After more than three years of very happily bread making in a Hitachi
HB B-102, I suddenly began to have failures. When I first started using
the bread machine, I always heated the water to 80 degrees in the
microwave. AT some time, I guess during the summer, I began to skip this
step with no problem. (However at this time of year our water is very
cold) I still did not heat the water because I was using the delay cycle
and felt that everything would warm up long before the cycle started and
also belived that the machine had a prewarmer which made temperatures
unimportant. I called Hitachi and asked them about this matter. I was
told that the machine senses the temperature of the water and other
ingredients at the time you start the timer - even on delay - and that
the water should be warm. I really thought this sounded silly but
decided to try heating the water as recommended. It worked and the bread
rose beautifully. Hope this hint helps others.
Marcia