I am sceptical of the idea that a recipe for bread works in all bread machines. I think bread machine recipes have to be customized for machines. I adapt recipes, mainly from the Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (“BLBMC”).
I worked out my approach to yeast and low sodium in baking in a Panasonic SD-YD250 for medium (1.5 lb.) loaves June, July and August, 2018. BLBMC recipes did not work in that machine. I adjusted yeast for BLBMC recipes baked in Panasonic SD-YD250 machine. The BLBMC recipes for white bread loaves worked in the Panasonic with the adaptation.
When I started to bake in a Zojirushi BB-PAC20, I changed my method of writing recipes, and changed my recipes for that machine.
Zojirushi Regular Basic recipes
The Zojirushi manual provides recipes for sandwich breads, to be made using the Regular Basic baking course (program), including a loaf called Basic White Bread. The Regular Basic course and the Regular White course are similiar, varying in Mix/Knead phase by a few minutes and varying somewhat in the length of 3 “Rise” phases. I have not tried to identify other differences in Mix/Knead phases of these courses.
I used the Basic White Bread recipe to learn how the Zojirushi machine performed with the ingredients in that recipe for a sandwich bread.
I use the Regular Basic course for several sandwich loaves made with:
100% bread flour, enriched with dry milk (milk powder), sugar and other ingredients such as instant mashed potatoes;
bread flour and up to 50% whole wheat flour;
bread flour and small amounts of specialty 1I mix and bake loaves with rye flour differently flour (e.g. buckwheat) and/or seeds.
Zojirushi’s approach to measuring flour by volume, stated in the manual, is to scoop flour and fill a measuring cup. This means a less dense or lighter cup than a meauring cup dragged through the flour. I use the amount of flour in the Zojirushi recipe by weight. Zojirushi’s recipes refer to Fleischmann’s active dry yeast and rapid-rise yeast. I prefer instant yeast – which means adjustment.
Yeast
Active dry yeast is less dense than instant yeast. I use instant yeast. I weight it and use 6/7 of the weight of the amount of active dry yeast the recipe requires. This seems to work with loaves made with bread flour and multigrain loaves.
I have touched on yeast in bread machine recipes, standard recipes, and salt in posts published since 2018. I will write more about then later.
Sandwich Bread
Sandwich bread is made with bread flour – in some instances all-purpose flour. It is not lean bread, and will have some fat, usually butter or shortening or vegetable oil. It may be made with milk or milk powder, sugar and other ingredients. Milk with the sugar lactose, and other sugars relax gluten and produce a less chewy loaf. Sugars, unless present in liquids like milk, honey, molasses or maple syrup, are hygroscopic and affect hydration.
This post was published in 2020 and has been revised a few times. I don’t republish or change the date or mark up the revisions.
Recommendations
The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook is a unique book. I have kept it and refer to it on baking and bread machine issues. I have given up using it as a working cookbook – it is not for my bread machine or many other modern bread machines, and not a low sodium cookbook. I rely on some recipes that I have charted in a spreadsheet program.
Two Cookbooks
Beth Hensperger wrote two books that were published by different publishers:
The Bread Bible: Beth Hensperger’s 300 Favourite Recipes, (1999) Chronicle Books, San Francisco;
The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook (2000), (“BLBMC“) The Harvard Common Press, Boston.
The Bread Bible earned the 2000 James Beard Foundation award for a cookbook in the Baking & Dessert category. It mainly had recipes for home bakers who baked in ovens, but had a chapter on bread machines). It mainly had recipes using the ingredients available to retail customers. At that time, home bakers mainly used active dry yeast; some had access to yeast cakes (wet raw yeast). Instant yeasts were available but not widely used. It rode the currents of liberation from industrially processed bread, the recovery of whole grain baking, and inception of artisanal baking. Home bakers were using whole wheat flour and some ancient grain. Ms. Hensperger acknowleged in the Bread Bible that manufacturers had not translated the knowledge and experience of human bakers into recipes that could be run by selecting a process in a consumer appliance.
The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook explains the use of a bread machine. The BLBMC preceded other titles in the “Not your mother’s” series by Harvard Common Press, a series built around a marketing pitch, dedicated to making new appliances seem to be exciting and life-affirming.
BLBMC
Standard Recipes?
The BLBMC tries to be”Bread machines – the missing manual” – for the end of the 1990s. It suggests standard recipes work with different machines. The BLBMC treated all bread machines (it listed 18 manufacturers on the market at the time) as equivalent, with a warning to “Take Stock of Your Machine”. This undersells differences in design of bread machines. Whether a recipe can be followed will depend on the machine, measurement and ingredients.
For the most part, BLBMC recipes worked in my old Black & Decker. They did not work when I started to use more modern machines – a Panasonic SD-YD250, or a Zojirushi BB-PAC20. [update, March 2020]. I solved the issue for Panasonic SD-YD250 by using 50% less yeast by weight.
The book did not anticipate technological and market changes in bread machines. Machines diverged. Machines knead for an optimized time; some machines use the heating element to heat the pan to a proofing box temperature during the rise. Engineers optimized recipes for their companies’ machines – a walled garden approach to recipes. Manufacturers usually provide a manual with recipes. These recipes can guide the consumer to use that manufacturer’s bread machine.
The book did not anticipate technological and market changes growing and preserving dry yeast, active and instant.
The BLBMC is more successful in explaining basic or core bread flour and whole wheat flour recipes, and how these form the basis of milk bread, sandwich bread, sweet bread, seed bread and raisin or fruit bread.
Baking is learned and experienced
A book can explain which buttons to push. A book can explain what ingredients should be put in a machine before the buttons are pushed, and what a loaf may weigh and look like. Teaching about baking in a book is hard.
Organization & Scope
BLBMC recipes have ingredient lists for “medium” 1.5 lb. and “large” 2 lb. loaves. A medium loaf usually uses 3 cups of flour; large, 4 cups. The BLBMC recipes are consistent with conventional oven recipes, and are generally well planned and reliable. [update, March 2020] BLBMC recipes work if the user can adapt – usually the amount of yeast – for the machine.
BLBMC covers the varieties of white bread, and the method of changing texture and flavour. It has recipes for whole wheat, and ancient grains. It did not anticipate the demand for gluten-free bread recipes and methods, with only 8 pages on that topic. The BLBMC has worthwhile sections on bread machine operation. It has sections, sidebars, and detail sections on bread making and bread machine topics. The table of contents and the index don’t locate all of them:
p. 15 ingredient measurement;
p. 18 converting volume to weight (flour and sugar);
p. 12 flour, and
pp. 46-47, white flour from wheat,
pp. 106-107, whole wheat flour,
p. 125, proteins in flour,
pp. 62-63, using non-wheat flour with wheat flour,
pp. 133-135, using rye flour with wheat flour.
p. 140, diy milling of whole grain flour,
pp. 150-152, non-wheat flour,
pp. 182-183, baking with whole grains, and preparing whole grain;
p. 193, organic flour;
pp. 13-14 yeast;
p. 15, p. 290. Salt:
is not just a seasoning or flavour agent;
should not be exposed to the water and the yeast before the machine mixes the ingredients;
can be reduced if yeast is reduced by the same proportion. 1BLBMC doesn’t explain that this rule of thumb is a starting point, to be adjusted. Yeast requirements for machines vary.
p. 13, p. 59 vital wheat gluten;
p. 168 dough enhancers;
pp. 69-72 6 “sampler” recipes for one pound loaves;
p. 76 eggs;
pp. 170-177, gluten free recipes and notes;
pp. 197-198 using the machine to mix and knead dough for baking in an oven, and using artisanal baking methods:
starters and pre-ferments,
shaping loaves
baking stones, tiles and ceramic containers (and cloches);
p. 233 olive oil;
p. 354 the shapes of bread machine pans.
Measuring Ingredients
While Ms. Hensperger is clear about the importance of measurement of ingredients for bread machines, she uses home cooking conventions in her recipes including measuring out ingredients by volume. The recipes in the BLBMC measure yeast and salt to the quarter teaspoon, and flour and water to the nearest 1/4 cup; water to the nearest 1/8 cup.
Ms. Hensperger covers conversion from volume to weight for flour but not for yeast, salt and other ingredients. Confusion over volume measurement is endemic to baking, and is not her fault. She addresses a problem of stating the flour for a loaf in cups. Flour is compressd or packed by drag-scooping. Ms. Hensperger says, correctly that a cup of bread or whole wheat flour, using drag-scooped cups rather than scoop and trickle cups is 5 US oz. by weight.
Bread Baking basics
The BLBMC says bread flour should be the white flour in bread recipes. White flour is prepared by finely grinding the endosperm (inner portion) of the kernel after the bran (outer coat) and the germ (seed embryo) have been milled out. Millers and bakers refer to extraction – white flour uses 50-60% of the kernel.
Ms. Hensperger describes bread flour as having 12.7 % protein. White bread flour in the USA has 11.5-13.5 % gluten-producing protein. All purpose white flour in the USA has 9.5-11.5 %. Canadian all purpose flour for retail use is milled from a blend of hard spring wheats – Canadian Millers’ technical standards (Canadian millers produce Bakers patent and bakers clear for commercial bakeries and food manufacturing). Canadian retail all purpose flour has the same protein content as USA bread flour. It is fine for bread.
