Zojirushi Bread Machine
My mom got a Zojirushi bread machine (affiliate link) for Christmas and I was determined to figure out the settings for her so that she could effortlessly keep making bread with fresh milled flour. I was pretty bummed when all of the most popular recipes and settings weren’t working for me. I knew many people had success with this bread machine, and its the one most-recommended for fresh milled flour because it has double kneading paddles and customizable settings, but I was having fail after fail and was hearing from many people as well in this little community that your loaves were coming out similar to mine.
I ended up changing several things and taking a completely different approach with the bread. My main issue was that it was proofing way too fast. I even attempted to do a single rise that was only 30 minutes followed by baking immediately, and the result was still a sunken loaf.
I read the zojirushi bread machine’s manual and then came up with a plan that was different that any of the most common recipes and settings that I was seeing - and IT WORKED!! I know every kitchen is different and what worked well for me may not work well for you, but if the most popular recipes and settings aren’t working well for you too, then give these a try!!
The main changes I made were all focused on avoiding overproofing. I decreased the amount of yeast, I turned off the preheat setting and used cold water, and I increased the amount of flour in the dough. I also used all three rise settings but only set rise 2 for 1 minute. My hope was that the paddles would spin a few more times when rise 3 started and it would shape a better loaf. Its still didn’t shape a perfect loaf, but it was definitely improved and I think it gets an A+ for being shaped by a machine and not by hands.
Zojirushi Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 180 g *cold* water
- 54 g olive oil
- 1 egg (if doing a delayed start, add an extra 50g of oil in place of the egg)
- 50 g honey
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 450 g fresh milled flour
- 1.75 tsp yeast
- 0.5 tbsp lecithin
Instructions
- Add the ingredients in to the bread machine in the order listed above. I liked putting the bread pan (with the paddles attached!) directly onto my kitchen scale, putting in all of the ingredients, and then popping the bread pan back into the bread machine. Accurate measurements and fewer dirty dishes - just the way I like it!! When adding the yeast, make a little well in the top of the flour to put the yeast in.
- Once baking is complete, remove the bread from the pan and place on a wire wrack to cool!
- Slice and enjoy!!
Notes
Preheat: OFF
Knead: 22 minutes
Rise 1: 60 minutes
Rise 2: 1 minute
Rise 3: 35 minutes
Bake: 55 minutes
Keep warm: OFF
I’m excited to hear if this recipe and these settings work well for you!
Happy milling, friends!!
Ashley
