...using a bread maker

[Necuno]

so i finally got myself the russell hobbs breadman. so far 1 out of four breads was ok, not perfect but ok.

up too now i'm not really sure exactly what i'm doing wrong but i got the following issues in the different tryouts :

1) only about 20% of the ingredients mixed, i guess too little water ?

2) about everything mix, but i can see some of the flour didn't and it looks like it needed more mixing in one of the corners, not sure why ?

3) it rises, but like only little bit, could be water and salt combination or too little yeast ?

4) it mixes and that's it, guess baking power is not correct and i should use yeast rather ?

finally i add the everything, still not sure if i should level it or have it be in a pyramid shape with the liquids obviously first in. i'm not sure even if the mixing arm can do it's job at the moment as each time i had to stop at needing add little water and help the mixing on.

i hope at this stage the breadmaker isn't ****ed, just my method

please advise,

thanks.

 

[pookfuzz]

Add to bread machine in this order:
1 tablespoon suger (15ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5ml)
1.5 teaspoon instant yeast
350g white bread flour
250ml water or milk
optional: blob of butter, about 30g

Makes a smallish loaf in my Panasonic machine.

 

[Necuno]

Add to bread machine in this order:
1 tablespoon suger (15ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5ml)
1.5 teaspoon instant yeast
350g white bread flour
250ml water or milk
optional: blob of butter, about 30g

Makes a smallish loaf in my Panasonic machine.

ok, but how do you have it level out or in a pyramid shape at the end... does it look like this in the bowl |-----| or like this |/\|
where is --- and /\ is the ingredients.

 

[diabolus]

You should actually stay around the first 5 minutes when the machine starts to mix [until you get your ingredients right] . I open mine and see that it forms a proper "ball" that is not sticky, but not hard either [floury] . If it looks like sticky blob [sticking to the sides] , you need to add more flour, if it looks too dry you need more water [i.e. adding a teaspoon of water/flour while it mixes ] . I sometimes stick my finger in to make sure it's a nice firm ball [this all happens in that first 5 minutes of mixing] .

Of course it helps if you have a proper recipe book, especially to determine the amounts for the specific SIZE of your bread. I've learned you can not simply "multiply" stuff by 1.5 or 2 to make a bread twice the size...

I never "level" the ingredients out. You always put in the liquids first [most standard breadmakers anyway, it might be different way around, but normally it's all liquids together and then all powders ], then you put in the sugar/salt then flour and finally the yeast. So the sequence is important here. The reason is the Yeast must be kept away from the liquid before it is mixed, otherwise it reacts too early.

Get a good breadmaker book like : http://www.kalahari.net/books/The-Bread-Machine-Cookbook/632/28372870.aspx . This book actually indicates in all recipes the amounts for all 3 typical sizes [most breadmakers can make 2 or 3 sizes ] .

Add to bread machine in this order:

I suppose your machine works differently. But most machines it's always liquids first [water/oil/honey] , followed by sugar/salt , then the flour [covering all the liquids] and then yeast last on top . As i mentioned, reason is to keep Yeast away from the Liquids prior to mixing.

ok, but how do you have it level out or in a pyramid shape at the end... does it look like this in the bowl |-----| or like this |/\|
where is --- and /\ is the ingredients.

Mine normally looks like a pyramid, but it doesn't really matter as far as i know. It will naturally form a pyramid if you throw the flour in with cups , and then the "icing on top" is the yeast.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Now your making me lus to go buy that damn bread making machine tomorrow - we so want one but have put it off

 

[upup]

I eventually use to little water and burn the motor.

 

[diabolus]

Now your making me lus to go buy that damn bread making machine tomorrow - we so want one but have put it off

The best part is how you can set it up when you go to bed, and set the timer so it finish the bread as you wake up......warm fresh bread every morning ;-)

 

[Necuno]

diabolus, thanks. with the breadman i got 2 books. operation and recipes, i looked and are trying now just normal gluten free VS rye one. can't seem to get the rye ones going yet.

the kneading ( or 1st 5 mins ), i guess i will have to always check this out.

1) loaded another one that's not flattened, but more /\ instead.

2) i can see the mixture is smooth while the arm is spinning, i guess too much liquids then ?
- even if this was exactly following the recipe, i'll try pookfuzz's next
- should be like soft squishable ball (more solid vs fluid i take it) then while it's being mixing.

i think i got the wrong idea with breadmaking machines. at start i thought it was just adding the mixture in the order and leaving it till's done. now it seems a babysitting process first few minutes



this is what i meant by not mixing correctly, guess i should have helped (adjusted) out here ?

 

[diabolus]

Well you don't normally have to babysit the machine, i don't anymore. I only do when i'm trying out a new recipe . I eventually know exactly how much i need for the recipe. Anyway, the recipe book i got with my machine was useless. Just to clarify, after about 5-10 minutes it should be a smooth ball, can be round or cylindrical, if you stick in your finger it should be moist, but not sticky etc etc.

