Product Review: Zojirushi Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker

The Ranting Reviewer does not get paid or receive any revenue from manufacturers or retailers of products reviewed. I occasionally receive products that I am asked to use and see what I think. I take a look, try them out and tell you all about them.

I received a box the other day and found something great from Zojirushi.

Inside was their brand new Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker!

This one pound bread maker is packed full of features.

Included in the box is the breadmaker, some measuring tools, manuals and a recipe book.

This breadmaker is rather compact. Years ago I had a breadmaker that was big, bulky and took up way too much space. The Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker is nice and compact. It takes up very little real estate on your counter top and comes with a built in handle to make it easy to move around.

The recipe book is filled with recipes with all types of bread and other things from pizza dough to strawberry jam.

Time to put it to work. Let’s go with a simple white bread.

I really recommend weighing ingredients when you do any baking, and this is no exception. The precise measurements will get you the best results. Zojirushi feels the same way and while supplies last, they will send you a free scale with the purchase of the Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker.

Here are all the ingredients, perfectly weighed.

All of the ingredients are in the baking pan and into the breadmaker it goes!

The Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker has 14 pre-set course settings. Each setting has a different combination of resting, kneading and baking times which allows you to tailor it to the right bread. The included recipe book gives you recipes for each course. Need more flexibility? In addition to the pre-programmed course, you can program your own. Here, I’ve chosen course 3 (ideal for white bread with fast rising yeast). For some courses you can set the crust to medium or dark, based on your personal preference.

The first course is resting.

Kneading kicks off automatically.

Time to rise.

And lastly, baking.

Out of the breadmaker. What a beautiful loaf!

A nice sharp serrated knife makes a clean cut without compressing the bread.

Look at that great bread. Time to make a sandwich!

There is nothing like soft, fresh, warm bread for your sandwich.

Time for some rye bread and showing off another feature of the Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker.

Built into the lid of the breadmaker is the Auto Add Dispenser. This will automatically open to dispense things you want to add to your bread (think raisins, nuts, etc…).

Here I have added about 1 ½ tablespoons of caraway seeds. This was not in the rye recipe, but I love them in my rye bread.

Close it up and it will open at just the right time to add in.

The rye loaf is cooling on the rack.

Look at those caraway seeds.

Want something sweet? Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker to the rescue. Let’s make some pound cake.

I love this machine!

Tasty pound cake with a few fresh blueberries.

My Take: What a great machine. The Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker is compact enough to stay on your counter, but easy to move when you need to. It makes a 1 pound loaf (great for singles, couples or small families) and is so easy to use with all of the pre-programmed courses.

The bread comes out perfect and tasty and the recipe book has dozens of great recipes (including gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free and vegan versions. You can find it at many of your favorite stores, including online at Amazon.