Panasonic 255 bread maker paddle bakes inside loaf - any tips?

usignuolo

Have just been reading the River Cottage Guide (no 3) to bread and making it. It is for handmade bread but it is very interesting as it covers all the processes and ingredients which affect the quality of the final loaf. The author recommends a mixture of strong white and ordinary white flour for pizza bases for example, as this makes it less bready. It even tells you how to construct a small mud brick oven in the garden, if you are interested, for baking pizzas and things which need a really hot oven. Interestingly he says Canadian wheat is not available in the UK, he clearly hasn't been to Waitrose lately.

beccad

usignuolo wrote: »

Well I added more water as suggested by Panasonic customer services, but the blade still stays inside.

I also tried the pizza dough. I measured out the ingredients very carefully according to the Panasonic recipe, but it turned out very sticky, too sticky to easily remove from the internal tin, although by adding a lot of flour I got it out and it cooked OK. Any suggestions about improving this?

One final question, the upper bread crust comes out fine when hot but as it cools, the top goes kind of flakey?

This is normal - our loafs nearly always do this. It's just air bubbles that have got caught in the top. Are you using butter or olive oil in the bread? We use olive oil and have never had a problem with the loaf getting stuck, although we routinely used 20mls more water than the recipe states. All flours are different you see, so some will require more water I guess. Try adding another 10mls and see how you get on. Are you also putting the ingredients in as listed in the recipe? ie: starting with yeast, then flour and so on.

You don't need to add more water to the pizza dough (if you are) - we've always done it exactly as per the recipe and it's turned out fine.

baz_chaz

Had a breadmaker for years and always had the paddle remain in the loaf, best way to get it out is to grip the paddle base and turn it so the paddle itself comes out at right-angles to the loaf rather than just pull it straight out and make a large hole.

Old machine finally gave up the ghost a while ago and after reading this thread bought a Panasonic off Amazon, baked first loaf yesterday, was very impressed with the quality of bake :T unfortunately one medium loaf nearly gone with sample last night and toast this morning....... forgot how good home baked fresh bread is

gavvallance

hi

Its all in the way you remove the baked loaf from the pan. Turn the pan directly upside down so that the loaf is completely vertical and shake it quite hard a few times and the loaf will drop out on to its top crust. The paddle will remain in the pan I promise, then when you've got rid of the pan you simply come back and right way up your loaf and leave it to cool!.
The paddle is meant to have a bit of play on it - thats fine.
I'm sure this will work fine for you - good luck! :cool:

Gav

usignuolo

Back again. I tried making dough only in my Panasonic breadmaker and baking it separately in the oven to overcome the stuck paddle problem. I used the dough only programme - wholewheat - and to be frank, at the end of the dough making process it came out looking like handmade dough, PRIOR to kneading ie all sticky and so had to be kneaded anyway which I was trying to avoid. Might as well not have bothered with the machine. Is this usual?

Also I spoke to my son who lives in New York and he said they have a Breville breadmaker and it beeps when the dough is ready so that you can take it out, remove the paddle and put it back to bake at that stage. Is there a UK breadmaker with a similar function? If I have a complaint about the Panasonic, apart from the paddle sticking, it is that there is no indication what stage it has reached in the breadmaking process, unless I have missed something. (Given that you cannot look inside during the process as there is no window).

gavvallance

usignuolo wrote: »

Back again. I tried making dough only in my Panasonic breadmaker and baking it separately in the oven to overcome the stuck paddle problem. I used the dough only programme - wholewheat - and to be frank, at the end of the dough making process it came out looking like handmade dough, PRIOR to kneading ie all sticky and so had to be kneaded anyway which I was trying to avoid. Might as well not have bothered with the machine. Is this usual?

Also I spoke to my son who lives in New York and he said they have a Breville breadmaker and it beeps when the dough is ready so that you can take it out, remove the paddle and put it back to bake at that stage. Is there a UK breadmaker with a similar function? If I have a complaint about the Panasonic, apart from the paddle sticking, it is that there is no indication what stage it has reached in the breadmaking process, unless I have missed something. (Given that you cannot look inside during the process as there is no window).

not wishing to insult your intelligence, but have you tried the method I just suggested 2 posts ago? Initially I had the stuck paddle until I realised the reason was that I was not holding the pan vertical. If the pan is not vertical, then neither is the kneading blade.If you hold the pan at an angle then you effectivley try to pull the blade out sideways! hold vertical and shake and the smallest profile of the blade slips out easily.
Since using this method I have not had the paddle stick in 2 years.
Please don't buy another breadmaker without trying this way!!!!! Panasonics are the best!!!;)