Bread making help please

Dippypud

Your water for the bread mix should be 'blood heat'

it should feel neither warm nor cold - :cool:

We have a kenwood bread maker, tis brill -

but that said we do use an 'improver' - a sort of dried sourdough additive you can buy it on line...

we find it really helps lift the loaf - but you do have to reduce the yeast quantity a little, (we went from 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of yeast to just 1 teaspoon)

marmiterulesok

TBH the quantities of salt,sugar,yeast and dried milk sound odd ie too much butter,sugar,dried milk powder and yeast and not enough salt.

As an example,in my BM (a kenwood) I do a standard 350g loaf using 350g flour,245mls water,1 tbsp oil (I never use butter),1 tbsp dried milk powder,2 tsp sugar,1 tsp salt and 1 and a half tsp yeast.

I know that you're doing a bigger loaf,but all the same...

Is the water maybe too hot?

I never use the fast programme.I think that you get a better loaf if it rises twice (even in a BM).

CT19720

I've had a cookworks breadmaker for about a month, and found the recipes in the booklet were very disappointing. Surfing the net, I have tried other receipes, and this is the brown bread that I now do 4-5 times a week:

100g medium ground wholemeal flour
215g supermarket-brand strong white bread flour
180ml water
3 tsp (teaspoonfuls) olive or corn oil, aste
1 tsp rock salt
2 tsp fine brown sugar
1/4 tsp of Allinson easy-bake yeast

it makes 1 1/2lb loaf, a I do it on the basic setting, so it takes 3 hours in total. I add the wet ingredients first - water, and oil, the add the yeast and then add all the dry ingredients on top, and set the machine off.

Haven't had a bad loaf with this receipe yet. To be honest, i've given up trying to do a nice fluffy white loaf, cos they just come out like cake.

peachyprice

Try Sainsbury's flour in the green bag, or Aldi, Asda was the worst I've ever used, Tesco not much better. And as above, cooler water, it only needs to be warm.

Good luck, I hope you manage to get a good loaf eventually, although I gave up using mine to bake and only used it to mix the dough and do the first prove with a normal hand made bread recipe, I found the BM recipes far too temperamental, and too sweet.

dehli

I have a 10 year old Goodmans breadmaker. Recently the bread was coming out dense but I now add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to the liquid and a little extra yeast and they're coming out perfect again. Apparently the UK bread flour can be weak due to the poor wheat harvest (all that rain).

Here's my basic recipe before adding the lemon juice and extra yeast:

275ml water (lukewarm)
450g strong white bread flour
1.5 tbsp dried milk powder
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
25g butter (or marg)
0.5 tsp easy blend dried yeast

Make sure you use a correct measure for everything.

Polaria

Hello,

We have a 7-year old Panasonic bread machine.

Our basic mix is (by addition order):
- 1 teaspoon yeast (the same as the one you use)
- 500g flour (we use the Allinson Seed and Grain)
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 tablespoon sugar
- 25g butter (can be replaced by margarine or oil)
- 320 mml water

We use a 5-hour cycle.

I have a few tips:
- We always use water at room temperature
- Yeast should not be put in contact with salt
- If you get a bread that did not raise, try the next bread with a little more water. For example if you used 300 mml, try with 310 mml for the next bread.

Pol

frugalqueen_2

hi - follow the order you are asked to put the ingredients in - put the water in first, the oil or butter, the salt (some recipes ask for sugar) then the flour and lastly the yeast, always use strong bread flour - hope that helps