Whole wheat flour weighs as much as bread flour, per unit of volume, but is milled from entire kernel -100% extraction. It has has more protein overall but less of the insoluble proteins that bond to form gluten when water is mixed into the flour.
Dry Yeast
Ms. Hensperger described the varieties of dry yeast as: 1. active dry yeast; 2. instant (or fast-acting) dried yeast; 3. quick-rise (rapid-rise) yeast; 4. bread machine yeast. 3 and 4 are essentially instant yeast. Instant yeast, under any of its names, is the choice for bread machines. Ms Hensperger prefers SAF instant yeast to the point that she says it is more potent. She suggests two alternatives for each recipe:
SAF instant dried yeast (SAF Red),
25% – 33% more bread machine yeast than SAF instant yeast. For instance, for Dakota Bread, BLBMC says 2 tsp SAF or 2.5 tsp bread machine*.
The book overstates the amount of yeast needed for a loaf of bread. SAF Red is a good product but almost any other instant yeast works in a BLBMC recipe in the same amount as the BLBMC suggests for SAF instant yeast. The alternative for “bread machine” yeast is usually just too high. (Ms. Hensperger moved away from suggesting the use of higher amounts of yeasts other than SAF instant yeast. In a version of the recipe for Dakota Bread in 2015 on her blog she said 2 tsp “bread machine yeast”. Her blog ceased to be maintained and her domain name was seized by cybersquatters.).
The range of views about the amount of yeast:
For a 1.5 lb. loaf, Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook calls for 2 tsp instant yeast or more and 1-1.5 tsp. salt for 3 cups of flour. This is in the range of recipes in other books at the time, and of many recipes published on the web. It is .67 tsp instant yeast, or 1.9 g. yeast per cup (about 140 g.) of wheat flour; the B% is 1.4%;
Manufacturers of instant, rapid/quick rise and bread machine yeasts recommend .5 tsp yeast for each cup of flour for bread machines: Red Star Quick-Rise; Bakipan Fast Action and Bread Machine; SAF Gourmet Perfect Rise and Bread Machine. Fleishmann’s recipes on its web pages imply the same amounts of its instant Quick-Rise (Rapid-Rise) or its Bread Machine product, or more. This is 1.4 g. yeast per about 140 g. of wheat flour; the B% is 1%;
Panasonic suggests .33 tsp of dry yeast per cup of flour – which works in Panasonic machines;
Zojirushi suggests .5 tsp. of active dry yeast per cup of flour in its recipes
Salt can be measured by volume with measuring spoons, but should be used carefully with level measurements. It is better to go by weight. The conversion rate is 1 teaspoon of table salt to 5.7 grams – the teaspoon that the recipe writer will have assumed. Table salt is not all the same – some is pretty finely ground and more dense.
Several online converters report: 1 cup, (48 tsp (US)) instant yeast = 136 grams; 1 tsp = 3.1 g. Sources say a teaspoon of instant yeast is a .11 oz. = 3.12 grams, or 3.15 g. My average for 1 tsp of SAF Red was 2.8 g. I scooped a few dozen samples, weighed them on a scale, and took the mean weight of my samples. I may try again when I buy another bag. Too close to worry about .1 of a gram. It won’t matter.
Vital Wheat Gluten, also called gluten flour. is a powder produced by industrial milling, used as a dough enhancer – an additive in commercial baking.
In the bread machine chapter of the Bread Bible, Ms. Hensperger suggested adding 1 teaspoon per cup of white flour and 1 ½ teaspoons per cup of whole grain flour, She suggested added gluten in almost bread machine recipe in BLBMC. She follows the same rules, with some adjustments for even more gluten for some 100% whole grain loaves. Others would not use added gluten with bread flour but add as much as 1 tbsp per cup with whole wheat flour.
Added gluten makes the dough more elastic – it promotes a vigorous rise if the dough is fermenting vigorously. However the elasticity affect the way the dough flows. It depends on how the dough is kneaded. Kneading organizes gluten into a web of protein that traps carbon dioxide.
Bread machines have changed since BLBMC was published. More machines knead more throroughly. Many machines warm the dough and enhance fermentation during the rise phase of the baking machine programs. These features change the requirements for yeast and gluten
The effect of using added gluten will be different depending on the machine and recipe.
Adding gluten doesn’t improve yeast leavened breads made with high protein bread flour.
Advanced Baking
The sections of the BLBMC on using a bread machine to mix and knead dough for baking in an oven, and artisanal baking methods are informative. However manufacturer have abandoned – or never have supported the features that facilitate this.
What can Go Wrong
Beth Hensperger introduced the topic of “What Can Go Wrong, and How to Fix It” at pp. 38-40 with discussions of:
Shaggy unmanageable dough ball;
Wet, slick dough;
Pale loaf;
Loaf is too dense;
Sunken top (crater bread);
Collapsed top and sides;
Gnarled loaves or machine sound strained during kneading;
Squat, domed loaves;
Lopsided loaf; Loaf ballons up over the rim of the pan like a mushroom…
Bread is not cooked throughout;
Added ingredients are clumped; and
After baking, the loaf has a long crease down the side.
That was 2000. Most problems still occur. They may be measurement mistakes, forgotten steps or pressing the the wrong button on the control panel.
Some problems are not readily fit into those categories, and the solutions are can be contradictory.
Not all the problems are serious. Some of these problems occur when a user tries to bake a small loaf in a medium or large pan machine. That situation commonly leads to a lopsided loaf, which looks odd but is palatable and managed easily.
Some of these problems occur when a user uses a flour that does not react well to the machine’s kneading program(s) – such as rye flour.
It is sobering to realize how well bread baking can be automated, and how many problems arise from trusting machines to bake some breads.
Zojirushi, by 2019, was marketing the BB-PDC20 Virtuoso Plus.
I found a refurbished Virtuoso BB-PAC20 in an online store in early 2020.
[Update. I later found the Bread Machine Diva site, which has material on Zojirushi’s BB-PAC20 Virtuoso, BB-PDC20 Virtuoso Plus, and BB-CEC20 Supreme, as well as recipes. Some recipes are specifically for modern Zojirushi 2 lb. machines. It has resources that may assist users of many machines – e.g. a page of links to manufacturer service sites and manuals.]
Dimensions, Manual
The Virtuoso BB-BAC20 is stable, and quiet. It doesn’t rattle or try to dance off the counter. It has been built to high standards.
It has a horizontal pan with two paddles. The paddles should be pointed in the same direction. A crossbar on the end of the drive shaft fits into an opening in the drive system. The paddles are designed to rotate in equal jumps.
When the machine is loaded, both paddle are in the water or wet ingredients. Both paddles mix the dough. 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. This can be a problem – a small problem if the dough flows together and forms a loaf when the dough has fermented and sprung
In some circumstances the drive system will release one of the paddles. When this happens, the dough ball may stay at one end of the pan or split into two masses. They will eventually reunite if there is a full recipe 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.
The inside measurements of the pan are 22 cm (9 inches) long by 13 cm (5 inches) wide. It is as long as a large (2 lb.) baking pan for loaves baked in an oven; the pan is 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. Most of the recipes in the manual are for large (2 lb.) loaves.
The base of the pan has a metal rectangle that fits into a rectangle in the base of the pan. There are blade clips at the long ends of the outer rectangle. The pan is pushed into the base to lock the pan in the clips,and tilted slightly to unlock. Locking the pan puts the bars on the drive shafts into the two connecting fittings of the drive system. Seating the pan in the base requires some pressure. I had to learn how to seat and check the pan. The lid is a rectangle 33 cm. x 22 cm. The outer shell is plastic. It has an inner shell that aligns to the top of pan. The lid is substantial, with a long hinge with stops that hold the lid just past vertical when raised. The viewing window in the lid collects a little condensation during the pre-knead rest and in the early minutes of kneading, but clears up. It lets me observe the knead and spot a problem with the dough. Raising the lid turns off the motor, pausing kneading until the lid is lowered into place. This facilitates adding a few grams of flour or water if needed. The pan coating releases the loaf easily at the end of the bake cycle; the paddles stay on the shafts in the pan. It has 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, which saves the user from the calculations involved with a simple timer.
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.
The manual includes a number of recipes. The manual, in English, can be viewed at the manufacturer’s USA web site.
Features
Programmed features
The programs are called “courses”, and are made up of steps or phases. The amount of time devoted to each phase varies, but is fixed for each of the programmed courses.
The heating element is on, heating the space around the pan for:
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).
at a low temperature to heat the ingredients in the initial “rest” phase, which occurs in most courses,
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 turns 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. There is no way to disable or avoid this setting or to pause the machine to delay fermentation.
The phases of the baking (Regular Basic, Quick Basic, Regular Wheat and Quick Wheat) courses:
Name
Action
Initial Rest
The ingredients come to a common temperature
Mix/Knead
1. Mix the ingredients together, hydrates the flour; 2. Knead to work the proteins in the flour into gluten
Rise(s)
Fermentation. The element warms the space around the pan to 91-95 F (33-35 C) The mixer is deployed for knockdowns at the beginning of Rise 2 and Rise 3. A program with 3 Rise phases has sequence of rise-knockdown-rise-knockdown-rise.
Bake
The element heats the space around the pan to 248-302 F (120-150 C) to bake the loaf.
There is no setting to change any phase of any course (program) for loaf size.
