Bb PDC20BA Virtuoso Plus 2 Lb Breadmaker, Black

I bought this bread maker three months ago, and I haven't purchased a single loaf of store-bought bread since. My family asks for fresh bread everyday, and this machine makes it effortless. Knowing there are only 6 ingredients in the bread and one of them is water makes me feel good about them eating it. It takes me under 5 minutes to throw the ingredients in, and then the machine does all of the work for the next 3 and 1/2 hours. I love it so much that I even brought it along on vacation! Everyone laughed at me when they saw me carrying it, but they weren't laughing long. The never got cold, I made it every single day and some people even found their way to the kitchen just from the smell. For my recipe, I use honey instead of sugar. It is supposed to keep the bread moist longer, and it absolutely works. When I was shopping for a bread maker, I noticed this model had some of the best reviews online. It is a little bit more expensive, but it delivers a perfect loaf of bread every time. It is worth every penny, and I would highly recommend buying one!

8.7.25 UPDATE: After a year and a half, this bread machine is still working as it should with no issues. It is used 3-4 times a week. I would definitely recommend to others. I was hesitant to pull the trigger on something I consider "pricey" and not really a necessity. Glad I did. I have owned many different models and makers of bread machines over the years and this one beats then all! I love that it has the heating element in the lid also as it helps to bake the bread more evenly. I have had it about 3 weeks now and have used it no less than 3 times a week to make raisin bread, white bread, dinner rolls and pizza dough. Everything I have made has been good. I even deviated from the recipes a bit and added a few additional ingredients to the raisin bread with no issues. The machine does the work for you when making dough and you just remove it and shape it into whatever you want to bake. Clean up is easy but you need to aware that you cannot submerge to dough bucket in water. You must hand wash the inside with a soft cloth and soap and rinse it out. The dough paddles are easy to remove and clean with soap and a soft rag. When I am done I just wipe the outside of the machine off with a damp cloth and it is ready for the next time I need to use it. If you are limited on storage space you need to know this machine is larger than most as it makes a 2 pound loaf of bread. I have cheese bread being made in my machine as I write this. The recipe book is easy to follow also and has many very good recipes to use. Overall I love this machine and feel for the money you will not be disappointed if you got one for yourself! Happy bread baking to you!

I used a bread maker back in the day when this fairly new appliance category began. I didn't like it much. It was fine, but not great. Over the years our eating habits adjusted and one of the things we cut out of our diet was supermarket bread from the aisles. We'd either buy it from the bakery department or make it ourselves. And that worked pretty well for years, although my own efforts to put a loaf together were inconsistent because I'm not clever enough to figure out how to adjust a recipe of it's extra humid or extra cool or any of a million other little adjustments that can affect the end result. Recently I had the opportunity to try another brand of bread machine, and I really enjoyed the ease of preparing a fresh loaf several times a week, and except for browning the top of the loaf which was sort of hit and miss, the results were pretty consistent. But I wasn't crazy about the vertical shape of the loaf, and it was very hit and miss when it came to properly distributing fruit and nuts. Like. It barely distributed them. But we liked the idea of a bread machine enough that we hunted around for one that would do a better job, and the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus really does. The loaves come out consistently well baked and evenly browned. Any additions (which you must add manually, although you'll be beeped when it's time to add) are distributed throughout the loaf instead of being clumped into a corner edge. And it's a normal shaped loaf that fits everyone's expectations. But the machine isn't cheap. And it takes up a hefty amount of counter real estate. I saw some complaints here and around the internet about inconsistent results. That is, I am certain, user error. First, make sure your yeast is still active. Add some to warm, sugared water and wait five minutes. If it isn't foamy, it isn't any good. Read the entire instruction manual before using the machine, particularly if you've never used a bread machine before. There is a specific order that ingredients must be added for proper mixing and baking. The one thing I DIDN'T see in the manual, but does seem to keep a finished loaf from having a "saddle back" (where the center of the finished loaf is dramatically slumped), is when you add the dry ingredients on top of the liquid, don't just make a mount of dry ingredients. Add the dry so that it's evenly distributed atop the liquid. Then, you'll learn from the manual, you add yeast. Another complaint I read more than once from reviewers is that mold grew inside of the machine. No kidding. Really? Here's a primer: The interior of the machine that just had yeast flying around in it is steamy at the end of the bake. After you remove the loaf pan, leave the lid open. Let the interior of the machine air dry. Let any yeast spores move on to other spaces because otherwise, yeah, mold will develop. Another complaint is that it makes a grinding noise and/or the non-stick coating is coming off. I can't speak to this one absolutely, but my guess is that some users aren't seating the loaf pan and/or paddles correctly. Just a guess. But I think it's a pretty good guess. Anyway, we love this machine, even the husband who has an aversion to small appliances.

One of my favorite things about this bread maker is how easy the included recipes are to follow. I can simply add a few basic ingredients, start the machine, and walk away while it does all the work. As someone who’s always busy, that convenience is a huge plus. The bread tastes far better than most store-bought bread—fresh, flavorful, and well worth the effort. I’ve even used it to make homemade jams, and they’ve turned out great. Overall, this is an excellent machine for anyone who wants fresh, homemade bread and other foods without spending hours in the kitchen.

