Customer Reviews

Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker

5 star:		(265)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

If you are like me, you will do a huge amount of research on the web before you make a purchase like this. Usually I get it down to a few brands, then one item, then I find the best price.
Years ago I purchased one of the earliest commercial bread makers available to consumers. It was a thrill to have such a thing, as I love fresh bread, but I am also a well-known yeast killer. Needless to say, the technology was new... it worked for about a year, and only when making one recipe - Basic White Bread. I decided not to get it fixed (the price tag for repairs was over 100 bucks), and just wrote the whole idea off.
Last fall - after about ten years had passed! - I decided to try again, only this time I had the internet on my side. I am so glad I looked as hard as I did! This little machine is fantastic.
I've had my Zoji for about a month now and I've only had one failure - it was my fault, the water I put in was just too hot, and I killed the yeast (no new thing there). Otherwise, I've made about 13 successful loaves for myself, family & friends! My Challa loaf and my basic white have now been perfected. Wheat and quick breads turn out great, too.
I've even figured out how to use the soft bread cycle and a sweet loaf dough, and remove it at just the right time, then roll the dough up with cinnamon or slice it and put layers of filling, whatever you can think of, then get it back in the pan quickly for the rest of the last rise and the baking. As long as you are prepared and do your math with the clock so you can work fast, this works great.
The other plus is that the loaf size, at just a pound, is perfect for singles like me. I do not have to freeze so much extra bread, and it gets eaten before it gets stale or bad. Do yourself a solid and get some bread flour, it does make a difference to the rising and the texture of the loaf.
The zoji has some great features that may not be apparent when reading the manual (go to [...] and download the manual in PDF form - I do this with every single appliance I am serious about purchasing and it really helps make the best decision for you). The water I put in is truly cool to lukewarm. I learned by watching my Zoji that during the "rest" phase (the first phase), the water is at the bottom of the pan and the machine warms it up during this phase to the perfect temperature. I know that sounds trivial, but remember this is how I always kill yeast! So... biggest problem for me: SOLVED.
Next is to put the ingredients in as they tell you to - mostly to keep the yeast dry and on the top of the flour until it begins to knead. Another thing I learned about this by watching, to be absolutely sure, is to put in the water first, then just HALF the flour, put the rest of the ingredients on top of that flour (except your add-ins like raisins, there is a beep later for that), lastly put the remaining flour on top, then make a small dip right in the middle and put all the yeast right there. If you do this, when the Zoji starts the first knead, the yeast sinks straight to the bottom into the water - which is just perfect.
Clean up is very easy - just be sure to get all the bread out of the paddle and it's assembly, and dry everything properly until the next loaf.
I love this little machine. Zojirushi is the more expensive brand, and even though I am on a tight budget, I am happy I got this one. I can see why it costs a little more - it's great!

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UPDATE: It's been a little over a year later, and I am still just as thrilled with my zoji. It has a permanent place on my (limited) countertop. For the record, I have used it consistently about 6 times a month, and there has been no change in the machine's performance. I consider that really durable for such an item.
The only thing I have learned to do different from when I first reviewed is for better performance in the winter months: my house is usually cold, because gas is $$, so I give it a little boost (VERY LITTLE - remember how I kill yeast) by putting hot tap water into the pan before use. Let that sit for about 3 mins while you gather ingredients, then pour it out, and put in your regular cold tap water in the amount for the recipe.
A good tip for more stubborn recipes is to add a miniscule amount of ginger on top of the yeast. Ginger will act as a booster to the yeast, it makes it work longer and harder. But remember you only need a little - less than a dash for this sized pan - or else the taste of the bread will change.
Another tip is to get a decent brand's box of organic Vital Wheat Gluten, especially if you can't find bread flour. 1 Tbls per recipe for this sized pan is about right. Sorry, anti-gluten folks, but this is a wonderful product.
If you want to try something whole grain with a fantastic taste, get some organic Spelt flour. Take your typical white bread recipe and halve the white flour with Spelt. Add 1 Tbls gluten. You may need to add water or flour as it kneads - just keep an eye on it. Remember this is a heavier flour, like all whole grains, so it needs a bit more observing.
One more tip: get yourself a skinny jar scraper made of silicon, and a small tupperware of flour. Keep these by the machine as it kneads. The jar scraper (must be silicon!) is a great tool to scrape off the sides of the pan for the more stubborn recipes, and the flour comes in handy when you find the mix is just too goopy. But be CAREFUL, as always, when adding stuff while it kneads... avoid the paddle if scraping, and avoid getting product over the side if adding some. It WILL burn down there.
All in all, even with the recipes you have to work a little harder with, this is the best appliance I have ever purchased. And I have purchased a LOT of them!!!
I even give my French Bread loaf as a birthday gift, and that really lights up their eyes to see (and SMELL) a warm loaf of fresh baked bread with nothing more than a ribbon around it.

