Luctor et Emergo

Table of Contents

• Updated Post
• 2022 – Pan Replacement
  • Drive Shafts
  • Replacing the Pan
• 2025 – kneading blade failure
  • No Blades
  • Compatible Blades
• 2022-25, Bread Machine
  • Loading the Bread Machine
  • Recipes
  • Vital Wheat Gluten
  • Proofing Box Feature
• Oven Baking
  • Effort and Costs
  • Oven baking
• Sodium
  • Less is better
  • Instant yeast
  • Reduction formula

Updated Post

This post was first published in 2022 and revised in 2025. It will have been republished in 2025.

2022 – Pan Replacement

Drive Shafts

My Zojirushi Virtuoso (model BB-PAC20) bread machine, purchased in 2020, stopped working on June 27, 2022. The pan would not seat on the drive connectors in the base of the machine. One of the 2 drive shafts was seized. The drive shafts are attached to the pan, a manufactured assembly of parts. There was no way for me:

• to remove the shaft, the bearing and the seals, or
• to have the pan serviced and the shaft and bearings serviced or replaced anywhere in North America, or indeed, the world.

A user can try to replace a bread machine pan, if the manufacturer is still supplying replacement pans to its sales and service agents. Zojirushi’s machines are not unique in this respect.

The pan was already loaded with unmixed ingredients. I emptied the pan into a mixing bowl. I mixed the ingredients, kneaded the dough, and baked the dough in the oven. I set the oven to 350 ℉. I guessed time, and kept baking until the loaf was done. It had not risen properly, but it was edible.

Replacing the Pan

Zojirushi sells its branded bread machines through select retailers. On Vancouver Island, the retail distributor was Healthy Kitchens, an e-commerce store in or near Duncan BC, the successor of a retail store in Cowichan Bay or in Duncan – not far from Victoria. In 2022, the online store advertised the newer Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus, model BB-PDC20, and a replacement pan for the BB-PDC20. It did not list a replacement pan for a BB-PAC20 as available. In 2022 Zojirushi’s Canadian service/parts agency, Beaver Creek Electronics, in Richmond Hill, Ontario (in the Greater Toronto area) was selling replacement parts online and arranging delivery. It had:

• 8-BBP-P080 pan assemblies for the BB-PAC20 Virtuoso,
• BX167810A-00 pan assemblies for the BB-PDC20 Virtuoso Plus (“V+), and
• kneading blades (Zojirushi’s term for the paddles or dough hooks in the pans) for both the BB-PAC20 Virtuoso and the BB-PDC20 V+.

Both pans are the large horizontal pans that will hold and bake a 2 pound loaf. The pans look the same but there was nothing from Zojirushi to say that the BX167810A-00 pan assembly was a replacement part for the older Virtuoso. I ordered the 8-BBP-P080 pan assembly (for the BB-PAC20) from Beaver Creek in Richmond Hill. It arrived July 5, 2022. I did not order new kneading blades at that time.

It probably would have been better to order a BX167810A-00 (V+) pan assembly, and a set of kneading blades manufactured as replacement blades for a BB-PDC20 V+. I discovered in 2025 that the pan assembly for the V+ fits in a Virtuoso. The main difference between the pan assemblies was how the drive shafts fit the kneading blades. Kneading blades have a limited service life, and should be replaced after 100 weeks of service of 1.5 to 2 loaves a week.

2025 – kneading blade failure

One of the my original Virtuoso blades failed in July 2025. The result and sign of the failure was that there was some dry flour in a pocket in the loaf at one end, when the machine stopped after the loaf had been baked. The machine had run. The machine had mixed most of the ingredients, kneaded dough and baked the loaf. The drive shaft had not moved the blade on the drive shaft at the end of loaf where I found the flour.

Upon a very close inspection, the flat area of the socket of one of the blades had disappeared, leaving a rounded socket that did not fit the drive shaft and did not rotate with the drive shaft. I took this picture. The blade at the top of the image is worn but still only points away from the flat portion of the drive shaft. The blade at the bottom of the image, completely worn, can be rotated around the shaft.

Another picture of my old blades . The blade that still works is at the top. There is still material visible in the socket to form a functional flat section. of the shaft. There is nothing left of the flat section of the socket of blade at the bottom:

The flat section of the socket of the blade is only about 3 mm. long. It does not run the full height of the socket.

No Blades

By 2025, there were no replacement blades for the Virtuoso BB-PAC20 available from any vendor in Canada or the USA. True replacement blades would be made of the same metal as original manufacturer’s blades, with the manufacturer’s no-stick coating.

Compatible Blades

There was a listing in the Amazon.ca market for “LEDBarz 8-BBP-P070 Bread Machine Kneading Paddle(2Pcs) Compatible with Zojirushi Bread Machine BB-PAC20”. The listing said “It is recommended to apply some cooking oil to the kneading paddle before use to enhance your baking experience, this is a top of the range replacement part that is compatible with Zojirushi bread machines such as the BB-PAC20 model”. The vendor was a “brand” which offer several other small parts for various device – evidently all shipped from China. It had negative or lukewarm reviews:

The new paddles for my Zojirushi fit but they do not have a non stick coating so consequently when removing the bread from the pan, big chunks of bread stay behind, stuck to the paddles. Very disappointing.

xxxx

They’re lacking a non-stick coating of any kind and are just highly polished instead, which means there’s a tendency for them to take divots out of the bread as it bakes very firmly onto them. But even the original paddles sometimes did that, so they’re a perfectly adequate substitute.

The LEDBarz blades fit on the drive shafts. They

• are made of different material that the original authentic blades. (A blade weighs about 30 grams);
• lack any no-stick coating.

The blades fit. The manufacturer’s advice to coat the blades with cooking oil was dubious – a few drops of oil would be absorbed like oil added as as ingredient, as the machine mixed and kneaded. I tested whether the blades, coated, would work when used when dough is not mixed in the pan and is placed in the pan to rise and bake. Under those conditions, the dough baked onto the blades, which tore holes in the loaf.