I purchased my Zojirushi bread machine one week ago and have made 2 loaves of bread (Basic White and Honey Bread). Both turned out fantastic in taste and texture. I followed the exact recipe in the Zojirushi recipe book provided and measured all ingredients by grams. I was super nervous making the 1st loaf and luckily found a You Tube video by Zojirushi to walk me through the steps. This was very much appreciated! I purchased a Kitchen Arm 29 In 1 machine a couple of weeks ago, made two loaves and was not happy with the texture, taste and returned the machine in the same week. I decided to bite the bullet and spend the extra money on the Zojirushi BB-PDC20BA to purchase what appeared to be the mother of all bread machines, according to online reviews. After only two loaves, this machine has exceeded my expectations in what I was looking for in a bread machine! Ease of use, great tasting and bakery soft-fresh bread. The machine functions exactly how it is supposed to throughout the entire process. Machine is sturdy and well-made. Although you can hear the machine during the kneading and punch down cycles, the noise isn't obtrusive at all and doesn't last very long. I look forward to trying out additional recipes, especially the lemon poundcake, 7 and 12 grain bread, raisin bread, bagels, and pizza.

Hello there, Spoiler alert: I've fallen in love with this thing, so I'll cut to the chase: Yes, it is way better than my previous Cuisinart bread maker. To be fair, it also costs three times as much, so this is not a comparison between these two, just a reference. As I mentioned, this breadmaker is a substantial upgrade from my previous one. The fact that the baking area is horizontal and it has two paddles makes a lot of sense. Does it have an automatic "stuff" dispenser? Nope, and I don't care because it is a compromise that enabled the designers to put a heater on the lid to complement the lower one, which leads to better bread instead of a not-so-good one with stuff in it. You can still throw some things in it; it won't happen automatically. My wife and I are trying to eat healthier without quitting everything we like, and this is one of the tools in our new arsenal. It helps us eat way better bread and, in my wife's case, way better pound cake than ever. I guess it is still more economical than buying bread and pound cake from a bakery or supermarket, but that is way beside the point. We didn't invest in this machine to make cheaper food but to make a better one, using tools that match our cooking skills, which are close to zero. And we are also lazy when it comes to cooking. With this machine, I mainly make one type of bread and one type of cake: Shokupan and Poundcake, and both end up fantastic—and I really mean fantastic! It takes up a bit more space and is noisier than my previous machine, but that's mainly because it is more powerful. It sounds like a commercial-grade machine rather than a cheap consumer-grade one, which may be good for some of us. You can't go wrong with this bread maker. I have a rice cooker from this manufacturer that has been around for nine years and counting, and it looks and works like new even today. I can't recommend this Zojirushi Virtuoso bread maker enough. If you want to experiment with better ingredients to get better-baked products, this may be the one machine for you, but if you are simply looking for cheaper bread, you may find a better deal with a different product that will deliver just that. I hope you find this review informative. Thanks for reading!

I’m going to front load what I don’t like about it, then I’ll get into what I like. TOO MUCH YEAST. The book’s recipes tell you to use too much doggone yeast. Yes, if you want puffy, spongy bread that gets crumbly after one day then great. If you want an artisanal style bread, for all intents and purposes you don’t need more than 1/2 teaspoon of rapid rise yeast. I think they also tell you to use too much dry milk. This will also make the bread puffy and spongy. I didn’t buy a bread maker to make wondebread. If you want that extra softness, use butter instead. I’ve made many loaves with ours and I use olive oil for the most part or sometimes butter. Generally bread is good with some “greasy substance” like oil or butter. Furthermore. I’m super annoyed at the stupidity of the crust control. You only have the option of how brown to bake the crust on a couple of the bread “courses” (programs). The kicker is that for the most part, most of the cycles of the bread are the same - meaning rest time, knead time, bake time, etc. and yet I can’t bake a loaf of rye bread with a dark crust if I use the setting for rye bread. This is utterly dumb imo. I can just lie to the machine and select the white bread course and get the result I want. Okay, complaints are done. This is more of a general tip: get a decent digital scale with the tare setting , and weigh both the water and flour, remembering that 1ml of water weighs 1 gram. The sugar, oil, yeast, etc are just fine with the measuring cups. Also, as soon as the loaf is done, take it out right away and let it rest on something absorbent like a heavy kitchen towel or a cutting board uncovered until it cools. The keep warm setting after the bread is done baking will create condensation and ruin the crust making it soggy. The good: once you’ve learned to avoid the blah blah from the book, the machine actually does a great job with the bread. It makes amazingly good bread. The timer function is just awesome. I love adding the ingredients and setting the timer for when the family wakes up so you wake up to the amazing smell of fresh baked bread! We’ve used it to make pizza dough, and it’s great! Just remember the yeast thing from above. How do you like your crust? If very puffy and airy, then use their recommended amount of yeast, otherwise for a denser crust, just half a teaspoon is just fine. Cleanup is also pretty easy. Every so often I take a long brush to brush the inside without the pan and suck out the flour dust. In the FYI category. The machine is rather bulky and heavy, but then this is essentially a portable oven, so there’s that.

