For me, the Zojirushi bread maker Home Bakery Supreme BB-CEC20 is an almost perfect bread maker.
If it weren’t for the high price,
This Zojirushi bread maker would be the first choice for many households.
But don’t worry.
Even if you don’t have the budget, there is always something cheaper and great too, like the Cuisinart CBK-100. It’s a great unit and it has a gluten-free menu, too.
Or the Panasonic SD-YD 250.
Or, maybe you’d prefer one of the cheapest units on the market, the Oster CKSTBRTW20.
Contents
Accessories
- measuring spoon, double-ended with teaspoon and tablespoon
- measuring cup but for even better accuracy you can use a digital scale, whatever you prefer
- 2 kneading paddles, a unique feature belonging only to Zojirushi bread maker machines
- nonstick pan that makes rectangular loaves, while all the other bread makers make and bake horizontal loaves
- a very nice looking very modern control panel with LCD screen
- viewing window
- user manual that comprises everything you need to know about using the Zojirushi bread maker as well as some fantastic recipes, besides the usual ones
- and 1 year warranty
Loaf Size
The Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme bakes
- a 1.5 pounds and
- a 2 pounds loaf
It makes a rectangular shaped loaf instead of a horizontal shaped one, like the majority of bread makers bake.
The 2 pounds is the size that I usually prefer because I’m not the only one eating. My family of four is.
One loaf per day is enough for us.
Sometimes I have my maker bake 2 loaves per day, whenever I have friends over. They love fresh homemade bread as much as I do.
You also get to choose from 3 crusts:
- light
- medium
- and dark
This Zojirushi bread maker is supposed to make the perfect browned crust.
It’s supposed to be fantastic due to the fact that a heater has been placed in the lid.
If you want really good crust, this might be it.
Use oven mitts when removing the pan, once the menu is complete, because it will be really hot – both the handles and the bottom, kneading paddles included.
The Control Panel
The display looks great and you find the usual buttons that you need for making delicious loaves or amazing dough but there is one that you only find in the Zojirushi bread maker panel.
It’s called the Home Made Course button.
It’s actually represented by two buttons: time & cycle.
These two enable users to program their own favorite 3 recipes and transform them into settings.
The Breville Custom Loaf has 9 settings that can be customized.
The idea is that only expensive machines offer the customization option on top of the preprogrammed menus.
For selecting the needed menu, use the Select Course button.
Additional Features for the Zojirushi Bread Maker
The Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme BB-CEC20 has 2 kneading blades instead of one.
You might get two holes at the base of the loaf.
The good news that the holes are comparably smaller because both blades are smaller.
Why are there two blades?
The dual system is there for making sure that the kneading is done perfectly each time for a higher risen dough.
It’s one of the few machines that makes and bakes rectangular breads.
The majority make horizontal loaves.
I guess that the 2 kneading blades make it possible to have such a nicely risen and perfectly shaped rectangular loaf with each occasion.
Even more,
Thanks to the dual kneading system, whole wheat and rye flours are going to be perfectly kneaded.
I guess that’s the major contribution of the dual kneading system.
Why do I say that?
Because wheat flour or rye flour or pumpernickel flour and all the other flours that fall in this category don’t have such a high concentration of gluten.
That’s why it’s more difficult to get a nicely risen wheat loaf.
It seems that this Zojirushi bread maker has the answer to that problem.
However,
If you don’t entirely like this Zojirushi bread maker or maybe you’d like a cheaper one and you discover that the wheat/rye loaf it’s not that high risen, next time you can use vital wheat gluten.
You can find more on that in this post about how to use a bread maker the right way.
Also, the design includes two choices:
You get to choose from a white and a black machine.
And the control panel is amazing.
This feature might not be so important for many but, I don’t know, maybe some people already have all their electronics in black or white and they don’t want to change the pattern.
If the power goes off for up to 10 minutes then it’s perfectly fine.
The power failure feature is there to make sure the machine starts off from exactly where it was before the power supply was interrupted.
The bad thing is that the power must be back on in 10 minutes, which is quite short.
The 10 Preprogrammed Settings
- basic
- basic wheat
- basic dough – for these three first settings you should use active dry yeast
- quick
- quick wheat
- quick dough – for the quick programs use rapid rise yeast
- jam
- cake
- sour dough starter
- and home made – where you include your own 3 custom settings
Besides the type of yeast that you should use, what more should you know?
Well,
Just remember to use bread flour.
For pizza dough, besides bread flour, you can also use all purpose flour, which is also good for making pastries.
It’s a rule valid for all units.
And you’d better follow it, if you want nicely risen loaves each time.
