Jasdip, I'm certainly no pro at making bread but I did make some about 2 wks ago that turned out wonderfully. Your dough needs to rise twice altogether. When you combine your ingredients at the start & knead them together for at least 10 minutes, leave the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about 1 1/2 hrs till the dough is roughly doubled. Then you punch it down and give it another quick knead & put it in a bread pan to rise for another hour anyway till that pretty much doubles then bake it.

If I start out with the bread machine, I use the dough setting and when I pull it out of the machine, I knead it 4-5 times then slap it into a bread pan & let it rise for a bit then bake.

I'm not a big bread-eater however my husband and sons are. When everyone was home, I'd make at least a dozen loaves of bread a week so the bread machine was not the way to do it ... one at a time. I have a pretty good recipe for just plain old white bread that I've had success with for close to 30 years. I don't vary it much although I suppose I could put "stuff" in during the second kneading.

Good luck with your bread.

Hi Similin!
Wow, I'd consider someone who made at least a dozen loaves of bread per week, a serious bread-maker!!!!

It sounds like I'm making it rise more times than I needed to. But it's in the oven rising again, in my loaf pan. It's looking good.
Should I bake it at a steady temperature, or bake it hot for a bit, and then turn it down? I've seen both methods.

Thanks, from a fellow Canuck.

I bake my bread at 375° when I take it out of he bread machine for whatever reason. :)

Mostly I take it out, to get a "regular shaped" loaf.

Lately my bread was coming out short. Apparently it fell, before the baking portion of the bread machine started. Thus, I am taking the dough out at the end of the last movement in my machine, and shape it and put it in the loaf pan.

Now then, I thought, I just start baking all together without the machine, but both times I tried, my bread wasn't as high as I like it.

I guess, I will have to adjust my rising time?

Moni... the thread hijacker :)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm bread............ I was planning on making potato bread this weekend. Think I'm gonna do it now. If anyone has the Company's Coming "Bread" cookbook, it's in there. Not for the machine and made with potatoes. Yummers!

I have no advice to give you. I believe smilin54 gave you great advice. :o)

All the advice above is wonderful and how I let my loaves of bread rise too. One inch above the pan rim is the directions in my book for that final rise. I use a medium sized loaf pan (8 1/2 X 4 1/2 ).

Oooh, it sounds as if your poor bread machine is giving up the ghost!!!

Deb

Where is our resident bread maker, grainlady. She always knows how to solve bread problems. Vique.

Oh Deb, I hope that's not the case. I bought it off Kijiji, and it's been working great. I don't know what happened, though. The little kneading paddle was working like crazy. I put some more flour in, as the dough seemed on the wet side, but it seemed like the dough ball didn't want to stay on the paddle or something. Was all over the place, and the bottom was all chewed up.

I'll try it again another time, and rescue the dough again if I have to.
Do you think I should let it rise twice, like I did, or is only 1 time needed, right in the loaf pan? (I rose it in a bowl, and then again in the loaf pan this time). Is there such a thing as too many rises?

BTW, it's on the rack cooling now. Looks pretty good!

Oh Jasdip, I hope I was totally wrong then!!! Perhaps the flour couldn't work in because the dough ball was already formed and the machine just couldn't work it in. I would do just what you did and mix it in by hand.

I usually let most doughs rise 2 times, then shape and let rise again in the loaf pan. I like a slow rise for the flavors to intense. A lot of times I let my doughs rise in the fridge over night for a flavors to really intensify. I love working with dough!

When I have dough for french/Italian breads rising, I will go every 30 minutes and pull the dough up by the sides, folding over on itself and flip the dough ball over. This helps develop the gluten in the dough.

Oh yea, some doughs can rise too many times! I think the way you did it is the usual way for lots of bread. The King Arthur Flour website has a bagguette recipe that uses perhaps 3-4 dough rises and the bread was beyond belief when I baked it!!! I love their website for all the good recipes they give. It also has a blog that is so funny and has great recipes with step by step instructions with pictures!

Deb

Throw out the bread machine and make the 5 Minute Artisan Bread. It's devine and easy. In the directions they bake a small round loaf but we make 2 loaves in loaf pans because we like to have even slices.

Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: 5 minute artisan bread

Hello again Jasdip...sounds like your bread is going to be just fine. I bake my bread for about 30 minutes at 360F. It gets a nice crust on it & is golden brown. None of my bread are even loaves like you would get from store purchased bread. Also, when I remove the bread from the oven & tip them out of the pans, I use a pastry brush to brush butter/margarine all over the top crust so it doesn't get dry & crack/crumble when you slice it. When they're cooling, I cover them with a dish cloth so they cool gradually.

Here's a pic of my bread from 2 wks ago

{{!gwi}}

and of the cinnamon buns that same baking day. They were really really good.
{{!gwi}}

Gosh Smilin your bread looks so good! That is a lot of bread. Do you freeze any while ya'll eat a loaf?

I have soft dinner rolls rising now almost ready to pop into the oven. I still have trouble forming that round roll look but it is getting better.

I love working with bread dough!!!

Deb

Wow Smilin,
I'm coming over!!!
I didn't brush my top with butter and I should have. The top and sides are pretty crusty, but I ate the heel and it tasted good!

Thanks for all your help! I feel much more confident if my machine makes a mess of my dough again, and also in trying it from scratch.

It pretty much all got froze that weekend. I had something like 10 loaves of bread, 2 bread-bowls, the cinnamon buns, and a batch of scones (see the corn-bread thread for that picture). For all the work there is in kneading the dough, I can't be bothered making just 1 or 2 loaves. High effort, low reward. If I make the full batch, I've got bread products for 2 wks or more, although the cinnamon buns only last about 15 minutes once we get into the pan.

I don't make dinner rolls often but when I do, I grease up the muffin cups and then tear off balls the size of big marbles & put two in each cup. Once they've risen & are baked, they are like 'pull apart' buns.

Linda

I like to make those kind of rolls too...seems to be the easiest to shape...LOL I like the pull apart kind because you can lather the piece you pulled off with butter...OMG!!!
My rolls are smelling mighty good and seems to be browning like they should.

I have a problem with getting my bread/roll/focaccia golden brown. It seems that be new ovens don't brown like they used to. That probably isn't it but even my Mom's new gas stove doesn't brown things like her old one did. Sometimes I have to turn the broiler on for a minute or two to get that golden brown look.

Deb