We have an antique Crawford Royal but the kitchen was totally renovated and with insulation and new windows, it gets too warm to do any baking. Since my mother-in-law used hers a lot, my husband wanted one, too. There's a slot at the top of the firebox which allows him to insert a grill basket for steak, chicken breasts, fish, etc. He has the fire figured just right, a good bed of coals, and does a great job of grilling. We also heat with a wood furnace in the cellar so the stove gives some extra heat. When it's just cold in the morning we don't need to keep the wood furnace going but the stove takes the chill off the kitchen. It's great to have the extra cooking space for big family dinners. Also, I think nothing of steaming brown bread or keeping a soup simmering because the stove is already in use. I am not using extra electricity (we have an electric stove). I use the warming shelf for yeast doughs. I don't think food tastes different except the grilled meats. It's just nice to have the stove.

lyfia - #1. Along with your new Zo, I'd also suggest a copy of the book, "Bread Machines For Dummies" by Glenna Vance and Tom Lacalamita. When I give bread machine classes I give this book to my students. It will give you a wealth of basic and advanced information, as well as being filled with lots of great recipes. I've never had a recipe fail out of this book. #2. Read the manual that comes with your machine and use some of the recipes in it. These recipes are designed for this bread machine and tend to be successful for newbies. #3. When converting your traditional recipes, you need to be careful how much flour there is in the recipe. The Zo V-20 and X-20 have a 5-cup flour capacity if you are going to bake in it. If you are mixing dough in it, you can use more flour than that. #4. ALWAYS check the condition of the dough during the first 5-minutes (or so) of kneading and adjust it accordingly. Don't be afraid to raise the lid and check the dough during the mixing/kneading stage. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add more flour (1-2 T. at a time). If the dough is crumbly and not forming a ball, you need to add warm water. It is better to err on the side of a wet dough than a hard stiff dough. #5. If you choose to make a small 1# loaf of bread, I'd suggest you NOT bake it in the bread machine. The pan is designed to bake twice that amount and a 1# loaf is going to be really wide and not very high if baked in the machine. Choose 1.5 or 2 pound loaves if you bake in the machine. I generally make a 2#+ amount of dough and make it into two loaves. Or I'll make one loaf and use the remaining dough for 6 hot dog or 6 hamburger buns, 6 sticky pecan rolls, or an 8" pan of dinner rolls - all from one recipe of dough. #6. When baking outside the bread machine, I scale the dough (weigh it on a kitchen scale) to make sure I place it in the correct size bread pan, or if I need to divide the dough into two loaves they will weigh the same amount, raise and bake in the same amount of time. Failed bread recipes is often from using the wrong size pan for the amount of dough. I also scale the dough for dinner rolls, burger and hot dog buns so they are the same size and will raise and bake in the same amount of time. Jumbo size pan - 10x4-1/2" - 4-5 c. flour = 2+ pounds of dough Quick bread pan - 9x5" - 4 c. flour = 2# Standard bread pan - 8-1/2x4-1/2" - 3 c. flour - 1-1/2 # Medium pan - 7-1/2x3-1/3" - 2-1/2 c. flour = 1# Small pan - 5-3/4x3-3/4" - 1-1/2 c. flour = 8-ounces #7. If you use the quick cycle on your bread machine, you will need to use a fast-acting brand of yeast (SAF-Instant, Quick-Rise, Rapid Rise, or Bread Machine Yeast). Active Dry Yeast will not work properly in the quick cycle. I keep two kinds of yeast on hand to accommodate bread machine recipes - SAF-Instant and Active Dry Yeast. If I use the fast-acting SAF-Instant in a recipe that calls for Active Dry Yeast, I reduce it by 25%. The recipes in the ZO manual will call for one amount if using a fast-rising yeast, and another amount if using active dry yeast. Many bread machine cookbooks will have the different amounts for each type of yeast. #8. The bread machine is great for a baking marathon. I fill the pan and set the machine to "quick dough". As soon as the dough has finished kneading I remove the dough from the pan and place it in a dough-rising bucket. Load the pan with the next recipe and do the same thing. I can quickly make 3 or 4 recipes using this method. The trick is using the bread machine for mixing and kneading ONLY, but NOT for the rising. If you pre-measure everything, you can have a recipe kneaded every 20 to 25-minutes, or so. #9. Add "chunky" stuff (raisins, nuts, dry multi-grain cereal blends, etc.), at the "add-in" beep, otherwise the rough edges will cut the gluten strands of the dough and you'll have a short, squatty loaf. If you add raisins before the add-in beep, they will be pulverized during the kneading and blended into the bread. #10. Have fun!!! Bread is very forgiving, but also very humbling, so expect a few failures and a bit of a learning curve to get the hang of using a bread machine. -Grainlady

Thanks for the input. Tricia, I never thought of just measuring the amount of water each pan holds. Duh! Fori, I know I have an 8x8 pan on hand. Not sure about a 9x9. I will try an 8x8 pan first. Then work from there. I went shopping today and picked up some ripe bananas for banana bread and some greenish ones for eating. I'd like to give the banana bread a try tomorrow.

The only method i found successful for mock panko is to take a fresh day old boule, or half a leftover one, remove the crust with enough "meat' to make some croutons, (for soups)....and cube the white crustless middles and toast low and slow and not brown. When cool and dry, pulse in the cuisinart to a crumb. Then back in the oven at a low 225, turn oven off and let rest in the oven for an hour...very dry but not toasted. A white bread, from a bbq white purchased bun left over, might be better but i rarely have that. (kids like a hot dog white bun)..... Just removing the crust from bread will make a good panko. When i make crab cakes or cod cakes, i don't want the crust flavor. i just want the simple white 'panko'...that does not gives a brown dried crust intrusion. I think of panko as texture and not a flavor. DH bought whole wheat panko by mistake over the holidays and it would have ruined my crab cakes. SO strong and odd. I used a smashed/crushed matzo instead. (always good in a pinch) The panko style works so well because they stick AND stay crisp. Neutral, non-toasted flavor.