Review by Henry Perkins:

[Between 4 and 4.5 stars]The Panasonic SD-YD250 is pretty much the state of the art in bread machine technology in mid-2003. It’s one of the larger units around with a 2.5 lb. loaf capacity. This size will also eat up your counter or cupboard space: you need just under 14″ of width and height, and 10″ of depth, so keep that in mind when you order.The bread consistency is excellent. It’s even pretty good in the “rapid” mode, though the results are a bit better in the standard bake mode so that’s what I generally use. Also, the “rapid” mode for whole wheat or multigrain bread is 3 hours (vs. 5 hours standard), so it’s not like you can start the machine at the beginning of a meal and expect completed bread before you leave the table. The fastest full cycle — “rapid” bake mode for white bread — is 1hr 55min.The SD-YD250 is quieter than most earlier bread makers; however, you’ll still hear the clicking and whirring as it mixes and kneads the dough. It’s a neat idea to wake up to the smell of freshly-baked bread but the machine isn’t quiet enough to run in the bedroom unless you’re a VERY sound sleeper.The options for this machine include the following:
o basic/rapid bake
o immediate start/timer delay
o white/whole wheat/multigrain
o sandwich (soft crust)
o crust color light/medium/dark
o raisin (pause and beep to add fruit or nuts)
o dough knead without bake
o bake without dough kneadNote that not all of these options can be combined. For instance: you only get crust color selection for white bread, and sandwich mode for white and whole wheat; multigrain bread always has a dark, tough crust (although the bread inside the crust is moist and well-textured).The container inside really is nonstick (based on my not-so-lengthy use since I bought it) and the kneading blade does very little damage to the finished loaf. Ease of use and cleanup are both excellent.Bread results are quite sensitive to variations in the ingredients in either weight, consistency, or age. Always use fresh BREAD flour and fresh yeast (bread machine yeast recommended) and the right amount of salt, sugar, and flour. The recipes in the included book specify flour weight in units like 16 3/4 oz., so it’s HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you get a digital kitchen scale for good results. Note that this will require still more counter space.Summary: a very good machine, but you’ll need a fair amount of counter space and attention to details to get the best results from it.

Review by Anthony T. Curtiss:

You get what you pay for in this world and the Panasonic SD-YD250 is a perfect example. Quiet as a mouse. No jumping around the counter and whining and improperly mixing as a Breadman we purchased (and returned) did. Had another Panasonic for 8 years. Decided to replace it when the pan seal failed and we checked out the cost of a replacemtnt pan (not realizing we could replace just the paddle mechanism/seal.) Thought we could get by on the cheap with the Breadman. Wrong. If you are looking for a rock solid, flexible unit that turns out a perfect loaf time after time (up to 2.5 lbs), this is your bread machine. The automatic yeast dispenser is a great feature, particulary if you use the timer. Spend the [money].

Review by Edward Barnett:

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 alarm clock, using the Zo BBCCX20 overnight simply isn’t an option. I wish there were a way to turn it off.

- The double paddles on the Zo do a better job of mixing ingredients without the need for scraping down the sides of the pan.

- The Breadman is a much more flexible machine. It’s “Pause” button let’s you add 15 minutes at any point in the cycle. Without the ability to pause, the Zo sometimes starts baking before the loaf is fully proofed. With bread, where the length of the rise depends on so many factors, having the flexibility to pause during a cycle is very valuable. You can program custom cycles on the Zo, but that’s only a solution if you know in advance that your loaf is going to take some extra proofing time.

- Crust control is better on the Breadman. Even set on “light” crust, the Zo tends to produce a dark crust with breads that have a lot of sugar.

- The Breadman has a small bin that automatically dispenses “add ins” (fruits, nuts, etc.) at the right point in the cycle. You just load it up at the beginning of the cycle and the “trap door” releases the goodies at the right time near the end of the kneading cycle.

