Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine

Converted from Breadman
After much agonizing, we (I) chose the Zo' breadmaker. We had the Breadman for five years until it gave out a month ago. Before that I hand made bread for ten years. I bought the Breadman as present for my wife (she called it a "football present") after I just became tired of making bread. The cathartic effects of kneading bread are way overblown, in my opinion. We came to rely on the bread machine, baking at least once a week. After the Breadman died a slightly early death, we originally were going to replace it with another Breadman. But, after consideration of how much bread we make, and more important, the kind of bread we make, we decided to look at other machines.

See, we bake mostly whole wheat breads and such breads are hard on a machine. That is why the two paddle set up of the Zo' was so attractive. While I know there is only one motor, I thought the two paddles could knead the tough dough better. So far (a week into it), the Zo' is working great...

Solid performer, but with limited flexibility
This is my third bread machine. My first was the original Zojirushi, and the second was a Breadman. I still use both the Breadman and the Zojirushi BBCCX20. According to most baking sites I've seen, the Zo and the Breadman are the leading contenders in this category today, so here's my comparison:

- The Zo is more solidly built and has a stronger motor. It can handle stiffer doughs that literally stopped the motor on my Breadman.

- The Zo is much quieter than the Breadman. The pan in the Breadman clanks around in its clips and makes quite a racket during kneading.

- Unfortunately, the Zo has an annoying 15-second beep to signal the right time to add nuts or fruits. As far as I can tell, there is no way to turn off this feature. For me, this is a big deal, because I used to love to set up my bread machine to make bread during the night, giving me a wonderful hot loaf of bread for breakfast. With the 15-second beeper, which sounds a lot like an...

Wonderful Machine - reputation is well deserved.
I finally purchased this machine after trying two other models; the Breadman TR555 and 2200C. My parents have had thier Zojirushi S-15 for almost 10 years with no problems and flawless bread. Desiring to enter the bread machine market with limited funds, I decided to try the Breadman TR555. It consistently burned the bread and revealed a "tougher" center. The 2200C was the biggest disappointment of all. Seeing all of the reviews for this machine as comparable to the ZO X20, I found myself with the ONLY two loaves of bread that were simply "duds" (did not rise properly and crust settings were useless) I had ever had out of a machine. Finally, I decided that Zojirushis could simply NOT be topped. I was right. This bread machine has worked wonderfully and reminds me of my parents machine from the early 90's. Mixing is complete and the Preheat function is an absolute MUST for proper ingredient preparation and yeast activity.

I have noticed that some have been critical of the...

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