I Bought A New (Used) Bread Machine Off Ebay

[+ Gar1eth]

I actually bought it last May.  But I didn't really have a place to put it, so it's been in storage. I hadn't even opened up the box  it was shipped in until about an hour ago.
 

It's a Zojirushi BB-CEC20. I understand that Zojirushi is supposed to be a very good brand. It was described as barely used and looks it. I hope it is in working order. Luckily I did get an insurance policy in case it doesn't. Assuming it works, it was a really good deal. A new one on Amazon costs about $340. I paid around $175 including shipping. 
 

I'm going to try my 1st loaf either later today or Monday. I'm thinking of either trying a pumpernickel recipe or a rosemary parmesan loaf. 
 

Wish me luck!!

Edited June 1 by Gar1eth

[samhexum]

41 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

A new one on Amazon costs about $340. I paid around $175 including shipping. 

THAT'S A LOT OF DOUGH.

 

[+ poolboy48220]

Good luck!  I had my parents' bread maker, which made cylindrical loves, then an old roommate left behind his that made more conventionally shaped loaves.  I enjoy using it, but don't use it enough. 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 hour ago, poolboy48220 said:

Good luck!  I had my parents' bread maker, which made cylindrical loves, then an old roommate left behind his that made more conventionally shaped loaves.  I enjoy using it, but don't use it enough. 

When I was a tyke, my parents had a bread machine that made cylindrical loaves.  I used to love making bread with the machine (it was the easiest "cooking" I did).  We experimented with dozens of recipes, but landed on the same 3 favorite that I made repeatedly:  lemon bread, chocolate chip bread (I was a kid), and pumpkin bread (for the fall 🍂)

[MikeBiDude]

3 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I'm thinking of either trying a pumpernickel recipe or a rosemary parmesan loaf.

Pumpernickel isn’t bread baking 101, it’s advanced class 🤣 maybe try something simpler while you get used to the machine.

[56harrisond]

Cool!

 

[56harrisond]

Bread porn... not to be confused with breed 😉:

 

 

 

[MikeBiDude]

18 minutes ago, 56harrisond said:

Bread porn... not to be confused with breed 😉:

 

 

 

Well, I don’t want to brag but:

 

 

[+ Gar1eth]

4 hours ago, samhexum said:

THAT'S A LOT OF DOUGH.

 

Definitely on my income. But don't worry-I used PayPal to pay over time. I think it was 4 monthly payments. So the hit wasn't too bad. 

3 hours ago, poolboy48220 said:

Good luck!  I had my parents' bread maker, which made cylindrical loves, then an old roommate left behind his that made more conventionally shaped loaves.  I enjoy using it, but don't use it enough. 

 

1 hour ago, MikeBiDude said:

Pumpernickel isn’t bread baking 101, it’s advanced class 🤣 maybe try something simpler while you get used to the machine.

I was on a bread making kick during the Pandemic along with a lot of other people-the flour shelf at Wally World was routinely almost bare. I bought a (much cheaper than this current one) used machine through eBay then that made cylindrical loaves. I made pumpernickel back then a few times from a recipe I obtained online (*recipe link below). It didn't taste like store bought pumpernickel-and I'm sure it wasn't traditional. But I liked it. This new machine has two paddles and makes a 2 lb. more conventional shaped loaf. 

Professional food stylists eat your heart out!!

 

That old machine has been in storage for over two years-I'm not sure where exactly it is in the storage unit. So I haven't made any bread since around 2022. @MikeBiDude you are probably right about attempting pumpernickel in a new machine being the equivalent of trying to run before I've learned to walk. But I have most of the ingredients other than rye flour  and vital wheat gluten being delivered today. And I'm going to try to pick those up at a specialty grocery store later today or tomorrow ( HEB's Central Market). If I don't get there, then I'll try a Parmesan-Rosemary Loaf. Wish me luck on whatever I bake... for then the Queen's Child Away I'll take....whoops a fairy tale creeped in -but I guess that's appropriate for this forum. 😂😂😂

 

*

Bread Machine Pumpernickel Bread

WWW.ALLRECIPES.COM

---

A hearty, healthy bread that combines bread, rye, and whole wheat flours with cocoa and molasses.