I tried using the machine simply as a proofing box and oven would work, if the shafts were coated with cooking oil. The dough must have absorbed the oil on the shafts as the dough rose. Some crumb baked onto the shafts, leaving the shafts coated in crumb and leaving small conical holes. Much better, but I was using time mixing and kneading, and not getting those functions from my Virtuoso machine.

I tried to “season” the blades by heading them, coating them with flax oil and baking the oil. This is the way to season cast iron griddles and frying pans and carbon steel woks. The oil baked onto the blades, but this did not alleviate the adhesion of dough, and the result that bread baked onto these blades.

I bought a V+ pan assembly and a set of V+ kneading blades. Not cheap, but this worked to mix, knead, rises and bake and to get loaves out of the pan without leaving those divots on the blades.

2022-25, Bread Machine

Loading the Bread Machine

The Zojirushi machines take fluids first, at the bottom of the pan. The “Operating Instruction & Recipes” booklet by Zojirushi USA, with the machine when I received it says: “Precisely measure the ingredients and add them to the baking pan in the following order … :

1. Water (liquid)
2. Flour – make a mound of flour
3. Sugar, dry milk, salt and butter
4. Make a depression in the middle of the flour and place the yeast”

The booklet did not say or suggest that this order saved the kneading blades or any component from any risk of damage.

I routinely loaded ingredients that dissolve or suspend in water in the liquid before the flour: salt, sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, milk, milk powder and butter.

I began to use table salt instead of kosher salt, which I used before 2022. As I have been measuring by weight, this has not made a difference in results. Kosher salt has larger crystals and can be used to replace table salt when measured by weight. Both kinds of crystals are small enough that they dissolve in water during the rest and mix/knead phases in a bread machine.

Bread machine manuals warn against using the time feature for a delayed-start timer with milk products, because of the risk of spoilage. I rarely set the timer on my bread machine.

Recipes

I stopped trying to put recipes online. I put my recipes into spread sheets that showed ingredients by weight and volume, and allowed for calculation of Bakers’ ratio, sodium content, and other details. This has allowed me to work on how much salt to use to get acceptable gluten development, and how much yeast and water are necessary to get a dough that flows, rise and springs without ballooning, collapsing or developing a dimpled or cratered top crust.

Vital Wheat Gluten

Before the pandemic, it was possible to buy vital wheat gluten (“VWG”) in grocery stores in Victoria. Some stores stocked a brand milled by Millstream Natural Foods. Others stocked Bob’s Red Mill brand Vital Wheat Gluten. I was not able to find Millstream in retail stores or online. That supplier may have ceased offering it. Bob’s stopped offering the product under that name and ny 2022 offered “Gluten Flour” which is its new name for VWG. For a few months neither version of the product was in stores in Victoria. VWG is still being milled, and marketed the Market Stores in Victoria as of 2025, but not Loblaws, Save-On, Walmart or any other grocery store chain. People who have bread machines or who bake certain recipes at home may need it. But, there is a movement against gluten which may be making decision makers nervous that stocking the product harms the brand reputation of the company

Proofing Box Feature

The Zojirushi Virtuoso and V+ models uses the heating element to bake the ingredients, and also to:

• warm the cold ingredients in a period of “rest” before the machine mixes and kneads the dough, and
• raise the temperature in the pan to 91-95 °F (33-35 ºC) in the “rise” periods before baking when the yeast is fermenting the dough producing gas that inflated the dough.

This effect can be compared to using a proofing box. a device to keep dough warmer than room temperature (during primary fermentation or proofing)

None of the bread machines on the market surveyed by Beth Hensperger in her Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (2000) were said to have worked that way. The machines on the market at that time had timers setting the “rest” times. The dough was warm and moist after kneading (the action of kneading makes dough warm). The machine kept the heat and humidity by shelter inside the pan in the machine under a lid. The possibility of heating the unmixed ingredients and dough was not mentioned in that book. The development of a proofing box function involved different control chips and switches. It is a feature on the Zojirushi Virtuoso, the V+, the Zojirushi Supreme and some other Zojirushi machines. I think it was a feature on my Panasonic, although it was/is not discussed in the Panasonic material. I don’t know if a heated “rest” or “rise” phase has become common or standard in the industry or the market. I haven’t researched this.

Timed warm fermentation is a feature when that aids the machine to produce a predictable loaf in the set time. Artisan bakers extend and delay fermentation by mixing pre-ferments, and by refrigerating pre-ferments and doughs.

Oven Baking

Effort and Costs

I had not hand mixed and kneaded, used my stand mixer or made no-knead bread 0ften since I began to make bread in a bread machine. The bread machine makes good sandwich bread, if I get the flour, water, salt and yeast right. The bread machine and pan do not require the cleaning that mixing bowls and tools require.

I had, at one time, a stand mixer with a 7 quart bowl. I did not use it much and sold or donated it a few years ago. A stand mixer is a specialty appliance. Its main job is mixing and kneading bread dough.

I have a Bosch Compact stand mixer. Like other Bosch mixers, it is a multi-function device that powers a food processor, a blender and other powered accessories. It is smaller than most other stand mixers made for American consumers. It has a 4 quart bowl, big enough to mix and knead dough with 8 cups of flour – enough for two 9 inch x 5 inch loaves baked in oven baking pans. The motor is rated at 400 watts. Bosch’s larger (6.5 quart bowl, 18 cups flour capability) Universal stand mixer has been down graded by American Underwriters Laboratory from 800 watts to 500 watts.

A stand mixer reduces some of the labor of mixing and kneading, and the effort of cleaning up bowls, utensils and working space, but not as much labor as bread machine.

Oven baking

The first hot spell in 2022 ended the day the bread machine broke, but it was followed by other hot days. I only tried a few oven loaves on cool days. I found the dough rose slowly, and did not rise after I had put dough in bread pans for secondary proofing (final fermentation). I wondered about possible causes:

• my low yeast/low salt approach,
• my kitchen was to cool those days,
• I was not giving the dough time, and/or
• I handled the dough roughly.