The mix/knead phases are longer than in many other machines but not as long as in some Panasonic models.
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, Quick Basic, gluten free and cake courses (programs).
Regular and Quick
Zojirushi, like other manufacturers, has Quick progams, variations of the Regular Basic, Bake Whole Wheat and Dough programs. Quick programs are shorter than the so-called regular programs.
One difference between Regular and Quick program are the times (in minutes) that the phases are run:
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
Bake Wheat
31-41
22
27-37
30
20-30
60-70
Quick Wheat
15
27
13
30
0
60
Dough
23
20
45
22
0
x
Quick Dough
10
20
10
10
0
x
The quick programs use more yeast with same amounts of flour, water, salt, and other ingredients. I compared manufacturer recipes for medium (1.5 lb.) loaves, from the manual. The differences between active dry yeast and instant yeast are minor. A user can use instant yeast, if the amount is converted. There are no functional differences between instant yeast and Fast or Quick rise yeast products.
Recipe
Salt
Reg. course Active dry yeast
Reg. course Instant yeast
Quick course Instant yeast
Basic White Bread
1½ tsp.
Basic 4.2 g. (1½ tsp.)
Basic 2.8 g.
4.5 g.
100% Whole Wheat
1 tsp.
Wheat 4.2 g. (1½ tsp.)
Wheat 2.8 g.
4.5 g.
Zojirushi explains 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” for the Quick versions. The brand of yeast is not important. Comparing instant, “Fast-Rise”, Quick, or “Bread Machine” yeast, the yeast strains are equivalent and the amounts and types of coating are the same.
Dough, Starter, Other
This machine will mix and knead dough and rest the dough to rise in the regular and quick dough courses. In these courses, the user should turn the dough out immediately at the end course and shape and bake the loaf.
The Sourdough starter course has a short Mix phase and a single 120 minute Rise (not 3 Rises; i.e. no knockdowns). It will mix any preferment whether called a starter, sponge, poolish, biga. The fermentation time can be extended by leaving the preferment in the pan longer. It is a useful feature for users who want to use a bread machine to assist with more complex recipes.
It has:
cake course for cake mixes, soda bread, corn bread and non-yeasted mixes;
gluten-free bake course for yeasted 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
It provides 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 cannot be set; these are preset.
Other
Not included, but …
The Virtuoso does not have
a French or European bread course,
a rye bread course,
a multigrain course,
a raisin or fruit bread couse or
a No Salt course
but can manage these breads.
French/European/Lean Bread
The Virtuoso does not have a European course which is a feature of the Virtuoso Plus.
The Virtuoso manual provides recipes for French bread styles, and a useful suggestion on programming a “homemade” course to bake a lean bread – it is almost identical to the European bread course in the Virtuoso Plus. It follows the sequence of the Quick Bake course in the BB-PAC20 Virtuoso, but gives the dough more rising time:
Course (Program)
Rest
Mix/Knead
Rise 1
Rise 2
Rise 3
Bake
(Suggested) Home made
22
18
35
50
Off
70
Quick Basic
18
22
20
35
0
50
Rye bread
The Virtuoso can make a “light” rye bread with a mixture of wheat flour and rye flour. Zojirushi addressed this with recipes using the whole wheat program, in its manuals.
MultiGrain
Most loaves which involve mixtures of whole wheat flour, bread flour and most of the no protein (i.e. no gluten formation) flours can be mixed and baked in regular bake and Bake (Whole) Wheat courses.
Raisins, Fruits, Seeds
A bake program, 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.
No Salt
The Virtuoso does not have the No Salt course which is a feature of the Virtuoso Plus, but can manage to bake the Zojirushi No salt sandwich loaf (no salt but made with vinegar) in the regular basic bake course.
Yeast & Salt
Medium Loaves
The pan is short and narrow enough that a medium recipe can be mixed, kneaded, proofed and baked in the pan. This machine can bake a medium (1.5 lb.) loaf, which is 75% of a large loaf recipe, on the factory settings for the regular bake and whole wheat bake programs.
If the dough can relax, flow in the pan and rise. It will bake a medium loaf on the default (i.e. large loaf) settings. The height of a medium loaf 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. Medium loaves may slope, but generally will flow and fill the bottom of the pan.
A few recipes in the manual are for medium (1.5 lb.) versions of large loaf recipes.
I tested the 1.5 lb. (medium) recipes in the manual. I tested the recipes as written – no attempts to reduce salt or yeast, and with adaptations. 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. Weight in grams of main ingredients for medium loaves:
Name
Manual p.
Course
Bread flour
WW flour
Water
Salt
Instant Yeast
Basic 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 doughs flowed to fill the pan, rose, sprung and baked. 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 can be adapted to work with less salt than the recipes in manuals say.
Yeast
Medium loaf recipes from the BLBMC recommend 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 this machine, I need 50-70% of the instant yeast in a BLBMC recipe. This is a little more than the amount that I would use in a Panasonic.
Low and no sodium?
This machine supports low sodium baking, as any bread machine does. But low sodium baking is not discussed in the machine manual.
I began to chart bread machine recipes when I realized that each manufacturer designs its programs for its machines. “Standard” recipes (e.g. Bread Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook) fail in some devices. I experimented with putting recipe information in tables in the TablePress plugin and storing and publishing the table on this site, but have wound down those efforts. A spreadsheet worksheet is a more suitable tool, and allows for formulas to calculate some information. and more formatting practices. I keep some recipes in spreadsheets on a device I can read and alter at home, without going online.
Wet and Dry
Bread machines are either dry (flour) first or wet (water or milk) first, according to manufacturer’s recommendation.
dry first – the yeast goes into the dry bottom of the pan and is covered by flour and dry ingredients; salt is the last dry ingredient. Fluids and water are on top, loaded last.
wet first – water and wet ingredients first, then salt, milk powder, sugar and soluble things, flours; the yeast is last.
Either way, load the machine and let the machine mix the ingredients. Don’t stir or mix. Yeast should stay dry and should not come into contact with salt or salted water until the dough is mixed and kneaded. Loading a dry first machine (e.g. Panasonic) put yeast first, then flour, and go down the table. For a wet first machine (e.g. Zojirushi) I go up the table, and put yeast in last, on top of the flour.
Raisins and fruit are loaded as dry ingredients. They can be loaded in the dispenser if the machine has one, or during the mix phase of a program, at the signal (if the machine has one), or according to a timer, as a recipe will say.
Weight
Weight is important for some ingredients:
Flour determines how large a loaf can be. A medium loaf can be baked in a machine with a medium pan, a large pan or even an extra large pan. A medium loaf will have 3 cups of wheat flour.
Water has to be proportionate to flour to get a dough that kneads, flows, rises and bakes. It varies with flour; some ingredients can add water. Milk is mainly water, but not quite.
Yeast is the principal variable that determine how high the loaf rises. Yeast is necessary to turn flour into dough that can be baked to make bread.
Salt assists the development and structure of the compound protein called gluten. However, most recipes require more salt than necessary. If salt is reducted from what a recipe says, yeast must be reduced or the loaf will rise too much.
Structure
Basic
A worksheet or table is basically a list of ingredients and quantities that I refer to in loading a machine. It list ingredients according to the source, and alternatives and substitutions. It will listt he source recipe amounts, usually by volume. An ingredient without data in this column is not in the source recipe!
I use the top rows in worksheet or tableas the headings for columns. I note loaf size. It is almost always a medium bread machine loaf. I have experimented with scaling to bake smaller loaves but have found that is too complicated. A medium bread machine loaf recipe works in a horizontal pan machine with a large “2 pound” like a Zojirushi BB-PAC20. In some recipes a refer to a large loaf source and scale it down to medium
Other columns can convert a medium loaf recipe to lower salt medium loaves, Columns can be added to calculate chemical elements in bread, such as sodium.
A baker’s percentage column can arrange cells or entries to calculate the Flour weight (flour, sugar dry milk etc., but not salt yeast or herbs seeds, dry fruit, nuts), soluble water weight (water, and water in milk, butter, sweet syrup but not oils) and hydration.
Rows
Rows:
One row can identify the loaf and the recipe source;
A row identified loaf sizes for the ingredients in column. Large is a 2 lb. loaf. Medium is a 1.5 lb. loaf;
A row a row identifies the salt level adaptation
A row can notes the recommended program. Manufacturers’ program names vary. Every manufacturer has basic bake, whole wheat bake, dough (mix and knead but no bake) and cake (bake a batter without mixing and kneading dough) programs;
A row can note what kind of measurements are used in that column – volume, weight or both;
Most rows are ingredients and amounts. I refer to weight for flour, water, salt and yeast. For some other ingredients, measurement by volume is close enough.
Yeast
I record the active dry yeast in the source recipe, if the source calls for active dry yeast. If the amount is by volume, I put that in the table. If the source calls for instant by volume, I put that in the table.
I always convert to instant yeast by weight. I put instant yeast in several rows, as options and aids to calculation:
A row for the highest amount of instant yeast for a medium (1.5 lb.) loaf for information. Using this value for a medium loaf in a 2 lb. pan in a Zojirushi BB-PAC20 is not optimal for that machine, and many other machines. This value is not suitable for the Panasonic SD-YD250 or for the Zojirushi BB-PAC20.
There is a row for Zojirushi BB-PAC20.
