I use a bread making machine to bake a loaf. However recent attempts have spectacularly failed to rise to the occasion and have been craggy on top too. I do use decent flour - Doves organic wholemeal. Where am I going wrong ?
I use a bread making machine to bake a loaf. However recent attempts have spectacularly failed to rise to the occasion and have been craggy on top too. I do use decent flour - Doves organic wholemeal. Where am I going wrong ?
Could be lots of things...Originally Posted by Manhar
Try 50% wholemeal-50 % white flour, 100% Wholemeal tends to be a bit heavy
Could be old or poor quality yeast.
Maybe you need a bit more water or sugar or fat.
Experiment a bit but make a note of what you do so you know what works. even the breadmaker might vary the results
My Wife is the daughter of a baker and these tips have come from her...
Or a little less fluid or fat. I find I have to use less water/milk when I use a machine as opposed to making it by hand and in the oven. And as mentioned above, don't use more than 2/3 wholemeal flour.
Imo your expectations are what is wrong. Good organic 100% wholemeal bread, made without improvers, is MEANT to be dense, heavy and craggy on top. Try buying a Rossiski loaf made by the famous Village Bakery from Waitrose and you will see what I mean. Eat your home made bread with pride! Once you are used to it, all other bread will seem to you as inedible as it is unhealthy. You may need to add more water - wholemeal flour needs more than white.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
I agree with less than 100% wholemeal.
Try making small changes, making bread is very much a matter of trial and error until you get it right.
Yeast, water, fat, sugar, salt, unlike in other food small differences count a lot.
I threw ours away.
Hovis for these Yorkshire Lads.
We always go 50:50 wholemeal (pr spelt or buckwheat or whatever else is lyng around) to white. Having said that I went 100% spelt earlier on a hand shaped loaf and it's risen beautifully!
I use a mixer and the oven, and do not add salt or sugar; the yeasts I use are Allinson easy bake yeast or Dove's farm quick yeast, depending on which is available, and I add about 50% more than most recipes suggest per gram of flour, so 2 packets/14 grams of easy bake yeast to 650 grams of flour. My preferred flour is Kamut/khorasan - second is wholemeal spelt - third is strong wholemeal flour. All have a higher than normal protein content, and whilst the texture varies, there have been no failures. Kamut has a lovely nutty taste, and sticks to itself rather than to the mixer/bowl/scraper.
It is my understanding that bread machines are very dependent on accurate recipes - any tiny variation can result in failure. So do not vary the recipe on whim: if you want wholemeal bread use a wholemeal bread-machine recipe.
My recipe:
This recipe contains no added sugar or salt, and the ingredients have been chosen to have a relatively low fructose level and a low omega 6 level, hence no sunflower oil or sunflower seeds.
650 gms/mls warm water
650 gms wholemeal spelt or Kamut flour or a mixture of the two. I prefer Kamut as it is not so sticky and tastes delicious but it does cost a bit more.
2 packets - 14 gms - of easy bake yeast
12 dried apricots each cut into about 8 pieces
3 tablespoons of each of goji berries, linseeds, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and sesame seeds.
100 gms walnut pieces
50 gms of rolled oats
1 or 2 teaspoons of each of ground ginger and ground cinnamon
Options: 1 teaspoon of each of fennel seeds and caraway seeds.
300 gms of prunes - cut each prune in half.
20 gms walnut oil or olive oil.
About 80 almonds
Mix all but the prunes, almonds and the walnut/olive oil in a big bowl on slow speed for 6 and a half minutes, then cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 2 hours or so - I put it into the oven at 38 degrees. Sometimes if I am out running it gets rather longer at 35 degrees.
Then add the prunes and the walnut oil and mix again for two and a half minutes. Spoon into two small buttered bread loaf tins, then press the almonds into the top, about 40 or so on each - as many as you can without them touching.
Leave to rise again in that warm place for about 20 minutes, then place in the oven - no fan - at 190 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes - it should be going quite dark around the edges and sound hollow when turned out. Turn out straight away and leave to cool down. It is delicious as it is on the day it is baked; on subsequent days I prefer it toasted - some add butter but I don't.
It is a solid loaf - like a heavy tea bread in texture but far less sweet and far healthier.
I hope you like it!
Fresh Turkish bread �� yum, yum��
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