Breadmaking - recipes, hints, tips, questions

angeltreats

Dustykitten wrote: »

Sorry if I mislead you, I use the tinned yeast that needs activating before using.

So do I (Hovis yeast in the little yellow tins), but it's a myth that it needs activating I always did until I read Richard Bertinet's book Dough, and now I just throw it in the way you would with instant yeast, it works exactly the same although it is a little slower.

It does work faster if you activate it first in warm liquid (milk or water or a mixture) but even then you don't need to add any sugar. I do this at work to speed it up as we prove our dough in the fridge, and after five minutes it's foaming away happily with no sugar at all.

hotcookie101

Dustykitten wrote: »

A 2lb tin hold 900-1000 ml of water if you want to test it that way.

Ah, my tin holds just under 1.5l, so def not a 1lb tin-oops! Could that be one of the reasons it a bit dense?
Tastes good though, if maybe a wee bit yeasty, scrummy with honey though

stiltwalker

Hi there,

Sugar just gives yeast a bit of a quicker start so you can quite happily leave it out with no problems. Wholewheat bread is always denser and I usually do half and half with white or at least 100g white if I want a wholemealier bread for something in particular. I wouldn't have thought your tin size would make it more dense - don't forget that your 450g is just the flour you will also have 300g ish of water plus you need room for the bread to expand so a 1lb tin would just have the dough oozing out all over the place as it proves!

Make sure you prove the bread until it is ready and you touch it (gently) and it springs back - the more bread you make the more you will get to know the right feel. Bread will take different times to prove depending on the flour (the more wholemeal the longer it will take), in fact each individual batch of flour is ever so slightly different. The temperature in the room will make the biggest difference - in a cold room it will take longer than if you put it in an airing cupboard, you can even prove bread in the fridge overnight.

Please don't think this all sounds difficult, once you've done a few times it becomes second nature and home made bread is really worth it, for the amazing taste and for the fact that you know that what you and your family are eating are good quality nutritious ingredients. I can't remember the last time I bought bread but know that it was a disappointment.

Sorry for the long ramble but HTH.

Penelope_Penguin

hotcookie101 wrote: »

Ah, my tin holds just under 1.5l, so def not a 1lb tin-oops! Could that be one of the reasons it a bit dense?

As has been said above, I think it's more to do with you using all wholemeal flour. If you want a lighter bread, try replacing some with white, until you get the bread you like

rachbc

I have a silly question on a similar line - does the size of the time relate to the amount of flour or the weight of the dough or the finished loaf. I make a batch with a whole bag of flour (1.5kg) but am never sure how many loaves this should make...

angeltreats

rachbc wrote: »

I have a silly question on a similar line - does the size of the time relate to the amount of flour or the weight of the dough or the finished loaf. I make a batch with a whole bag of flour (1.5kg) but am never sure how many loaves this should make...

You know what, I have no idea what size any of my loaf tins actually are. I go by eye and bung it in whatever tin looks about right. I've just looked up where I bought some of them from and it would seem they are 2lb tins.

So 1.5kg would make three loaves in 2lb tins.

Penelope_Penguin

There is more advice in thei older thread; I'll merge this one later

Meadows

hotcookie101 wrote: »

Have a quick question following on from my breadmaking earlier. I have a loaf tin that is 22cm long, 11cm wide and 7cm deep. Is this a 1 or 2lb tin? I made my bread-it had risen loads in the bowl, then shaped and put in loaf tin, proved for about 1 hour, until it came to top of the tin, but its just out of the oven and seems really dense. I made a 450g amount of dough-so is my tin too big for that? It also smells quite yeasty just out of the oven, so has it not risen or proved (proven? whats the correct grammar there? If not, any tips on how to make it less dense? I made it according to the recipe in the chef manual, 450g flour (strong malted wholemeal) 2tsp salt, 7g sachet of yeast and 300mls water. Thanks

That size tin is 1lb loaf but for this size I use 500 gms flour. I always allow my bread to raise about 2-3 cm above the top of the tin, I don't time my dough as different temperatures make rising times vary.
Using just Wholemeal flour will result in a heavier loaf I tend to mix Wholemeal with white flour for a lighter loaf. The amount of kneading also makes for a better dough.

The mix I would make for a 500 gm loaf is:
10 gms Salt
6 gms Dried Yeast
500 gms Strong Bread Flour
306 ml/gms Water.
(I usually make a loaf using 650gms flour, all other ingredients adjusted to match the extra weight).

I make sure my water is quite warm, keep salt away from yeast when adding dry ingredients then either knead for at least 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a mixer and dough hooks.
Leave to raise in a bowl covered with a clean t-towel until doubled in size/proven then shape and add to a loaf tin or tray, cover and allow to double in size again.
In the mean time put your oven on as high as it will go, when hot enough add the dough, reduce the heat to 200 C and bake for 40 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped (I tend to remove from the tin after 30 minutes to ensure all the bread is evenly cooked. Wrap in a clean t-towel and leave to cool on a wire rack.
You can do many things to enhance the crust, a bowl of water in the oven, mist the oven before adding the bread. Brush lightly with oil, melted butter, beaten egg white or dust with flour.

hotcookie101

Thanks everyone.
I mixed in the kenwood with dough hook for 5-6mins, then left to rise in unheated kitchen-it more than doubled in size, but was quite sticky. I then put the dough hook back in and kneaded again for about 2 mins, and placed in the tin-before proving the dough probably was only about 2.5cm deep in the tin
I left the bread to prove in the tin for nearly 90 mins, at first beside radiator and then in the top part of the oven, while it was on high. It did feel spongy but was still maybe 2cm below the top of the tin.
Will try again with 75%wholemeal, which is what I usually use in the breadmaker.

On the plus side-my River cottage everyday sourdough starter is on day 3 and bubbling away

hotcookie101

One last question I promise (well maybe, I don't seem to be doing very well with my breadmaking skills :rotfl:)
Can I make the dough in the evening when get in from work, let it rise for a couple hours, knock back/knead again in kenwood before bedtime and then let it prove in the tin overnight to bake 1st thing? My kitchen gets pretty chilly in winter, radiator is in dining room bit-butter is always solid in the mornings, so its not very warm overnight. Would that work?
Thanks