Re: Zo machine

HLP · ‎04-02-2015

@SharkE wrote:

hopefully have some bread and butter for dinner. Mainly use this for winter.

I use mine all year, also have their rice cooker. Great company!

candys mine · ‎08-20-2012

Good Lord! That looks almost like an Angel Food Cake! BEE-utiful!

I had a ZO decades ago. Wasn't as pretty as yours. Only thing was the mixing blade ALWAYS stuck in the pan after baking. Have they resolved that in the past quarter century? If SO then maybe I'll look into another. Loved it while I had it even if I Did have to soak the blade out of the pan after every loaf.

SharkE · ‎08-19-2010

This one has 2 spinners that whirl around to knead the dough. I put a little

grease around them , so, the bread leaves the deep pan little easier, when cooled, I pull up on the spinners and clean where they have been sitting.

Always a residue of baked crumbs where they have been seated.

Use the recipe for bread machine sandwich bread from King Arthur website.

spinners just pull up off the 'spokes' and slip back on.

Forget where the Zo's are made at. Switzerland, Australia, not America

LOL

SharkE · ‎08-19-2010

OOPS! made in Japan.

Not China, thank God.

Free2be · ‎03-10-2010

I'm inspired to go toss ingredents into my breadmaker. A lazy way, I have a Bob's Red Mill mix to use and will go well with some leftover vegetable soup tonight.

@SharkE The Zo first try is gorgeous!

TexasLadybug · ‎03-12-2010

Hi Sharke- question for you. Do you use a scale to weigh out your ingredients or just regular measuring cups, etc? I have a Zo that is the same size but all white -a different model. When I made a 2lb loaf of bread one end of the bread was higher than the other. It happened more than once. Some article I read said I needed to weigh the ingredients but I don't find that needed with my mini Zo or other bread makers.

SharkE · ‎08-19-2010

just measuring cup.

my recipe called for 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt and I thought that sounded bit to much, but, mine could had used a tad more then the teaspoon I put in it.

mine was softer in the middle and didn't evenly brown on the top. I think because I cut down on the salt.

I had a loaf, once , that was lop sided too. I think with that lid being down on the dough as it's rising does something to it. As long as it tastes good I don't worry to much about the looks.

I use bread flour, fast yeast for the bread machine, table salt and sugar, water and milk, instead of 3 tblespoons of butter I up it to 4 LOL

don't like that plain active dry yeast, takes too long and the machine lets it rise once, knocks it down, lets it rise again knocks it down then rise again and bakes.

I want mine just to be knocked down ONCE and then rise and bake.

King Arthur website might be able to answer all your questions, too. They have all kinds of information on all kinds of subjects in there and you can email them and they will actually answer you too. Down at the bottom of the page 'contact us'.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@TexasLadybug wrote:
Hi Sharke- question for you. Do you use a scale to weigh out your ingredients or just regular measuring cups, etc? I have a Zo that is the same size but all white -a different model. When I made a 2lb loaf of bread one end of the bread was higher than the other. It happened more than once. Some article I read said I needed to weigh the ingredients but I don't find that needed with my mini Zo or other bread makers.

@TexasLadybug We had that trouble with the same model a number of years ago. We tried everything, called Zo, sent it back for repair and it did the same thing. The bread was good but not properly shaped.

We tried taking out a tablespoon or two of the King Arthur flour and it helped a little. We tried other brands, some came out better, and we tried all purpose flour, and some helped but none made perfect loaves.

What we found was we needed to peek in before it baked and either reshape it a little in the machine, or better take it out and reshape and put back in.

But if you really want a beautiful loaf from that model, simply take the dough out and bake it in a loaf pan. It makes beautiful bread, but for some reason the shaping is imperfect.

Play around with it and it will get better, but we found that reshaping was the only solution in most cases. I think if the dough is a little wetter, and NOT KAF brand, it isn't as much an issue. Maybe Bob's Mill? I can't remember!

I don't think all the machines in that model had the problem, but ours and some others did.

HerRoyaLioness · ‎03-13-2010

@Sooner wrote:
@TexasLadybug wrote:
Hi Sharke- question for you. Do you use a scale to weigh out your ingredients or just regular measuring cups, etc? I have a Zo that is the same size but all white -a different model. When I made a 2lb loaf of bread one end of the bread was higher than the other. It happened more than once. Some article I read said I needed to weigh the ingredients but I don't find that needed with my mini Zo or other bread makers.
@TexasLadybug We had that trouble with the same model a number of years ago. We tried everything, called Zo, sent it back for repair and it did the same thing. The bread was good but not properly shaped.

We tried taking out a tablespoon or two of the King Arthur flour and it helped a little. We tried other brands, some came out better, and we tried all purpose flour, and some helped but none made perfect loaves.

What we found was we needed to peek in before it baked and either reshape it a little in the machine, or better take it out and reshape and put back in.

But if you really want a beautiful loaf from that model, simply take the dough out and bake it in a loaf pan. It makes beautiful bread, but for some reason the shaping is imperfect.

Play around with it and it will get better, but we found that reshaping was the only solution in most cases. I think if the dough is a little wetter, and NOT KAF brand, it isn't as much an issue. Maybe Bob's Mill? I can't remember!

I don't think all the machines in that model had the problem, but ours and some others did.

@Sooner - I sent a Zo back for that very reason. The loafs were all lopsided, plus I had it on light and the crust was too thick and brown for my taste. For the money you pay for it, you should have much better results than that..

Just a note that I put a 2 star review on the BB&B website, citing the problems and it never made it on line, they didn't post it.

I have 2 old made in America West Bend bread makers and they both make the best bread!

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@Sooner - I sent a Zo back for that very reason. The loafs were all lopsided, plus I had it on light and the crust was too thick and brown for my taste. For the money you pay for it, you should have much better results than that..
Just a note that I put a 2 star review on the BB&B website, citing the problems and it never made it on line, they didn't post it.

I have 2 old made in America West Bend bread makers and they both make the best bread!

@HerRoyaLioness Yes, ours came from BB&B as well. It just never worked as well as I would expect for shaping. Everything else was ok.

We upgraded to the newest version last year and it works so much better! We use it all the time.

We had the older model 1 lb. version (the one with the handle) and I don't think we ever had a bad loaf from it, and we used it all the time and had it many years.

We last spring upgraded to the Maestro (I think that's the name) newer 1 lb. and it makes the best whole wheat bread ever. BUT the first one we got didn't work either--and it came from BB&B--makes me wonder if they buy seconds or something.