Rows for Instant Yeast, Low at 50% of the source or highest level. This figure work for the Panasonic SD-YD250, and some other machines. I refer to it as a benchmark to estimate yeast conversions.
Any vessel that can hold rice and water can cook rice. A rice cooker appliance, a pot on a stove top, or a pressure cooker all cook rice.
For steamed long grain white rice, including Basmati, I often use a normal pot on the stove. I use the Instant Pot for brown rice. I may use the Instant Pot for white rice particularly when I will add the rice to a wok (e.g. nasi goreng) or when I am working on another dish on the stove and want to get the rice ready at the same time.
The cooking directions on a package of rice typically are for steamed rice in an ordinary pot on stove, or a microwave – typically there are no directions for pressure cookers. Typically, such directions suggest 2 or more cups of water for a cup of rice. This approach typically produces soggy rice in stove-top pot or a pressure cooker. (Bad results if the rice is left on the heat too long). A stovetop recipe can be adapted. Package directions have to adjusted, depending on how you like your rice
The ratio of rice to water may be the same for a pressure cooker as a stovetop pot. In any pressure cooker, including a pressure multi-cooker – e.g. an Instant Pot – the preheat and the time at operating pressure bring the water to a boil, and up to operating temperature. The rice is boiled, and then simmers during a 15- 20 minute natural release period (the vessel is sealed, the heat is off and temperature and pressure drop over time). Using the pressure cooker program with natural release adapts the normal approach to steamed rice.
The advice on ratio or rice to water for a conventional pot on a stovetop or pressure cooker converges on a ratio of 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of rice for the first cup of dry rice. Jill Nussenow, the Veggie Queen, will decrease the water for larger amounts of rice. She suggests 1.5 cups of water for the first cup of rice, 1.25 cups of water for the second cup of rice – which means 2.75 cups of water for two cups of rice.
One variable is evaporation – a pressure cooker is sealed, but can release some steam. A pressure cooker requires less water. The ratio, whether cooking the rice in a stovetop pan or pressure cooker, will depend on in part whether the rice has been rinsed or soaked, which partially hydrates the rice.
Instant Pot
A Pressure Multicooker
Rice can be cooked in the Instant Pot insert (cooking vessel), or by a bain-marie method: rice and water in a heat proof ceramic or glass vessel on a trivet above water in base of the pressure vessel. Some ceramic vessels such as Corningware can be used for cooking and serving, and for storage of left-over cooked rice. The cooking times are the same. The amount of rice that can be cooked in a ceramic vessel will be less than can be cooked in the Instant Pot insert.
Rice Program
Information posted by Instant Pot about the rice program:
It uses low pressure and “automatically adjusts the time based on the volume of rice [and water?] you add to the inner pot”;
It cooks “the ever-popular parboiled long grain white rice”, long grain white rice, and medium grain white rice;
Other pressure multi-cookers have similiar programs. It is for medium and long grain white rice, and cooks plain white steamed rice.
The Instant Pot web site recommends the rice program for medium and long grain white rice. It recommends using the pressure cooker program, rather than the rice program, for other kinds of rice. Laura Pazzaglia’s 2009 review of the Instant Pot (links in the Instant Pot manual pages for all models on her site) noted the limitations of the rice program:
Pressure programs designed to cook rice and grains. Because of the decreased evaporation, conventional rice recipes (water to grain ratios) will need to be updated for use in the cooker. We have written a comprehensive guide for pressure cooking rice and grains with the appropriate ratios and cooking times. If the “Rice” setting won’t let you adjust the cooking time, use the “Pressure Cook” setting and adjust the pressure to Instant Pot’s recommended “low” following the same cooking times and ratios recommended in our guide. Remember not to ever fill the inner pot more than the 1/2 full mark with rice/grains and their cooking liquid.
The pressure cooker programs of the Instant Pot allow choice of pressure (high or low), and cooking time. The rice program uses the low pressure settings of the device and automates the preheat, cooking and release/rest time.
In the rice program, in the Ultra model, the display shows a pressure cooking time of 12 minutes at the first step of starting the rice program. The time cannot be adjusted from the control panel. In the Ultra Panel, there is an option for Low/High, which does not appear to be a pressure choice within the rice program – it seems to affect cooking time. The display changes to Auto in my Ultra model when the program starts to run, and through the preheat. It changes to a time, in minutes, when the device comes to pressure. I have not used a Less-Normal-More Instant Pot, such as the Duo. The displayed time seems to be pressure cooking time, and is said to be based on the amount of water and rice, however the machine determines that.
There is contradictory information about white Basmati rice:
Instant Pot’s web material has indicates that white Basmati rice needed a different cooking time and ratio than American white long grain, and should be cooked in the pressure cooker program rather than the rice program. Recipes for the pressure cooker program (e.g. Pazzaglia, Nussenow) recommend 1 ¼ cups water to 1 cup of rice and 2 minutes at high pressure.
Madhur Jaffrey says in Instantly Indian Cooking, the rice program cooks rinsed white Basmati rice in her Duo model. She used rice and water at the ratio of 1:1.3.
The rice program is fine, for rinsed white Basmati rice at the right ratio.
Other Instant Pot Indian food recipes recommend the rice program for white Basmati rice: plain, in pilafs and in dry khichri (also spelled khichdi in English language resources – yellow and/or red lentils and rice).
The rice program can be used with other recipes. It may not lead to the expected outcome.
There are some questionable recipes available. An example. The MaoMaoMom’s Kitchen recipe for Chicken Potato Rice presented on her web site uses the rice program. That recipe works. The same recipe as presented in the 2018 Instant Pot Recipe Booklet said Rice Program, “set to 35 minutes”. A cooking time cannot be set in the rice program; cooking this for 35 minutes in the pressure cooking Program fails – the food burns. The comments on the online recipe indicate misunderstandings about the setting, and the version of that recipe presented in the manual.
Pressure Program
White Rice
The conventional pressure cooker advice for long grain white rice, not rinsed, is a few minutes at High Pressure, typically 3 minutes, followed by 10 minutes or more natural release (letting the pot cool). Christopher Kimball, in Milk Street, Fast and Slow recommends 10 minutes at Low Pressure followed by a natural release. Laura Pazzaglia incorrectly used a 1:2 ratio of long grain white rice and water (1.5 cups rice, 3 cups water) in her printed work, Hip Pressure Cooking (2014) but adjusted to 1:1.5 in her online guide.
For rinsed rice, writers recommend 1.25 cups of water (or less) to 1 cup of rice. Jill Nussenow’s caution about using ratios as the amount of rice is increased (above) is justified.
I get fluffier rice by using slightly (as in only couple tablespoons) less fluid than 1 ¼ cups water for 1 cup of rice. I cook in a ceramic casserole on a trivet inside the Instant Pot (the bain marie method, above). I can do 1.5 cups of rice in 2 cups water in the casserole that fits in a 6 quart Instant pot. This produces fluffy distinct grains. It is dependent on the rice – age and quality.
Recipes for more complex rice dishes can be carried out in Instant Pots and other pressure multicookers, with limitations. There are pressure cooker techniques and recipes for:
pulao and pilaf;
risotto (normally made with starchy short grain white rice e.g. Arborio, Carnaroli);
paella (normally made with certain varieties of short grain white rice e.g. Bomba).
Brown Rice
Brown rice should be done in the pressure cooker program. It takes longer than white rice. A pressure multi-cooker including an Instant Pot or pressure cooker is somewhat faster than a pot on a stove. A pressure cooker recipe specifies the time at pressure. Where a recipe says the cooking time is 20 minutes, the device heats and boils the rice for 10-15 minutes before it reaches high pressure and the cooking temperature. It is simpler.
The pressure setting is usually the high setting. Low pressure might work but the cooking time would be longer than at high pressure. The cooking time depends on the rice and the way you like it. Jill Nussenow suggests that for some brown rice, the grower/seller’s “stovetop” suggested cooking time should be halved. Her default suggestion for brown rice is 22 minutes at high pressure. The ratio water to rice is normally 1.5 cups of water for the first cup of dry (neither soaked or rinsed) rice. For 1.5 cups of rice, 2 to 2 ¼ cups of water produces soft but not mushy rice, with 22 minutes at high pressure.
Resources
Resources and recipes for Instant Pot, pressure cookers and pressure multi-cookers:
The principals of Double Insight developed the Instant Pot pressure multi-cooker in 2008-9. It was on the market by 2012, and took off in 2015-6 with social media and presence in Amazon Market Place. “Instant Pot” is not a trade mark like Vacuum Cleaner or Bandaid. Instant Pot launched a sous-vide heater in 2018, and a blender early in 2019. It merged with Corelle Brand LLC in March 2019, and launched new rice cooker and air fryer appliances in time for Black Friday. Instant Pot markets its pressure multi-cooker as a replacement for other appliances by providing “Smart Programs” that control the cooker to work in a way equivalent to other appliances.
Almost all other pressure multi-cookers, and many devices with a bottom element have a program or setting to brown or sauté. The electric skillet was a common appliance in last few decades of the 20th century. I recall devices with a dial contol marked with temperatures – like a dimmer switch. Some electric skillets had thermostat controls. Instant Pots have a programmed sauté which uses feedback from a “digital temperature sensor”.