There were several more hot days in August and early September 2025. I avoided oven baking. I thought I would experiment in the fall and winter. But I did not follow up until 2025. In 2025 I grew a mother starter (a culture of yeast and bacteria grown without using modern industrially grown baker’s yeast) and made some dough with sponges and starters made from the mother starter.

Sodium

Less is better

Baked bread, sold in stores and bakeries, is high in sodium due to the amount of salt used in baking, and sodium in some other baking ingredients including baking soda, baking powder, milk and powdered milk. Home baked bread is high in sodium due to the amount of salt in most recipes in books or on line. Bread machine bread, made with standard recipes, is high in sodium. For instance, a 1.5 lb. medium bread machine recipe for lean white (“French”) bread or for white sandwich bread may specify 1.5 tsp. salt and 2 tsp. instant yeast (the yeast may be similar to 2.75 tsp of active dry yeast). Both require 417 g. bread flour (3 cups). The water requirements will be different, but in a range from 237 g. (1 cup) to 1.5 cups.

Sodium is a micronutrient, but a healthy adult only needs 500 mg. daily.

1.5 tsp of salt is 8.5 g. This amount will contribute 3,360 mg. of sodium to a loaf. 1 moderately thick slice from that loaf will contain about 300 mg of sodium. Assuming 16 slices per loaf and 2 slices per sandwich, a sandwich will contain 400 mg. of sodium. While that sounds ok, 4 sandwiches in a day means 1600 mg. before counting any sodium from any other food. This makes it hard to restrict sodium consumption to the daily limits advised by agencies or or follow a DASH diet with sodium limitation. Agencies and recommendations:

• the USDA – 2,300 mg.,
• the WHO – 1,500 mg..

A 1.5 lb. medium bread machine recipe

• for a multigrain loaf with bread flour and whole wheat flour may also specify 1.5 tsp salt but the yeast may be higher than 2 tsp. instant yeast. The water and water based fluid will be higher.
• for a pure whole wheat loaf may specify 1.5 tsp. salt and 3 tsp. (1 Tbsp.) instant yeast. It may specify more than 3 cups of flour and 1.5 cups of water.

Each recipe may require or suggest a different program, and the mixing/kneading programs vary between machine brands and models. The set time for mixing/kneading, primary fermentation, bench rise and baking vary.

I have made bread with 50%, 33% and 25% of the salt in a standard recipe bread a few changes in crumb and the taste of the bread.

There are a few recipes for no-salt bread and no-salt bread machine bread online and in specialized recipe books.

I tried recipes from the Zojirushi Virtuoso Operating Instruction & Recipes booklet:

• a medium bread machine loaf that uses equal portions of whole wheat flour and bread flour, which I adjusted to less than 1¼ tsp. active dry yeast for a 2 lb. large loaf, scaled down to a medium loaf¹converted to instant yeast, and metric weight 3 g.;
• a medium bread machine loaf that uses bread flour zero salt, and 1 Tbsp. of vinegar, and 2.16 g. (75 tsp.) instant yeast.

These low salt and zero-salt loaves worked. The results contradict the rule of thumb I have been following for reducing salt and yeast, and started a process of developing numbers for workable weights of yeast and salt for Virtuoso machines.

Instant yeast

I used SAF Red instant (dry)yeast until I had used up a 454 g. (1 lb.) bag in 2021. I had tried to weigh and average 1 tsp. samples. I thought 1 tsp. SAF Red instant yeast weighed 2.8 g., but sources said the standard for instant yeast was 3.12 or 3.15 g. I purchased a small bag of instant yeast (Red Barn stores brand) locally. It appeared to weigh 3.2 g. per tsp. I ordered another bag of SAF Red and tried to verify what 1 tsp. weighed to check on my recipes.

King Arthur or its shipping contractor stopped shipping to Canada in 2023, and Red Barn stopped packaging and selling instant yeast. I found that Fleischmann’s make a product called IDY, an instant dry yeast, in 454 gram (1 lb.) bulk foil bags, available locally in Victoria. It works fine. In retail grocery stores in 2025, yeast, including yeast by Fleischmann’s is still marketed in glass bottles or very small (less than 1 Tablespoon) foil packets, labelled as active dry yeast, fast rise yeast, or bread machine yeast. Such is the belief of yeast growers and marketers in the value of names to sell things.

Reduction formula

A rule suggested by Beth Hensperger in the Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (“BLBMC”), is to reduce salt and yeast proportionately by weight is a rule of thumb. It works with wheat flour (bread flour and whole wheat flour) loave). There must be yeast or a leavening agent to make a dough that rises and can be baked into leavened bread. It is a good idea to have some salt. Salt affects hydration and gluten formation (a reaction between two proteins found in wheat flour). The amount of salt in most recipes is higher than what is necessary for gluten formation.

Following the BLBMC rule starts to produce loaves that do not flow and rise enough – the dough is not fermenting enough or is losing gas. I have reconsidered my approach to how much yeast and water to use to balance medium loaves.

Table of Contents

• Updated
• Zojirushi Virtuoso
• Virtuoso/V+ Basics
  • Dimensions
  • Mixing Pan
  • Drive Shafts
  • Kneading Blades
  • Heating
• Courses
  • Phases
  • Regular and Quick
  • Dough, Starter, Other
  • Home Made
  • Raisins, Fruits, Seeds
  • Not included in the Virtuoso..
  • Rye bread
• Differences
  • +/-
  • European Bread
  • Multigrain
  • No Salt
  • Etc.
• Loaf Size, Yeast & Salt
  • Medium Loaves
  • Yeast
• Value
  • Price
  • Virtues
  • Limitations

Updated

I wrote and published this post in 2020 within a few months after I started using a Zojirushi Virtuoso bread machine. I made changes and reorganized. I made major changes and republished in 2025.

Zojirushi Virtuoso

The firm has a brief Wikipedia entry, which reports:

Zōjirushi Mahōbin Kabushiki-gaisha) is a Japanese multinational manufacturer and marketer of vacuum flasks, beverage dispensers, thermos-style lunch jars, and consumer electronics including rice cookers, electric water boilers, hot plates, bread machines, electric kettles, and hot water dispensers.

