Rubbish at BM Bread - Help !

I know from some friends that the recipes supplied with their machines produces over sweet house bricks - perhaps it's worth investing in a BM cookbook or trying one of the recipes here?

An expensive way is to start off with the ready mixes and work backwards - if the ready mix turns out okay, you have a rough idea of what it should look like when it goes in - and what ingredients the ready mix uses.

Hi,

Sorry you are having trouble. I find with a BM that it is important to measure things accurately (certainly for the flour and water). As others have said, you can be flexible with the sugar, and so on.

Wha kind of flour are you using - for decent bread it does need to be "Strong" flour as that will have sufficient gluten to allow the bread to rise properly. Similarly, I find the quick acting yeast better (though I have had success with ordinary dried yeast).

What recipe are you using - probably best to start with the ones that came with your machine until you build up confidence to adapt others. White bread should be the most reliable.

Are you adding the ingredients in the order suggested by you BM manufacturer - that does make a difference too.

Don't give up - whatever the disaster you will invariably find that the "bricks" will make excellent toast, but I admit, they are not too good for sandwches!.

Regards,

White

bizzy_lizzie wrote:

I will invest a some better flour then from the local mill instead of Lidl, i'll be more carefull with my measuring
Bizzy

the Lidl strong flour for breadmaking should be fine, I've made some lovely loaves with it. in fact I've had better results with it than the expensive Allinson's I bought when it was on BOGOF recently. maybe just different makes of BM being fussy about the kind of flour used?

is your yeast 'live' & working ok?

are you using the measuring cup & spoons that came with your BM? as the others have pointed out, the flour/liquid ratio needs to be much more accurate than with hand-made bread. I've found that if the dough's too wet, the loaf will rise spectacularly then collapse, & if it's too dry, it just won't rise well in the first place. both result in a horrible dense brick-like loaf

if your BM doesn't have a pre-warming function, making sure all the ingredients are at a comfortable room temperature before starting helps too. found that one out the hard way, I forgot that hand-kneading helps to warm the ingredients & assumed the BM would be the same :rolleyes:

what make is your BM? maybe someone else with the same model might be able to offer some advice

seraphina's idea about trying a breadmix is a very good one. a word of warning about the Lidl mixes though, I find them far too salty & the instructions specify too much water for my BM, a Morphy Richards Fastbake (kindly donated by a friend who never used it )

I've not had my machine very long & have learned so much from the kind people on this forum. so keep trying, they'll get you there in the end