Kitchen

[58Meezer]

This is a really expensive breadmaker - but I can tell you from someone who has 2 other breadmakers with the gluten free function - they can not hold a candle to this machine. I think what makes it difficult for me to make bread is it has to be gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free and nut free. I have not been able to have bread for over 3 years - I have tried so many times baking bread - before being diagnosed with celiac disease I used to make bread regularly for years - I had to give up my beloved King Arthur Flour Now KAF has gluten free flour yeah - but still no luck making bread..until the Zo. The Zo breadmaker is what King Arthur baking has in their store in Norwich, VT - so it must be a pretty good machine for professional baking store to have in their store. I just wish I bit the bullet and bought this machine right from the git go - rather than 2 inferior breadmakers...

Reasons I think for success is: The Zo is expensive but allows you to truly customize the bread cycles - other machines say they are customizable, but as with my WP - there are pre-programmed set parameters within each program - in other words you can say - I wants a 25 minute knead cycle, skip the 2 rise cycles and have 1 rising of bread for 50 minutes and bake for 50 minutes - I was not able to skip cycles with my Wolfgang Puck machine.

After a lot of reading I found out gluten free bread gets exhausted if given 3 rising cycles - there is no gluten to provide the elasticity - you are relying upon baking powder, baking soda and xantham gum for the leaving function - especially if eggs can't be used.

I've made 2 loafs of bread - one Bob's Red Mill Hearty Grain - (a mix granted) taste just like rye/pumpernickle bread and homemade raisin bread - (I put this together) both breads were perfect - crust perfect, interior cooked throughly - my husband said if I didn't know better I would think this was regular bread flour! Wow that is a compliment. I have been trying to make bread for over 2 years with no luck. Cakes, cookies, pies yes, but not bread..until now.

I think the other reason I like the Zo is that there is a PREHEAT function in this bread maker where it brings all the liquid up to the perfect temperature.

I do have a thermometer, but gluten free, egg free, non-dairy has some tough challenges - I have RA so I can't really knead the bread - beside many of the gluten free breads you can't really knead - at least the ones I tried.

After having so many failures with bread - I'm just psyched to find a bread maker that is really awesome with great features - though expensive. Unfortunately today is a not good day for me - having a flare up - but I have two wonderful loaves of bread - going to slice them and package them individual and put in freezer. I hope eventually with more successes I will be able to make rolls, english muffins, etc - because with all my allergies I can't buy this stuff off the shelf readily.

Just thought I would share this info with all of you -since I have learned so much from the kind souls here.

Now if the temperature could get about 20 degrees.. brrrr, ache, ache, ache

Be well, God bless ^..^