In a nutshell: The Zo is a better built, more powerful, quieter bread machine. It’s solid, reliable, and great for doughs that would stop a lesser machine. The Breadman, on the other hand, provides much greater flexibility to make changes to the cycle once you’ve started and to get the crust you like. It also has an automatic fruit/nut dispenser and no long, annoying beep. If Zojirushi and Breadman would combine the Zo’s motor and mechanics with Breadman’s control panel and programming, they’d have the perfect bread machine. As it is, you have to choose based on what’s most important to you.

UPDATE 02-JAN-2010

I found a new bread machine that has replaced both the Zo BBCCX20 and the Breadman as my favorite machine. It’s the Zojirushi “Mini” (BB-HAC10). It takes up half the counter space of the Zo BBCCX20 and makes a perfect size loaf for a small family. It still doesn’t have the flexibility of the Breadman, but at least they shortened the “add ingredients” beep (which goes on for so long on the full-size Zo that I can’t use it for overnight bread making). Other than the beep, the Zo Mini is the quietest bread machine I’ve found. I really like it. You can find a more complete review on the Zo Mini product page. Happy Baking!

Review by :

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 pan and it’s non-stick surface. They also claim that the pan warps. Here is a little bread machine advice: follow the directions for proper care! The new pan has the same non-stick coating that was used in my parents S-15 (1993)! It has not shown one defect in more than 10 years and hundreds of loaves. Do not use metal objects in the pan. This will prevent this kind of damage. Also, the directions clearly state to let the pan cool before soaking in water… this prevents the pan from warping, and (as mentioned before) has worked on the S-10 for over a decade. The new X20′s pan is the same material (metal and coating) as the old 90′s ZO models. It is simply in a different shape (horizontal). There is no defect with these pans… if you care for it as directed (and it’s really only common sense) it will last for years.Go with the top of the line…. Zojirushi X20!

Review by moss dog:

We bake a loaf about every 5 days, usually basic white or honey wheat. We’ve also made herb breads, seed breads and pizza dough. This is our first and only bread machine so we’ve nothing to compare it to, but seems great to us. The loaves are beautiful and almost always perfect – we’ve only had one loaf that didn’t turn out (don’t know why). There’s a timer that lets us set it up the night before and wake to the smell of fresh bread baking… mmmm…… The paddle does tend to take a largish chunk of bread with it when the loaf comes out of the pan. The writing is hard to read as others have said, but we use the default setting 95% of the time so we don’t have to read anything – just hit start. For an inexpensive breadmaker, it’s really great. We’ve had ours 7 months.

Review by Wilma J. Storms:

This Breadmaker is exactly what I had hoped for. In all my years of skirting around purchasing a Breadmaker, I never realized how easy it would be to use one and then we found this one on Amazon.com. My husband is the primary cook in our 2-member family, we are retired senior citizens, and he is very pleased. The breads are delicious and there was no trial/error period! The aroma of fresh cooking bread is so good! We find ourselves waiting anxiously for the end of the cooking cycle, slice it after it’s cooled, get out the butter/margarine and enjoy a very small piece and critique it. No failures! Thanks. jtf895@aol.com

Review by Frau Schott:

Not having owned a bread machine before, I did my online research and decided to try a reasonably priced “good-enough tester” machine… Well, I’m VERY glad that I decided to purchase this “more-than-good-enough” model!

This particular model is fairly quiet while in operation, beeps after the 1st rest to indicate that it’s time to add the nuts/raisins, etc., and beeps after the baking cycle is completed (if the bread is not removed from the machine as soon as it’s done, it might lose moisture during the auto keep-warm cycle). I’ve twice made the following recipe with pine nuts and twice made raisin-pistachio bread (from “the Big Book of Bread Machine Recipes”)–delicious.

The best part about this machine baking process is that it’s not at all difficult in any way. Here is the typical baking process: Warm the liquid in a glass measuring cup in a microwave, stir in the salt/honey/sugar/ butter in the warm liquid , pour the mixture into the baking pan, place the pan on the scale, adjust the scale to zero, add the required flour (1 cup flour = 4 to 4.5 oz), level the flour, add the yeast, twist to lock the pan into the breadmaker, plug in the breadmaker, select the crust color (best to try the “Light” color first), select the baking setting, after about 5 min. check the dough and add water/flour if necessary (very important step), remove the bread to a cooling rack as soon as it’s done, then wipe the baking pan when it’s cool enough. (It’s helpful to have a portable timer on you to remind you to remove the bread, wherever you might be.)