The Lux, Duo and Ultra models have three temperature settings for the sauté program, set at target points. The manuals correlate the settings to ranges of temperatures. The Ultra models also allow a user to select or specify a custom temperature:
Duo
Ultra
Range F(C)
Setting F(C)
Less
Low
275-302 (135- 150)
221 (105)
Normal
Medium
320-349 (160-176)
336
More
High
347-410 (175-210)
345
Custom
≥ 104 – ≤ 338 (40-170)
The sensor is outside the cooking vessel at the bottom, below the cooking surface. The device signals “Hot” in the LCD display when the cooking surface is hotter than the set temperature. The Hot signal is an overheat/burn protection system. The transfer of heat to the food lowers the temperature of the cooking surface; the display turns to “On” when food is heated. When the display goes from “On” to “Hot” during cooking, all the moisture has evaporated, and there is a risk of overheating the dried out food.
Instant Pot limits the cooking time on a sauté program to 30 minutes, and automates the time function. For instance, setting a period of less than 5 minutes does not mean that the device will cook at the set level for the programmed time. I have had it reach go from preheat to on to off in a few seconds. I couldn’t find an explanation in the web literature about the device or in Instant Pot’s official web literature. It seems to subtract a few minutes, apparently to adjust for the period of cooking that occurred while the device was reaching operating temperature. The time can be set at 20-30 minutes, and the device treated like a skillet – watch, stir, deglaze – and shut off by stopping the program. (Or keep oven mitts handy and lift the vessel and use it as stovetop pot to simmer or boil or reduce the liquid – whatever).
Using an Instant Pot to sauté is like cooking in a narrow, tall Dutch Oven on a moderately hot stove. The steel pot is preferable – it withstands stirring with various implements, and is easier to clean. The optional tempered glass lid is useful in cooking in sauté program. I find it better to use a skillet when a recipe suggests using the sauté setting to brown an ingredient that has to be removed and set aside.
The Instant Pot’s key program is Pressure Cook, an electric pressure cooker function with high and low pressure/temperature settings, and cooking time programable in one minute increments. Preheating is automated. The device will cook for the programmed time at the operating pressure programmed. It may show a hot or burn setting – some foods are a greater risk for such misadventure. The Duo and Ultra models have two settings for the pressure cooker program. The cooking temperature, when the device has reached that pressure is related to pressure:
Pressure Setting
Pressure (kPa)
Pressure (bars)
Pressure (psi)
Temperature F. (C)
Boiling point
0
212 (100)
Low
40-50
5.8-7.2
229-233 (110-11)
High
70-80
10.2-11.6
240-242 (116-117)
Normal stovetop cooker
15
250 (121)
Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen’s Multicooker Perfection (2018) reported that the Instant Pot Duo (8 quart) heats to 247 F. but takes several minutes longer to reach operating pressure than other pressure multi-cookers and electric pressure cookers. Instant Pot models introduced before 2018 peak at over 13 psi but operate with operating high pressure of 10.2-11.6 psi, in the same operating pressure range as other electric pressure cookers. Electric pressure cooker recipes work in Instant Pots, with few adjustments.
Many “Instant Pot” recipe sources concentrate heavily on the pressure cooker function. Laura Pazzaglia, Barbara Schieving and other pressure cooker writers concentrate on the pressure cooker functions of electric pressure multi-cookers. Laura Pazzaglia suggests recipes should be adapted for pressure unless a recipe uses ingredients that fail under pressure or create functional complications. Her books and web site provide tables for cooking specific items in most pressure cookers at different operating pressures.
Laura Pazzaglia, Barbara Schieving and other writers have several recipes for rice and suggestions for cooking rice on pressure settings. These writers have little to say about the Instant Pot Rice program. The Rice program uses low pressure with automated functions to cook long grain white rice and some short grain white rice. It provides a basic steamed rice function, and may support a few other preparations. It has been a work in progress in the manuals, recipe booklets, independently sourced recipes and support documentation.
Instant Pot identifies three temperature settings for the slow cooker function across the pressure multi-cooker product lines in the 6 and 8 quart models, called by different names for the Duo and Ultra models (5, 6, and 8 quart). Normal (Medium) and More (High) are simmer settings, and supposed to “replace” low and high, the cooking functions in a traditional slow cooker. Less (Low) is supposed to replace the warming setting in a traditional slow cooker. It is not a cooking setting!
Cooks Illustrated/ATK’s Multicooker Perfection (2018) reported that the Instant Pot Duo (8 quart) did not perform well as a slow cooker on that publisher’s repertoire of slow cooker recipes. Some sources provides recipes that can be done using either in pressure cooker program or slow cooker program in an Instant Pot, or another pressure multi-cooker. Cooks Illustrated/ATK doesn’t like Instant Pot for large recipes. Christopher Kimball has tips on how to use an Instant Pot:
Christopher Kimball, Milk Street Fast and Slow, (2020) [update]
A few other Instant Pot or pressure multi-cooker sources provide recipes for slow cooker programs. For instance, Madhur Jaffrey has recipes for lamb (and goat), including a lamb pilaf, using the Instant Pot slow cooker program (her Instantly Indian Cookbook refers to a 6 quart Duo v. 3).
The slow cooker program provides a capability for timed and partially automated slow cooking, but recipes that work in traditional slow cookers will not necessarily work in an Instant Pot or other pressure multi-cooker. The slow cooker program is worth learning.
The Instant Pot product sheet for the Ultra model says the Ultra program “provides complete custom programming for pressure and non-pressure cooking”. Laura Pazzaglia explains the program this way:
…the ability to pre-program the cooker with any cooking time, any temperature or one of two pressures.
…the Ultra feature will let you set the right temperature to, for example, scald milk (180°F/82°C) and melt chocolate (104°F/40°C).
The Ultra function temperature range is ≥ 104 – ≤ 208 F (40-97.7 C). People experiment using the Ultra function for Sous-vide. It would be wise to use a thermometer to verify the temperature of the water.
This post was published in August 2019 but has been updated as I have given more thought to it or had interesting experiences. It is easier for me to edit the post than to write new posts.
Devices
A pressure cooker reaches cooking temperatures above the boiling point of water (212 F. or 100 C.). Pressure cooking involves time to bring water to a boil, reach cooking temperature, and a period at the operating pressure and temperature. Pressure cookers use high heat to build pressure and get food to a cooking temperature; low heat to maintain heat and pressure. Pressure cookers have sealing lids and valves. The lids are metal with locking rims. The cook cannot see what is going on an monitors the events in the pot by watching valves pot shut and by readouts in electronic models.
Most devices have low and high pressure settings. The American standard for high pressure limit is 15 psi; the European standard is 1 bar, or 14.6 psi. Stovetop pots tended to go to those limits, although many did not. Stovetop pots were the standard for most recipes until electric pressure cookers became more common in the last decade of the 20th century. Electric pressure cookers cook at lower pressure and temperature than the upper limit(s); but above the boiling point.
Laura Pazzaglia observes on her Hip Pressure Cooking site FAQ that:
To facilitate the writing of pressure cooker cookbooks and sharing recipes, there is an un-official standard. This standard includes the maximum operating pressure for American Pressure Cookers (15 psi) and the maximum operating pressure for most modern European Cookers (which is about 13 psi for spring-valve type cookers).
At the time of the writing of this article, most electric pressure cookers reach 15 psi but they do not cook at 15 psi. … electric pressure cookers reach 15 psi briefly during the warming process. Electric pressure cookers build pressure up to 15 psi but then maintain a lower pressure during the cooking. … the “operating pressure” is 11.6 even though the cooker reaches 15 psi while it’s building pressure. “Operating Pressure” is the true pressure at which an electric pressure cooker cooks.
Electric pressure cookers and multicookers cook at lower pressure and temperature that standard devices. There are exceptions; e.g. – Instant Pot Max, marketed in 2018, is said to operate at the standard pressure.
Laura Pazzaglia’s Hip Pressure Cooking site FAQ has a pressure/temperature graph. The lower pressures of electric pressure cookers require an adjustment to cooking times from standard recipes.
An electric pressure cooker has an outer shell, a heating element, an inner pot, a sealing lid and a control set. A modern machine has a microprocessor and an electronic control panel. The device turns the heating element on to sauté or build pressure. When operating temperature and pressure are reached, it cycles off and on to maintain pressure and temperature. The device will turn the heat off at the end of the period entered as the cooking time (at the operating pressure), and sound an alarm.
Pressure Release
Recipe sources and manual use terms for the two main options for when to use the pressure release valve – the end of the period of operating pressure, or after waiting for pressure to come down. Examples:
Sources
End of OP
Wait
Instant Pot Recipe Booklet
Quick Release
Natural
Sass, Cooking under Pressure
Quick Release
Naturally
ATK, Multicooker Perfection
Quick
Natural
Pazzaglia, hip Pressure Cooking
Normal
Natural
Schieving, Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook
Quick
Natural
Clark, Dinner in an Instant
Manual
Natural
There are variations on each release method including modified or slow (i.e. incremental, pulsed) quick release and a timed wait with a manual release to be able to open the pot.
Cooking Times
Recipe sources are consistent in describing cooking times in for pressure cookers and pressure cooker programs by time at high or low pressure; pressures vary between standard (stovetop) and electric devices. This is worth checking before cooking.
Laura Pazzaglia has charts on a cooking times page at her Hip Pressure Cooking site. Her charts recognize that there are differences between stovetop and electric machines and different brands and machines by leaving some parameters within ranges. Some writers provide notes about performance on some recipes in specific devices.
