I've spent two years using the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker, and it simply can't be beat

If you want to bake homemade bread but don’t want the hassle of kneading and proofing dough, a bread maker is a worthwhile investment for your kitchen. These countertop appliances take all the effort out of bread baking — all you have to do is load in the ingredients, and in a few hours, you’ll have a freshly baked loaf of bread that's ready to serve.

I’ve tested several popular bread makers in my career, and my all-time favorite model is the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker — in fact, it’s the one that I use in my own kitchen to this day. While most bread makers create awkward vertical loaves, the Zojirushi bakes classic horizontal loaves that are ideal for sandwiches, and it has 15 different settings, including options for gluten-free, salt-free, and vegan loaves. It even has custom settings that you can program to make your favorite recipes!

After owning this appliance for more than two years, I firmly believe the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus is one of the best bread machines you can buy. Here’s why I think it’s worth the splurge for your kitchen.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Price and availability

The Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Bread maker is fairly expensive as bread makers go. Most bread machines cost between $50 and $200, but the Zojirushi retails for $399.99, making it one of the more expensive options out there today. It’s widely available at major retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart, and you can also purchase it directly from the brand's website for the same price.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Design

This bread maker has a fairly simple design with a brushed stainless steel exterior. The lid and control panel are made from black plastic, and there’s a glass window on top that lets you look into the baking chamber to monitor your bread. The control panel is quite basic — there are up and down arrows to adjust the course setting, cycle, and clock time, as well as designated buttons for crust control and the machine’s timer.

All the “course settings” — a term the brand uses to refer to the various baking settings — are printed on the front of the lid, which is handy when programming the machine. There are 15 options in total, including: white, whole wheat, European, multigrain, gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free, vegan, rapid white, rapid whole wheat, dough, sourdough starter, cake, jam, and homemade recipes.

This bread maker has quite a few settings that you won’t find on other machines, and I think it would be especially helpful for people with dietary restrictions thanks to options like its gluten-free, salt-free, sugar-free, and vegan breads. However, unlike other machines, it can only make 2-pound loaves, which may be too large for some households — this is the machine's only real downside.

Because it bakes horizontal loaves of bread, the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus has a larger footprint than many other bread machines. It’s 18 inches wide and 10.5 inches deep, so it does take up quite a bit of space on the countertop. I typically store mine in a cupboard and only bring it out when I’m going to use it — it’s just too large to keep on the counter all the time. Just keep in mind that the machine is fairly heavy, weighing more than 20 pounds, so it can be a bit unwieldy to move in and out of storage.

This bread maker does come with a few accessories, including a ​​liquid measuring cup, four nesting measuring cups, and a measuring spoon. Personally, I don’t find them to be all that helpful when using the machine, as I measure ingredients by weight, but they may come in handy if you don’t have many baking tools in your kitchen.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Performance

The Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus comes with a detailed recipe manual that explains how to use the machine. There are dozens of recipes to try out, including everything from classic white or wheat bread to unique recipes like bacon bread and orange marmalade, and I’ve always been pleased with the results I’ve gotten using the brand’s recipes.

White bread

I’ve owned this bread maker for more than two years, and when I take it out, there’s a 90% chance that I’m making white bread. I’ve made several other types of bread with the appliance, but the white bread is my favorite thanks to its flavor, texture, and overall simplicity. I regularly make loaves for sandwiches, to eat with soup, or even to use in casseroles, and I’ve never once had a problem with the recipe — it’s truly foolproof!

The recipe for standard white bread is printed right on the side of the bread maker, which I appreciate, as it saves me from having to dig out the manual. It calls for water, butter, bread flour, salt, sugar, dry milk, and instant rise yeast, and you simply add all the ingredients into the baking pan in the order that they’re listed. (There have been times when I’ve used regular flour instead of bread flour in a pinch, and it generally works fine, too.) The recipe lists both volume and weight measurements, and I personally use my kitchen scale to quickly measure everything by weight.

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Once you add everything into the baking pan, it’s just a matter of selecting the right setting and your crust preference. I usually go with a medium-brown crust, which is crunchy without being too dark. This model has special heating elements in its lid, which helps achieve a nice, even brown color.

