Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My new "Mini Zo" just arrived today, January 5, 2007, which was amazing since I had just ordered it in the afternoon of January 2! I have enjoyed my two-pound loaf Zojirushi since I purchased it from Amazon in 2002 and will still use it for larger loaves, but this will be the perfect size for just the two of us and for special breads that we may want for one or two meals. The loaf I made today was for "soft" white bread. This interested me since there is a setting for "regular" and "firm" bread as well, but I thought I would see what the "soft" would be like--this takes three hours rather than the longer time for the other syles (we wanted it for dinner). The loaf could not have been more perfect! The texture was wonderful and the taste excellent! The bread came out of the bread pan perfectly. There is also a "Quick" setting which requires two hours or less, depending on the light or dark crust selected. This machine fits very nicely on the counter taking up only a little more space than a blender. The carrying handle on the machine makes it very convenient for moving it to a storage area if you do not have much counter space. I look forward to many wonderful loaves of bread from this machine. I have a wonderful book of bread recipes that I got several years ago entitled The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook by Tom Lacalmita, 1993. It has about 200 pages of recipes with measurements for both one pound or two pound loaves. This will add to the choices that come with the machine. This book may still be available at Abe Books or other used book sellers. Bread Machine Baking by Lora Brody and Millie Apter, 1993 also has many recipes for small (one pound/2cups flour) loaves. Happy bread making with the Mini Zojirushi! Update (April 26, 2013).... My breadmaker is still working beautifully after more than 6 years of two uses per week! I replaced the paddle about six months ago, as it was losing it's non-stick ability. I still make the "soft" recipe from the Zo booklet; however, I substitute 1/2 cup of the 2 cups of bread flour with semolina flour, which I purchase at a health food store (Bob's Red Mill Semolina Flour). The difference it makes to the texture is quite amazing. I also use this substitution (1/2 cup) in my (2 cups of all purpose flour) pizza dough, which is wonderful. I use the recipe from "The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints"--2nd revision--by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway, which is a wonderful resource for all things related to bread machine baking. I tried this idea based on a pizza dough recipe I saw at King Arthur Flour that used beer and some semolina flour, which is also excellent. One more change I have made over time is that I now use bottled water rather than city water, just to eliminate any reaction to the chemicals in the tap water.