Wikipedia entry, as of July 2025

There are subsidiary or related companies in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand and the USA. Zojirushi has Australian, Middle Eastern and European distributors. The global web page only list the USA company in the North America section. The two main Zojirushi web sites:

• the global (international) web page. It displays in the English language. The global page does not mention bread machines.
• the web page Zojirushi.com. The domain is controlled by the USA company, which publishes the .com page. This page is a portal to the USA web store. These pages and the web store discuss Zojirushi bread machines.

The relative authority and roles of the regions and regional companies are not stated. Zojirushi web pages do not say where Zojirushi products are manufactured. One third party site says, as to bread machines:

The company has several production sites, including its main factory in Osaka, Japan, where it produces a significant portion of its bread makers. Zojirushi also has partnerships with contract manufacturers in countries such as China and Thailand, where some of its products are assembled and tested.

TableAndSpoon, viewed July 21, 2025

Another third party site says:

Zojirushi is a Japanese company that produces a wide range of kitchen appliances, including bread machines. Zojirushi bread machines are designed and engineered in Japan, and the company’s manufacturing facilities are located in Japan, China, and Thailand.

The exact location of production may vary depending on the specific model and the year it was manufactured. …

Jody’s Bakery, viewed July 21, 2025

The model BB-PAC20 was apparently the original Virtuoso.

The Bread Machine Diva (see links below) said in a post on her web page/blog “I bought [a BB-PAC20 Virtuoso bread machine] in 2013 and it’s still going strong. Yes, it’s more than 10 years old! I love love this bread machine! I make bread in it all the time and this machine has lasted longer than any bread machine I’ve ever owned.” The post has had undated changes and updates. She said she had replaced the kneading blades a few times which qualifies her statement about durability.

Reviews online that described and illustrated the Virtuoso BB-PAC20:

• Breadmakers.com. As of 2025 site had been updated to discuss the V+.
• Kitchenstory.com
• the Bread Machine Diva site has material on Zojirushi’s BB-PAC20 Virtuoso, BB-PDC20 Virtuoso Plus (“V+”), and BB-CEC20 Supreme (“Supreme”), as well as recipes.

The Bread Machine Diva site had resources, as of 2025, that may assist users of many machines – e.g. a page of links to manufacturer service sites and manuals.

By 2019, Zojirushi was marketing the BB-PDC20 Virtuoso Plus (“V+”, and had stopped producing the Virtuoso.

The V+ is structurally and functionally similar to the Virtuoso. There were changes to the keypad and the courses (Zojirushi calls the programs that control the machine in kneading and baking a specific type of loaf”courses”. Courses are options turned on by touching buttons on the key pad. Other manufacturers have other names for courses, programs, controls and features.):

These Zojirushi bread machines are almost exactly the same when it comes to appearance and features. …

The biggest differences are the larger LCD and expanded course list of the Zojirushi BB-PDC20: it has 15 options compared to the 10 courses of the BB-PAC20. Another small difference is the control panel buttons that has white text on a black background.

Breadmakers.com, “Zojirushi BB-PDC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus Review”

In 2022 Z0jirushi’s dealers and service agencies sold replacement pans and kneading blades for the Virtuoso for a few years. By 2025,it had discontinued those parts. In 2025, the USA web store and Amazon were offering to sell a BB-PDC20BA, (the Bread Machine Diva says the BA suffix is a code for the color scheme), with replacement parts for the BB-PDC20.

I found a refurbished Virtuoso BB-PAC20 in an online store in early 2020.

Virtuoso/V+ Basics

Dimensions

The outside dimensions (inches|cm) and weight of the Virtuoso, and the V+:

Model	End to end	Front to back	Height	Weight lb.|kg
Virtuoso	18|45.5	10.5|26.5	13|32.5	22.5|10.2
V+	18|45.5	10.5|26.5	12⅞|32.5	24|10.5

The body is metal. The outer surface of the lid is plastic. The lid has a metal inner shell that aligns to the top of pan. The lid is substantial, with a long hinge with stops that holds the lid just past vertical when raised.

The viewing window in the lid collects a little condensation during the rest period before the mix/knead phase and in the early minutes of that phase, but clears up. It lets me observe the knead and see the dough. Raising the lid turns off the motor, pausing the course until the lid is lowered into place.

These machine have a delay timer, as most bread machines do, that can be programmed to finish (and start) at a time up to 13 hours after loading and starting the machine. The timer is integrated with a clock, and can be set to time when the bread can be taken out of the machine.

Mixing Pan

The Virtuoso and the V+ have pan assemblies that can be removed from the machine to load ingredient, remove the dough or loaf, and for cleaning. The assemblies include the pans, handles, a base fitting, drive shafts, bearings and other parts. Pan assemblies are available as repair parts to the general public. I do not know if Zojirushi sells individual components of the pan assembly to service agencies.

There are very few differences between the pan assemblies of the two model. The mixing/baking pans of the Virtuoso and the V+ are identical in size.

In my experience, a V+ pan assembly fits a Virtuoso BB-PAC20 and can be used a replacement for a Virtuoso pan assembly – if a user uses mixing blades for the V+!

The pans are horizontal, and large in bread machine terminology – it will mix and bake a 2 lb. loaf. The inside measurements  of the pan are 22 cm (9 inches) long by 13 cm (5 inches) wide. This pan is as long as a large (2 lb.) baking pan for loaves baked in an oven; and slightly wider. The pan is 13 cm (5 inches) high, and has clearance under the lid and lid element – i.e. capacity to bake a large (2 lb.) loaf. The pan has drive shafts for two “kneading blades” (i.e. dough hooks/paddles). The shafts pass through sealed assemblies in bottom of the pan, and have “wing nut” (also called in the literature about the V+ “coupling wing nuts” ) that fits into openings in the machines’ drive system.

A bread machine pan is both a mixing bowl and a baking pan. A metal baking pan can be oiled when dough is place in a pan to rise and bake. The bowl of an electric mixer must adhere to the dough to mix and knead, and then allow a loaf to rise and slide out after baking.