The clean up is SO MINIMAL that the bread tastes just that much better! And, whenever we want oven-baked loaves, I’d simply use the breadmaker’s dough cycle to lessen the clean up and do the rest as usual.

However, there are some negative aspects related to this bread machine:

1. The user manual is very uninformative for a new user, so don’t even bother. Instead, buy “The BIG Book of Bread Machine Recipes” by Donna Rathmell German (on Amazon; 600 recipes from 5 of her bread machine cookbooks) or other bread machine cookbooks and rest assured that the resulting loaves will be enjoyable and varied.

2. On my machine, I had to make sure to select the “light” color, else the loaf gets too brown/too thick crusted.

3. So far, all 4 loaves have slightly caved/sunken/deflated as soon as the baking cycle kicked in. Although the loaves are just slightly sunken, and the appearance and taste were not affected in any way, I will try using less liquid than normal (for a firmer dough) to prevent the suken look next time.

Useful tips for new bread machine user:

1. Get a dependable scale, instant-read thermometer, and a liquid measuring cup–approximations might not work well when you’re new at using bread machines.

2. For the basic cycle, if baking the bread right away, you can just place all the ingredients right into the baking pan regardless of the liquid-first order stated on the manual.

3. If adding additional flour/liquid to the baking pan, add carefully. Any spilled gunk on the bread machine’s bottom or heating element might take some scrubbing if baked in.

4. If additional kneading time is desired, just stop and restart the machine for additional gluten development/knead time.

5. For the initial confidence-building 2-pound loaf, try this tested recipe (might have to set your Sunbeam to “Light” color): 1 1/3 cups milk and/or water, 2 tb honey/sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons butter, 4 cups bread flour (I used Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose), 1 1/2 teaspoons active yeast, 1/4 – 1/3 cup of pine nuts/other chopped nuts (optional). Remember to check the dough consistency after about 5 minutes and add liquids/flour if too wet or too dry.

6. If the bread dough is over-rising at the top of the bake pan, either:

a. simply scoop some dough carefully off the top, put the extra dough in a greased baking vessel of suitable size. Let dough rise a bit in the oven with the pilot light on, take dough out, preheat the oven at 350F-375F, spray some water in the oven to encourage crust formation, and then bake until the top is golden brown (internal temp. of about 180F to 200F); bake the other portion in the bread machine as usual; -OR-

b. remove dough from the machine completely– separate the dough into two greased baking vessels of suitable size. Let dough rise a bit in the oven with the pilot light on, take dough out, preheat the oven at 350F-375F, spray some water in the oven to encourage crust formation, and then bake until the top is golden brown (internal temp. of about 180F to 200F).

7. Store bread in the freezer for fresh-tasting bread any time: divide the bread into serving portions, place in Ziplock bag(s) and store in the freezer; defrost (in the bag) in room temperature (or wrap the bread in a moist paper towel and microwave for a few seconds) before devouring. Make life even easier–bake extra loaves and freeze them.

Conclusion: If you like the taste of “just-baked” breads, but don’t like the messy cleanups and the typical baking-related efforts => well, this one is worth the try, and it is worth the price. Just remember to get a big bread machine recipe book and enjoy all the possibilities. Great machine (and great book)!

Review by Laternser:

Buy this unit. It makes bread, is durable, and cheap enough

to throw away. Above all, it is SO EASY TO USE.

This unit does what a breadmaker should do. I have now cooked over 200 loaves in 13 months. Very easy to use, minimal effort

required. Has proven durable for me. I unplug the unit when not in use.

