bread machine tips?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We just got a bread machine and we are experimenting. It’s a good machine; we got a more expensive model. It can do 1, 1.5, and 2 pound loaves. We’ve made whole wheat, white, and multi-grained and are generally pretty happy with the results. We diligently follow the instructions and recipes.

My only complaint is the bread is always pretty heavy and, in my opinion if not my wife’s, too crumbly. Does anyone know how to modify the recipes to get a softer lighter bread that doesn’t produce so many crumbs.

We did find out that the fresh bread cuts a lot better and stays intact better if it’s left to cool for a few hours before eating. If we dive into it as soon as it comes out of the machine doesn’t slice very well and breaks up.

Anyway, I thought I’d ask if any bread machine owning Dopers have discovered any tricks and secrets on their own that they might want to share.

2

If you are using the mixes that came with the machine you may be running into problems with aged materials. My first recommendation would be to use the freshest yeast possible. Another thing that you may be overlooking is to use purified water with the yeast. Do not use tap water. The chlorine will help to kill your yeast. Be careful about the temperature of any hot water that is used to “activate” the yeast. If it is too hot, it may kill your culture.

Another thing that I have noticed is that many recipes include salt in the “starter” culture. Do not add salt to your yeast until the last moment.

From your OP, it would seem that you are attempting to improve the lightness and “crumb” of your bread. Careful control of the culture and moisture of your loaf should yield palpable results. I recommend the use of butter, but that is a personal issue.

Always allow your bread to cool for at least ten minutes before slicing. It is a living substance, like a roast. Please treat is as such. I recommend fresh, stone faced mill ground Deaf Smith County Hard Red Winter Wheat. Dot the loaf with presoaked bits of dried Turkish apricots and you shall have a taste of the Hereafter!

If you have never ground the flour for your bread, you have not lived! (Except, with a greater degree of convenience, perhaps.)

3

I’ve never used pre-packaged mixes in my bread machine, but I do follow the menus exactly - including buying flour specifically formulated for breadmakers and the yeast that specifies for breadmakers. I do use tap water - nary a problem. In fact, the worst loaf I ever made was to be a whole wheat - I have no idea what I did wrong, but it was leaden and not very tasty.

I’ve got a great pecan-cinnamon recipe and and applesauce-cinnamon bread that’s especially yummy. The pizza crust made with beer is mighty fine, too.

Methinks it’s time to make some…

4

MENUS?!? I meant recipes… where IS my brain this morning…

Incidentally, I also tried to make soft pretzels from the cookbook that came with the breadmaker - they didn’t work out… dunno what I did, but I need to try again. Me LIKES soft pretzels…

5

funny you should mention these. I bought one for SO several years ago, since he mentioned loving home baked bread but not having the time to do it.

One year later, for Christmas, I purchased for him, a box of bread mix, “just add water”.

One year later, for the following Christmas, I purchased for him, the water.
I gave up the next year and just bought him a loaf of bread.

6

Thanks people, we’re going to make a pizza dough this weekend, I’ve obtained a jar of anchovies from the Italian supermarket.

I think I’ll let the tapwater sit on the counter for a while and let the chlorine burn off. Fresh ingredients is definitely a must. Keeping salt away from the yeast is also important. Whole wheat bread needs “glutin” to make it rise.

Zenster, you’re right, it’s a living thing. We tread carefully in the kitchen while the machine is working and no opening the machine to peek. We don’t want to disturb those little yeasties while they are working.

I can usually pick up excellent breads on special at the grocery store for about 99 cents a loaf, so it isn’t exactly a money-saver, but my wife, World War III, is an absolute bread fanatic, so I’m trying to help her produce wonderful bread.

We already made raisin bread and, since some of you are singing praises of the fruity spicy varieties I’ll try them. One of the recipes we have calls for fresh pumpkin - very seasonal.

7

I’ve found that an electric carving knife works great for slicing homemade bread. Nice even slices, and no squashing the loaf.

8

I had a bread machine for a while. Ended up taking it back. No matter what I did, it never really produced great bread. My advice: take the bread machine back, and buy a heavy duty mixer (like a Kitchenaide) and use that instead.