The interiors of the pans on both models have a no-stick coating that functions well and seems durable. The pan coating releases the loaf easily at the end of the bake cycle; the paddles stay on the shafts in the pan.

There is a metal rectangle riveted to the base of the pan that fits into the “baking pan receptacle” a rectangle 6¼ inches (15.5 cm.) inside the machine the base of the pan. There are fittings at the long ends of the rectangles. The pan is pushed into the base to lock the pan in, and tilted slightly to unlock. Locking the pan puts the wing nuts on the drive shafts into the drive system. Seating the pan in the base requires light pressure.

The mixing and kneading are performed by two kneading blades driven by a drive train powered by a 100 watt electric motor in the Virtuoso and the V+. This is not as powerful as the motors on stand mixers marketed to home bakers.

Zojirushi uses the motor for long periods of mixing/kneading in programming the “courses” in the control set. This ensures that the dough is fully mixed and hydrated. Zojirushi gives the dough time to ferment in the Rise phases of its courses.

Drive Shafts

Two drive shafts, mechanically attached, are part of the pan assembly on both machines. The shafts are steel and not treated with no-stick coating. The kneading blades fit on the drive shafts; each shafts fit into a socket at one of each kneading blade. (Coupling) wing nuts mechanically fixed to the ends of the drive shafts below (outside) the pan, fit into openings attached to in the drive system. The blades are rotated in jumps when drive motor is running.

Here is a 2025 picture of the inside of my Virtuoso BB-PAC20 pan assembly showing the bottom of the pan, with drive shafts, without kneading blades. The inside of a V+ pan, visually, would appear to be identical:

In both models:

• Shafts project into the inside of the pan assembly though holes located in small depressions in the base of the pans.
• A shaft, measured from the bottom of a depression, is about 250 mm high.
• A drive shaft is mainly round, 8 mm in diameter.
• There are flat sections at the top of each shaft. The bottom of the blade is held off the base of the pan by the way the blade and the shaft connect, which creates a gap.
• The gap is about the width of a gift card, about .75 to .80 mm over the main bottom area of the pan – (larger in the depression at the base of a drive shaft).

The width of a gift card, and kneading blade, are shown in this photo. The kneading blade is laid flat on the table top. The width of the gift card was determined with a digital caliper:

Another way to get a look at an image of a drive shaft in a pan assembly: in the support pages at Zojirushi.com (the USA site), find a manual for the V+. You may have to download the manual as a pdf file; look at the section “Attach the Kneading Blades to the Rotating Shafts in the Baking Pan” (p. 14 for the V+).

There is a tiny change in the dimensions of the drive shafts between the models.

The shafts are round except for an area at the top of the shaft which has a flat section. There is flat section at very top of the shaft. There is a 2nd flat area immediately next to the top of the shaft – i.e. a deeper area or notch in the shaft. The differences are in the flat sections:

Dimension	Virtuoso	Virtuoso Plus
Top section	2.05 mm	1.99 mm
Notch section	2.95 mm	5.95 mm

The differences are matched by changes in the sockets of the mixing blades that fit over the drive shafts. The kneading blades for the V+ are different than the blades for the Virtuoso.

Kneading Blades

A kneading blade was shown in an image above. The blades appear to be cast from aluminum. The blades have no-stick coating. The weights of my two old blades as of July 2025 and new blades for the V+:

• Worn out blade – 17.9 grams;
• Worn but working blade – 18. 1 grams;
• New V+ blade – 18.0 to 18.12 grams.

A blade for either machine has a cylindrical socket that fits around a drive shaft. The height of the socket is just a tad less than 25 mm. high. Each is 60 mm. long, measuring from end to end including the socket. The height of the blade portion is 30 mm.

The inside of the socket is round for a distance from the bottom (this is hard to measure). The measurement for the Virtuoso is about 18.7 mm. For the V+ it is about 15.7 mm. There is a short round section at the top of the socket for about 2.0 or 2.1 mm on the blades for both model. The inside diameter of the socket, in the round section, is 8.5 mm.

The flat areas of the sockets near the top of the blade corresponding to the flat area in notches in the drive shafts. The flat surfaces are aligned with each other when the blade is in position on the shaft. This is how force is transmitted to the blade when the drive system is active (when the machine is mixing/kneading or “knocking down” during the a rise phase). The blade cannot engage the shaft unless the blade is oriented correctly. The bottom of the flat area of the socket hits the bottom of the flat area of the notch area of shaft, which stops the blade from dropping along the shaft and hitting the bottom of the pan – it creates small gap. The top of the flat area catches the top of the notch in the shaft unless the blade is aligned. This keep the blades from lifting, sliding or falling off the shafts except when in alignment.

The V+ blades do not drop to the bottom of the shaft of the older Virtuoso. Virtuoso blades and the “compatibles” found in online stores and markets will drop to0 far down the shafts of a V+ pan.

When a blade in working condition is fitted to a drive shaft, the top of the socket will align a fraction of a millimeter below the top of the shaft; the bottom of the socket and the bottom of the blade are held off the bottom of the pan. When the flat area of the socket is worn out, the blade does not engage the drive shaft. This has consequences:

• The blade contacts the base of the pan – it rest on the bottom of the pan;
• The drive shaft will spin in the socket without moving the blade.

Before a blade is worn out, when a blade is worn enough it may contact the pan.

The manual recommends wet ingredients be loaded first. This machine uses the usual way of keeping yeast away from the water: the user puts yeast in last, after the flour. When the machine is loaded, both blades are in the water or wet ingredients. Both blades mix the dough. The Operating Instruction & Recipe Book (manual) included a number of recipes. The manual could be viewed at the manufacturer’s USA web site as a pdf before it was manual was removed. Most of the recipes are for large (2 lb.) loaves.

The outside of the shaft is a quarter millimeter from the inside of the socket. Water, including water with dissolved and suspended solids, can penetrate this space, and some dough normally gets in.