My routine: pre pack six tubs with flour (50% white 50% whole wheat — weighed on a weight watchers scale … which is much faster and easier than measuring the flour). Put in one cup of warm water, drop in one pre-packed tub (with flour, the smallest touch of salt, 1/2 the recommended sugar (brown)). Put in a dab of oil, and 1/2 the normal yeast for a firmer bread. Then add perhaps 1/2 a bananna or a peeled cored sliced apple, maybe some raisins, and some pecans. Best secret: Add a handful of frozen cranberrys. Choose program 5 (sweet), light color, 1.5 pound. Press start and come back three hours later.

Great bread for toast. Everybody likes the end product. Much better than store bread for less than per loaf including the cost of the machine. I have now saved over 0.

We will never go back. I cannot find a reason to try any other machine. This unit does what is required.

Now the real benefit. One family member has suffered from headaches for 25 years. They stopped on the day I started making

bread. Apparently the headaches were gluten related — I cannot explain it but we tried some store bread on her and the headaches returned. The headaches were very severe. Go figure!

- Laternser

Review by Jessica Tok:

The Zojirushi BB-HAC10 breadmaker is terrific for couples, singles, or apartment dwellers wanting a small loaf of bread (1 LB). While at first, its price may be offsetting, it is a fantastic device and made of high quality materials. Most breadmakers are too large and end up being stored in the closet, but this machine is small, sleek, and bakes perfect loaves of bread. It is the same width as my toaster and is small enough to keep out on an apartment kitchen counter. The loaves on regular cycles take between 3:40-3:00 to bake, but it has a timer and a “keep warm” feature. It is quiet and an 8-year old could easily operate its simple push button controls.

It has an even-heating element, and a good quality, heavy, non-stick baking pan, which is a snap to clean up. It has a pasta/cookie dough feature and a jam (!) feature. The tiny paddle is actually surprisingly efficient at making dough for cookies and such.

One caveat: It bakes a small, vertical loaf of bread and a 1 LB loaf is smaller than you think it is. So the “rounded” part on top takes up about 1/4 of the entire loaf. Also, your bottom slice will have a gaping hole where the paddle bakes into it. While this is not much of a problem for a large 2 LB loaf, for this small loaf, it is a bit of a waste.

We have had a Zojirushi since the early 90′s and although we found it consistently made excellent bread, it wasn’t getting used very often because it was large and the 2LB loaves simply weren’t getting eaten. After downsizing, we found that this breadmaker is fabulous because it makes small enough loaves that you can experiment with tons of different recipes and throw away a botched recipe without feeling bad about waste.

Review by Eve:

I already owned the Zojurushi BBCCX20 (the 2-Pound-Loaf Bread Machine) for 2 years before deciding on buying the smaller model to adjust to changing needs. Unfortunately, I expected the same kind of “programmable” machine. The only thing programmable on the Zojirushi BB-HAC10 is the delay timer. Do not buy this machine expecting to control the time of rise, kneed and bake. Maybe I’m the only person who did use this feature on the other model, but it was truly useful for making spelt bread. The only way to make a nice spelt bread using this machine is the “Quick Baking Setting” and it cannot be combined with the timer. So impossible for me to make a spelt bread for breakfast.

Things I do like :

-The size of the machine is perfect, I store it in the cupboard.

-The beep sound (for adding raisins, nuts, etc.) is not to long or annoying like the BBCCX20 which would wake me up in the middle of the night.

-Easier to clean than BBCCX20. There are no nylon inserts in the bread pan to which bread sticks to.

By the way, the first unit I received blacked out after 5 minutes. It was my first defective purchase from Amazon and replacement service was as perfect as I had read by other customers.

Review by T.B.:

I bought this bread machine from Amazon because it was on sale for about two weeks ago. That seemed like a good price for what looked like a decent machine, so I ordered it. I’m so glad that I did! I have made six loaves so far, all of which have come out perfectly. I tried two other machines before this model, both of which burnt or did other crazy things to the loaves and so required tons of monitoring and adjustments. With this machine, though, it really IS as easy as throwing a few ingredients in the machine and pressing a button! So far I have made french bread, whole wheat bread, brown rice flour bread, irish potato brown bread, and more. The recipes that came with the machine work well, but I also picked up a few bread machine cookbooks for more variety.