The charts will reduce cooking times for beans (and other legumes) that have been soaked. There are differences between botanically related beans. Cannellini beans (also called white kidney beans) take up more water when soaked than other phaseolus vulgaris beans. Soaked phaseolus beans can be cooked completely in 8-10 minutes at high pressure. Some recipes call for parcooking the beans and adding more ingredients. It is important to not overcook the beans in the parcooking phase – the beans may start to release their contents, which thickens the cooking broth. An Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker will detect that the pot is overheating, and shut down with a “burn” condition report.
An electric pressure cooker provides the option of cooking without the pressure sealing lid using a sauté setting (or any hot setting that can be activated without locking the lid). Some have multiple saute (the device serves as an electric skillet) settings, some have only one saute setting. This is a way to use the device to cook some ingredients (e.g. softening onions and “blooming” spices and garlic and ginger) before filling the cooking pot and starting the pressure cooker. Using these settings to cook ingredients that have to be removed and added later is less convenient – it may be better to use the pressure cooker pot for other prep steps and pressure cooking, and manage the saute item in a skillet or wok on the stove. An electric pressure cooker is narrow and tall, and not easily handled and used like skillet. A user may needs to able to continuing cooking after the pressure cooking has ended – some final simmering to reduce a dish or cook ingredients added after the pressure cooking. The sauté setting may be too hot for anything less than a full rolling boil. Most electric pressure cookers have a simmer setting or an equivalent (the slow cooker setting will simmer warm contents below the boiling point).
Laura Pazzaglia in her book hip Pressure Cooking (2014) and on her web site provides times for both standard and electric pressure cookers. She doesn’t have a formula. The addtional cooking time may be zero or may as much as 50%. Her tables are available online at her hippressurecooking site. Her tables are consistent with the view that necessary adjustments are variable depending on ingredient and release method (and release time).
Jill Nussinow (below), writing mainly about vegetables, thought that standard pot recipe cooking time did not have be lengthened for an electric pot where the release is slow or natural – the device provided enough cooking time because electric pressure cookers provide a little extra cooking time coming to pressure and while the pressure drops.
Many electric pressure cookers and multi-cookers have sauté functions; some call it “brown” or “browning”. They vary in temperature; usually hot enough to melt fats but not always warm enough to carmelize the food. Some have a button or setting to engage a “simmer” function. Simmer is a setting in Fagor/Zavor Lux devices that to heat the food at 200 F for up to 30 minutes. Instant Pots can simmer at a slow cooker setting; the slow cooker “high” setting should match the Fagor/Zavor simmer setting. The temperature is an indirect reading – it is what the manufacturer says in the manual and is calibrated to what a sensor outside the pot is reading.
Resources
Recipe books and web sites for pressure cookers, electric pressure cookers, and multi-cookers:
An “Instant Pot” pressure recipe should work in any electric pressure cooker or pressure capable multi-cooker; but variations may be needed; with adjustments of time, an “Instant Pot” pressure recipe should work in a stovetop or standard pressure cooker. Books since 2010 have generally provided standard and electric times. Laura Pazzaglia’s hip Pressure Cooking takes this approach. Other books have specifically electric pressure cooker recipes. The Instant Pot and multi-cooker books are useful. These books suggest foods that work well in a pressure cooker and provide recipes that can be cooked for company. Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant (2017);Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen Multicooker Perfection (2018); Milk Street Fast and Slow (2020).
Instant Pot has used different terms for preset sauté temperatures in its pressure multi-cookers; and a recipe source may use the term for one model. Other electric pressure cookers and multi-cookers will be different in some ways. A stovetop user has to use the heat setting of the the stove or cooktop.
A user will have to see what the food is doing when using any pressure cooker as a skillet. Using an Instant Pot, or any other elecrtric presssure coouer to sauté is like cooking in a narrow, tall Dutch Oven on a moderately hot stove. I find it better to use a skillet when a recipe suggests using the sauté setting to brown an ingredient that has to be removed and set aside. If sauté in the Instant Pot, the steel pot is preferable – it withstands stirring with various implements, and is easier to clean. The optional tempered glass lid is useful in cooking in sauté program.
I used a slow cooker for many years, and invested time and effort in learning that method of cooking.
Slow cookers braise food in liquid at low heat. Most slow cookers made from the 1950s to the early 21st century used ceramic crocks heated by a single electric heating element- low powered and poorly insulated. Elements were like elements in electric ovens and toaster ovens: straight metal, shaped into a circle or oval to surround the lower part of crock. Elements in modern machines are ribbon or wire elements in a belt. In some modern machines the element may have insulation. In basic devices the power is turned on to allow a constant electric current produces constant heat stated as in watts. The element heats the crock which heats the food. The heat at the element will be greater than the temperature of the inside surface of the crock. The element may be contolled by a switch or a control panel.
The ceramic crock slow cooker was inspired by the ceramic beanpot. This article on CNET has pictures and illustrations of old devices. Ceramic beanpots, like Dutch ovens and casseroles, cook dry beans in water or broth. Beanpots involved long cooking times at low heat. The constraints for dry beans are heat and time. The heat source had to provide steady low heat, and keep the cooking water below the boiling point of water (212 F. or 100 C.). A slow cooker can be used like a beanpot, to cook beans in fluid. If heat is constantly applied, the beans will be heated, and simmered or gently boiled. Writers (e.g. Anupy Singla, The Indian Slow Cooker; Rick Bayless, Mexican Every Day) suggested several hours on high in a normal ceramic crock slow cooker. Some beans need a long time on high. e.g. chickpeas (garbanzo beans), black urad beans, or red kidney beans. Some recipes incorrectly suggest that dry chickpeas cook in 6 hours on low.
The ceramic crock slow cooker would cook root vegetables in a few hours; less dense material more quickly. Rival (now a Jarden Brand) began to build and market the Crock-Pot in the 1970’s (by the 1990’s “the Original Slow Cooker”) as a device to cook stew and chili. Rival and its competitors pushed the standard size of the crock from 5 quarts to 6 or 7 quarts. The manufacturers increased the wattage of elements to meet concerns that the device was not cooking the food well enough to be safe and palatable after 8 hours of cooking. Another innovation: the three and four position switch. With the latter the cook can select Off; Warm; Low; High. Warm is not a cooking setting. High means the element runs hotter than low. This article says that 7 hours on low is equivalent to 3 hours on high.
I used a 6 quart ceramic crock Crock-Pot with a manual off-low-high switch for years. It heated the ingredients enough: it created humidity under the lid and some bubbling in the pot; some ingredients would bake to the sides. I made stews and chilies that filled the pot to 2/3 to 3/4, cooked on low for 5-7 hours. I refrigerated or froze leftovers. The chilis I made were American chili con carne, a stew that may involve meat, beans, bell peppers, chili peppers, and vegetables. Mexican and Central American versions feature the flavour of chili peppers, and use beans. American versions often stress meat and minimize beans, but there are bean free and meatless recipes.
These slow cooker recipes require precooked or canned beans. Many slow cooker recipes for recommend using canned beans, because beans take long than any other ingredient. Most canned beans (most canned vegetables) are cooked in the can in a salty broth; salt is used to counteract the effects of this cooking – manufacturers think that without salt, the food takes on offensive flavours. This is a problem for many people – no sodium beans are available but consumers have to find them.
I tried a recipe with dry white chickpeas in that device once. The other ingredients were well cooked at 6 hours on low before but the beans were not done – rather crunchy. Chickpeas are said to need 3 hours or 4 hours on high in a crock pot or slow cooker. I haven’t tried that; I won’t. I am suspicious about recipes that say that chickpeas can be done in less than 10-12 hours. I have since done curried chickpeas (using a chana masala spice blend); cooking time of 14 hours on high.
In June 2015, Rival published a statement about Crock-Pots that can still be seen in the Wayback Machine archive here. It includes these assertions and disclaimers about cooking, food safety and slow cooker:
The simmering point of water is 209 F.;
The contents of a crock should reach that point in 7 to 8 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high;
Food doesn’t need to reach the boiling point for safe eating – the simmer point is acceptable;
The safe to serve internal temperature is around 160 degrees, which your food may reach well before three hours.
Just use your best discretion.
Rival did not say which ceramic crock slow cookers could bring food or fluid to 209 F. in under 3 hours on high or low setting. The simmering point of water usually refers to a range from 185 F. to 205 F. The water has thermal energy and bubbles slowly. A small amount of water turns to gas, condenses, and becomes visible as a mist. The water is not actually boiling and the mist is not steam, which is the gas made up of water molecules at a temperature in excess of the boiling point of water.
Simmered food should reach an equilibrium that is will be sustained for a time. The situation will change when heat is added to the system, too much evaporation has occurred, or the food is cooked.
The food safety aspect of cooking is to avoid the conditions in which bacteria contaminate the food. Bacteria are dead in frozen food, dormant in cold food, and die off at about 140 F. They thrive in cool to warm food. They digest the food and excrete complex chemicals that spoil or poison the food. Most cooking methods raise the temperature fast.