In my experience:

• Baked material does not adhere to the blades if the blades are in good condition;
• Tiny amounts of crumb (baked material) stick to the upper tips of the drive shafts;
• A minute amount of dough gets into the sockets and bakes into a layer of crumb that makes the blades stick to the drive shafts
• The blades may trap a little crust when the loaf is removed from the pan. When some crust is trapped, sometimes some crumb adheres to the trapped crust and may be torn out of the loaf. This depends of the final angle of the blades and the type of bread. A lean bread with a strong crust and crumb can tear..

The pan releases the loaf; the blades say with the pan. The blades may have a small amount of crumb or crust adhering. I waiting for the pan to cool and put water in the pan to a depth that covers the blades and shafts. After a short soak I can twist the blades and release them off the shafts (manually).

This photo shows the Virtuoso BB-PAC20 pan with blades. One blade is worn but still working; one is completely worn out:

The worn out blade rotates freely on the shaft and rests on the bottom of the pan.

Mixing and kneading are a single phase. The dough ball will not fill the pan until the dough ferments (rises), or the loaf springs during the first few minutes after the baking phases begins. During kneading, the dough should form a single ball that moves around the bottom of the pan. A wet dough may form two balls. Generally, the dough flows together and forms a loaf when the dough has fermented and sprung.

In some circumstances one of the blades can be lifted out of attachment to the drive shaft When this happens, the dough ball may stay at one end of the pan. The dough may flow enough fill the pan and bake into a normally shapes loaf when there is enough dough in the pan. Some times, one end of the loaf may be bigger and rise higher, or the loaf may show other signs of the way it rose and and sprung in the pan.

Heating

The heating elements of both models have the same energy settings. The main 600 watt heating element is under the pan, laid out in rectangle inside the space where the pan rests while the machine operates. There is a second 40 watt element in the lid. It is not visible when the lid is raised. It is inside the lid around the viewing window .

The main heating element is on, heating the space around the pan to 248-302 F (120-150 C) for baking the loaf in these courses:

• Regular (& Quick) Basic,
• Regular (& Quick) Whole Wheat,
• Gluten-Free,
• Cake

• Home-made
• Jam (heat). 

The heat is on at a low temperature to heat the ingredients in the initial “rest” phase, which occurs in most courses. The heat is on at 91-95 F (33-35 C) during up to 3 Rise phases in these courses:

• Regular (& Quick) Basic,
• Regular (& Quick) Whole Wheat,
• Regular (& Quick) Dough,
• Gluten-Free,
• Sourdough starter,
• Home-made. 

The Virtuoso and V+ turn the heating element on for short intervals during the rise phases to raise the temperature in the mixing/baking pan to enhance or speed up fermentation.

The control panel has a control button to set a crust setting of light, medium or dark. This function is active only in Regular Basic (V+ White), Quick Basic, (V+ Rapid White) gluten free and cake courses (programs).

Courses

Phases

The wheat flour baking courses were called Regular Basic, Quick Basic, Regular Wheat and Quick Wheat in the Virtuoso. The names are changed in the V+, but the times for the phases of the course are the same:

Virtu0so	Regular Basic	Quick Basic	Regular Wheat	Quick Wheat
V+	White	Rapid White	Whole Wheat	Rapid Wheat

A baking course has 4 phases.

Name	Action and purpose
Rest	The ingredients are heated a little above the ambient temperature around the machine
Mix/Knead	1. (a) Mix the ingredients, dissolve soluble solids (e.g. salt, sugar, milk powder, butter), dilute or disperse honey or sweet syrup or 1. 1. (b) Begin to hydrate the flour; /and 2. Hydrate the flour further and/or work the proteins in the flour into gluten.
Rise(s)	Fermentation. The element(s) warms the space around the pan to 91-95 ℉ (33-35 ℃) The motor is deployed to move the blades for knockdowns at the beginning of Rise 2 and Rise 3. A program with three Rise phases has sequence of rise-knockdown-rise-knockdown-rise.
Bake	The element(s) heats the space around the pan to 248-302 ℉ (120-150 ℃) to bake the loaf.

The amount of time devoted to each phase varies, but is fixed for each of the programmed courses. There is no setting to change any phase of any course for loaf size. The mix/knead phases are longer than in many other machines but not as long as in some Panasonic models.

Regular and Quick

The Virtuoso BB-PAC20 Zojirushi “Quick” courses were variations of the Regular Basic, Bake Whole Wheat and Dough courses. The differences between Regular and Quick courses were the amounts of yeast, and timing. The V+ does not have “Quick” courses but has “Fast Rise” White and Wheat courses. When the Bread Machine Diva wrote about the V+in 2021, she complained that the V+ lacked the “Quick Dough” course of the Virtuoso, which she found useful in using the Virtuoso to mix/knead and proof dough that would be hand shaped and baked in an oven – e.g. dinner rolls

Zojirushi said in the Virtuoso BB-PAC20 manual that it has tested the its programs with Fleishmann Yeast products – active dry yeast for the Regular Basic, Bake (Whole) Wheat and Dough programs, and “Fast-Rise” dry yeast for the Quick versions. This was standard for Zojirushi’s bread machines before the V+. When the V+ was released, Zojirushi’s recipes ceased to refer to active dry yeast and began to refer to instant yeast. A Virtuoso BB-PAC20 user can use instant yeast for a “Regular” course, if the amount is converted.

The brand of yeast is not important. There are no functional differences between instant yeast and Fast or Quick rise yeast products; the yeast strains are equivalent and the amounts and types of coating are the same. The Bread Machine Diva has done an article on that subject. I agree.

The times (in minutes) for these phases :

Course (Program)	Rest	Mix/Knead	Rise 1	Rise 2	Rise 3	Bake
Regular Basic	31	19	35	20	40	60
Quick Basic	18	22	20	35	0	50
R. Bake Wheat	31-41	22	27-37	30	20-30	60-70
Quick Wheat	15	27	13	30	0	60
R. Dough	23	20	45	22	0	x
Quick Dough	10	20	10	10	0	x

The Virtuoso Quick courses use more yeast with same amounts of flour, water, salt, and other ingredients. I compared manufacturer’s recipes for medium (1.5 lb.) loaves, from the manual. In a Virtuoso:

• White bread is prepared on the Regular Basic and Quick Basic courses.
• 100% whole wheat bread is prepared on the Wheat Basic and Wheat Quick courses.