9

Check the first few pages of your bread machine’s manual. Normally, there are descriptions of the chemistry of breadmaking: the process itself, each ingredient, and what each ingredient does.

For optimum results, I use bread flour and bread machine yeast. Bread flour has more “stretch” than cake or all-purpose flour, giving you a higher, lighter loaf. Bread machine yeast, IIRC, is a bit livelier than regular yeast, again giving you nice tall soft loaves.

Don’t let the yeast touch the salt or the liquid until the very last moment. I tend to put my salt in first, along with the wet ingredients, then the flour, then the yeast on top.

Whole wheat flour doesn’t have much gluten in it, so it makes a mighty dense loaf. To improve the character of your bread, replace half of the whole wheat flour with bread flour. You may also want to cut the total amount of flour by about half a cup; experiment.

Tip to make your life easier: get a bunch of Ziplock bags and fill them with all of the dry ingredients for a particular bread recipe (flour, salt, sugar), then write the wet ingredients you’ll need to add to the bread on the bag. With your own homemade bread mixes, you won’t have to break out the measuring cups every time you want to whip up a loaf.

The dough in the pizza I made two nights ago was mixed in my bread machine. Man, does that cut down on the headaches of making pizza from scratch; the machine not only does all the mixing for you, it warms the dough slightly for proper rising. Can’t beat that with a rubber stick. Careful when adding garlic, though, because it can retard the rising process.

Can you tell I love me some bread? hehe

10

We got a Zojirushi a few years ago…the cadillac of bread machines. At the time it was the only one that was self programmable, so I could make my sourdough with it…mmmm love the smell:)

11

FairyChatMom, can I get those pecan-cinnamon and apple-cinnamon recipes? I’ve been looking for something like them so I can have it baked just in time for breakfast.

12

Some suggestions: Use unbleached flour, and sift it first, especially if you are at altitude (or you can buy Hungarian high-altitude flour, which is basically pre-sifted flour). Then buy baking stones that will cover your oven/range as completely as possible. Then, when the machine completes the kneading, take the dough out and let it rise in the (cold) oven. Then bake it in the oven. Then sell the machine and start kneading by hand. Bakers have sexy arms.

13

But of course - I’ll look them up this evening and post them in the recipe thread…

<pssst - I’ll e-mail 'em to ya too> :slight_smile:

14

Ordinary tap water should have absolutely NO effect on your yeast. I work for a yeast manufacturer and I can tell you we use regular city water to grow our yeast. If anything, it is the temperature of the water during baking that would have the greatest impact. If it is not hot enough, the yeast does not activate, too hot and you fry the little buggers.

Anyway, my company has a web site:
http://www.breadworld.com
They have various receipies for both bread machines and oven bread making, trouble-shooting tips, etc.

15

I posted the two recipes in the recipe thread… think I’ll go now and make one…

mmmm - can almost smell it now… <drool>

16

Al Zheimers, when using anchovies, please take great care to rinse them off first. Tradition has them being soaked in milk, but I do not subscribe to that. However, you want to avoid having any of the packing oil “bleed” onto your pizza. The whole pizza will taste like a giant salty fish and not much else. Be sure to sprinkle some corn meal on your cutting board or paddle before tossing your pizza into the oven. It helps the crust avoid sticking to your pan or oven stone.

17

Thanks Zenster, you’re a good guy and a helpful dude. I ALWAYS wash my anchovies, ever since I washed dishes every Friday night in an Italian restaurant as a high school kid.
I’m rushing out now, I’ve got a free ticket to some strange seminar called “How To Develop a Millionaire Mind”. I got my arm twisted.

Nobody has yet suggested I use my bread machine for an anchor when I go fishing, but it’s been close. We are going to work at it until we make great bread.

18

Al Zheimers:

I just posted a bread machine recipe for Sauerkraut Bread to Zenster’s recipe thread that we’ve been making for a couple of years and have had great success with. I know it sounds a little funny, but it’s a wonderful sandwich bread.

We’ve had our machine for about five years now and use it a lot. You don’t want to see what I can do to a kitchen making bread by hand!

Good luck and have fun. And be prepared: you will start taking on extra baggage if you aren’t careful.