Quick questions on bread making

angeltreats

Doubtful wrote: »

Help, I've forgotten to put butter or oil in my dough. Will it be alright. I want to make round baps. It looks o.k.?

It will be absolutely fine - maybe a bit crustier than normal but that's all.

Just don't do what I did the other night and forget to put the salt in. It rose spectacularly (salt retards the yeast, so with no salt the yeast went a bit mad) and looked fantastic but it tasted absolutely minging. I didn't realise I'd forgotten the salt till I tasted the bread and nearly spat it out. It's being turned into breadcrumbs - two whole loaves :mad:

Doubtful

In the oven now, so fingers crossed. Thanks for the reply angeltreats. I like crusty bread. The rolls are for homemade burgers later.

Bobbykins

Hi OS-ers,

I wonder if any of you can shed any light on an odd problem I encountered today with my bread dough?

I've been making bread for the last 5 years so am fairly experienced. I make it by hand so am used to the "feel" of dough. Today I made 2 batches of dough, one was 50/50 wholemeal and white flour, the other all white flour. Both batches of flour were ones I used a couple of days ago, neither is a new bag.

I usually knead for about 10 minutes the first time and then for about 3 or 4 minutes after the first "proving".

Both lots of dough "proved" well. When I came to do the second kneading the 50/50 batch was fine but I noticed that the all white batch was a little stickier than normal. Anyway, I kneaded it as usual but found that the more I kneaded it the stickier it got. I am used to dough being sticky at first but usually as you knead it it gradually gets better but not this time! I ended up after 10 minutes giving it up as a bad job and for the first time in a very long time I had throw it away :eek:

Has anyone any idea where I went wrong?

Any suggestions welcome.

thanks in advance

Bobby

mumto1_2

i haven't a clue. But i would have taken the chance and baked it anyway....... you never know, it might have been fine.

ceridwen

I'm guessing that they have changed the type of wheat used in your regular flour you buy????

I have tried a couple of different types of wheatflour recently - both labelled "wholemeal organic bread flour" - but different brands and they are a bit different to each other in the way they feel when making my standard 5 Minute Bread recipe. They both turn out fine in the end - whichever of the two I use. So - there ARE different strains of wheat and I think this might be what it is.

I would have put the new batch of dough into a breadpan and baked it up as normal and seen how it comes out personally...

Bobbykins

thanks both of you for your comments. I guess, Ceridwen, that maybe it must be a different strain of wheat then. Oh well, keep trying I suppose.

I normally would have bunged it in the oven anyway but, seriuosly, it was soooooooooo sticky I couldn't get it off the work surface! I was stuck to myself with blobs of dough - it would have made a good substitute for super glue :rotfl::rotfl:. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to even get it into the bin..................where it sat, looking at me, with an evil look on its face:eek::eek:

Penelope_Penguin

Bobbykins wrote: »

thanks both of you for your comments. I guess, Ceridwen, that maybe it must be a different strain of wheat then. Oh well, keep trying I suppose.

I normally would have bunged it in the oven anyway but, seriuosly, it was soooooooooo sticky I couldn't get it off the work surface! I was stuck to myself with blobs of dough - it would have made a good substitute for super glue :rotfl::rotfl:. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to even get it into the bin..................where it sat, looking at me, with an evil look on its face:eek::eek:

Have you tried again using the same flour?

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existing thread to keep ideas together.

SunnierDays

Hello everyone,

My first post here but rest assured I have been reading for months...actually make that about 2 years and finally thought it was time to join

I made my first ever batch of homemade bread today using:

500g Strong bread flour,
Salt,
Sugar,
300mls warm water,
1tsp of yeast ( hovis fast acting sachet)

The bread DOES taste yummy but it is way to crusty on the outside, I had to make a bloomer shape as no adequate tins yet. But my son wont eat it if it is to crusty, does anyone have any ideas how to keep it a bit softer, I mean its that crusty it kinda crunches in the mouth lol. I like it that way as the inside is all lovely and soft..but I need my whole family to eat it and not just me!

Any tips or tricks?

Thank you in advance.

SunnierDays

Ah ok, Google was my best friend

I have found these tips:

Try sprinkling some wholemeal flour or bran onto the top of your loaf and bake for a shorter time in a hotter oven. In addition, place a metal tray of water in the bottom of the oven when you turn it on. This will give a moister atmosphere in the oven during baking.

---

Try brushing it with butter after baking it, since butter is 80% water.

I'll give them a try, does this work for anyone else?

Pink.

Hi Sunnierdays,

I wrap it in a clean tea towel when I take it out of the oven and the steam helps to soften the crust. I'm pretty sure there was an earlier thread on this so I'll have a look to see if I can find it for you.

Pink

Edit: These threads have some advice:

Quick questions on bread making

handmade bread

HM Bread in the oven recipe??

What's going wrong with my handmade bread?

Bread making, soft rolls

I'll add your thread to the first link later once you've had some more ideas.