The newest and best bread machine

Even though I’ve only had this machine for two days and made one loaf so far, I have no hesitation in posting a review early on. I’ve been making my own bread for over 50 years, and have had the original Zojirushi bread machine for over 20 years. When it died a week ago I researched carefully before I chose the Virtuoso Plus. Make no mistake, it’s expensive and big and heavy (I needed help from my son to get it into my house and set up). However, once set up it was a breeze to use, and the finished product - a basic white bread - turned out to be possibly the absolute best loaf of bread I’ve ever made, including when compared to hand-kneaded, oven-baked loaves. The double blades do a superior job of kneading the dough, and the additional top heating element result in a superior finished product. Really an exceptional loaf of bread. Also, this machine is very versatile, beyond baking bread. There are a number of websites that describe a range of oven-type foods that can be baked in bread machines, and with the additional top heating element, the possibilities are expanded. So happy I chose this machine! I took one star off my rating because the display is more challenging than it needs to be, with no back-lighting (I have to use a flashlight to read it), and being located on the top of the unit rather than on the front, as it was on my old Zo. That’s especially annoying if you’re short, like me. In fact I had to disqualify most of the other machines on the market because they didn’t even have a slanted display but only had a display located squarely on the top. At least the Zo Virtuoso Plus has a slightly slanted display, so I don’t have to stand on anything to program the settings. What are manufacturers thinking? Do they think most users are giants? Clearly, they don’t think at all!

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