I converted Active dry yeast to Instant yeast to compare yeast quantities more clearly for the Virtuoso.

Course		Regular	Regular	Quick
Yeast (dry)		Active	Instant	Instant
	Salt
Basic White Bread	1½ tsp.	4.2 g. (1½ tsp.)	2.8 g.	4.5 g.
100% Whole Wheat	1 tsp.	4.2 g. (1½ tsp.)	2.8 g.	4.5 g.

Dough, Starter, Other

The Virtuoso uses mix/knead and rise phases in the regular and quick (dough courses. These courses do not proceed to the bake phase; the user should turn the dough out immediately at the end of the course, and shape and bake the dough in an oven. The V+ has a Dough course.

The Sourdough starter courses in both machine have a short Mix phase and a single 120 minute Rise (not 3 Rises). The Recipe booklet and Book of the respective machines have recipes to make a starter from flour and water and (commercial baker’s) yeast which can then be used to bake bread later

The machines, in this course, can mix a starter or a pre-ferment (e.g. levain, sponge, poolish, biga). The fermentation time can be extended by leaving the pre-ferment in the pan longer. It could be a useful feature for users who want to use a bread machine instead of using other methods of growing and feeding “mother” starters or making pre-ferments.

These machines have:

• a cake course for cake mixes, soda bread, corn bread and other chemically leavened (baking powder and/or baking soda) mixes;
• a gluten-free bake course for gluten-free breads, which has a 17 minute knead phase, and a 35 minute three step rise phase;
• a Jam course which heats and cooks the ingredients, then mixes them.

Home Made

The Virtuoso and V+ provide for saving 3 “Home made” courses (custom programs) in which a user may set the time for the initial rest, mix/knead, rise (3x), and bake phases in a range. Temperatures for the rise phases and bake phase are preset.

Raisins, Fruits, Seeds

A baking course by default, sounds a beep to prompt the user to add raisins or other ingredients late in the kneading phase. The prompt can be turned off when the machine is set. This feature was no changed in the V+/

Not included in the Virtuoso..

The Virtuoso did not have

• a French or European bread course,
• an explicitly named multigrain course, course or
• a No Salt course

but can manage these breads.

Rye bread

There is no rye course. Zojirushi had/has recipes in the (Whole) Wheat course sections for bread with a little rye flour in its recipe books:

• for the Virtuoso, a printed “Operating Instructions and Recipes” booklet; in the “Wheat” (i.e. Whole Wheat) course section. I still have my copy – the booklet was removed from the support material available to consumers and the public at Zojirushi.com;
• the Z+”Recipe Book”, a V+ support document at Zojirushi.com, still available in 2025.
• One was “light rye” requiring over 4 cups of bread flour and ⅔ cup of rye flour to make a large (2lb.) loaf in the Virtuoso publication, changed to about 3 cups of bread flour, ½ whole wheat flour and 1 cup of rye flour for the V+. Both publications have recipes for a “pumpernickel” loaf with wheat flour, cocoa powder and instant coffee, and less than a cup of rye flour.

The Virtuoso (and the V+) do not handle rye flour beyond a very small amount. The machine does sandwich bread made from wheat flours, with some options.

Differences

+/-

The V+ has all the courses the Virtuoso had including Sourdough starter, Cake, Gluten Free, Jam, but it lacks a Quick/Rapid Dough course.

European Bread

The V+ has a European bread course, which seems to be intended for baking lean crusty bread. On of the recipes in V+ recipe book is identical to the recipe in the Virtuoso BB-PAC20 “Instruction & Recipes” booklet for Crusty French bread in the Home Made section. The booklet include a suggestion on programming a Home Made courses for the recipe. The suggestion is almost identical to the “European” bread course in the V+ :

Rest	Mix/Knead	Rise 1	Rise 2	Rise 3	Bake
22	18	35	50	Off	70

Multigrain

The V+ has a multigrain program, similar to the V+ White and Whole Wheat programs. The V+ recipe book has Multigrain course recipes – most of which were Virtuoso Basic or Wheat course recipes.

Most loaves which involve mixtures of large amounts hard wheat wheat flour – either bread flour or whole wheat and some non-wheat flours (e.g. buckwheat, soya) flours and items like rolled oats and bulgur can be mixed and baked in regular bake and Bake (Whole) Wheat courses in either machine.

No Salt

The Virtuoso had a No Salt recipe for a bread flour white bread loaf, but did not have a dedicated course for mixing and baking salt-free bread. The V+ has a No Salt course which has a recipe in the V+ recipe book.

Any bread machine can bake bread made without salt (or using vinegar to slow the action of the yeast – e.g the Zojirushi No salt sandwich loaf). Baking bread without using salt requires using less yeast.

Etc.

The V+ has courses for bread made without sugar and vegan bread.

Loaf Size, Yeast & Salt

Medium Loaves

A recipe for a medium loaf can be mixed, kneaded, proofed and baked in the large loaf pan of a BB-PAC20 on the factory settings for the regular bake and whole wheat bake programs on the machine’s settings. . A few recipes in the “Operating Instructions and Recipes” booklet are for medium (1.5 lb.) versions of large loaf recipes.

A medium (1.5 lb.) loaf is 75% of a large loaf recipe. The dough for a medium loaf generally will flow and fill the bottom of the pan as the dough rises. The height of a medium loaf, baked, from the bottom of the pan to top of the loaf at the wall of the pan is about 8 cm at the side of the pan; to the top of the crowned (domed) top of the loaf, 10-11 cm.