 

Edited June 1 by Gar1eth

[+ Gar1eth]

8 minutes ago, MikeBiDude said:

Well, I don’t want to brag but:

 

 

I'm assuming from the shape that these were made by hand. 🤔🤔 In either case they're beautiful!!

[MikeBiDude]

Here’s another whole ‘nother way to go, very, very easy…minimum amount of equipment/tools needed. This got me started with bread (well I’ve baked forever) about 15-20 years ago. Now I’m a sourdough starter everything by hand baker.

 

[+ Gar1eth]

32 minutes ago, 56harrisond said:

Cool!

 

By a strange coincidence I had just heard of Joshua Weissman for the first time  a week ago in this video.   
 

 

[+ Gar1eth]

11 minutes ago, MikeBiDude said:

Here’s another whole ‘nother way to go, very, very easy…minimum amount of equipment/tools needed. This got me started with bread (well I’ve baked forever) about 15-20 years ago. Now I’m a sourdough starter everything by hand baker.

 

I have hand arthritis-as well as what seems like every major joint arthritis-I wonder how I'd take to kneading. 

[MikeBiDude]

24 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

I have hand arthritis-as well as what seems like every major joint arthritis-I wonder how I'd take to kneading. 

Well in the 5 minute method there is no kneading, that said you do have to mix the flour, water, yeast, etc. together, can be done on machine with dough hook or similar. But no kneading.

The basic concept is you make the dough, it ferments (I forget how long), but then you keep a batch in the fridge that you carve off a grapefruit sized piece of dough, let it rise a bit, and then bake. 

[+ FrankR]

Pro tip: it annoys me when the paddles in the bottom of the pan leave dents/gaps in my bread. So I remove the kneading paddles just as the final rise and bake cycle starts.  No paddle marks!   😉

[craigville beach]

8 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I actually bought it last May.  But I didn't really have a place to put it, so it's been in storage. I hadn't even opened up the box  it was shipped in until about an hour ago.
 

It's a Zojirushi BB-CEC20. I understand that Zojirushi is supposed to be a very good brand. It was described as barely used and looks it. I hope it is in working order. Luckily I did get an insurance policy in case it doesn't. Assuming it works, it was a really good deal. A new one on Amazon costs about $340. I paid around $175 including shipping. 
 

I'm going to try my 1st loaf either later today or Monday. I'm thinking of either trying a pumpernickel recipe or a rosemary parmesan loaf. 
 

Wish me luck!!

 

Zojirushi is the only brand that King Arthur Flour Company sells in their catalog and retail stores.  We have had the same one for years and use it weekly.  Never any problems 

[+ Gar1eth]

36 minutes ago, craigville beach said:

 

Zojirushi is the only brand that King Arthur Flour Company sells in their catalog and retail stores.  We have had the same one for years and use it weekly.  Never any problems 

I just noted it was dented on the left end -don't know if it was like that from the seller or if it happened during shipping and/or the storage process. And looking back at the pictures on eBay -I notice that there aren't pictures of either end of the machine. It most likely shouldn't  affect the  function. Luckily I bought an All State Policy at the time I got it.

I haven't fired it up yet. I need to wash the baking tray and the blades. But I'm getting ready to gO out to dinner with my Mom. So it will have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow. I'll keep y'all apprised of my progress. 
 

Interesting thing about the instruction manual. I couldn't find where it actually said it made a 2 lb. loaf. Maybe it specified it somewhere, and I missed it at 4 AM in the morning when I hadn't been to bed yet. Now looking at the blurb about the machine on Amazon, I did see where it said it made a 2 lb. loaf. I'll go back and re-read to see if I just missed it. 
 