In addition to making great bread, I love how quiet the machine is (like another reviewer, I kept checking to see whether it was working the first time). I also like that it’s a little smaller than equivalent 2 lb. machines and so easily fits under kitchen cabinets, and I love the way it looks in my kitchen (it’s not a huge, hideous white box!). There’s a helpful fruit/nut add-in beep, the shape of the loaf is nicer than the other 2 machines I’ve used, and the finished bread easily slides out of the pan.

Overall, I am extremely happy with my purchase. 5 stars!

Added 10/25/2007:

I am still so happy with this bread machine, so I had to come back and add to my review. Since I bought this more 6 months ago I have been using it often (at least 1 loaf a week) and I have never had a failure yet. In addition to loaves made with bread flour, I have made many loaves with 100% whole wheat flour (the majority of my loaves are 100% whole wheat) or other flours like spelt, rice, and oat, and all loves came out beautifully. This machine produces perfect, perfect bread! I now bring fresh bread to every dinner party I attend, and people are always so grateful.

In addition to homemade bread being delicious, I think it’s much healthier, too: I love that I now know exactly what went into every loaf of bread I eat (i.e. no weird chemicals or additives, I can decrease the sugar or replace it with a natural sweetener like maple syrup, etc.). I would give this machine 10 stars if I could, I love it that much.

One helpful tip someone gave me was to buy The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger. I use recipes from this book every time I bake bread, and they always come out beautifully. I’m sure there are lots of other good bread machine cookbooks, but this is by far the best one I’ve tried.

Review by S. Ferrer:

This is truly the best breadmaker I have had in years. This is the seventh breadmaker I have bought. I have had Rival, Salton, Williams Sonoma and not to mention a very expensive one. This one tops all of them together. To start off with, it has a small size but makes a huge 2lb loaf. It is so quiet, that I had to keep looking if it was working. I have made 3 Cinnamon Raisin breads and 4 White breads and 1 French bread in the last two days. They all came out perfect. Also the body (exterior) of this one does not get as hot as the other ones so it can be put against a backsplash. This was the best purchase and I would recommend this machine to all who love a perfect loaf of bread.

Review by J. Hrametz:

I am an experienced bread baker (with and without machines) and this is my third bread machine. It kneads better than others I have had BY FAR. This machine makes excellent bread, but there is one big problem. You cannot cancel mid-cycle to start a different process if you like. As an experienced baker, I like to tweak my loaves by using various different risings, etc., but I can’t do that with this machine because once you start a cycle you are committed. Even if you turn the blasted thing off, it does not reset. Other machines allow more flexibility for experienced bakers. This machine does come with an excellent cookbook, and seems easy to operate. I can’t explain the negative reviews, except to say perhaps they got a defective machine. This one does not budge on the counter like other machines I’ve had, either. I have used the dough cycle and have baked in the machine – each time with excellent results. I do recommend that those who are having trouble make sure they are using the proper flour and yeast – see King Arthur Flour company web site for lots of info!

Review by Donald P. Martin Jr.:

I bought this breadmaker for my wife for Christmas. She uses it at least twice a week, and so far has truly loved it. She likes making beer bread and cinnamon raisin bread, and every loaf she’s made has been big, aromatic, and absolutely delicious. Have you ever looked for Texas toast to make that killer French Toast for breakfast? This machine – which makes some substantial 2-pound loaves, is the perfect thing for ‘em.

Personally, I might add that if you buy one of these machines, you may never need another air freshener. I love the smell of baking bread!

I chose the Cuisinart CBK-200 because I’ve purchased several Cuisinart products and I’ve been very impressed with all of them. It’s a solidly constructed piece, wieghty, and good-looking on the counter. After looking at so many of the other breadmakers in local stores, I got the feeling of plasticky engineering, and envisioned them lasting an amount of time not worth the or -something dollars they were asking. I also envisioned smaller loaves, noisy breadmakers which shifted around on the counter. I admit this is all speculation, but these are real concerns we all have, and we speculate because we want to make the best decision we can. In the end, I feel very satisfied with the choice I made, and more importantly, my wife is thrilled with it.

