Bread Machines

Long considered a twentieth-century marvel, the automatic bread-making machine debuted at the end of the nineteenth century. Created by a Massachusetts inventor named Joseph Lee, the prototype of the modern bread maker mixed and kneaded ingredients with commendable speed. But in the late twentieth century, the Japanese—not traditionally bread-eating or bread-making people—further developed the concept: Zojirushi Corporation marketed the Home Baker in 1988, an all-in-one bread-making appliance that proofs, mixes, kneads, rises, shapes, and bakes the bread dough within hours. This appliance enables amateur cooks to create their own gourmet loaves without the manual labor and guesswork characteristic of making bread.