I can't get my bread machine to turn out a decent loaf, any help appreciated!

xrjtg

I'm not familiar with the machine, but my usual remedy for bread problems (not always successful!) is tinkering with the water content. 70% hydration (70ml of water per 100g of flour) has always made a good malty loaf for me. Add a teaspoon each of salt and yeast for a simple recipe.

Long_tall_sally

Would someone mind posting a wholemeal loaf recipe please? I don't use my bread maker anymore because I lost the recipe book that came with it. I don't know what make it is, other than it has a "You are what you eat sticker on it".

Many thanks

dfw844

angeltreats wrote: »

I wonder if there might be a misprint in your instructions that gives incorrect quantities. Can you post the recipe you are using?

What setting are you using, and how long does it take?

I bought a few bags of a Lidl bread mix to see what they were like. I tried it in a breadmaker at a normal wholemeal setting (which is about 3.5 hours long) - it rose spectacularly and then collapsed. Tried it again on a rapid setting and it was fine, and also tried it by hand and it was lovely. Have you tried using a faster program?

Thanks so much for this. I'd only ever done the standard settings, I thought 'rapid bake' was for pros who knew what they were doing. I've reread some 'hints and tips' in the awfully designed booklet that came with it - one of the recommendations for collapsing loaves was to try a quicker setting! I have now put a rapid white loaf on, and will let you know the outcome!

Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time out to help me, I really appreciate it.

dfw844

Thanks Badrick, I didn't know to keep the salt seperate. I knew it had an effect on the yeast, but I didn't know what... In the loaf I have put in I have made sure to keep the salt on one side of the pan, and the sugar and yeast on the other.

dfw844

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Would someone mind posting a wholemeal loaf recipe please? I don't use my bread maker anymore because I lost the recipe book that came with it. I don't know what make it is, other than it has a "You are what you eat sticker on it".

Many thanks

I would happily post mine... but since I'm the one with the problem...

The Kenwood site has a downloadable version of the recipe book that came with mine - so I'm sure if you have a check around you might find lots of recipe books online. I hope you fid a good one.

lavendergirl

try using 1 cup strong white flour with the wholemeal, makes a better loaf, though my breadmaker is almost on the blink again possibly

dfw844

xrjtg wrote: »

I'm not familiar with the machine, but my usual remedy for bread problems (not always successful!) is tinkering with the water content. 70% hydration (70ml of water per 100g of flour) has always made a good malty loaf for me. Add a teaspoon each of salt and yeast for a simple recipe.

Thank you! The other note in the booklet was that it might be better to reduce the water content. I shall play around over the next few days and let you all know how I get on.

angeltreats

dfw844 wrote: »

Thanks so much for this. I'd only ever done the standard settings, I thought 'rapid bake' was for pros who knew what they were doing. I've reread some 'hints and tips' in the awfully designed booklet that came with it - one of the recommendations for collapsing loaves was to try a quicker setting! I have now put a rapid white loaf on, and will let you know the outcome!

Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time out to help me, I really appreciate it.

Good luck, hope it works better this time

I have a Rachel Allen breadmaker, it's been sitting in the garage for ages as I've been doing it by hand which I prefer, but I've dug it back out again because due to my silly working hours I don't always have time and DH can happily chuck the ingredients in there himself. I have to say, the instruction book that came with it is absolutely lovely. One of the nicest I've seen with any appliance. I'm surprised at Kenwood though. They've always given such lovely little cookbooks with the Kenwood Chef and my Kenwood food processor came with a great booklet too. You'd think they'd have gone to the same effort for their breadmaker

dfw844

Ha ha, DH just came in

'You do know you didn't put the paddle in the bread machine?'.

Perhaps I'm just not destined to do well with a breadmaker!

angeltreats

Oh bless!