Calling all Breadmakers! Especially Pan 253

Gentleman_of_leisure

Whitefiver wrote:

- but even the failures usually make excellent toast!

Yes. Or bread and butter pud, or just breadcrumbs.

If a dough looks really bad before mine reaches the baking cycle I'll often take it out and use it as a pizza base. For some rreason a bad pizza base isn't as bad as a bad loaf.

chickadee

I'm glad it isn't just me! I was wondering what was wrong. My loaves had gone from being light. moist, not too holey or too brittle to being flat, heavy, brittle and generally not good for making sandwiches with.

The first thing I tried was changing the yeast. I had been storing my yeast in the fridge to improve its keeping potential. I bought new yeast and tried storing it in the cupboard, but not much changed.

Then I tried using a bread mix from Lidl. Perfect! However I don't like using mixes as they contain unpronounceable ingredients.

My next change was the flour. Bingo! I went from using Carr's flour (99p but on BOGOF) that I got from Booth's (a northern high quality supermarket) to using 49p Lidl flour called Riding Lodge or something. There was an immediate improvement in my bread so I put it down to the flour.

Oh, I forgot, I reduced slightly the quantity of water in the mix, from 350ml to 340ml-ish.

I hope I haven't prattled on for too long but I was glad that I'm not alone in having a dip in quality of my bread.

MrsTinks

Hmmm i have a different breadmaker but the only serious probem I have everhad was once when I forgot to add the yeast DOH!!!!
As for what flour, yeast etc I have not yet had a single problem... when I don't have time to measure everything neatly then I have a few "cheat" options in the form of ready mixed packages where I just have to add water But these are usually only dragged out if I am doing lots in the kitchen and don't have time to dea with measuring the various things out etc and just need it to work wihtout ANY help

apple_mint

We have the Panasonic with the dispenser.

99% of the time we get lovely well risen loaves. Couple of times it wasn't quite what we expected.

1. When we tried to convert our regular recipe to 'all wholemeal' from a 50/50 white / wholemeal mix. This didn't rise as much.

2. When OH forgot to put yeast in! It was a solid loaf .. but youngest DD wouldn't let him through it away - she ate the lot :rotfl::rotfl:

We buy the supermarket's own strong white flour and a 'branded' wholemeal ... usually Hovis or Carrs. We usually only store 2 bags at a time. Yeast is generally the supermarket's own.

Shez

Ive got a cheapy durabrand Asda BM, it seems to make fine bread. So far I have used Hovis flour and carrs wholemeal - both fine. I do have Allinsons but havent used that yet.

Swan_2

Ticklemouse wrote:

It could possibly be the flour. A while ago I went and bought that Allinsons whole and white flour when it was on BOGOF. I really don't like it as it doesn't rise very well, even with lots of vit C in it. If I do a plain white loaf with Lidl/Aldi flour, it hits the top of the BM I tried new yeast and all sorts. Maybe just try changing your flour?

(only another 7 packs of Allinsons to go )

& I thought it was just me Ticklemouse. I'm in exactly the same boat with the Allinson's flour, including the stockpile :rolleyes: the wholemeal seems to be fine, but the white is a real disappointment, glad I didn't buy it at full price

so another vote for trying the Lidl bread flour Str4berr3, it's always given me perfect results with both hand-made bread & in my machine

the warming tip's a good idea too. when it's cold, I zap the flour in the microwave for 15 seconds before puting it in the machine

Hunnymonster

Carr's always seems to be the most reliable for me so far..... at least when my 'local' f"£%"&g Sainsbury's and f"£%&g Tesco's bother to keep any stock :mad: :mad: :mad:

Tesco's own is a dead loss I find - one bag produces a loaf that explodes like the Hulk's thighs, the next with exactly the same other ingredients produces a drooper

Heatherslaw Mill makes some good breadflour - milled like it ought to be on a water-drive mill - but comes at a princely price - £1.20 per kg :eek:

Sadly today I had to make a distress purchase of Allinson's - so I'll look forward to bread that tastes like bathroom sponge this week :rolleyes: