The recipes that made me pack away my breadmaker

morganlefay

Oh dear npsmama, I remember why I love my panasonic so much. I used to bake 'real' bread that even the dog wouldn't touch, however emboldened by your recipe today I set to. I followed your instructions exactly, kneading in Kenwood (and that's another story....) One loaf rose quicker than t'other so I put the risen one in oven , tho I turned it up a bit higher as my oven cooks quite cool. After the correct time I had a fight to get it out of tin, and it doesn't seem nice at all. I oiled tin thoroughly but the bottom still got stuck in tin, and the whole thing seems soggy, damp and dense (I had let it rise till just domed over top of tin). I have now cooked second one, which I did at a lower heat and at least it came out of tin better, but bottom is very oily and spongy and it looks like a rather leaden cake. It may well taste delicious , but it doesn't really look like bread. I have quickly put a white loaf in Panny for tomorrow's toast (our one white loaf of the week as it's the only time we have to sit and eat toast) but can you suggest where I might have gone wrong ? I think your recipe sounds wonderful - foolproof, tasty etc etc, but it seems not to be me-proof.

npsmama

So sorry it didn't work out!

You say it's soggy - that makes me think it wasn't cooked enough.

What temperature oven did you use?

Did you knead it until it webbed? Not enough kneading would produce a dense, heavy loaf that doesn't look like (and isn't) bread.

I've taken some pictures of my bread I made yesterday:

This is what the dough looks like at the beginning of the kneading:






This is what the dough looks like at the end of the kneading process. You can see the webbing (the white stretchy strands). As you can see the dough is much paler than before and the flecks of bran stand out:

rosy

Have just made the no-knead bread from the first post and it's lovely, very artisanal! It reminds me of some bread I had in a French restaurant a year or so ago and I hadn't been able to find any like it anywhere. It looks the part - very rustic and floury and full of open holes with a lovely chewy( not at all fluffy ) texture. The only thing I found was after the initial 18 hours, the next rising bit ( which should have been 2 - 3 hours ) took about 8 hours and to be honest if I wasn't so impatient I think it would have been better if I had left it even longer. The tipping the dough out into the pot might take a bit of getting used to ( flour everywhere ) and the tea towel ended up with a not inconsiderable amount of dough still stuck on it despite a very liberal flour coating, but, hey it was well worth it!

Angelina-M

Perfect, thank you for the pictures!

That dough looks great, you must be very pleased with yourself! I'm going to give it a go asap!

morganlefay

Thank you very much indeed for excellent pictures - I wasn't sure what 'webbing' meant but the picture made it v clear. Actually when I tasted the bread it was delicious - just like my Grandma used to make (her loaves were like bricks but SOOOO tasty) so I shall persevere with the recipe. I think I might put a bit less honey in as I could taste it and I shall try making one loaf at a time so as not to overwhelm the kenwood....thank you so much !:beer:

npsmama

Perhaps the dough hadn't webbed yet - sounds like the most likely cause.
At first I thought the bread came out too sweet too but now we love it just the way it is.

Let me know how you get on!

[Deleted User]

I gave my bm away too. I hand bake every other day and I use a kenwood, which is always on the worktop. I may look into the grain mill so that I can use barley grains etc I am glad I have found this thread re the milling and I`ll have another read now

I`m getting back into sourdough and started my starter last saturday

kingshir

I made the Marilyns recipe in my Rusell Hobbs bm and it came out brilliantly, but I have to say that I wouldn't get rid of my bread maker, ever!

rainbowrisin

OP you complete star, you - these recipes look brill and I will defo give them a go. I make my own bread by hand, mainly because anything electrical scares me, particularly if it needs programming. However I just do a "normal" wholemeal bread, with maybe a handful of seeds in it if there are some knocking about - these recipes look delish, and the dough in your piccies looks amazing.
Many thanks.

johnjp

I also use the kenwood mixer for kneading and I now use `Doves Farm quick yeast` it goes alot further than the usual like `Allinsons` and seems to give a better rise. It`s almost as easy as going to the baker ( I live 4 miles from the nearest) to make two loaves of delicious organic wholemeal bread. My children love it too. When other children come around they always ask for some, with golden syrup. Once you get all the right gear and ingredients, and a reliable oven, it almost becomes second nature.