Table of Contents
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.