Breadmaking - recipes, hints, tips, questions

jcr16

well i can see through the top of bread maker and it looks ok and smells gorgeous. but it has 32 mins left to run. so i'll wait and see.

my bread maker is about 3 1/2 years old. we got it as a wedding present. and i have only ever made bread in it. but it has a setting for jam , dough , french bread , sweet pasty and cakes so i may try the other options out in the near future. homemade jam on homemade just sounds scrummy.

heatherw_01

Anyone have any tips? I have a cookworks breadmaker but everytime I make bread it is quite stodgy instead of light and fluffy.

What am I doing wrong?

GreenFingers_2

JackieO wrote:

Hi I am thinking of investing in a breadmaker. Any easy to use ones out there as I have a slight mobility problem and can't lift anything too heavy.
Also I am looking for an easy one to use, as in the past I have made bread to hard way i.e.kneading ect,.
So price, and ease of use is important, and will it save me money.I am fed up of the cotton wool type of bread in the supermarkets It goes mouldy so quickly and I end up throwing it out for the birds.They are better fed than me at times !

Hello Jackio,

I think many of the Bread Makers are quite chunky machines. I have a Panasonic 253 SD and is wonderful and very easy to use from a ‘Pressing the Buttons’ and bread making point of view.

The machine itself weighs 7.5 Kg or 16.8 lbs so for someone with a disability or has difficulty lifting or moving items this may be of concern depending upon personal circumstances. To attempt a rough analogy, try to imagine the Bread Maker is the equivalent in weight to a stack of 30 packets of butter.

Hope this helps.

squeaky

heatherw_01 wrote:

Anyone have any tips? I have a cookworks breadmaker but everytime I make bread it is quite stodgy instead of light and fluffy.

What am I doing wrong?

Um...

There are quite a few possible reasons why and it can be hard to pin them down.

If your longest program time is at around the three hour mark it may simply be a case of the time just not being long enough. Especially if your kitchen is cool at this time of year.

Try... put the machine onto its "make dough" setting and once that's finished set your kitchen timer for, say, two hours; and then have a look at the dough. If it has risen enough put the machine onto its "bake" setting, if not, check it at about quarter hour intervals.

Different flour from different stores all seem to work differently so you could also try changes there - and we have a few different recipes here for a "standard" loaf - but whatever you do, only try one thing new at a time or you'll never be able to work out which one it was

jcr16

my bread turned out yummy. it is gorgeous. it has a crisper edge than normal so it just like a crusty loaf u buy in supermarket. i am so pleased. only trouble is now that i am running out of clover. oh well.

ampersand

heatherw_01 wrote:

Anyone have any tips? I have a cookworks breadmaker but everytime I make bread it is quite stodgy instead of light and fluffy.

What am I doing wrong?

Hello heatherw_01 - I want to answer 'using a breadmaker(too much faffing about)without it sounding sniffy.
I resumed breadmaking a few months back after many years.
It is so simple, cathartic, easy clean, therapeutic AND FAST - I'm starting in a moment and will have my new loaf within two hours.
The hotwater cupboard is perfect:during apx 60 mins' rising, I place a bowl of water on the oven floor to create steam. Then it's just apx.35 minutes' baking. I use supermarket breadflour and yeast granules(Tesco misprices would be welcome) and add in grains and seeds as the fancy takes me. These I buy from Thing-me-Bobs, much cheaper than anywhere else. Don't look at Tesco's silly prices for these things. If you' re lucky, you'll have a local market stall - or buy in bulk when you're next in the Sacred Hexagon a.k.a.France, la belle.
Allez les boulangers! And the All Blacks tomorrow.

Zziggi

I'm not sure if i am going gaa-gaa or not.. did i read recently that using water that your potatoes has been boiled up in is good for the water content you need to put in your breadmaker when making bread?

Pink.

Hi Zziggi,

There are some posts on the Breadmaking - recipes, hints, tips etc thread about using the water potatoes have been boiled in. I'll merge your post into that thread.

Pink

squeaky

Zziggi the post you want is the very first post in this thread.

Zziggi

squeaky wrote:

Zziggi the post you want is the very first post in this thread.

yes thanks squeaky. I found that out by scrolling backwards through ALL the pages until i found it :doh: :doh: