my home made bread is too heavy - any tips?

swampytiggaa

now i realise it isn't gonna be like the commercially produced fluff - but it is a bit too stodgy i think and OH isn't keen

I got the £14-99 breadmaker from argos [fab tip - :beer:] and it is so easy to use - have tried two of the reciepes in it [the basic loaf and the french bread] and they taste fab but a bit too stodgy....

I bought some of the dried yeast from lakeland and have been using one teaspoon of that - would it rise more/be less solid if i put a bit more yeast in? Maybe another 1/4 spoon or so?

I got the strong white bread flour to use - not gonna waste it :rotfl: so any suggestions would be gratefully received - I intend to make ALL of our bread from now on [once the stuff in the freezer is used up] so need to get it right....

thank you xx

Trow

Try adding ascorbic acid, in the form of a crushed vitamin c tablet maybe? I don't know how much though as the yeast I use has added ascorbic acid, so I don't add any.

You could also maybe try using the wholemal programme for white bread - someone said they got on better with that.

squeaky

Yep, more yeast - normally my recipes all have 2.5tsps for a 460g flour recipe.

Adding vitamin C helps the rise, and also using the wholewheat program which gives you a longer rise time even if you're not using wholewheat flour.

There are all sorts of other trouble solving and other hints and ideas here:-

The Complete Breadmaking Collection.

swampytiggaa

thank you so much - will try a few suggestions and see which ones work :beer:

right then - best go get it baking

CaptainSensible

As a rule, making bread is like doing a chemistry experiment - the more accurately you can measure the ingredients, the more consistent the result.

For heavy bread, I would check that you have added sufficient liquid (beware too much liquid however, loaf can collapse in the middle).

CS

RubyMurray

Thanks for starting this thread swampytigga, I'm having the same problem with my £14.99 breadmaker. The loaves smell and taste nice but they are so heavy we can't eat more than half a slice without getting tummy ache. I'm tempted to stick a sign in the window saying "free ballast"!

I thought it was because I was using cheap ordinary flour but as you say you've used strong bread flour and had the same result I won't bother buying some tomorrow. I added a little more yeast to the loaf I did yesterday but it rose up out of the tin, spilt down the sides and sank in the middle, what a mess!

After trying a little extra yeast my next plan of attack was to be strong bread flour, I won't bother with that now so I guess now I'll try adding some vitamin C tablets (do these affect the flavour at all?) and try it on the wholewheat program. Would using self-raising flour help? Thanks everyone.

zar

RubyMurray wrote:

I added a little more yeast to the loaf I did yesterday but it rose up out of the tin, spilt down the sides and sank in the middle, what a mess!

Maybe you could try putting less flour/water in as in a breadmaker there is only a limited amount of room, so if you want it to be lighter you want more air in it? My DH always puts the BM on, the weird thing is that sometimes loaves just simply don't work properly for no apparant reason. Guess this is because when you make it by hand you can see if it needs more water or flour, in BM you can't. Each batch of flour is different apparantly and will absorb more or less water depending on its moisture content - I wouldn't be surprised if it depends on the weather as well, I've been known to blame a BM disaster on humid weather. When it works our BM makes much lighter bread than when do it by hand.

squeaky

Erm... jeeze... where to start...

Right.

ONE GOLDEN RULE TO KEEP IN MIND:-

Breadmakers rely on a timed program so any variation in your ingredients will mess up what they "think" their machine "should" be making. Not just changes you might make - but natural variations in products, and even the warmth and humidity in your kitchen.

OK, so some breadmakers are more forgiving than others



My BM is a cheapie and always made bricks.

But not any more.

You need to experiment and learn the ways of your machine, grasshopper...

..it's a good idea to try and follow the book recipe exactly to start with.

And even that can be a whole lot easier said than done. I've read tbsp as tsp and vice versa, I've missed out ingredients entirely, forgotten to put the paddle in... even used the first half of one recipe on a page and the second half of another! I've had my battery in my scales low, and I've also had my scales touching up against something on the work top so it can't possibly weigh right. I'm NOT calling you thick, honest, none of you Believe me I'm pretty sure I've made every mistake you can possibly make with a breadmaker.