A previous reviewer mentioned the only downfall to the machine is that you can’t change some of the options mid-cycle. This is true, but I got the feeling that reviewer was as expert a bread-maker as one could be! My wife loves baking, but I think even at two or three loaves a week for the next five years, she’s not going to have that reviewer’s expertise to make those mid-cycle decisions. Actually, if my wife is accustomed to this machine, then I think those decisions might be made before the process even begins, knowing how the machine operates. That said, I think the reviewer was probably correct for upper-echelon bread chefs, and those with that kind of experience might want to go with a 0+ machine.

For the price, which was just under 0 at the time of my purchase, my wife and I are thrilled with what we’ve gotten back. We’re both convinced that the convection oven aspect of the machine only adds to the thoroughness of the baking. She reports that the crusts come out exactly how you want them to, and I know that’s important to her! And the bread is scrumptious. The only thing I wish it would do is cut the bread, too!

In summation, we’re very satisfied with this purchase, and most of my satisfaction comes from my wife’s happiness with it. The Cuisinart CBK-200 may be or so more than other bread makers, but with that investment, you get repeated satisfaction that those dollars were very, very well spent.

Review by Keith Daly:

I have owned and used this breadmaker for 5 years now and there is no reason to get another one. The best part is it comes out with a loaf of bread that looks like a loaf of bread, not some tube of baked stuff.

This one is reliable.

As for making a good loaf of bread, one of the best hints I have found to follow is to measure your flour not by volume but by weight – a cup is 5 oz. This is what bakers do because all kinds of things can affect the volume of the flour you’re measuring; moisture, settling, etc.

Review by Phil:

I must admit this is the first bread machine I have ever owned. I have had no problems with it at all. The manuel is well written and will have you making bread in no time. There are three crust settings for how dark you would like your bread, and one touch buttons for the type of bread you are making (french, basic etc.) I have made alot of bread with this machine, homemade and store bought mixes. The bread is always baked to perfection. Clean up is a snap with the non stick pan. One thing I really enjoy making is pizza. This machine performs very well making the dough, and the real plus is, the dough next to free to make. I think anyone who wishes to purchase a bread machine will be very happy with this one.

Review by Samantha Quinn:

I came to machine made bread late, and it was a long road to get here. You could say I was a purist stuck in times past, or I was just waiting for my questions to be answered. I know a bunch of people who swear by thier bread machines, and several folks who’ve had one die and miss it terribly. Me, I had no real problems making bread the old fashioned way so to speak. I learned how to make bread from my Mom when I was a little girl, and that always worked for me.

I’d read that for features and function the Zojirushi was the top of the line. Great, but there was no way I could cost justify that kind of money for a bread machine. Plus, while it met most of my specifications, it missed on one important one, loaf size. For me a requirment was a horiontal loaf, and an ideal was maximum function and control. Including loaf size and crust.

Enter the Hi-Rise. It’s selectable for four different loaf sizes 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5 pound loaves. It has three different crust settings that give one control over color and thickness of the crust, accessed with the temp button.

With a horizontal loaf pan, and dual blades, it makes it simple and easy to prepare just about anything. The large windows in the top make it easy to watch how your bread is doing and the display is easy to read and keeps you informed about where in your journey each loaf is. It even has prgrammability in terms of when the bread machine starts, and even allows you to create a custom profile for “Home Made” bread. Wake up to the smell of bread baking? Done! Now you can program the coffee machine to start your morning cup of java, and have fresh baked bread waiting too. Spoil me rotten why don’t you!

The acid test of course was actually making bread with it. Took it out of the box, used the basic white bread recipe that came with the manual, hit start and walked away. I looked in now and again to see what it was doing, but I did not hover, chosing instead to believe that this would work just fine and I’d have a wonderful smell to tell me that all was right in my bread machine.