When you hit start, the machine takes over. It starts by letting the ingredients rest for 20 or so minutes before kneading them together using its two paddles. The appliance alternates between letting the dough rise and punching it down, before finally baking the bread. The whole process takes a little over three hours, but it doesn’t require any intervention on your part — you can truly just set it and forget it.

I can always tell when the bread is almost done, as the whole house will start to smell delicious. Once the bake cycle is complete, you can remove the baking pan from the appliance using its two handles, but wear kitchen mitts, as the metal is quite hot. I usually just invert the pan over a cutting board, and the loaf of bread slides right out! There will be two small divots in the bottom of the bread from the paddles, but I’ve never had any issues with loaves getting stuck in the pan.

This recipe always comes out perfectly risen and beautifully light and fluffy, which is why I come back to it again and again. It’s a winner in my book, and I love that the bread is a traditional horizontal loaf, which makes it much easier to slice and serve than vertical loaves.

Other types of bread

Over the years, I’ve made several other bread recipes with the Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus, trying out many of the other baking settings. I’ve made whole wheat bread, rapid loaves, and even a loaf of chocolate bread, and I can confidently say I’ve never been disappointed in the machine’s performance. Some breads, such as whole wheat loaves, are a bit denser than my beloved white bread, but they’re still flavorful and well-risen.

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I’ve also experimented with different add-ins, such as raisins and nuts, which you simply add to the dough when the machine beeps mid-cycle. In my experience, smaller ingredients, like finely chopped nuts, tend to work a bit better — raisins often end up toward the bottom of the loaf, likely because of their heavier weight. Still, it’s a nice option to have if you want to make a fancier loaf of bread.

Pound cake

I also recently made a pound cake with the Zojirushi, using one of the brand-provided recipes. It called for melted butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and a few other ingredients, and just like when you’re making bread, you simply put all the ingredients into the baking chamber and hit start. The machine mixes the ingredients together for several minutes, and at one point, you do need to scrape down the sides of the pan to make sure the batter is evenly mixed. After that, the appliance takes care of the rest.

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Unlike bread, which needs to rise, the cake starts baking right away once the batter is mixed, so it’s a much shorter process. Start to finish, it took around an hour and a half, and the final result was really good! It has a thick brown crust and was perfectly cooked through, and the cake was easy to pop out of the baking pan, too. It was a little more dense than a classic pound cake, likely because the machine mixes it for quite a while, but you really can’t beat it for a quick, low-effort dessert. I would definitely make it again in the summer to serve with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Cleaning

Another reason that I love this Zojirushi bread maker is because it’s wonderfully easy to clean. The interior of the baking pan is non-stick, which makes bread slide out easily, and it also prevents gunk from getting stuck to the sides. To clean it, you basically just wipe out the interior with a sponge and soapy water, then let it dry and it’s ready to go for next time.

I have found that the kneading blades in the bottom of the pan occasionally get stuck on their pegs, which makes them hard to remove for cleaning. When this happens, I typically just fill the pan with a few inches of water and let it soak for a few hours. This loosens up the baked-on bits that can get into the cracks, and I’m generally able to remove the paddles with a little wiggling.

It’s also worth noting that Zojirushi sells replacement kneading blades and baking pans for this machine. That way, you don’t have to replace the whole machine if one of its key components breaks.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Comparison

There are several other bread machines you may want to consider if you want smaller loaves or a more budget-friendly model. The Breville Custom Loaf Bread Maker is another top-rated option that’s extremely versatile, allowing you to choose from 13 bread settings, three crust colors, and four loaf sizes. It even has an automatic dispenser for mix-ins! This appliance has a sleek stainless steel design, and it’s a bit more affordable than the Zojirushi, retailing for around $300.

For a more compact and budget-friendly pick, the Cuisinart Bread Maker costs around $100, and it makes three loaf sizes in its vertical baking chamber. It has 12 settings for different types of bread and dough, and it takes up significantly less space than the Zojirushi.

Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker: Verdict

While it’s undeniably expensive, the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker is worth purchasing if you want delicious, low-effort homemade bread. It’s able to make a wide range of recipes, and every type of bread — and cake — I’ve made has turned out delicious.

The machine is easy and intuitive to use, and I particularly love that the loaves have a horizontal orientation, which makes them look just like bread from the store. Plus, I’ve used the machine consistently for more than two years, and it still works flawlessly and barely shows any signs of wear.

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