But if you still get bricks then you need to change something - and here's where you can really help mess yourself up even more. Only change one thing at a time. If you change two - you'll not know which one did the trick.

So...

TRIAL ONE

Don't change anything at all in your recipe. If you got a brick use a program that takes longer - so for example use the wholewheat one which gives a longer rise time. (if your loaf lifts the lid... use a shorter one).

TRIAL TWO

If you got some (but not enough) or no improvement try this instead:- put the machine onto its "make dough" setting then wait at least two hours and start checking how it's rising in the bread pan. Leave it until it hits the height you think it ought to be. Then set the machine to "bake". If you get to four hours - bake it anyway and make bread pudding with the result

TRIAL THREE a b and c

Increase in turn, yeast, then sugar, and then decrease salt.

Don't forget to set each one back to "normal" if it doesn't work and you want to try another change.

TRIAL FOUR

Add one 100mg crushed vitamin c tablet. If that don't work try two.

At each of these stages you can also try the different timed version used in one and two.

That really ought to sort out bricks.


If your bread collapses as it starts to cook - try halving sugar first, then salt, then both. One of these should do.



If you're feeling brave you could try the recipe and technique that I now use in my cheap and cheerful breadmaker to get light and tasty bread for just about ten pence a loaf.


SQUEAKY'S SUPERBREAD

Some yeast.

260 mil (grams) water

500g value brand plain flour (29p per pack)

3 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 x 100mg Vitamin c tablets.

A dollop of either butter / marge / lard / oil... <---optional

1 to 2 tablespoons dried milk powder <---optional


And I'd like to bet that the very first thing that hit your eye was "some" yeast!

Yep. Follow the instructions for either your machine, or the yeast packet. There's a fair chance that they won't be the same. So try them both, and if you still aren't winning - use the better result and then set to work with the tips above.

But these days I use free live yeast from the breadmaking department of my local Asda.

I put the 260g of water (straight from the tap) into a pint glass, add one of my teaspoons of sugar, and an ice cube worth of frozen yeast out of a tray in my freezer. Then leave it for an hour. (I'll stir after a few minutes if I remember, but it's no big deal).

While I'm waiting I wander off to do something important - like read OS.

My BM is liquid first, some are liquid last. TBH I only think that matters if you leave the machine timed overnight to make bread for the morning. If you're making bread NOW then it's gonna be mixed in two minutes so what's the problem?

Anyway...

Put the yeasty water into the bread pan. Add the remaing two teaspoons of sugar and the two crushed vitamin C tablets.

Add the flour and also the teaspoon of salt then top off with the optional fat and / or powdered milk.

Set the machine to its wholewheat bread or longest program setting.

You'll now need (for your first time or two) to keep an eye on it. This is because the natural variations of things, including kitchem temp and humidity remember, will give me a two inch difference in the amount of rise for the program I use!

I generally check about half an hour before the machine is due to start the bake. (which is the last hour of a program).

If the bread isn't up enough yet I leave it. If it's pretty close I'll either give it a few more minutes or just re-set the machine to bake.

If it's getting there I'll look again just five minutes before it's due to bake.

If it's a long way off (RARE) I'll turn the machine off, check it every fifteen to twenty minutes, and set it to the bake program when I'm ready.



So there ya go. With experience and a bit of trial and error you WILL get the kind of bread you want. You might have to always watch the machine... but, for example - if you always have to hit bake about fifteen minutes early - there may be a slightly shorter program you can use so you can reasonably comfortably leave the machine to get on with it. Or reduce the sugar a bit. Or one less tablet. Or a tad less yeast. Or a pinch more salt.

HTH

RubyMurray

Thankyou for all your help, Zar and Squeaky, I'll start again tomorrow and just change one thing each time till I get it right. I won't let this breadmaker beat me, it's sitting there on the counter mocking me, I can tell!

At least there's plenty of spare for making bread pudding and feeding the birds.

swampytiggaa

thanks for the help - i added 2 teaspoons of yeast yesterday and it tasted fab - much lighter - however it sank in the middle so it looked a bit odd......

will try again later using some of squeaky's tips - at least i know it is edible now even if it doesn't look too smart :rotfl: and H happily took it for his sandwiches which is a bonus :j