Bread gone wrong :(

angelavdavis

Was curious that you might have the same make as me but I have a morphy richards.

Could it be too much water?

Hopefully some of the real BM experts will come along and help out.

I have to say without the gluten, the rolls weren't as huge as the version with wheat flour so maybe that is the cause?

nick_b

I don't know what's in your bread mix (a lot of "improvers", I would guess), but that seems like an awful lot of water, nearly 80% of flour weight. Around 65-70% is normal, although it depends on the flour. I know a lot of gluten-free flour mixes need more water because they contain rice flour and the like.

HTH

Shoey1610

I have made my 1st ever loaf of handmade bread this morning inspired by the OS board and overall I'm quite pleased with it, it is certainly edible anyway! However it is still slightly doughy in the middle so how can I improve this for next time? I'm wondering if I need to cook it longer, although it was done on the crust and would have burned had I left it longer. I also omitted sugar and salt from the recipe I had because I'd rather have bread without, would this have made a difference?

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

It could be that it needed longer in the oven.... if you tip it out and "knock" on the bottom it should sound hollow.. if you don't want it too well done, just drop the temp towards the end of cooking and give it a few more minutes..

When you spread the bread -where it is "doughy" will look darker than the rest if you have undercooked it a tip i got off my lovely mum
The sugar isn't neccessary -it just feeds the yeast and speeds things up a little.... the salt won't have made a difference, though i can't say like bread whe i haven't put enough salt in..and i don't like salt in many things..

The other thing i would look at, is if the dough had risen enough before you baked it.....

squeaky

Hmm...

The lack of sugar and salt shouldn't affect your bread too muc - so the advice above is good.

But this is what my MR manual has to say about them.

Sugar:
Sugar is important for the colour and flavour of breads. It is also food for the yeast as it is part of the fermentation process... ...artificial sweeteners cannot be used as a substitute because the yeast will not react properly with them

Salt:
Salt is necessary to balance the flavour of breads... Salt also limits the growth of yeast so the amounts shown in the recipes should not be increased. For fietry reasons it may be reduced, however your baking may suffer.

My handy Hovis bread making booklet says much the same.

HTH

ravylesley

I have always included salt and sugar in my recipes and never had a problem.But if it was affecting your breadmaking surely it would stop it rising not baking.So by method of deduction I'd say its a cooking or oven problem.I found that baking my bread on the middle shelf at Gas 4 was perfect for my oven.But as each oven varies I would suggest you turn the oven temp down a little and cook the bread for longer and see if this solves the problem

Lesleyxx

Shoey1610

Thank you for your replies, I will keep on experimenting! I think that a lower cooking temp for a longer time will be the first thing I try, then will try with sugar and no salt and finally if all else fails with salt. I only want to take the salt out so I can make bread for my toddler, I know she needs some level of salt but the amount in shop bread is quite high and she loves bread. Thanks again x

Andy_Hamilton

Quite simply you need salt and some sugar.
If you don't want sugar just change this to honey (cheapest honey is fine).
If you go to the supermarket go to the bakery section and ask for some fresh yeast. 90% of the time they will have it available FREE (they can not sell it to you through UK law). If they have not got any spare they will be very sorry so don't be scared. This yeast lasts months in the fridge or freezer.
The freeze dried yeast is like the UHT of Milk, fine but you can tell it's just not the same as fresh. Using the supermarket's yeast will taste as good as the supermarket's bakery.

Look at every loaf of bread and you will see that it has between 1-1.5grams of salt per 100g. This works out as a level teaspoon per 400-500grams.
Try halving it but don't just miss it out.
The best knowledge is that your bread is fresh and has no preservatives.