Bread problems!!!

debtworrier

soappie wrote: »

Being fed up with dodgy loaves on the Panasonc's quick bake cycle using Allinson or Hovis white strong bread flour, out of curiosity, today at Mr. T's, I bought a pack of Carr's Breadmaker strong white flour. (£1.19 for 1.5kg :eek: but still slightly cheaper than the Allinsons). I used my usual recipe but with about 20 ml less water.

Result?

A loaf like I used to get! :T

It just HAS to be the flour batches. All I need now is for Allinson's to explain the difference. Needless to say, I'll be back to Mr T's tomorrow to buy up their remaining stock of Carr's!

I've started storing my flour wrapped in plastic bags as I realised that my cold kitchen was a bit damp - it seems to have helped with the soggy bread problems.

debtworrier

thriftychick wrote: »

I've had the same problem aswell. I think its the flour, I use either Asda or Tesco bread flour, normally 400g white and 100g wholemeal/granary. If I do a 50:50 wholemeal to white then the bread is normal. It's like the white flour has no strength to it recently. I've been using the same brand of flour for 5 years with no problems before.

It depends on the weather too - a wet summer means that the wheat will have less gluten in it, and so won't rise so well. Gluten develops in wheat during hot, dry growing seasons, which is why Canadian and US wheat is always 'stronger' than UK wheat, because of our wetter climate. Of course this effect only kicks in once that crop has been harvested and made its way through storage and into the food chain, so there's always a lag between cause and effect.

I just eat the denser bread and console myself with the thought that the smaller sized slices mean I'm using less filling, so the sandwiches are healthier and cheaper.

debtworrier

taurusgb wrote: »

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.

Thanks to this post I've started adding about a tablespoon of "value" instant mashed potato to the ingredients and it's helped the bread rise a bit better, I think. The bread doesn't taste different, anyway.

frivolous_fay

Opened a new bag of flour today (organic unbleached from the farmer's market) Resulting bread: a sad lump

It says on the packet: suitable for breadmakers. But it DOESN'T say: strong.
Surely from the description, it should have been ok? Does it sound like a dodgy batch? I bought a ruddy big bag too

frivolous_fay

Tried a half wholemeal, half white loaf, it wasn't great, although a bit better than the 100% white.

Any ideas for getting something useful out of this huge sack of flour?

hobajay

Hello all,

I have an incredibly small kitchen, and just don't have the counter space OR cupboard space to have a breadmaker, so have tried bread baking by hand on quite a few occasions. None of them were particularly successful regardless of flour/yeast/temperature combinations, so I gave up.

A few months ago I came across a method whereby you make a big batch of wetter than usual dough and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks, and use what you need as you need it. I haven't bought a loaf of bread since!

There is a book all about it, called "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" but you can find the basic recipe on the internet here: hmm, I'm new on here so not allowed to post links! google "gardens by the lake artisan bread" and it should be top of the results list.

I've been using tesco value plain flour and doves farm dried active yeast and have made normal loaves, baguettes, pizzas and even naan breads all from the basic recipe. Will be trying a focaccia later in the week.

There are also videos on you tube demonstrating how they do it: Hmm, again not allowed to link! Just search on youtube for "artisan bread"

Hope that's helpful for anyone that doesn't have room for a breadmaker!

thriftlady_2

hobajay wrote: »

Hello all,

I have an incredibly small kitchen, and just don't have the counter space OR cupboard space to have a breadmaker, so have tried bread baking by hand on quite a few occasions. None of them were particularly successful regardless of flour/yeast/temperature combinations, so I gave up.

A few months ago I came across a method whereby you make a big batch of wetter than usual dough and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks, and use what you need as you need it. I haven't bought a loaf of bread since!

There is a book all about it, called "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" but you can find the basic recipe on the internet here: hmm, I'm new on here so not allowed to post links! google "gardens by the lake artisan bread" and it should be top of the results list.

I've been using tesco value plain flour and doves farm dried active yeast and have made normal loaves, baguettes, pizzas and even naan breads all from the basic recipe. Will be trying a focaccia later in the week.

There are also videos on you tube demonstrating how they do it: Hmm, again not allowed to link! Just search on youtube for "artisan bread"

Hope that's helpful for anyone that doesn't have room for a breadmaker!

Oooh we have a thread all about that here. Thanks for the reminder;)

Why can't you post links ?

hobajay

Because I am too new! Apparantly to prevent spammers from clogging up the message boards.

Will have a good read of that post thanks, see what everyone else makes of it!

thriftlady_2

hobajay wrote: »

Because I am too new! Apparantly to prevent spammers from clogging up the message boards.

I see -you learn something new every day;) Anyway thanks for reminding me about the artisan bread, I've been meaning to try it.