Books and recipes before 2016/17 assume 5.5-6 quart ceramic crock slow cookers with high and low cooking settings. Culinary writers try to get a stew, chili or curry done in 6 hours or less – fast slow cooking. Cook’s Illustrated/America’ Test Kitchen produced three America’s Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution cookbooks 2011-2015. Each discussed the uses and some of limitations of the device, and provided workable techniques and recipes – addressing the ceramic crock slower. Each book had product reviews of a few products. The products tended to work the same way.
Innovations extended product lines and marketing opportunities; some innovations added some value for consumers. Timers give cooks an option to turn off or turn down the heat. Jarden/Rival had a line of Smart-Cookers with buttons that allowed the user to select 4 or 6 hours on high, or 8 or 10 on low. These are not what a user may want. The Crock-Pot Count-Down timer was a good innovation and has been widely emulated.
The limitations of ceramic crock slow cookers include:
A 6 or 7 quart crock is heavy;
The crock could not sauté, fry, or roast food. Some ingredients have to be cooked in a skillet or other vessel first to ensure the dish would be fully cooked, or to enhance flavour (bloom spices, heat onions and garlic, brown some ingredients);
The ceramic crock cannot be used on stove elements, in hot ovens, or in microwave ovens;
Manufacturers and culinary writers warn users
to not lift the lid or stir the food;
to not add cold ingredients into a hot crock;
The food near the element gets hot first and is always hotter. Food touching the crock near the element may brown, stick or even burn;
Ceramic crocks develop cracks and break down. The heat source is in a belt around the lower part of the crock; recipes place variable demand on the device. Manufacturers deflect by blaming users for ignoring warnings and limit their liability to short warranty periods.
Replacement ceramic inserts are hard to find – out of production, or out of stock;
The device draws power constantly. It is cheaper and more efficient than using an oven, but not as efficient as other appliances.
Devices sold as slow cookers or having a slow cooker function, in 2019:
oval or round vessels with surrounding elements with ceramic cooking vessels or chambers;
oval or round vessels with surrounding or bottom elements, with metal, coated metal cooking vessels or chambers
round metal pots with bottom elements (electric pressure cookers and other multicookers).
Slow cooker sizes vary. There are many 3 and 4 quart devices. 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 quart models were common – nearly standard. There have been a few 7.5 and 8 quart models. There are roasting pans/ovens in the shape and style of slow cookers – these are larger than slow cookers.
Some modern slow cookers have metal pans, with non-stick or ceramic coatings. Metal pan slow cookers may have the heating element in an aluminum hotplate below the pan – like rice cookers and electric pressure cookers. A rice cooker heats a metal pot of rice and fluid to a boil, and uses automated controls to change the heat to low simmer. An electric pressure cooker brings the contents of the pot to a rolling boil with a hotplate element (e.g. Instant Pots: 1000 watts in 6 quart pots). A pressure cooker heats food and fluid to the boiling point; under pressure the temperature rises higher. The elements in these devices are below at the cooking vessel, and temperature and pressure sensors are outside the inner pot.
Machines with high wattage elements and/or metal pots rely on temperature sensors and programmed controls to prevent the food from overheating. Temperature sensors are typically outside the cooking vessel, and read a temperature at a point on the outside surface. The chip makes progammed calculations that control the current and the read out/display, if any. Usually, the control chip turns the element off when a set temperature is reached, and turns it for short periods on maintain temperature at the point calculated by the manufacturer’s team. The temperature of the contents of the vessel over time should rise and then graph as peaks and troughs along a mean.
Cook’s Illustrated/America’ Test Kitchen The Complete Slow Cooker (2017) recommended modern slow cookers with features including temperature sensors, countdown timers and electronic controls. CI/ATK tested heating performance by heating 4 quarts of water in 6 and 7 quart slow cookers Parts of the tests and results are in a YouTube video and a background story. There is a graph which shows that several devices in their tests will heat the water to 210 F. on high heat in about three hours; other devices take longer. CI/ATK pointed out that many newer machines run too hot to execute the CI/ATK library of slow cooker recipes. They like devices that heat the food to nearly the boiling point in a few hours and stabilize the heat. CI/ATK highly recommended a 6 quart KitchenAid ceramic crock model with a 350 watt belt element, and a Cuisinart model with a coated aluminum pan and a 250 watt hotplate element.
Wattage does not necessarily predict results. A 200-250 watt element is not hot enough to to fry in a metal pot. It heats the food faster in a metal pot than a ceramic. Ceramic crock machines with lower wattage elements will not heat water to 210 F. in 3 hours on high. Crock-Pot has 370 watts for an 8 quart crock, 240 watts for 6 quart models and 210 watts for 4 quart models. These machines would execute most recipes within the parameters of the recipe books, with a little variation depending on the crock and the contents of the crock. A few hours at low may be enough for soup, stew and chili. Several hours at high will do dry beans.
The hypothesis of Catching Fire is that cooking food was a learned cultural practice that affected the physiological evolution of human beings. It used “external” energy to make eating and digesting food take less time and liberated people to get on with life.
Ceramic cooking vessels were the dominant technology in societies in which people had stable homes. They were/are heavy and might be fragile, as compared to metal. They were the dominant technology until metal could be mined, refined and worked at scale – economically accessible. The Romans had sophisticated ceramics – the decline of the Roman empire is marked in the archeological record by the decline of the quality of ceramics. Ceramic vessels have been regarded as primitive and superceded in most cultures and have hung on as a specialty method of cooking.
The metal cooking vessel was allowed food to be fried, roasted, boiled or braised. The combination of metal cooking vessels and reasonably safe and efficient stoves that created heat with electricity or fuel enabled people to work with raw ingredients and “staple” processed ingredients (e.g. rice, dried beans, flour) to cook. The kitchen stove in the 20th century, heated by electrical energy or gas, provided direct heat applied to base of the cooking vessel by elements or burners, and an oven. The top worked with metal vessels, primarily. The user had to set the energy level, monitor the time and temperature and work the food around the pan. It is better than cooking with wood or coal, but it required some skill and effort and used energy.
Cast iron was a dominant technology in 19th century Europe and America. Carbon steel became (and remains) was a popular material to make woks and karahis in Asia. Thick walled vessels were durable and managed to distribute heat evenly. Thin walled vessels were vulnerable to dents and dings, and could easily scorch food. Lighter and less expensive thin-walled, vessels dominated the markets in Europe and America for most of the 20th century. Technological innovations included stainless steel, clad (bonded layers of stainless steel surfaces over other metal that held and conducted heat) bases, multi-ply vessels, induction pans.
American and European tradition culinary writers favoured using heavy cast iron or steel pans to fry or roast to get the outer layers of some food to carmelize (brown), and using technique (e.g. deglazing) to get the carmelized matter out of the pan and into a sauce or gravy that would reach the plate. Enamel on iron and enamel on steel coatings make metal less prone to stick, more resitant to corrosion, and simplied maintenace and care. Bare iron had to be treated or seasoned. This was the folk wisdom of cooks, recited by culinary writers. Cast iron cookware was durable, which led to interest in restoring and using old cast iron ware. The modern manufacturers and culinary writers theorized, experimented and tested the principles of seasoning iron. The idea of seasoning by baking a coating of flaxseed oil became a dominant theory around 2010:
American writers favoured the large skillet to fry and sauté most food, and as shallow roasting pan – even as a substitute for a wok.
Teflon and other chemical non-stick coatings developed in mid to late 20th century had benefits and drawbacks. The coatings could be scratched during use or cleaning – the utensils have to be softer than the utensils that work with bare metal. Some coatings degrade if the pan is overheated, or under heavy use. Hard anodized aluminum is marketed as non-stick. There have been technical advances. True advances cannot be readily identified in the background noise of product marketing “reviews”.
A few pans and utensils and a stove will see most cooks through most tasks. A few specialty applicances can cook some food with less adjustment of stove temperatures and work over the stove. A flat bottom wok, with a durable non stick coating, is a versatile pan which can serve as a skillet, a deep sauté pan and a wok.
Dry beans are the dry ripe seeds of legumes, also known as pulses. Grain usually refers to the ripe seeds of cereal crops – grassy plants. Dry beans are grain within this definition, used in agriculture and commerce :
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes.
Dry beans are legumes, Fabaceae s.l. (or Leguminosae), a “family” of plants as defined by the APG System (III), which includes 730 genera of plants. Most legumes cultivated for human consumption are classified as being in one of these genera:
genus Lens – lentils
genus Vicea (including the genera known once as Vigna and Faba) – vetches, lupins, broad beans
genus Cicer – chickpeas
genus Pisam – peas
genus Glycine – soybeans
genus Arachis – peanuts
genus Phaseolus – (Central and South) American beans
Plants have been moved from the original regions where plants evolved by “natural” processes and by human intervention. Some human interventions occurred before historical records were made. The fact that dry beans were grown, stored or consumed can be inferred from archaeological evidence. Some interventions are a matter of historical record. One such event is known, perhaps euphemistically, among historians as the Columbian exchange in the period of European colonization (from the 15th through the early 20th centuries). One effect of this trade is that American legumes in the genus and species Phaseolus vulgaris have been cultivated and consumed in parts or Eurasia for centuries. Some writers interpolated or speculated that some legumes – e.g. black-eyed peas (an ingredient in the “Southern” recipe for “Hoppin’ John”) – were introduced to the Southern US by African persons brought to the US as chattel slaves, or by slave traders, or by entrepreneurs?
