ABM recommendation, please

I'm new here, though a long-timer on usenet.

I'm looking for a bread machine recommendation. We currently have a Panasonic SD-YD205 purchased about 11 1/2 years ago which looks like it's about ready to give up the ghost (the paddle mechanism is getting increasingly difficult to turn and recently we often hear high pitched squeaks when the machine is in kneading mode).

We almost always use the machine to make dough, then put the dough in a pullman pan to bake in the oven, which gives good sandwich sized slices, about 3 1/5" x 3 3/4" (as opposed to the very wide and somewhat tall slices the machine itself produces).

IAC, whether or not the Pansonic is ready to be replaced, we've been thinking about buying a machine that produces something closer to a conventional sandwich size so that in the summer we can bake the bread in the machine and presumably save a bit on air conditioning costs.

Also, while we almost exclusively bake white or a white/whole wheat mixture, I am interested in a machine with the capability to bake a variety of breads in order to vary our diet a bit.

I've checked Amazon and have come up with only two candidates: the Zojirushi BBCCX20 ($215) and the Zojirushi BB-CEC20 ($240). Both seem to produce the shape/size I want, and have a load of other features (many of which, I'm sure, we'll never use).

Although, obviously, I don't want to pay more than necessary to get a quality machine able to produce the size/shape bread we want, I'm not averse to buying either of these Zojirushi models at their high prices, if necessary. The way I see it, the $140 we spent on the Panasonic 11

1/5 years ago has been saved many times over in the cost and convenience of making our own higher quality bread. I recall that, soon after buying the Panasonic, I made a rough calculation that we were saving something like $1.50 to $2.00 a loaf (compared to buying the Arnold or Pepperidge farm type breads, which I liked much better than the bland Wonder or other "budget" breads). Saving, say, $1.75/loaf and making bread about once per week, the Pansonic paid for itself in about a year and a half. I expect roughly the same if it were necessary to pay the high prices of either of these Zojirushi models.

So, are there any other less expensive choices than these two Zojirushi models that make a typical sandwich shaped loaf in the machine? If not, do you have either of these Zojirushi models? How do you like it?

--

------------------------------------------------------------------------ You are in a maze of twisty subroutines, all alike.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe Negron from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY, USA

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