Is my breadmaker playing up?

PollyFlinders_3

Perhaps you need to use slightly warmer water now the weather is a bit colder. I had the same problem in the summer when it was really hot - I think the temp killed the yeast. Maybe now its colder the temp. is not warm enough to activate the yeast? Worth a try before you replace the breadmaker.

7stephenson

PollyFlinders wrote: »

Perhaps you need to use slightly warmer water now the weather is a bit colder. I had the same problem in the summer when it was really hot - I think the temp killed the yeast. Maybe now its colder the temp. is not warm enough to activate the yeast? Worth a try before you replace the breadmaker.

I won't be replacing my 19 month old £89.95 breadmaker now that I know it is a problem with the lack of gluten in the wheat. Panasonic did suggest that putting a little bit more water in the mixes may help. I always use tepid water anyway.

Are you saying Polly that the room temperature can kill the yeast in unopened packets of breadmix? I always keep mine in the same cupboard and never had any problems last year. Once the pack is opened and put in the machine, the temperature of the yeast is surely governed by the temperature inside the breadmaker which is thermostatically controlled. The bread mixes I use are 500g or just under and the whole contents are put into the machine so there are no opened packets laying around inside the cupboards.

The lady from Panasonic also said that Waitrose mixes and breadflours do not seem to have the same problems of lack of gluten as other supermarket brands.

nibs

I did ring hovis helpline and they checked the codes etc and wrote back to me saying their mix was up to the usual standard and gave me a £5 voucher but the bread is still bad and thats why i now wonder if its my b/m.
I have tried using tepid water as well as slighly more water but its not helped.
Im now thinking I'll try a different bread mix and if i still have no luck then it must be my b/m
Thanks all

lizzyb1812

Hi

I don't use a bread mix in my Panny but my husband does as he prefers plain white bread (I like wholemeal and lots of extras!). He's been using the Hovis white for ages now on the fast bake programme and not a single failure. He's currently making about 4 loaves a week - he doesn't use a whole packet each time, just 375gms.

Anyway the point of this is to say that the Hovis mixes seem fine in our Panny even on fastbake.

Lizzyb

[Deleted User]

I tried EVERYTHING. Different yeasts, different flour, different recipes, bread-mixes, warmer water. I tried putting it on timed. I tried it without the timer.

Like I said, it just turned out to be an intermittent fault with the BM.

It does seem odd that there are quite a few of us who have had this problem. If I had realised this sooner I might have taken it up with Panasonic before I scrapped my old Panny and bought a new one.

I also wonder now why Lakeland are only stocking the Kenwood. Have they had some feedback about long-term reliabilty of the Panasonic.

PollyFlinders_3

7stephenson wrote: »

Are you saying Polly that the room temperature can kill the yeast in unopened packets of breadmix? I always keep mine in the same cupboard and never had any problems last year. Once the pack is opened and put in the machine, the temperature of the yeast is surely governed by the temperature inside the breadmaker which is thermostatically controlled.

Not quite - I wonder if some BMs are designed to heat up by a certain number of degrees, rather than to a certain temperature (i.e. like some showers or boilers, which heat water by x degrees, and therefore the resulting temp bears some relationship to the ambient temp of the water coming into the shower/boiler).

What happened to me this summer was that I had a 2 week spell when every loaf in my BM didn't rise much and had the texture of a brick. When the weather turned cooler, my loaves were back to normal, but I was using the same packet of yeast throughout. I have no idea why, and can only assume ambient temperature had an impact, and that the overall result was a bit too warm for the yeast. I always put 1/3 boiling and 2/3rds cold water in my BM, but would reduce the hot water if we had another hot spell.

If this is what happened, then presumably a drop in temp could also have an effect?

cooking-mama

Dunno if this is a recent addition to the Panasonic breadmaker instructions or not,but i bought one during the week and it contained a seperate information leaflet stating:
"Flour quality can change during the year from crop to crop.
try another brand of flour,
Flours containing Canadian and North American wheat often produce best results."
Thats probably fine for folk in Canada or North America...but im in Not so Sunny Scotland,and so far not terribly impressed with my new panasonic SD254,bread looks perfect but is always damp,and the machine is so noisy and jumpy...is this normal?

[Deleted User]

cooking-mama wrote: »

Dunno if this is a recent addition to the Panasonic breadmaker instructions or not,but i bought one during the week and it contained a seperate information leaflet stating:
"Flour quality can change during the year from crop to crop.
try another brand of flour,
Flours containing Canadian and North American wheat often produce best results."
Thats probably fine for folk in Canada or North America...but im in Not so Sunny Scotland,and so far not terribly impressed with my new panasonic SD254,bread looks perfect but is always damp,and the machine is so noisy and jumpy...is this normal?

As far as I remember this warning was in the booklet for the SD253 too. I've used all different flours (strong bread flour of course) without any problem until BM developed fault).

The only time your bread should be damp is if you have left it sitting in the machine after the loaf has been baked and condensation has formed.

They do clunk a bit when operating but I can't say either of mine has actually been noisy. Does it just rattle a bit or is the whole machine jumping?

cooking-mama

Thankyou waggle dancer,
Its more than just rattling a bit,it sounds as tho the actual bread pan is loose rather than just the kneading paddle (i was tempted to open it during my 1st loaf,because it was so noisy i thought i hadnt attached the pan,or the paddle was flying around freely in it,but neither was true...I resisted temptation to open it too)and the full machine does actual move...I have also noticed that the lid on the unit is slightly askew..on the righthand side it appears flush with the body,but on the left it overlaps slightly,leaving a little gap between the body of the breadmaker and the lid....im wondering if my bread is damp cos its losing heat through this gap?? or possibly its so noisy cos the lid doesnt fit properly,??
ive bought wholemeal flour,gonna try 50/50 bread tomorrow,hopefully that will be a bit drier.
PS/Ive always taken the bread out as soon as it beeps.

7stephenson

It sounds like your breadmaker is faulty, Cooking-mama, so do send it back for a replacement.

I have a fairly new Panasonic and you can barely hear it when the paddles move. It doesn't jump about either.

Have you rang their helpline number (Tel 01 344 862108) or contacted the people you purchased it from?