I've got both a Zojirushi and a Panasonic. I actually got the Panasonic because of Dcarch's good reports. My ONLY dissatisfaction with the Zojirushi is that the tops of the bread loaves bake much lighter than the sides. Since Dcarch seemed so satisfied with the Panasonic, I got it for my summer baking. I bake all our breads, rolls, buns, etc., because of my husband's salt restrictions, but our Sacramento summers can get unbearably hot. I hoped to be able to use a bread machine during those horrid months. Thus, the Panasonic. I've discovered some differences between the two machines. I really like the Zo's kneading ability. It's strong and can tackle 100% whole grain dough without any problem. I have easily kneaded up to 6 cup of whole wheat flour using the dough function. I also really like the fact that it's programmable. Especially the ability to turn off the pre-heat cycle and go straight into kneading. That means that I can start a bread dough, let it mix for a few minutes, and then turn it off to autolyse or just rest overnight as a starter, biga, or poolish. Then when I'm ready to do more dough work, I can start the machine up again, bypass the pre-heat cycle and get to kneading. You can't skip cycles in the Panasonic. I also like the Zo's timing better. The Panasonic has sensors that determine when the dough is ready for each step. For example, the basic bake kneading function can take anywhere from 15 - 30 minutes and its rise function can take from 1 hr. 50 mins. to 2 hrs. 20 mins. Since I always make adjustments during kneading, I find myself checking the dough's progress every 15 minutes. That gets pretty frustrating. The Zo has a more straightforward schedule. For basic, kneading is 13 - 18 minutes; first rise is 45 minutes; stir down & 2nd rise from 20 - 25 minutes; stir down & 3rd rise from 40 - 45 minutes, followed by bake. It's even simpler when doing just the dough setting (which is what I use most often). I just set my kitchen timer so I can check the dough's consistency while it's kneading. As I said before, my only complaint about the Zo has to do with the tops of loaves actually baked in the machine. They turn out lighter than the side & bottom crust. The Panasonic is better at achieving over all consistent color. As Dcarch mentioned, it makes vertical loaves. After using the recipes for a large loaf twice, I changed to using just the smallest loaf size available. Much easier to cut slices from the small loaf. I only used recipes from the Panasonic manual and found they worked well with just minor adjustments during kneading. I was afraid to experiment too much. The French bread recipe turns out a really nice loaf, just like grocery store French breads. Because I make sandwich rolls for freezing a lot, I found myself returning to the Zo last summer. It's great kneading ability plus its much simpler to follow timing made it easier for me to work with. I've never used the delay timer on either machine. I also prefer to use recipes other than those provided by the bread maker's manufacturers. Because of my husband's salt restriction, I always halve the amount of yeast & salt in every recipe I use. That adjustment really affects the way dough behaves, enough so that I don't want to trust any machine. That's why I check the dough during kneading and also during the rise. The Zo makes it easy, all I do is turn on an overhead light (sometimes grab a flashlight too) and peer into the window (the Panasonice doen't have a window). If the dough is rising too fast (because of the lessened salt), I can take it out to finish rising in a bucket. Another thing I really like about using bread machines, is that you can do a marathon using the dough only function. It's not unusual for me to tackle 2 - 3 different doughs in one day. Plopping them out after kneading only and letting them rise in dough buckets. I can bake one recipe that day and then get to the other doughs the next day. That means I'll never run out of low sodium sandwich buns, bagels, etc. I think the bottom line is that each bread machine brand has it positives and negatives. There's always a learning curve and you need to experiment to see what you can do to improve your final product. I agree with the others that the lopsided loaf is probably the result of too little liquid in the dough. I've found it handy to dedicate a spray bottle filled with water just to bread making. I use it to spray dry doughs during the kneading cycle and also to spray loaves & the oven during baking in my oven. I also give my dough a quick smear of oil & mist of water just before the Zo goes into its rise function. That keeps the rising dough ball from drying out on top.

barnmom - What a darn shame! It's like when hubby comes home for lunch after I've had a morning of baking something that ends up in the trash. I tell him all he gets is the smell - which is VERY low-cal, low-fat ;-). -Grainlady Some hints for using a toaster oven for baking... 1. Don't try and use a large 9x5-inch loaf pan in a toaster oven for quick breads. That's just too much bulk for a small oven to handle. Try a recipe that uses a 7-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 2-inch pan, or smaller, works much better. 2. Make sure you preheat the oven, just like you would a large oven. CHERRY-BANANA LOAF (source: Better Homes and Gardens TOASTER OVEN Cook Book) 1/3 c. sugar 3 T. shortening 1 egg 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 t. baking soda dash salt 1/3 c. mashed banana 1/4 c. drained maraschino cherries, quartered 3 T. chopped walnuts In small mixer bowl cream together the sugar and shortening till well blended. Add egg; beat well. Stir together all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Combine the mashed banana and milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the banana mixture, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the quartered maraschino cherries and chopped walnuts. Turn the batter into 3 well-greased 4-1/2x2-1/2x1-1/2 inch loaf pans. Bake in a 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes or till bread tests done. Remove loaves from oven; let bread cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Makes 3 loaves.

Here's the two recipes I like that I got from Annie. I have one more but I will have to go find it later. MAPLE OATMEAL BREAD 3 Â 3 1/4 cups flour 1 pkg dry yeast 3/4 cup prepared coffee 1/2 cup quick cooking rolled oats 1/2 (scant) cup maple syrup 2 tblsp butter 1 tsp salt 1 egg Combine a cup of flour and the yeast. Heat coffee, oats, syrup, butter and salt until just warm and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture along with egg. Beat with electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes kneading). Shape dough into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, and turn over once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. Punch down dough, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile lightly grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Shape dough into a loaf and place into prepared pan, cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 45 minutes). Bake at 350 F about 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack. Makes 1 loaf (14 slices) Each slice contains 149 calories, 3 grams total fat, 2 grams sat. fat, 1 gr fiber, 26 gr. Carbs, 196 mg sodium, 4 gr protein. (Contains 8% of daily requirement of iron) CHERRY YOGURT BREAD REGULAR LOAF 1/2 cup Water 2 cups White bread flour 3/4 teaspoon Salt 1/2 cup Cherries -- dried 1/3 cup Cherry yogurt -- low fat 2 tablespoons Applesauce -- unsweetened 2 teaspoons Brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons Fast rise yeast ***OR*** 2 teaspoons Active dry yeast -----LARGE LOAF----- 3/4 cup Water 3 cups White bread flour 1 1/4 teaspoons Salt 3/4 cup Cherries -- dried 1/2 cup Cherry yogurt 1/4 cup Applesauce -- unsweetened 1 tablespoon Brown sugar 2 teaspoons Fast rise yeast ***OR*** 3 teaspoons Active dry yeast Regular loaf yields about 8 slices, large about 12 slices SUCCESS HINTS: Use low fat fruited yogurt. If you want whole cherries, add them at the beep in the fruit/nut cycle. This recipe can be used with the regular and rapid bake cycles. Now, go bake bread! Annie

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