preparing surface for breadmaking

Little_Vics

Hello,

I'm making bread for the first time today. I've just done the first knead and used flour to dust the surface with - but quite frankly it was a disaster. It disappeared into the dough in seconds and I could have laid tiles on the surface with what got stuck!

Any suggestions?

xLV

PasturesNew

You didn't use enough flour .... it's not a sprinkling, it does take a lot quite often.... which then makes a mess.

Little_Vics

I probably used a good 150g for 'dusting' during the time! Oh well.

PasturesNew

What sort of bread was it? How wet was the dough?

Honey_Bear

Good luck with the breadmaking. Please don't worry too much about what you think should be happening and just carry on with it. The first few loaves I made didn't rise at all and a friend said that if I added some fruit and nuts it would make great survival food because it was so dense! However, it tasted great and was extremely filling! Don't expect each and every loaf to turn out as though it was made by a master baker, just follow the recipe and you'll get something edible. After you've made a few you'll get a feeling for it. I'm afraid it's like any skill - it takes practice.

babyshoes

It may be that you didn't knead for long enough. With a wet dough you need to scrape it all up periodically, then after enough kneading it will get a lot less sticky.

Little_Vics

thanks guys! It's currently proving (whatever that means) and I've got to knead it again, so will see what happens. First time for everything!

mysk_girl

Yeah, I would go with kneading it for longer. My bread dough is always really sticky at first, but a good 10-15 minutes of kneading brings it all together nicely. I wouldn't use too much to dust if you have followed the recipe correctly as you will make the proportions change. I used to do this and couldn't understand why my bread was always really 'tight'. Then I watched Paul Hollywood at work, added more water and less dusting flour and it turned out beautifully.

Hope you enjoy making bread and carry on - its very therapeutic, I find, after a stressful day :-).

kittycat204

I've seen paul hollywood use oil. Just a suggestion.

Little_Vics

I've just gone into the kitchen after 1.5 hours to do the second kneading, and it's not risen at all. AT ALL.

I've put the bowl into a baking tray of hot water to see if that helps, but I have a feeling it will be a disaster......

kittycat204

Little_Vics wrote: »

I've just gone into the kitchen after 1.5 hours to do the second kneading, and it's not risen at all. AT ALL.

I've put the bowl into a baking tray of hot water to see if that helps, but I have a feeling it will be a disaster......

I think hot water will kill the yeast.