Advice On Breadmaking.

[Barsel]

I made some bread for the first time yesterday in my breadmaker. It looks ok but it's very doughy and heavy. Do you have any advice on how I can make it less chewy please? x

[Togo]

Sound a bit like undercooked Barsel. Without knowing the mix and times you were advised to bake it for hard to give definite times and temps etc. I seem to remember that bread needs to reach a temperature of about 205 degrees Celsius before it is done. It also carries on cooking after removing it from the oven, so don't cut it straight away. Keep trying, I make mine without a bread machine and the first ones were hopeless. Getting pretty good now .

[Old_Geezer]

Did you let it rise properly ? Left it in a warm place ?

[Mosaic]

The ambient temperature in the room can slow down the rising, even of dough in a breadmaker, and different brands of ready-mixed bread mix perform differently, so without knowing these variables it's hard to advise. If you were making by hand, you'd need a comfortably warm room and to watch to ensure it had risen to twice its size before baking.

[EcclesCake]

Assuming you followed a recipe from the booklet that came with you bread maker I would suggest you go through all the recipes until you find one that suits your taste.

In my experience I have found that a quick loaf is much doughier than the normal recipes and whole meal loaves are much heavier. After experimenting I settled on a 60/40 whole meal/white flour mix.

[Barsel]

Well I followed the instructions exactly as I read you have to be accurate with the measures. The only variant was that I used 50/50 white and brown so perhaps that's it. I will try just white next time and see how that turns out.x

[jomifl]

As with Eccles I find that a 50/50 wholemeal/white mix works well. Make sure that you are using the right flour, anything less than 12% protein(gluten) will tend to be a bit doughy. Although the salt added improves the strength of the flour making the bread lighter it does slow down the yeast activity making the bread slower to rise. So you will need to find the best compromise for your needs. Anything less than 1/3 tsp salt per loaf tastes a bit odd to me.

[Retrochic]

I don't like the bread that comes out of my bread maker its heavy and chewy. I use the bread maker to knead the dough then take it out and rise it normally in a warm place and cook it in the oven. I know I know why bother having a bread maker but I have mobility problems with my hands and wrists so would not be able to do it from scratch. Do try th different recipes -I use oil and powdered milk in my favourite recipe and its nice and 'springy'

[woofgang]

which cooking setting did you use?

[Barsel]

I too have mobility probs with my hands and wrists Retrochic so there's no way I can knead etc. Does the type of oil make any difference? I didn't have vegetable oil in so I used olive oil instead.

[Barsel]

woofgang, first of all you choose the size so I chose 1KG, (might try a smaller size next time.) Then you choose the colour of the crust, so I chose medium.The whole process took 3:15mins.

[Barsel]

These are the ingredients for a 1Kg loaf that I used.
380ml Water
1 1/2 tbsp Oil
300g White flour
300g Brown flour
5 tsps Skimmed milk powder
1 1/2 tsp Salt
4 tsps Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Easy blend dried yeast
Press menu button
Select loaf size
Select crust colour
Press start
Takes about 3:15hrs Turn out onto a wired rack

[Old_Geezer]

Sorry, just re-read and noted you used a breadmaker. Maybe it's that; maybe it doesn't keep it warm enough ? If you have used a decent fresh yeast and followed instructions it ought to have been ok. I guess you could always try a different yeast brand.

[woofgang]

Oil shouldn't make a difference, I use what I have. Assuming that you didn't mis-measure (which I have done more than once!!) then its worth giving your yeast a check to see if its lively. Mix a little with a few spoons of warm water and a pinch of sugar and leave it in a warm place. It should foam up in a very lively way. No or half hearted foaming means its dying or dead and needs replacing. Can I ask what the brand of your machine is?

[Retrochic]

Barsel I use vegetable oil for loaves and olive oil for pizza crust. I really think its the way the bread is cooked in the appliance that makes it a heavier loaf than done in the oven. The bigger the loaf the heavier it was in my experience. Try making the smallest loaf size and see if that improves.

[woofgang]

I've got a Pansonic breadmaker (my third) Apart from when I mess up the measurements, or am experimenting, I have never had a bad loaf out of any of them.

[Barsel]

It's a Kenwood woofgang.It says Easy blend dried yeast in the ingredients so that's what I used.I'm taking on board everything you've all suggested and will try again once I've ploughed my way through this loaf.I especially like Retrochic's advice about using vegetable oil and making a smaller loaf. Think I need to completely rethink the best way to make the next one.x

[gingejbee]

You may get better results (particularly when using wholemeal flour) if you add a small amount of vitamin C powder to the mix....



http://www.kingarthurflour.com/tips/bread-machine-ingredients.html

[Barsel]

That's an interesting article gingejbee, I'll keep that for further reference. x

[jomifl]

If you don't have a bread machine to do your kneading use a rolling pin, roll out the dough(enough for one loaf), fold and roll again, as soon as the dough becomes elastic and is difficult to pull apart then you've done enough. Just rollit up int a sausage and bung it in the tin.The advantage of this method is that you are using your body weight and back muscles to do the kneading, not your fingers and forearms, which in many cases just aren't up to it.