Bread problems!!!

lil_me

Even if you are using the same flour, what goes in the bag can change.

Many say it's the cold weather effects it the most with colder temperatures in the kitchen, I always use luke warm water in mine and use the BM when it's warmer in the kitchen, I don't use it on timed in the winter time.

I also regularly use normal flour, either normal plain or normal wholemeal, much cheaper than bread flour and noone at home mentioned it was any different.

cheerfulness4

My breadmaker instruction book actually said something about room temperatures my affect it. I'm sure I read something about humidity in the air can affect the rise, too.

livalot

Just thought I would report back and let everyone know that that I followed the suggestions on this thread and :j yipee I have finally managed to produce a decent loaf of bread. Used 400g white tesco flour, 100g wholemeal bread flour, less water than I nornally would and I made sure the water was warm. I also made sure that I moved the bm to somewhere warmer. The bread tastes great.... the only difference now is that it is not the normal round/dome shape.... its a bit craggy on top... but this may be because I added more yeast than I normally would:o woops!

I think Thriftychick is correct when she says "the white flour has no strength to it recently". So it is softer and does not need so much liquid! I may also try the 50/50 recipe now that Thriftychick recommends - I was too scared to try that before as wholemeal flour is usually heavier than white flour and I was getting sunken loaves as it was! Anyway thanks again everyone.

debtworrier

livalot wrote: »

Hi JAMIEDODGER
I am so glad you have started this thread.:T I have been using my Panasonic bm for over 5 years and never had a disaster. Last week it has produced several sunken lumps of bread :mad: despite using the same old recipe that I always use. The only thing that is different is the flour (its the Tesco bread flour) but since everyone on here uses it all the time, it must be something else I am doing. Will def try adding lukewarm water as suggested, changing the location of the bm and perhaps reducing the amount of water I am using. I have to try as I have 4 bags of Tesco flour to use up!

Livalot

Like other people on the board, I noticed that my Panny was producing heavier bread recently. My BM is on the windowsill (small kitchen) so it's very vulnerable to temperature fluctuations. I usually make 100% wholemeal, but I found that substituting a bit of white flour helped (I guess I'm now making 80% wholemeal). I also left out the salt, which is a yeast inhibitor - but that was by accident! Still, maybe it helped too. At any rate I'm back to nice boingy bread again.

taurusgb

Another thing I find helps is to use the water from cooking potatoes in for the liquid - the starch in it helps with a good rise and just think of the nutrients you're eating instead of throwing away . I've also used water from cooking carrots (I just hate throwing those vitamins down the drain) ...there was no change in the colour of the bread or the taste, but remember if you use salted water for cooking veg to reduce the amount of salt you put in the bread.

jollyme

So pleased to have read this thread. I too have been having problems with loaves from my Panasonic. I also use Tesco or Asda flour, even checked the dates as I'd wondered if it was close to sell by - but it was OK. My bread seems to rise too much and then sink - and has a hard chewy crust and very open chewy texture. I'm going to keep peeping at it today and see if texture of the dough looks weird as it is being kneaded and then maybe add extra flour or water - fingers crossed !!!!

JenniO

JOLLYME - try leaving your loaf in the BM for about 15 to 20 minutes after the bread is made before taking it out. I think you'll find it 'droops' less that way and gives the top crust a bit harder, chewy(ier) feel about it. It works really well for me! (Just don't forget about it! I did once about 3 hours later, but it was still ok and made great toast ):p

janetmw

Just to add another twist to the 'temperature' debate:

As well as using luke warm water, I also give my flour a 20 second blast in the microwave!

Janet

JAMIEDODGER

i made perfect bread rolls today using kethrys recipe. soft, light and tasty! and i must admit, better than anything the BM has ever produced!

soappie

I've had this problem recently too. I use Allison's flour. They recently changed their packaging. I made a loaf with the new package stuff and it was a disaster. I had a pack of the old package stuff lying around so experimented. The old flour was brilliant, the new not.

I'm in dialogue with Allison's at the moment and am about to send the dodgy flour back to them for them to test.

I've since found that if I reduce the quantity of water it makes a better loaf - particularly if I use the full cycle rather than the quick cycle.