I am in love with my Panasonic breadmaker

billieboy_2

Peckedhen wrote: »

Just one downside to the panny - the bread needs removing as soon as it's cooked whereas, in Mum's Breville, it can be left 'keeping warm' for up to an hour - great if you need a lie in!!:rolleyes:

That's the other difference between my old 253 and new 255. You used to be able to leave it for an hour which was great if you were late getting in or just completely forgot about it which I frequently do.

JennyW_2

I treated myself to a bread machine cook book at the weekend and on many of the bread recipies, it shows pictures of how you can glaze or add chopped ingredients to the top of the loaf when it has risen (looks like they are doing this just before the bake cycle starts).

However I'm wary of doing this as if I open the lid and start messing around the bread, wont I upset the temperature and development of the loaf

saving-grace

JennyW wrote: »

I treated myself to a bread machine cook book at the weekend and on many of the bread recipies, it shows pictures of how you can glaze or add chopped ingredients to the top of the loaf when it has risen (looks like they are doing this just before the bake cycle starts).

However I'm wary of doing this as if I open the lid and start messing around the bread, wont I upset the temperature and development of the loaf

I have done this, opened the lid to sprinkle seeds on top. No adverse effects.
In fact I often lift the lid anyway for a quick peep to see how its doing.

JennyW_2

billieboy wrote: »

That's the other difference between my old 253 and new 255. You used to be able to leave it for an hour which was great if you were late getting in or just completely forgot about it which I frequently do.

has anyone left a loaf in, for say an hour, after it's finished? Curious to see what it might do to the bread.

billieboy_2

JennyW wrote: »

has anyone left a loaf in, for say an hour, after it's finished? Curious to see what it might do to the bread.

I've probably left one in by mistake for about 15 minutes and it's been okay.

arkonite_babe

arkonite_babe wrote: »

I've had my first disaster with the panny. Made a sandwich loaf tonight and it came out about 4 inches high with the density of a brick :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well, I have invested in a set of digital scales, and the panny is on for another attempt. The first since my disaster

Keep your fingers crossed. And toes and any other bits you can cross :rotfl::rotfl:

Will post back later and let you know how it turned out. (Approx 8pm tonight)

Oh and I'm trying Doves farm organic strong white bread flour this time and have also added 1 teaspoon of vit c powder to see if that helps as well.

Pitlanepiglet

As an update on my experiments with the Panny and with flour....I've had another go with a 50/50 wholemeal, the last two I've used Doves Farm Organic Wholemeal Bread Flour but with cheap Asda plain flour not bread flour, this time I used the Dove Farm but used Waitrose Organic White Bread flour as well rather than the cheap stuff.

I got off to a bad start when on waking up this morning the house wasn't full of the smell of baking bread - guess who had forgotten to press the "start" button :rolleyes:

Sooooo after a reset for it to finish at lunchtime when DH could be home to take the bread home it went back on again and the loaf has risen much much better than the last two and looks much more like a proper loaf.

My testing so far makes me think that 50/50 with white bread flour and white cheap flour is fine - I guess the white bread flour has enough gluten in it to work better? 50/50 with wholemeal seems to need proper white bread flour.

arkonite_babe

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Well, I have invested in a set of digital scales, and the panny is on for another attempt. The first since my disaster

Keep your fingers crossed. And toes and any other bits you can cross :rotfl::rotfl:

Will post back later and let you know how it turned out. (Approx 8pm tonight)

Oh and I'm trying Doves farm organic strong white bread flour this time and have also added 1 teaspoon of vit c powder to see if that helps as well.

Result!!!! Perfect loaf :D:D

I'll post a pic if I get a mo, I'm so chuffed. Can you tell :rolleyes:

Pitlanepiglet

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Result!!!! Perfect loaf :D:D

I'll post a pic if I get a mo, I'm so chuffed. Can you tell :rolleyes:

Well done! It's amazing how easily pleased some of us are isn't it :rotfl:DH sent me a picture from his mobile of my beautiful loaf this afternoon :rotfl:

JennyW_2

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Well done! It's amazing how easily pleased some of us are isn't it :rotfl:DH sent me a picture from his mobile of my beautiful loaf this afternoon :rotfl:

ha, ha. I did this too - sent a picture of my wholemeal loaf over the mobile to my husband (that's how pleased I was) - he replied saying he thought I'd shaved my head :rotfl:

I made a 70/30 wholemeal last night (with walnuts and pumpkin seeds) and it's definitely denser than the 50/50. Still a good loaf though but I prefer 50/50 - much more fluffy and lighter. I've been using the Waitrose Organic and have been very pleased with the results.