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

I have a Zojirushi and it does everything according to a pre-set timer - which was magically determined after lots of testing, I'm sure. On the Zo you can override these pre-set selections and create your own. When you select a particular course, it's because of the bread type and/or yeast type used (active dry yeast or one of the fast-rising yeast products - SAF-Instant, Bread Machine Yeast, Rapid-Rise, or Quick-Rise). Bake time is also according to a timer. I bake in the oven according to the internal temperature of the loaf, not a timer. Bread is done at certain temperatures, and different temperatures for different types of breads. Bread machines are nortorious for over- and under-baking bread. Next time you bake in yours, take the loaf temperature with an instant read thermometer when it's done; and if it's over 200F for a basic loaf of bread, it's over-baked. Internal temperatures of 205°-210°F are best for free-form Artisan breads baked in really hot ovens, not sandwich bread. I like some breads best when they are baked to 195°F. You can also be deceived to the doneness of the bread because of the crust color. Bread is done to internal temperature, not crust color. Most machines will also let your choose your crust color (light, medium, dark). On a Zojirushi-V20: BASIC - This setting is for baking a basic bread using ACTIVE DRY YEAST and this course takes 3:30. BASIC WHEAT - This setting is for whole grain bread using active dry yeast and this course takes 3:40. QUICK - This setting is used for quickly baking a basic bread and you MUST use a FAST-RISING YEAST. This course takes 1:58. It only requires a short rising time because a fast-rising yeast product is used. (I also have a QUICK WHEAT setting.) Personally, I only let the bread machine do the grunt work of the mixing and kneading. I never leave the rise to a machine set on a timer. Dough rises according to the ambient air temperature, the humidity, and the strength of the yeast - NOT a timer. I can develop more flavor by a long, slow, cool rise outside the bread machine. I always remove the dough when the kneading is over and watch the rise in a dough-rising bucket myself. Because I use 100% freshly-milled wholegrain flour, it doesn't have the extensibility to go to "double", or over. If I used "double" as my standard, that is actually over-proofing the dough. Todays unbleached and bleached flours are no longer bromated and they don't have the extensibility they did when flour was bromated and "double" was the rising standard. If you allow dough to over-proof during bulk fermentation, you won't have the "umph" it needs for the oven-spring. I also like to use more methods of bread-making than direct (straight) dough (which is what the bread machine is designed to do). I also use the bread machine for a sponge method and sourdough method, and the pre-set times don't work for those methods, but the bread machine is EXCELLENT for kneading. Better than a stand mixer (which tends to aerate dough) or by hand. This is why the King Arthur Test Kitchens use the Zojirushi for making bread dough - instead of stand mixers or by hand. Sourdough takes much longer to rise than the pre-set times on a bread machine. I leave a sponge set for anywhere between 2-1/2 hours to 12-hours. These long methods develop a lot of flavor you can't get when using a Quick Cycle and get a loaf of bread, start-to-finish, in 1 or 2 hours (some machines in 45-minutes). I also follow other bread-making science that isn't part of a bread machine-style recipe. Such as when you add fat will determine the crumb of a loaf and can affect the rise of the loaf. Add fat early and it will have a shortening effect on the gluten and you'll get a close, almost cake-like crumb. Add fat late in the kneading and you'll get an open crumb and a higher rise. When salt is added early, it takes longer for the gluten to develop. Add the salt later and the gluten will develop quicker and better, but these facts fly-in-the-face of the convenience of dump-and run. I add both fat and salt according to what type of bread I'm making, not according to the loading instructions of the operating manual. -Grainlady

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

For 100% whole wheat bread made in a Zo, I use a soaking method for at least 3-hours, or as long as overnight, using a portion of the whole wheat flour in the sponge. This softens the bran and allows the gluten to hydrate without manipulation (kneading). The 100% whole wheat bread recipe, using freshly-milled wheat, I make is as high-rising and as light as any white bread. Incorporating this older bread-making method (soaking) that includes a sponge will help make better 100% whole wheat bread, compared to the more modern "direct dough" method, which is designed for speed and making a loaf of bread quickly. Both methods will work to make "bread", but using a soaking method will improve the bread significantly. The second tip is to add ascorbic acid to any bread that has wheat germ as an ingredient, or whole wheat flour in it (which also contains the germ). As I've posted many times, there is a substance in wheat germ - glutathione - that breaks down the gluten bonds (hence those short squatty loaves of whole wheat bread). Ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C) in your dough will help to counteract the negative effects of glutathione. Ascorbic acid (or other acid like vinegar or citrus juice - occasionally called for in a recipe) will not only help prevent the gluten bonds from breaking from the glutathione; but it will help repair gluten bonds that have already been broken. It's not JUST the bran that cuts the gluten strands, but also the glutathione from the germ that damages the gluten. You can also release gluten-damaging glutathione from the yeast if you proof yeast in water that is too cool (cooler than 100°F). Glutathione will leak out of the yeast cells rapidly in cool water, causing the dough strength to be weakened. If using instant yeast added directly to the flour, make sure the flour temperature is at least 75°F when adding yeast. If you store your flour in the freezer, be sure to bring it to room temperature. The Zo will also warm the ingredients during the preheating stage at the first of the cycle. The preheating cycle is very short on the Quick setting (5-minutes), and about 9-minutes on the Quick Dough setting, so have your ingredients at room temperature before using these settings. Ascorbic acid also helps to sustain the leavening of bread during baking. It promotes yeast growth, helping the yeast to work faster and longer. Yeast grows best in a slightly acidic atmosphere, and that's why ascorbic acid is added to many yeast products. I add 1/8 t. ascorbic acid per loaf. Do NOT add citric acid to a naturally-leavened bread (aka sourdough bread, or bread made with a starter or old dough method), because it is already naturally acidic. FYI: You can damage your bread machine by "pulling the plug" to stop it. Instead, make sure you turn it off at the control panel. I only use the machine to mix and knead the dough. Once that portion of the process is done, I turn it off at the control panel and place the dough in a dough rising bucket to rise. Dough rises according to the strength of the yeast, relative humidity, and the ambient temperature - NOT a timer. It's "double" when it doubles in bulk - period. Whether you want a fast rise using an artificially warm temperature, adding more yeast (recipe for 30-Minute Hamburger Buns), or choose to use a cool-rise and develop more flavor, which will take longer, those things determine how quickly or slowly the dough will double in bulk. Bread dough can't tell time!!! Actually - just under double is more accurate in this day and age. Neither 100% whole wheat flour nor processed (bleached or unbleached) flour have the extensibility needed to double in bulk. Since bleached/unbleached flour is no longer bromated, it lacks the extensibility to "double" in bulk without this dough enhancer (bromates) -- so just under double is when you need to stop the process. Because I don't use the pre-set rising time in the bread machine, I can make bread much faster than the bread machine. -Grainlady