a soft tacky ball. The amount of flour necessary for any bread recipe is just a good (or bad) guess. If the recipe called for high-gluten bread flour, and you used all-purpose flour, it would take more all-purpose flour (or less liquid) because of the lower gluten (protein) content in all-purpose flour. Gluten soaks hydration like a sponge, so you have to adjust to those differences if you switch from one flour type to another. 3. Do a search on-line for a bread machine recipe for "Easter bread" and try to locate one that is similar to what you are wanting to make and one that will work in your bread machine. Have a blessed Easter! -Grainlady

I'm a happy Zo owner and am on my second one - wore the first one out. I use it for making nearly all the dough I make, but never bake in it. There's also just two of us, but I bake ahead and fill my freezer with all kinds of things divided in single-serving sizes. In the summer I can bake a loaf of bread in my Sharp Microwave/Convection Oven in 20-minutes without ANY preheating (25 minutes for 2 loaves) or I'll bake in my Solar Oven. I like the results better than in the Zo. I usually make the largest amount of dough (2#) that a recipe will make and divide it into 2 loaves (we use one loaf of bread per week). Use one and freeze one. My "everyday" 100% whole wheat bread recipe makes 2.5 pounds and I can get several things out of this amount of dough. Some combination of the following, depending on what I need to fill the freezer with: 1- one-pound Pullman Loaf or regular loaf 6- jumbo pecan or cinnamon rolls 4-6 hot dog buns 8-inch square pan of dinner rolls 6 hamburger/sandwich buns So think past loaves.... I make sourdough all the time. I just use the dough cycle and remove the dough from the bread machine as soon as the kneading is finished. I put the dough into a dough rising bucket to finish the first rise. Because sourdough raises much slower than bakers' yeast dough, I always remove the dough from the bread machine and watch the rise myself. If you do decide on the smaller Zo (which I don't think is a bad decision), you can always do what I do when I have a "marathon" baking to do. I'll make consecutive batches of dough without letting them raise in the bread machine. As soon as one recipe is done kneading, I'll stick it in a dough rising bucket and have the ingredients ready-to-go and start the next recipe (don't clean/wash the bread machine out, other than what you can remove with a spatula). About the time the first recipe is doubled in bulk in the dough rising bucket, the second recipe is ready to come out of the bread machine and go into the dough rising bucket (although I have a number of dough rising buckets of different sizes to use for marathon baking). I've done as many as 5 consecutive recipes doing this. I may have to retard some of the dough in the refrigerator, but I've done large amounts of baking for receptions using this method. One word of caution, although the large Zo can bake a 1-pound loaf, I'd suggest you bake it outside the machine for that small amount of dough. I baked a 1-pound loaf in the Zo when I first got it and we had a good laugh at the results. The one pound amount loaf ends up being an "odd" size (short and wide - not good for sandwiches or toast) since the bread pan is designed to accomodate double that amount. I don't think you can go wrong with either size Zo. -Grainlady