Many records are not known to consumers, farmers and suppliers of seeds and dry bean commodities. Botanical names are not used to identify the products of farming, in the markets. Many dry beans are known by common names that refer to cultivars: cultivated varieties. Some legumes are cultigens: plants that have been deliberately altered or selected by humans, by means of genetic modification, graft-chimaeras, plant breeding, or wild or cultivated plant selection. These plants have commercial value in horticulture, agriculture and forestry
Commodities
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization refers to dry beans as dry grains, and counts 11 types of dry pulses. Split pulses are commonly called grams. Some whole pulses are called also called grams, depending on the source of information. Beans harvested fresh, such as the green bean(which is on variant of the species Phaseolus Vulgaris, are not considered to be dry pulses, Nor are soybeans. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization list of dry pulses:
dry beans,
dry broad beans,
dry peas,
chickpeas,
cow peas,
pigeon peas,
lentils,
bambara beans,
vetches,
lupins, and
pulses not elsewhere specified.
Lentils are variants of one or two of the species in Lens, an Asian plant that was known to the Romans and cultivated in European areas of the Roman Empire. Lentils have a flat, disk-like shape. In markets, lentil may be identified by the colour of the hull or the hulled grain (see the Lentil#Types section on the Wikipedia page):
Red lentils are processed by hulling and splitting brown lentils. Red lentils are called dal in the languages of Indian farmers, markets and cooks. Asian brown lentils are small. North American farmers grow larger varieties of brown lentils for processing. I am not sure that red lentils, also described as pink or salmon, are different from hulled brown lentils;
In the North American grocery market, large brown and green lentils grown in the USA and Canada, are common.
Black lentils.
Yellow split lentils are hulled split moong (mung) beans. Yellow split lentils can be cooked like other split lentils and are regarded as dal in the languages of Indian farmers, markets and cooks.
Broad beans, and faba (or fava) beans are vetches (Vicia faba); Lupini beans are lupins. Broad beans and lupins are the original Mediterranean and European dried beans. Peas are variants of Pisum sativa.
Chickpeas are Cicer arietinum. There are two or three cultivars:
White chickpeas (garbanzo bean; Egyptian pea; kabuli chana) have been grown, cooked and consumed around the Mediteannean and in Asia for a few millenia of recorded history.
Dark (black and green) chickpeas (bengal gram) have been cultivated in Southern Asia (India),since before recorded history.
Urad beans, (black gram) and moong (mung) beans (green gram) are beans, not lentils and varieties of Vignamungo. Black urad beans, when hulled or split, are regarded as dal in Indian cooking. The whole beans, also, are cooked like dal – usually.
Cowpeas and black-eyed peas are beans, varieties of Vignaunguiculata.
Pigeon peas (red gram), are beans, classified as Cajanus cajan .
Many dry beans are variants of Phaseolus vulgraris. P. Vulgaris is a versatile species, evolved in the Americans. It includes green beans which are harvested fresh and brought to market fresh, or canned, or frozen. P. Vulgaris can grow as vines, or a bushes. P. Vulgaris vines were grown one of the three sisters grown and consumed by several North American First Nations (indigenous people). The dry bean P. Vulgaris variants used in Central and North American recipes include pinto, navy, Great Northern, white kidney, red kidney, cranberry and black turtle beans. Phaseoli were exported (Columbian exchange) to Europe and Asia within decades after European contact with South and Central America. White kidney beans and cranberry beans were adopted and adapted in Italian, Mediterranean, and European cooking and agriculture. White kidney beans are the Cannellini beans in Italian recipes. Descendants of the cranberry bean are known as Romano and Borlotti beans in Italian recipes. Red Kidney beans have become a north Indian food. Some sources recite old botanical taxonomy and refer to some Vicea dry beans evolved in Europe and Asia as Phaseolus.
In Indian cooking, dal refers to several dry legumes:
hulled or split legume seeds (pulses) – split peas, moong (mung) beans, red lentils.
whole grams: lentils, urad beans, mung beans, and pigeon peas.
split dark chickpeas and whole chickpeas, white or dark
red kidney beans.
In some Indian regions, red kidney beans are grown, processed, sold and/or cooked as Rajma. Red kidney beans are a varietal of Phaseolus vulgaris.
There are botanical and culinary differences between Asian urad beans (very small, hard black beans, botanically Vigna mungo) and medium small black turtle beans (botanically Phaseolus vulgaris.
Cooking dry legumes uses resources including time, labour and fuel or power. Canned beans are cooked to a point, canned, and cooked in the can at high temperature. Canned beans are high in sodium, except for some brands. After the food industry became able to present cooked or parcooked canned dry beans in the retail and restaurant supply markets, cooking dry beans meant heating and stirring for the majority of home cooks. Dry beans were or remained a culinary interest in the industrialized countries of Europe and America in the 2nd half of the 20th century:
Some recipes focused on traditional methods such as ceramic cooking vessels. Paula Wolfert and others writers who wrote about Mediterranean (southern Europe, the Aegean countries, the Levant and North Africa) cooking techniques almost unknown modern times. The fascination with travel fed culinary exploration. For instance Books by Yotam Ottolenghi in the early 21st century .
Works on central American cooking and south Asian cooking addressed the preparation of dry beans. Some discussed ceramics but most techniques involved metal cooking vessels.
Recipes were developed for vegetarians and vegans. Recipes were developed for slow cookers and pressure cookers; even microwave cooking. Anything that would braise or boil dry beans.
Dry pulses last years. Old pulses are drier and harder to cook. It is hard to tell when the beans were harvested – age is not easily judged from appearance.
Dry pulses have to be cooked in water. The cooking time depends on the seed, age, and cooking method. Many recipe books understate cooking time for some pulses. Dry beans can be soaked in water and cooked at the same time by simmering for a long time, soaked separately, or soaked and cooked fast and hot.
Clay pot cooking was used in many cultures – ceramics predated metal cooking vessels. The word olla is Spanish, based on Latin; the Romans had good pottery. After the decline of the Roman empire, the olla – the bulbous cooking pot – was the common ceramic vessel. Paula Wolfert wrote, in the late 20th century about cooking in ceramic pots. Rick Bayless wrote about ceramic beanpots in several books about Central American (Mexican) cooking, in the late 20th century. Mexican and Central American cooks simmered pinto beans and black (turtle) beans in an olla in enough water to keep the beans covered in water through the entire process. With this method, the beans were not soaked or pre-cooked. According to Rick Bayless writing in Mexico, One Plate at a Time (Scribner, 2000), at p. 192, cooking in an olla heated the beans and water to 205-210 degrees (F). The beans would be cooked for several hours. Little water was lost to evaporation. The beans absorbed much of the water, and the remaining water became a broth. Some of the constraints on this method and device were starting early enough to get the beans cooked by meal time, using enough water, and keeping the heat low and steady.
Stoves and ovens became the preferred approach where hot stoves were workable, including Europe and North America. Stovetop elements and burners heat the contents of metal pots above the boiling point of water, even at the lowest settings. With stoves, metal pots and cheap energy or fuel, the prevalent approach became to soak and boil.
A ceramic or metal beanpot or casserole (e.g. a Dutch Oven) filled with beans and water can be put in an oven set as low as 250 F. to simmer the beans slowly; many recipes suggest a hotter oven. The constraints on slow simmering and baking are starting early enough to get the beans cooked by meal time, using enough water, keeping the heat steady and limiting the escape of steam from the pot.
The 20th century traditional slow cooker gets the beans and water hot enough to simmer. Slow cooker times dependent on the device, and the amount of beans and water, are often unreliable. Some dry beans – mainly small split lentils – will cook in a slow cooker in few hours on the traditional low setting without soaking.
Rick Bayless agreed in Mexican Everyday (2005) that a slow cooker was a method of cooking pinto beans, black turtle beans and some other phaseolus beans – without soaking. His recipes use 6 hours on the traditional high setting – which is normally calibrated below 205 degrees Celsius (simmering not boiling). Other slow cooker approaches work with “low” slow cooker setting without soaking:
Black turtle beans can be done in 6 hours;
Pinto beans take up to about 8 hours.
Many dry pulses require hours on the high slow cooker setting: urad beans, even when the pulses have been soaked: rajma (red kidney beans) and chana dal (chickpeas).
A pressure multi-cooker – i.e. an electric pressure cooker (e.g. Instant Pot) with a slow cooker program does not work like a traditional slow cooker. Not all pressure multi-cooker models reach and maintain the expected or optimal slow cooking temperature. Multi-cookers may (e.g. Instant Pots) refer to the “low” slow cooker cooking temperature as “medium” and use the term “low” for a “keep warm” setting.
A pressure cooker will cook dry pulses. Modern pressure cooking cookbooks and resources have trust-worthy suggested times.
Soaking before cooking reduces the cooking time for dry beans. It depends on the seed coat (hull), size and the cellular structures of the bean. Soaking is often assumed or overlooked in recipes and discussions. Some recipes, as noted above, omit soaking. There are variations on soaking:
long-soaking in at ambient (room) temperature,
quick-soaking in boiling water; Some recipes cook dry beans for a short time in boiling water before baking them’
soaking in brine,
adding baking soda to the cooking water.
Some recipes for some pulses aim to break the pulse down to a sauce, soup or gruel. Some will call for mashing a few cooked beans to thicken the sauce. Many aim to get the beans soft, but whole.
