1st loaf in new BM - tastes YUK!

competitionscafe

Does the recipe have sugar in? I always add a wee bit of honey or sugar (half a teaspoon to a teaspoon) - apparently this helps the yeast grow.

I have a Morphy Richards bm and I found I had to do quite a few experiments changing the ingredients from the ones in the leaflet it came with until I found a loaf that I really liked. I use a bit of butter or oil, and I don't usually bother with the milk powder. As somebody else said - mix some white flour in with your wholemeal for a lighter loaf. I sometimes substitute half a cup of the flour for half a cup of oats which gives a nice slightly nutty flavour to the bread.

jaybee

Ooooh! I hadn't thought of using oats. Will try that next time!

squeaky

Petal wrote:

Anyone recommend a good set of scales?
x

Any scales by Salter. I've worked with them in industry and use them at home. Amazon do some, or...

google on salter+scales

Whitefiver

Just a thought - I'll bet it makes *lovely* toast. My "experiments" with 100% wholemeal were always sought out for toasting!

With wholemeal, so much depends on the quality of the flour (how much gluten, and so on). When you get a recipe sorted to your liking, try to stick to the same brand of flour. I even went to the trouble of buying gluten for a short period!

Why not start out with a white loaf (which I always found reliable), and work up. Even white bread tastes lovely from a BM.

I'm absolutely sure you will quickly get the hang of it - especially with a Panasonic.

Best of luck,

White

Ticklemouse

If you really want to add Vit C - Tescos value Vit C - 33p for 30 tablets at 60mg. I find one of these crushed is OK in my 1/2 wholemeal to 1/2 white flour loaves.

I've just bought myself a pair of Salter aquatronic scales as they were less than 1/2 price in a local shop (which made them just a bit cheaper than Amazon ) Haven't tried them yet but Salter are generally reliable. I have a set of salter manual scales which are over 20 years old - accurate to about 20gms which is OK for ordinary baking but wanted a really accurate set now I'm 'Mrs OS'

Having said that, I don't think I've had a bad loaf out of my Russell Hobbs BM and I'm not always 100% accurate with my measurements. Maybe it really is that much better than all your Panasonics (runs for cover quickly)

Petal_3

You dissin' my Panasonic? :mad:

Well, I've set the timer to (hopefully) produce a French loaf at 6am tomorrow. Fingers crossed and thanks all for your advice.

Night night x

Ticklemouse

Petal wrote:

You dissin' my Panasonic? :mad:

moi?

Petal_3

Woohoo! Made a French loaf for this morning and it actually looks like a loaf of bread...got a crust n everything! This BM is helping in more ways than just making bread. I'm s'posed to get up at 6am but usually roll out of bed at 6.30am...but cos I'm setting the BM to finish at 6am..I rush down the stairs to see what the bread's like - so am not late for work now! lol

Have a good day all,
x

maryb

balance scales never go wrong and they're very easy to judge by eye when you've got the exact amount. However ordinary scales are much more useful for telling you how much a joint of meat weighs - it is a bit fiddly adding weights until it dips to work out your cooking time for a roast

maryb

Woohoo I've just graduated to regular money saver!!

Ah well, off to work.....