It came with a DVD with some type of instructions. I wonder if I can find it on YouTube as I don't have a DVD drive to look at it with anymore. 

[craigville beach]

14 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I just noted it was dented on the left end -don't know if it was like that from the seller or if it happened during shipping and/or the storage process. And looking back at the pictures on eBay -I notice that there aren't pictures of either end of the machine. It most likely shouldn't  affect the  function. Luckily I bought an All State Policy at the time I got it.

I haven't fired it up yet. I need to wash the baking tray and the blades. But I'm getting ready to gO out to dinner with my Mom. So it will have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow. I'll keep y'all apprised of my progress. 
 

Interesting thing about the instruction manual. I couldn't find where it actually said it made a 2 lb. loaf. Maybe it specified it somewhere, and I missed it at 4 AM in the morning when I hadn't been to bed yet. Now looking at the blurb about the machine on Amazon, I did see where it said it made a 2 lb. loaf. I'll go back and re-read to see if I just missed it. 
 

It came with a DVD with some type of instructions. I wonder if I can find it on YouTube as I don't have a DVD drive to look at it with anymore. 

Zojirushi does have a web site with recipes as does King Arthur Flour.

[SoCalBaseball]

All of your comments here made me wish I had culinary skills...

[SoCalBaseball]

On 6/1/2025 at 6:48 PM, MikeBiDude said:

Well, I don’t want to brag but:

 

 

This is amazing. You are an artist.

[56harrisond]

@Gar1eth did you bake some loafs? How did it go?

[+ Gar1eth]

1 hour ago, 56harrisond said:

@Gar1eth did you bake some loafs? How did it go?

Oh I thought I had replied. Thanks for keeping me on task. It was only ok. I was expecting more flavor. But my tastebuds seem to be a bit dulled lately. So I don't know if it's due to that. But for bread made with molasses as well as instant coffee, I was expecting a stronger flavor. 
 

 Now I did a few things I know were wrong. #1 I didn't gently scoop the flour into a nested measuring cup. I went ahead and 'dug' the flour out by entering the bag of flour, so I probably had too much flour.  #2  The recipe called for Active Dry Yeast  I used 'quick' Bread Machine Yeast.   You are supposed to decrease the yeast by about a 1/4th  when using changing over  I didn't.  #3 I probably should have reshaped the loaf after the 1st knead. 
 

But it wasn't horrible for my first try with a new (used) machine.  I'm going to look for a hopefully better  recipe though.  Next up on the agenda is either a different recipe pumpernickel or a rosemary-cheese bread.

 

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of the innards. 

[BSR]

1 minute ago, Gar1eth said:

I went ahead and 'dug' the flour out by entering the bag of flour, so I probably had too much flour.  

Eek!  “Probably” = 99.9% likely you used too much flour.  Recipes nowadays usually give ingredients in grams as well.  Even if the recipe doesn’t, you can check out King Arthur’s Ingredient Weight Chart to translate volume measurements to weight.  Kitchen scales are relatively inexpensive and definitely worth the investment if you plan on doing a fair amount of baking.

[56harrisond]

Yum. That looks like a good first attempt. Keep on baking!

[+ Gar1eth]

1 hour ago, BSR said:

Eek!  “Probably” = 99.9% likely you used too much flour.  Recipes nowadays usually give ingredients in grams as well.  Even if the recipe doesn’t, you can check out King Arthur’s Ingredient Weight Chart to translate volume measurements to weight.  Kitchen scales are relatively inexpensive and definitely worth the investment if you plan on doing a fair amount of baking.

Yes I know-and knew when I did it-major faux pas. I ordered a scale from Wally World the other day, after I made the bread. For some reason the order screwed up-their fault not mine. I received  a $5 dollar off coupon out of the mishap which I used to buy some flour canisters. I supposedly have a social security retirement check coming this week (my first-and it's not a lot. 😖). And I'll probably reorder the scale then. 

Edited June 8 by Gar1eth