Need help with bread...................

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Does anyone know how to get a light, airy, loaf of bread out of a bread machine? All I seem to be able to get is a dnese heavy loaf.

-- FLAME AWAY (blehman202@aol.com), November 20, 1999

Answers

Scotty, use bread flour, add about a tablespoon of gluten (available in the flour section of your grocery store), and use a good yeast like Red Star or SFA, and you should do okay. When piling in the ingredients, be careful the yeast doesn't come in contact with the sugar during the initial warm-up period. If you're making wholewheat flour, the loaf will be naturally dense. You might search the web on "Bread machine recipes" and see what comes up. Some good stuff out there! Keep trying, it's a far cry from the crap you buy at the store!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 20, 1999.

Here's a terrific place for bread recipes:

http://www.breadrecipe.com/

-- flora (***@__._), November 20, 1999.


Here is another approach altogether to solve the loss of store bought bread and get light fluffy sandwich sides.

http://www.opseeds.com/wheat.htm

-- tree (thetrees@bigfoot.com), November 20, 1999.


I let the bread machine do the kneading for me. I take the dough out and let it rise and bake in the oven. The bread machine will do a lot better job of kneading than a person can. I can get a better loaf of bread this way. Of course it defeats the purpose of letting the bread cook on it's own, but I make two loaves at a time this way. Homemade bread hint: use a plastic shower cap to cover your dough while it is rising. I buy the cheap clear thin plastic ones, works great as a bowl/pan cover.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), November 20, 1999.

blehman:

How are things in Western Pa. In answer to your question, the quality of the bread you make depends on the quality of the things you use. I have been using King Arthur bread machine flour. It is about 14% [as I remember} protein. No need to add anything. I have been ordering this by mail for decades. Now, all of our local stores carry it. If I use King Arthur general purpose flour, I add 1 tbs of gluten per 2 pound loaf. If I use Pillsbury bread flour, I add 2 tbs of gluten per two pound loaf [less protein the flour has, the more you add]. If part of the flour is whole wheat or rye, I do the same. I use olive oil [rather than butter, etc.] to maintain moisture. If you use regular yeast you must proof it. That is, add the yeast to warm water containing the sugar. If you use bread machine yeast, this isn't necessary. Like Carol, I use the machine to kneed the dough. I still do the second rise in my riser and bake in the oven. It doesn't get any lighter, but I can control the shape of the loaf and texture of the crust.

Best

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 21, 1999.



By the way, when you think of bread flour, think hard read spring. It makes a real difference. If you want authenic French bread you must think differenly. You need to buy a special flour for that.

Best wishes,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 21, 1999.


OOPS: That should be hard red spring.

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 21, 1999.

I disagree re the hard red wheat. Used it all my life until I discovered Praire Gold. Wouldn't go back to HRW again for anything. For a 11/2 lb loaf of fluffy white bread in the machine. This happens to be the order I use simply because its in my head in this order. Even with a bread machine you need to get/have a feel for the dough. Once you have that you can make bread with all kinds of stuff. I toss in left over breakfast cereal, left over bits of different kinds of grain that I have ground. Toss in a half of box of mince meat and another tablespoon of sugar for a great Thanksgiving bread or Christmas bread. Christmas bread around here means another tbs of sugar and a small package of the candied fruits for fruit cake. Makes the yummiest of toast. Once you have the basic feel for your dough you can get really creative and toss in al kinds of things. Dried onion soup makes agreat bread too.

1 tbs yeast

1tsp salt

1 tbs sugar

1tbs oil(butter, bacon grease, olive, whatever)

2 to 3 cups of bread bread flour or ground Prairie Gold flour

enuff hot water that the dough is sticky to touch after the machine has turned it into a ball. Add more water or more flour to get slightly sticky doe.

Punch in French bread on your machine

Taz...who has made bread all her life with and without a machine.

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 22, 1999.


Taz:

I didn't say hard red wheat. I said hard red spring. I've tried the Pr. Gold. Didn't think much of it. I guess differences are good.

Best wishes,,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 22, 1999.


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