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UPDATE, January 1, 2011: I was inspired by another reviewer (of another appliance) here today to update again. Not much to say, other than my Zoji is still working perfect and I am still thrilled with this little machine. But it's important to keep you informed of both the good and the bad, so here I am again, 25 days shy of 2 years, to tell you that if you want to bake bread without a lot of fuss, the Zoji is TOTALLY worth your money. PS, thanks Melissa! :)
Now all I have to do is find a mid-size reliable pressure cooker.... any ideas, folks?

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UPDATE: August 30, 2011: This thing is amazing. It just keeps working great. I ventured into other areas, too - Olive Oil bread, banana bread, nut breads, cakes. I'm going to try just using the dough cycle so I can take it out and use it by hand (like pizza dough, kolaches [sp?] or crescent rolls). Not sure if it will work, but at least I won't have killed the yeast before I ruin the dough (and will still only have myself to blame, not my lil zoji. Heh.)

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UPDATE: December 7, 2011: Still works fantastic!!!! Almost three years, and NO issues with it at all. WOW.
BTW - I finally bought a pressure cooker. :)

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!

I have used breadmakers for many years now. My last one died about two years ago. In the search for a replacement, I read many reviews and looked at the various options in stores. The Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker turned out to be the right choice for me.

The Zojirushi is relatively quiet and its compact size allows it to fit nicely in a limited space. It has a nice appearance and will fit well into most kitchens. Its operation and many options make it easy and fun to use.

My breadmaker came with a large white label on the right side (not shown in the advertising) that provides a recipe and instructions for making basic white bread. I did not remove this label as I felt leaving it there would provide me readily available assistance should I need it. If it gets to look ugly, I can always remove it.

The mixing paddle is relatively small and thin compared to the paddles on other breadmakers. While it does make a small hole in the bottom of the loaf of bread, the small profile of the mixing paddle makes the hole unobjectionable. Initially, I had some difficulty removing the mixing paddle for cleaning until I discovered there was a tiny hook on the breadmaker shaft that helps retain the paddle while you remove the bread from the bread pan. Counter rotating the paddle slightly allows it to be easily removed from the bread pan shaft.

The bread pan can be removed, inserted and locked in place very easily. The design allows you to place all of your ingredients in the bread pan prior to placing the pan in the baking chamber. This is a nice feature as it prevents the mess of ingredients ending up in the baking chamber, particularly if you are like me and tend to be messy.

The Zojirushi comes with an instruction manual that has a variety of recipes that cover most of the types of bread or cakes that you would like to make. I strongly recommend following the recipes in the book exactly until you are comfortable with the bread making process. Once you have a good understanding of this breadmaker, you can modify the existing recipes or make your own to meet your unique taste. I have not had a bad loaf of bread or cake since using this breadmaker (please note the importance of following recipes exactly).

This breadmaker makes a rectangular loaf of bread that provides a slice of bread that is about 20 percent taller and slightly narrower than a commercial loaf of bread. It will provide you about 8 to 10 slices of bread depending on how thick you slice the bread. I slice off both ends slightly thick to make a fresh and tasty hamburger bun.

The Zojirushi is at the high end of the price range for breadmakers. However, in this case, you get what you pay for. The design, quality, and construction of this breadmaker make it well worth the price. It provides a large variety of options for making bread, dinner rolls, cakes, cookies, pizza, croissants, jams and even meatloaf. If you are serious about having fresh bread every few days (or daily if there are two of you), then this is an excellent choice.

I have had the Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Home Bakery 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker for approximately 45 days. I am extremely pleased so far with my purchase. I would not hesitate to recommend this product to anyone desiring a quality and compact breadmaker.

This is my fourth bread machine in the past 15-20 years. I started out using the original Zojirushi, which was a great machine (but eventually died after many years of loyal service). More recently, I had been using a full-size Zojirushi BBCCX20 and a Breadman Ultimate. I still use both the Breadman and the Zojirushi BBCCX20 for specific purposes (I bake a lot of bread), but the Zo Mini is the only machine that stays permanently on my counter now. It has become, by far and away, my favorite bread machine.

For starters, I should explain why I still use the Breadman and the full-size Zo:

o The Breadman (which seems to be sold under a variety of private labels these days) is the most flexible machine on the market in terms of the range of cycles and the ability to adjust the cycle timing. I especially like the Pause button for breads that refuse to proof as quickly as expected. The motor is weak, though, and the machine is very noisy.

o The full-size Zo has a great motor. It's the only option for making 2-pound loaves of whole-wheat bread. It also has the ability to program custom cycles (but no Pause button once a cycle is under way). On the downside, it has a very annoying beep to signal when it's time to add fruit/nuts -- the beep goes for a very long time and can't be silenced, which is a problem if you use the machine on a delay setting to bake bread overnight. Like the Breadman, it also takes up quite a bit of counter space.

