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Troubleshooting Bread Machine Recipes For Perfect Bread
by
Dennis Weaver
Bread machines—wonderful inventions
that they are—don’t think very well. You and I,
when we have a loaf of
percolating on the counter, can look and say,
“My
is rising a little slowly today. I think I will
let it be for another fifteen minutes.” Our
machines go ahead and start the bake cycle anyway.
The result is a dense loaf of
that didn’t rise enough.
The only way that we know to compensate for those
loaves that aren’t quite right is human intervention.
Most recipes that aren’t acting right can be fixed
to make perfect bread—but it might take a trial
or two make them come out just right in the individual
environments of our own kitchens.
We had a call from the Denver area this week,
“My
machine worked just fine in Australia. Now it
bakes hard, dense loaves.” Denver is a much different
environment than Australia. Dough will act differently
there. But then, dough may act differently in
your kitchen than it does in the kitchen down
the street.
Most days, in most kitchens, the
turns out just fine (which is a compliment to
modern machines). When
doesn’t come out just right, it’s usually because
the machine starts baking too soon or too late
for a particular recipe in a particular environment.
If it starts before the
has completely risen, the loaf comes out dense.
If it rises too much, the top starts to cave.
So, what to do? Most
machine faults can be corrected if you apply a
little human intervention.
• Keep conditions consistent. If you pull the
machine and/or ingredients out of the cold garage
this week but the warm pantry next week, you will
have two different loaves. If you use more or
less water or warmer or cooler water, you will
have different loaves. Measure carefully and use
a thermometer.
• Watch the dough ball. During the second mix
cycle, check the dough ball to see if it is too
wet or two dry. (Wet dough rises faster than dry
dough.) If the dough ball appears too sticky and
wet or doesn’t hold its shape, add flour a tablespoon
at a time. If it is too firm, flakey, or your
machine begins to “knock”, dribble in water a
teaspoon at a time.
• Adjust the recipe. Even if your
is not perfect, it is probably still good. Some
recipes are going to take a little adjustment
to work just right in your machine, in your kitchen,
the way you bake bread. If your
is not as light as you like, add another tablespoon
or so of water next time. If the top has started
to cave, add another tablespoon or so of flour
next time. Even if your
is not perfect the first time, it can be the second
or third time. Similar mixes from the same manufacturer
are likely to act the same in your kitchen.
• Use the oven. When you hear that little beep
that most machines make to tell you that baking
is about to begin, check your loaf. If your loaf
hasn’t risen enough or if it has risen too much—it
looks too poofy or has started to blister—you
have a choice: go ahead and let bake good but
not perfect
or rescue it. To rescue it, pull it out of the
machine, form a loaf, place it in a
pan or on a sheet pan, and let it rise on its
own. When it has risen until it is light and soft
(probably in 45 to 60 minutes), stick it in a
350 degree oven and bake it until is done—usually
30 to 40 minutes. The top should turn a nice deep
brown and the interior of the loaf should reach
190 degrees. (Many
machine owners use their machines this way and
bake with their ovens most of the time.)
Once you have tweaked a recipe (or a mix) for
your machine in your kitchen, keep conditions
consistent and you should have picture perfect
machine
every time.
Copyright 2003-2007, The Prepared Pantry (http://www.prepraredpantry.com).
Published by permission in the Article
Directory: http://www.articlecube.com
Dennis
Weaver is a baker, a recipe designer, and a writer.
He has written many baking guides and How
to Bake, a comprehensive baking and reference
e-book--available free at The
Prepared Pantry which sells baking and cooking
supplies and has a free online baking library.
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