This quiet machine does a wonderful job at making bread. The included recipes are excellent and the reputation is justified! Very happy with our reputation!

I have only owned this bread machine for a few days so can’t say anything about durability and reliability. But in terms of what it can do, I’m amazed. My very first loaf of basic white bread was perfect! I have tried making bread by hand quite a few times over the years and have always ended up frustrated and disappointed. I just never got the “feel” that you need to be a good bread baker. But this little “bread robot” solves the problem. Just measure the ingredients carefully and you’re guaranteed a good result. Things i was a bit skeptical about, like the loaf coming away cleanly from the baking pan/bucket, actually work like a charm. This is an expensive toy and you can’t really justify it in terms of saving money vs buying commercial bread. But if you like speciality breads that can be hard to find (like a decent loaf of deli caraway rye in coastal BC!) and are willing to pay for the satisfaction of enjoying them fresh and made with ingredients that you control, whose quality you can be sure of, then this machine could be the ticket. Also if you bake for charity or other types of bread/cake production that are not commercial-scale but a bit more than you can manage singlehanded at home, this machine can crank out that loaf for the fund raiser or potluck in 3-4 hours completely unsupervised, while you do other things. There is also almost no cleanup. You don’t have a kitchen counter covered with flour, hands and apron covered with flour, sticky dough all over the place, multiple mixing bowls to wash. You put all the ingredients in a strict order into the bucket, put the bucket in the machine, push a button and the robot does the rest. Bread making is no longer a laborious whole-afternoon undertaking involving a lot of washing up. This is a truly functional kitchen appliance. Normally I’m skeptical of kitchen gadgets, having been fascinated by and then disappointed in many of them. Often they claim to “save labour” while being fiendishly hard to clean, or are so specialised that you end up using them once a year and regretting the purchase. But this bread robot actually delivers and if you and your family like breads and cakes, you’re likely to use it often. Fresh home made bread is a whole different experience from stale factory bread in a plastic bag from the supermarket. I agonised over this purchase for over a year, despite the rave reviews from a friend of mine who uses her Zoji weekly to make bread for her family. She swore up and down I would never regret it, so I finally took the plunge. And I think she is right. So long as there are no reliability issues, I am not likely to regret this appliance purchase. Highly recommended, lives up to its golden reputation. PS my friend said it was worth gritting my teeth and shelling out extra for the high end model because it has a heating element in the lid to make a proper top crust. Definitely did make a convincing top crust, so I agree with her that it’s worth it. It doesn’t look or feel like real bread if it has a soft steamed top.

Lo mejor de lo mejor muy recomendable

Tengo un hijo con intolerancia al gluten y a los lácteos, y yo soy alergico a la nuez, encontrar un pan que no tenga esos ingredientes es prácticamente imposible, sin embargo con esta máquina he podido hacer pan para sandwitches, pan de chocolate, pan de calabaza, muy deliciosos, Tanto con levadura como sin levadura, gracias al plan de programación manual. Excelente producto.

This machine is definitely an investment, but it is completely worth it when you consider the rising cost of store-bought bread, the build quality, and how great homemade bread tastes. We justified the purchase by figuring that since we go through two loaves of bread weekly, we’d recoup our cost within a year and it turned out to be a very smart choice! The machine is high-quality, easy to operate and clean, and makes consistently amazing bread. We've made banana, white, whole wheat, a white/wheat mix, and raisin bread, it really does it all. You literally just add the ingredients, press a button, and walk away. If you're adding extras like raisins, you just wait for the first beep and pour them in. It's that simple. If you think you'll use it regularly, it is well worth the price tag. My only minor issue is the footprint. It has to be fairly large to make normal-sized loaves, but we solved that by just storing it in a cupboard when we aren't using it.

I’ve been using the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker for a bit now, and it feels more like a dependable kitchen appliance than a flashy gadget. The dual kneading blades do a good job of mixing dough evenly. I have not had issues with dry flour sitting in the corners, which tends to happen often with my older single paddle machine. The horizontal loaf shape is practical, slices fit the toaster and work well for sandwiches. The top heating element actually makes a difference. The crust browns evenly all around, including the top, without having to finish the loaf in the oven. Whole wheat and multigrain loaves come out consistently, and the gluten-free and specialty settings have worked as expected so far. It runs quietly and stays put during kneading, which I appreciate since some machines tend to vibrate or creep on the counter. Once started, it really is hands-off. Cleanup is easy since everything stays in the pan and there is no mess left behind on the counter. It is larger and heavier than other breadmakers I have used in the past, so it does take up space, but it also feels solid and well-built. All in all, If you make bread regularly and want consistent results without extra fuss, this machine does the job reliably. Highly recommend!