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| A Bread Machine Challah style loaf |
I seem to have become the first port of call for people - friends and family, mostly - who are trying to make their own bread and who have questions regarding its manufacture, not that I mind, it's quite a compliment actually, but by far the most questions concern the use of bread machines.
Many people are often disappointed with the results achieved by the use of this equipment and I'm sure that most of these resulting loaves could be much better, lighter and tastier with just TWO changes of approach.
Just chucking the ingredients into the pot and hoping that a reasonable loaf results would be OK but for one tiny little fact - yeast hates salt! That means that these two ingredients should be kept apart for as long as possible during the process. The salt we add to our loaves is not just a flavour enhancer (supremely requisite if you have ever tasted a loaf without salt!) it is also a yeast inhibitor. This means that the salt will kill the yeast - or at the very least stop it working - usually resulting in a solid, un-risen block of flour. So, when putting the ingredients into the loaf pot in the machine, follow this order according to the recipe you are using:
Liquids first (water/oil/yogurt/eggs/milk)
HALF the flour
salt/sugar/powdered milk etc
The REST of the flour
Yeast on top
That's it - that's the first change of approach. If you always follow this order a major mishap waiting to happen can usually be avoided.
If you just want to put on your machine and 3 hours later have a nicely baked loaf, then this ONE change will get you there, but if you have time or want to get a little more 'Hands On' then there is one other change to your approach which will help.
Most machines (All, probably) have a "Dough" setting and by using this, the machine will mix your ingredients (still following the order above), knead the dough and give it its first proving.
You then take the dough from the machine, knock it back (just push it back down) and shape it as you want it to be (usually round or a torpedo, bloomer shape) Let it rise again; it is this second rising that can make all the difference to the finished result. You can knock it back and re-shape it almost as many times as you want before cooking it. Once it has risen to about twice its original size put it in the oven and bake it as per my original blog post HERE
I almost always use this latter approach, even when using one of my sourdough mixes, but whichever method you use just following these tips should help bake a better loaf.
Watch out for more tips coming soon.
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| A loaf made by the second approach |