As for your pic, if that's after about 5 minutes of mixing, then it doesn't look right, definitely too much liquid or not enough flour . It should be a solid ball almost..you know like a ball of dough that you can take out and "knead" and "roll" with your fists and bake in the oven. It definitely should not be a sloppy-watery goo . There are alot of recipes where you only use the breadmaker to mix/knead the dough and then you can take it out and roll/cut it yourself , i.e. if you want to make buns / hotdog / croissants / hotcross buns etc , then you actually skip the baking cycle and bake it in the oven.

 

[bwana]

I've got the breadman. If you're using the [awesome] recipe cards provided put the ingredients into the tin in the order they're listed. If not liquids first.

That mess in your tin doesn't look right, it might be a dud.

 

[diabolus]

Should look like this after about 5-10 minutes:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1zGLaFOzr-E/TS3rGW39GaI/AAAAAAAAEi4/mxa49hKK_IE/s400/DSCN9755.JPG
or
http://image.shutterstock.com/displ...bread-into-a-ball-in-a-breadmaker-1180865.jpg

 

[Necuno]

Well you don't normally have to babysit the machine, i don't anymore. I only do when i'm trying out a new recipe . I eventually know exactly how much i need for the recipe. Anyway, the recipe book i got with my machine was useless. Just to clarify, after about 5-10 minutes it should be a smooth ball, can be round or cylindrical, if you stick in your finger it should be moist, but not sticky etc etc.

As for your pic, if that's after about 5 minutes of mixing, then it doesn't look right, definitely too much liquid or not enough flour . It should be a solid ball almost..you know like a ball of dough that you can take out and "knead" and "roll" with your fists and bake in the oven. It definitely should not be a sloppy-watery goo . There are alot of recipes where you only use the breadmaker to mix/knead the dough and then you can take it out and roll/cut it yourself , i.e. if you want to make buns / hotdog / croissants / hotcross buns etc , then you actually skip the baking cycle and bake it in the oven.

Should look like this after about 5-10 minutes:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1zGLaFOzr-E/TS3rGW39GaI/AAAAAAAAEi4/mxa49hKK_IE/s400/DSCN9755.JPG
or
http://image.shutterstock.com/displ...bread-into-a-ball-in-a-breadmaker-1180865.jpg

cool, i get it. definitely too much liquids then. guess proper re-read and not just skimming the manuals is then in order

I've got the breadman. If you're using the [awesome] recipe cards provided put the ingredients into the tin in the order they're listed. If not liquids first.

That mess in your tin doesn't look right, it might be a dud.

i lole'd, but yes you are right. i made a mistake somewhere

 

[Necuno]

so i went and got a few pre-mixed-breads and it came out like a bread and not something that escaped from the unknown. this tells me that my previous attempts was dud'ed (as pointed out in the thread lol), i'll retry some of my own mixing via the recipe book again

as to the whole ball thing, yes this one actually had a ball and not a blob

 

[Necuno]

i was playing around with some other pre-mixes and made a custom program for one of them. got a bread that looks like this :

| \/ |

form what i gathered i had it rise too much and it collapsed because of this in the baking part. sound familiar ?

 

[diabolus]

i was playing around with some other pre-mixes and made a custom program for one of them. got a bread that looks like this :

| \/ |

form what i gathered i had it rise too much and it collapsed because of this in the baking part. sound familiar ?

It happens, there's alot of things that can happen. There's also recipes that intentionally make bread that are "fluffy" or "dense" , the "fluffy" types have a tendency to have airpockets or "fall in" if the yeast didn't do it's trick with the rising.

 

[Grandmother]

Hi there, my issue is different but maybe someone can help. I recently got the Russel Hobbs bread maker but although the bread mixes and rises without any issue I find that the bottom on one side and partly up the side is slightly burned. Any ideas how to rectify the problem??

 

[cerebus]

Breadmaking is very precise. If your measurements are off by a small amount, or your timings, or you overwork or underwork the mixing, or it's too warm or too cold, you will ruin it. The texture will be too tight or too loose, the yeast won't rise properly, the baking powder flavour will overpower, it'll be too dry or too moist - there's just a ton of things that can go wrong.

As you said, you need to take a recipe and follow step by step without deviating at all, until you get a good yield. Once you're comfortable with one recipe you can branch out into others. It might be tricky to start with a non-glutinous flour like rye, so perhaps try to get a simple white bread going and then see from there.

 

[Grandmother]

Thank you for replying. The bread was perfect except for the one corner and side which was slightly burned. Like machine element was too hot on that side??

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Thank you for replying. The bread was perfect except for the one corner and side which was slightly burned. Like machine element was too hot on that side??

If it was an oven, my response would be to turn the bread... but most probably the element may be concentrating a bit too much heat in the one corner.

A suggestion would be to put some foil on the outside of that specific corner and see if it will help...

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

I wish i could give you advise, but alas I cant.

My wife had a bread maker - Russel Hobbs.

She had her own boere recipe, and the bread was lekker, but, it didnt last long before going stale.
We had to pretty much chow it the day it was made.

After having bread braai, bread roast, bread steak, bread all sorts, I took the little mixer thingy out, rendering it useless.

Back to real braai.