I tested the 1.5 lb. (medium) recipes in the Virtuoso “Operating Instructions and Recipes” booklet. I tested the recipes without reducing salt or yeast. I tested medium recipes if given, or large recipes scaled to medium, for loaves made with Bread flour and/or Whole Wheat flour. I converted yeast in these recipes from Active dry yeast to instant yeast. I include the weight in grams of main ingredients for medium loaves, in the recipes published by Zojirushi:

Name	p.	Course	B fl.	WW fl.	H2O	Salt	IY
White Bread	14-15	Regular Basic	416	0	240	8.4	2.8
100% WW	18	Regular Wheat	0	420	320	5.6	2.8
Italian Wheat	19	Regular Wheat	256	180	270	6.3	3.8
Crusty French	44	Home made i.e. custom	416	0	240	5.6	2.8

These medium recipes worked. The dough flowed enough to fill the pan to both ends and front to back. It rose, sprung and baked into loaves within the pan and well under the lid. I put these recipes into worksheets or tables for my future reference to help work out conversions for recipes from the Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook and other sources.

These recipes will work with less salt than the recipes in manuals say.

Yeast

Medium loaf recipes from the Bread Lover’ Bread Machine Cookbook (2000) (“BLBMC“) recommended 1.75 tsp. (5.5 g.) or 2 tsp. (6.2 grams) +/- instant yeast for 3 cups of bread flour, or 1.5+ cups bread flour blended with 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour, and 1.5 tsp salt. For the BB-PAC20, I need 50-70% of the instant yeast in a BLBMC recipe. (A little more than I would use in my Panasonic.) I also bake with less salt, and reduce yeast for that reason as well.

Virtuosos supports low sodium baking, as any bread machine does.

It is possible to keep a Virtuoso running by using a V+ (BB-PDC20) pan assembly and V+ (BB-PDC20) kneading blades. Zojirushi never advised consumers or sales forces about the possibility of using V+ baking pan assembly and kneading blades in a Virtuoso.

Value

Price

The retail price of a Virtuoso, when new machines were available was a premium price – more expensive than most other bread machines.

The Virtuoso Plus BB-PDC20BA was offered for sale in the US, for $420 ($US) in July 2025 in the Zojirushi.com (USA) web store and on amazon.com. The BB-PDC20BA was offered for sale in Canada on amazon.ca, on sale, with “free” delivery for $626 ($Canada) at the same time. The currency exchange rate, shipping and tariffs were a factor in the pricing. Availability in Canada from was uncertain. Zojirushi and actors in the supply chain, and Amazon.com would not sell or ship to Canadian buyers

Virtues

The Virtuoso BB-PAC20 is quiet. It is stable, partly due to its weight, and partly because it is a balanced machine It doesn’t rattle or try to dance off the counter, unlike many machines by other manufacturers, and earlier Zojirushi bread machines.

It is good at sandwich loaves made with wheat flour, water and yeast – the kind of loaves that industrial bakers mass produce with direct (or straight) dough methods. It lets such dough “rise” (ferment), and bake for about an hour in a baking chamber smaller but as hot as a conventional oven. The loaves develops an even crumb structure and a sweet brown crust.

The inside of baking pan and the exterior surfaces of the kneading blades have been treated with a no-stick coating. The drive shafts are not coated. Non-stick coating of baking pans is a common feature of bread machines made after 1980,

The Virtuoso provides heat while the dough is being “proofed” (i.e. rising or fermenting before the dough is baked), incorporating the function of a proofing box (a device used by some bakeries and a few home bakers) into the bread machine.

The V+ has the same features.

Limitations

While Zojirushi suggests that the Virtuoso and V+ can mix, knead and bake any kind of loaf, with any ingredients a user may want, these machines are specialized. I use the Virtuoso for wheat flour loaves. It is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t.

I have not tried to use the gluten free programs and recipes. I was not influenced by that feature.

The blog at the Zojirushi USA site said the non-stick coating:

… is made using PTFE, or polytetrafluoroethylene, a polymer that is applied in a two-step process with a primer and a topcoat. It is nonreactive, inert, ultra-smooth, hydrophobic, and resistant to abrasions, corrosion, and heat.

Zojirushi.com blog, February 4, 2019, “Design Explained“

PTFE is a PFAS chemical which can be a hazard for the workers who may be exposed, and for persons consuming products prepared in cookware with coating made with PTFE, using the word hazard in the sense explained by the Government of Canada’s Centre for Safety and Occupational Health, (“CCHOS”), as source of potential danger:

A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone.

Basically, a hazard is the potential for harm or an adverse effect (for example, to people as health effects, to organizations as property or equipment losses, or to the environment).

CCHOS, viewed July. 2025

The bearings and seals of the drive shafts built into the baking pan or either machine can wear out. This happened with my Virtuoso, in 2022. At that time replacement pan assemblies for that model were still available.

The bit of metal that is used to make the flat section of the socket of a kneading blades will wear out. If that part of the blade was not weak and loose, the whole machine might fail. The V+ appears to be better than the Virtuoso – the socket of the kneading blade has more material in a critical area. The kneading blades are vulnerable to wear and eventual failure. This appears to have been a design feature. The feature probably has a safety justification.

The Bread Machine Diva said in a post about the Virtuoso in 2019:

… I use my bread machine two to three times every week.  In my experience, Zojirushi bread machines will last four to six years under those conditions.    Paddles [kneading blade] and other parts are available on Amazon or from Zojirushi.

I do need to buy new paddles every few years.

Bread Machine Diva, “What Bread Machine Should You Buy” – why Zojirushi, July 14, 2019, last updated April 5, 2025, viewed July 30, 2025

She did not explain what led her to buying new kneading blades.

Zojirushi did/does not discuss the issue of regular replacement of parts in any of its bread machines. (Except there was a reference to a battery for the internal clock in the Virtuoso “Operating Instructions and Recipes” booklet). There was no discussion of service life or the need to periodically replace kneading blades .

Zojirushi made pan assemblies and kneading blades for the BB-PAC20 available for a few years after the model BB-PDC20 was introduced (2019); replacement parts for the BB-PAC20 disappeared from Canada by 2025. In 2025, a few retailers in the USA still offered to sell BB-PAC20 pan assemblies and ship them to Canada. Blades were gone in Canada and the USA by July 2025 except “compatible” blades without coating made by a third party manufacturer in the Amazon market. The vendor and Amazon offered prompt service without any practical assurance that the goods were fit for the purpose.