Soon, the unmistakable aroma of rising dough filled my senses, and sometime later, baking bread. When done I took it out of the machine and placed a wonderful looking and sounding loaf on the cooling rack and waited a bit before putting on water for tea. When I say sounding, one of the things my Mom taught me was to tap on the side of the crust lightly like with produce to get an idea of how the bread was inside. A properly cooked loaf should have a slightly hollow sound to it when tapped. Sure enough, this one did.

When the time was right, I poured a cup of tea to steep, waited for it to be ready and cut a slice out of my warm, crusty, perfect, loaf of bread. It was crusty on the outside as it should be, and warm, slightly moist, springy bread on the inside. I grew up in New England, and one of the things I love is “Country Style” bread. Slightly heavier, and moister than your run of the mill bread, it has a wonderful taste, texture and weight to it not generally available outside of New England.

Before I even tasted this I knew I was in for a treat from the smell, feel and texture of bread. The first morsel was a reward beyond my expectations! “Country Style” bread by pushing a button. Plus because I controled the ingredients it is healthy too. I used 1% milk, and “Smart Balance” butter substitute along with Unbleached King Arthur Bread Flour and Fleischmen’s “Highly Active Yeast” in the making of my first loaf. Perfect “Country Style” loaf in terms of all criteria. Taste, Texture, Smell, Weight, Crust, Color and Moisture.

It is easily the simplest loaf I’ve ever made. Put the materials in the pan, select options, press start and walk away. I’m thrilled with this bread machine! Hundreds less than it’s nearest Zojirushi in terms of price and more features. Needless to say, I’ll make more of this so called basic bread again, because now I can have “Country Style” bread anytime I want it despite no longer living in New England. So far I’ve only made one loaf, but I know hundreds more are to follow, next I’m going to go for a New York Deli style Rye.

The West End Hi-Rise is a gem at twice the price, and honestly has more features then the high end Zojirushi. Plus this has one touch selectable loaf size & crust type which the Zojirushi does not.

Would I reccomend this again? Oh yes, without question.

Review by Macro chef:

I got this at Walmart. I’m impressed with the dual blades. They knead quite a bit of flour. I only baked with it once, but it performed well. I mostly use it to knead artisan wetter dough and it does a fine job, better than my mixer. Can’t comment on durability, I’ve had it a month and use it every other day, sometimes twice a day. Can’t program it as completely as the Zo, but for half the price, you can somewhat make your own program. Manual says it has a pause function, when in fact, it does not. (misprint according to manufacturer) Otherwise, I’m pretty happy.

Review by J. Durham:

My wife has Celiac disease and a good gluten free bread is impossible to find ready made. We must bake our own bread if she is going to have a bread that tastes good. We have found the bread mix from Gluten Free Pantry is great. but our old bread machine, a Breadman Ultimate was not turning out a consistant product. It was less than a year old and quit working. Which turned out to be a blessing. Based on our experience with other Cuisinart products and the reviews on Amazon we decided on the Cusinart CBK-100. The gluten free cycle is perfect. It bakes the best gluten free bread we have ever had. We have used Gluten free pantry Sandwich bread mix and also Bob’s Red Mill gluten free multigrain mix. WOW! THe bread is so good that I even like it. This bread is light and the crust is perfect. It even is easier to slice. If you are looking for a bread maker that turns out excelent gluten free bread this is the one to buy

Review by Norbert L. Kramer:

When our breadmaker of about 12yrs. broke, I search the internet for a replacement. I thoroughly checked out many many many different types and prices. I settled on this Cuisinart CBK-100 and, have been very pleased with the texture of bread it makes. I do however use 2 tablespoons of sugar for a 1 1/2 lb. loaf and use only 1 teaspoon of fast acting yeast instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons. It operates very quiet compared to our older machine we had. I really like the beeps telling you it’s time to take the paddle out of the bread so you don’t have that gaping hole on botton of every loaf. I strongly recommend purchasing this machine.