The basic setting for the Zojirushi BB-CEC20 takes 3:45 hours until completion and 3:15 with the preheat off.
The basic wheat takes 3:40 hours and 3:00 hours with the preheat off.
The basic dough takes 1:50 and 1:28 with the preheat off.
Nevertheless,
With the preheat function off, the ingredients might not rise well if they are too cold.
I’d say it’s best to sacrifice a few more minutes than risking not having a nicely risen fresh loaf.
It’s not like you have to do anything.
There is also a quick cycle that bakes a loaf in 2 hours and a 13-hour delay timer.
Nothing new under the sun here.
These are common features among all bread makers.
What is a little uncommon is that the dough cycle comes in two forms: the classic dough cycle and the quick dough cycle.
The incredible part about this Zojirushi bread maker is that it goes well beyond the bread baking part.
Basically,
You pay for a really complex machine.
That’s why it’s so expensive.
The extraordinary part that is that you can even make meatloaf, besides the possibility of making chocolate cake, cinnamon-raisin bread, buttery dinner rolls, garlic bread sticks, and so on.
There’s more:
You can program your own cycles.
If you have a particular recipe that you’re going to frequently make with the help of this machine, with the Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme BB-CEC20 you can transform that recipe into a cycle.
The number is restricted.
There are only 3 memory settings.
Another point to make about this best bread maker is that it’s of exceptional quality and I think it’s very well worthy of its price but I guess you’ve figured that out by now all by yourselves.
What’s missing?
The gluten-free setting.
That’s a big con because you pay considerably money for the Home Bakery Supreme.
Amazing Recipes for this Zojirushi Bread Maker
The basic setting can be used to make some of the following breads recipes: basic white, Italian herb, sugar free, cheese ‘n’ onion, sweet bread, chocolate bread, raisin bread, Russian kulich, apple oat, and fat free apple oat.
The breads recipes that can be made using the wheat setting are: 100% whole wheat, light rye, whole wheat nut, fat free basic wheat, 100% whole wheat apple, 100% whole wheat fruit, honey wheat, Italian wheat, seven-grain, and pumpernickel bread.
The basic dough cycle comes with many delicious recipes: croissants, crusty rolls, traditional pizza, pizza dough with beer, soft pretzels, butter-rich roll&bread dough, pan rolls, cinnamon-raisin swirl loaf, cloverleaf rolls, bread sticks, and traditional loaf.
Under the jam setting, the suggested recipes are the classic ones, like strawberry, apple, and blueberry jam but your imagination can come up with more recipes than that. My favorite is blueberry jam, a real classic.
The cake setting has some suggestions, too: chocolate cake, Dutch apple cake, spiced zucchini bread, and citrus fruit bread.
For the home made setting, the one where you get to include 3 of your recipes, you get two suggestions: crusty French and meatloaf miracle.
I would definitely try the meatloaf miracle. And if you like it, you can save it.
Or you can use a recipes book to find even more amazing recipes.
There are plenty on the Internet, too.
The Zojirushi bread maker will help split the work load with you.
Cons
Firstly,
Those with gluten intolerance or those who prefer gluten-free products, should check the second Zojirushi bread maker also reviewed in this post.
The BB-CEC20 doesn’t have a gluten-free setting.
There is no nut/fruit dispenser.
It’s simply going to beep when it’s time to add these additional ingredients.
Also, the word “ADD” is going to flash in the display.
Another shortcoming is that it’s quite loud.
If you have a bigger house, I’m sure you’re not going to be bothered by the noise at all. And in time you get used to it. It depends from person to person.
But in a small apartment it can cause quite the ruckus.
With all these that you know and some that you might discover on your own as you get and use it, what do you think, would you buy the Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme BB-CEC20?
Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso BB-PAC20 vs. Zojirushi Supreme BB-CEC20
Their price is actually the first thing that makes a difference.
Something that it’s called Virtuoso will always be a little more expensive than something Supreme.
Secondly,
It’s also a little prettier.
Actually, the control panel is fancier for the Virtuoso BB-PAC20, even though the functionality of the buttons is the same.
And the names of the buttons are identical.
They’re only more beautifully designed.
There are the same 10 preprogrammed settings and the 3 cycles that can be customized with your own preferred recipes under the home made setting.
But there is also an addition: the gluten-free preprogrammed setting.
In total,
This second Zojirushi bread maker has 11 preprogrammed menus.
And the last difference that might convince you that the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso BB-PAC20 is entirely worthy of your money is the fact that it’s a little faster: the basic cycle is completed in 3:25 hours as opposed to 3:45 hours.
And the rapidness applies to all settings.
But are these differences enough to convince you that the Virtuoso BB-PAC20 is the Zojirushi bread maker for you?
