1st loaf in new BM - tastes YUK!

DSmiffy

Don't forget - DON'T tap the sides of the cup to make the ingredients settle when weighing them, just fill the cup by tipping the flour in and make sure it is heaped. Then take a knife and using the straight edge scrape straight across the top of the cup knocking off the excess flour. That is 1 cup. Do this with all the dry ingredients and you should be OK.

elona

Petal

Try not using scales - using the cup to measure stuff and make sure you set it to a wholemeal setting if there is one.

I add a little vit C powder and my wholemeal loaves turn out better than the white ones.

Petal_3

Thanks Elona & D Smiffy

Where do you get the Vit C powder from?

elona

I just use an ordinary Vit C tablet and cut it to size - then crush with a rolling pin (held vertically like a pestle)

Pal

I have a Panasonic SD 253 and as long as I follow the instructions and use the measuring spoons and cups that come with it, the bread is excellent.

The only thing I never do is include vitamin C, as I don't have any. However it seems to make no difference at all to the loaf.

That said, the sandwich setting does produce fairly mediocre loaves. They work fine but are quite small and dense (as they are supposed to be).

If it has the option, the French loaf setting is excellent.

frizz_head

I never make a Wholemeal loaf with all Wholemeal Flour - comes out like a brick - always do two cups wholemeal to one cup white!

Petal_3

Elona - I just bought Vit C tablets - only to get home to find they're ORANGE flavoured :rolleyes:

Pal - I was just looking at the French loaf setting. Think I'll give it a try..altho was thinking I might try the Rapid Bake white this evening (to see if SOMETHING will turn out right)

Frizzhead - good tip! Cheers for that.

Also, just tested my scales and they're weigh off (see what I did there) they weigh 20 grammes more than they should!

Anyone recommend a good set of scales?
x

Magentasue

My Panasonic turns out brilliant bread but I do think the recipe book suggests too much water. I use about 20ml less water than suggested - what you need to do is lift the lid and look at the dough once it starts kneading.

It needs to be a sticky ball of dough - if it's all over the sides, add a little flour and if it looks dry, cautiously add a little water. When I turn mine out for rolls it's too sticky to handle without a bit of flour but it is a ball of dough, if you see what I mean. Once you have the amount of water sussed, you don't need to check and the bread will be brilliant.

I only use the basic setting and use a mix of granary and wholemeal flour, sometimes with some white flour or all white flour. Have never had problems but that's because I couldn't resist looking at the dough on the first loaf and saw that it looked for like cake mixture than bread dough!

Minerva_2

Holland and Barret sell vitamin C powder http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product.asp?xs=CB01BD4E6FFC4C6DBAB6ECF3520E1D79&PID=119&np=1&cpid=490

I always add it to my wholemeal loaves, but I do find that the 70% wholemeal is better - the 100% can be rather dense.

I hope that you enjoy experimenting with you new breadmaker.

jaybee

I've got a Panasonic and use half white & half wholemeal flour and I've not had a failure (yet!). I also use vitamin C powder which says it is orange flavoured, but it really doesn't notice! Only a tiny amount needed (1/4 teaspoon).