Now, on to the Zojirushi Mini:

+ The Zo mini produces the perfect size loaf for every day. The larger machines are great for producing 1.5 to 2 pound loaves, which are the right size for a big gathering. But a loaf of that size is too big for everyday meals. The Zo Mini, on the other hand, produces a loaf that's perfect for everyday use -- we generally eat half the loaf as soon as it comes out of the machine, then finish off the loaf the next day before it goes stale.

+ The Zo mini takes up less than half the counter space of the full-size loaf machines. It's so small that I can leave it out all the time, which makes it really easy to bake a loaf of bread on a whim.

+ The Zo mini seems to live up to the Zojirushi reputation in terms of motor power. I've had no trouble with very stiff whole-wheat doughs.

+ The Zo mini is very quiet. The difference between the Zo and my Breadman in terms of noise is amazing. This is especially important if you like to use the machine on a delay setting overnight so that you can wake up to fresh bread.

On the downside:

- The Zo mini does not have the same options as the full-size Zo to create customized baking cycles, and it still doesn't have a Pause button (why hasn't Zojirushi figured this out by now?).

- The beeper that indicates when to add fruit/nuts still can't be turned off. On the positive side, though, the beeper only beeps about five times on the mini, which is a huge improvement over the 15-beep cycle on the full-size Zo (which always kept me from using the full-size Zo overnight).

In a nutshell: The Zojirushi Mini is the closest thing I've found to the perfect bread machine. It's compact and simple, with a powerful motor, and it produces the ideal size loaf (i.e., one that you can finish before it goes stale). Although I continue to use my bigger machines for holidays, the Zo Mini is now the only bread machine we use on a regular basis. It's a great addition to the kitchen if you enjoy fresh bread.

Makes a nice 'lil loaf, very tasty using the regular basic white or French, nice crust. Just right size for the Pizza dough batch. I have noticed that the bread machine loaves get moldy after a few days, so the small size is ideal for a loner like myself. Zojirushi product seems well made, this unit should last many years.
UPDATE: 10/08..Still in love with this 'lil machine. Easy to experiment with additional ingredients that may or may not enhance final product.
MORE: The bread made with the included recipis is some of the best bread that I have ever eaten, the only exception being Ciabatta from a few local outlets. HINT: Spray the paddle with Pam type stuff, load the machine, the thing rarely sticks in the baked loaf....
MORE 4/09: Have been making "Sally Lunn" with the recipi from Germans bread book, very good taste and nice toast. Keeps well also.
MORE: 5/09: Every so often the paddle gets stuck in the loaf. I have found that a button hook works super to pull out the paddle.

This is my second breadmaker. I don't even remember what the other one was -- I used it so seldom. Since I got this one two weeks ago, I've made bread nearly every day, usually at night, since it's so easy to wake up to fresh bread. But, tonight I thought I'd try the "cake" setting. I used a box of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix (bought right here at Amazon), followed the directions for muffins but used the cake setting. It made a perfect little loaf of Blueberry Bread! So simple. Actually came out better than the muffins do.

I've also figured out a no-fat, no-sugar recipe: 200gr water, 300gr bread flour (up to 1/3 whole wheat), 1gr salt, 6gr yeast. Baked on french bread setting, it makes a wonderful, crunchy french loaf.

Really, first I was comparing to West Bend 41077 sicne it's got good reviews on Amazon. But there are some reviewers say about the yeast smell on the West Bend plus it doesn't have a timer. So I don't want to take a risk facing the bad smell. The price of these two are so much different but it's worth to buy Zoji because...
1. space saver (it's smaller than my rice cooker and space it's my most concern since I can't expand kitchen counter top)
2. make perfect bread (except the fist time I baked the bread didn't follow instructions. I mixed everything in the pan but the bread still came out ok)
3. great settings (Timer, Dough, Pasta, Jam) I use Timer all the time since I have a busy life so I set it up at night and have a fresh brad in the morning. This feature sells me. West Bend deosn't have all these features.
4. Small 1lb. loaf (We like smaller loaf but often baked fresh rather than one big but last a couple days.)

But!....If you consume a lot of bread a day and want a big 2lb. loaf this is not a machine for you.

I have a market on the corner of my block. It takes me less time to assemble the ingredients in this breadmaker, set it to finish baking when I wake up and costs less, than it would to buy a loaf at the store. They might be out of the kinds I like, the loafs at the store are twice as big and have to be stored also. I already had a gram scale and got a micro gram scale. I've been converting all the recipes to grams. No sifting, no mistakes. Just spoon it in the bowl and get the right weight and you know it's perfect.

I bought a little set of silicon pinch bowls from Amazon. I measure out the dry ingredients there and then just dump them in, set it for 8 hours and I have fresh bread in the morning. The bigger one looked great but I don't have the storage and live alone, so the big loaves would last too long. This way I can experiment more often too, and save energy.

I'm very happy with the purchase.

The tiniest bit of metal in the baking pan will scratch, no matter how careful you are so don't even try. If the blade is stuck, just soak it over night and it will come right off.

I'm very pleased.