Bread! Bread! Bread! Oprah's commercial...
10 years ago
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- 10 years ago
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Zo bread machine making dry bread?
Comments (5)When it comes to bread recipes (machine or manual), the flour measurements are just a good guess (and sometimes they're not even "good"). Gluten amounts in flour will vary from bag to bag and brand to brand; and gluten is a main determinate for proper hydration. If your flour is stored in the bag in a humid kitchen, then there will be more moisture in the flour than someone who stores flour in an air-tight container in the dry environment of the freezer/refrigerator - as a secondary source for some hydration. If you change the type of flour called for in the recipe - from all-purpose to high-gluten bread flour (or vise versa) - or you substitute part of the high-gluten flour for a low-gluten flour (rye, spelt, kamut, barley, oat, etc.) - you'll also need to alter the hydration. As others shared, you MUST check and adjust the hydration as needed. Start checking it about 5 minutes into the mixing/kneading. You want the dough to be formed into a soft, sticky ball. A solid ball is going to be too dry. When you touch the dough ball with your finger, a tiny bit should stick to your finger. A dry or stiff dough ball will result in dry bread just like making bread by hand. You can also switch from sugar to honey and you may find you have a crumb that is more moist. I'm another who never bakes in the Zo - it's just my main tool for mixing and kneading. I won't even let the dough rise in the machine - I'd rather control that in a dough rising bucket. Sometimes I want a long slow cool rise, which you can never get in a bread machine. I use freshly-milled flour, so allowing a timed rise in the bread machine tends to over-proof the dough. Freshly-milled flour doesn't have the extensibility commercial white flour has. Bread machines were designed to use commercial flour in them, and I never use commercial flour. I also bake breads to temperature - checked with an instant read thermometer. -Grainlady...See MoreAnother bread question - Artisan breads?
Comments (16)Linda, If you want to convert a bread machine recipe to a made by hand recipe, try this: in a bowl - put in the water or other liquid called for add in the yeast, whisk to dissolve, let sit 5-10 minutes to "proof" the yeast and made sure it is viable add any sugar, honey, maple syrup or other sweetener called for in the recipe, stir well add half of the flour called for in recipe, add salt and mix well, stirring with a strong spoon or heavy duty whisk also add in any dry herbs or spices now add in any butter, oil, or other fat called for - if melted butter, make sure it is only just warm, not hot - add in any egg(s) listed in recipe add in rest of flour and any other ingredients, chopped herbs, nuts, dried fruits, cheese, etc. stir well with spoon or mix with your hands until dough is a rather shaggy mass turn out dough onto a clean, floured flat surface and knead for 8-10 minutes adding only small sprinkles of flour if the dough sticks to your hands and the kneading surface [if you forgot those nuts, cheese, or raisins, you can knead them in now] when dough has been kneaded sufficiently it will come together into a nice firm ball (rather than a shaggy mass) and spring back when poked with a finger grease or oil a large bowl (or use the one you mixed in), put dough in, turn it around in the oil to grease the top of the dough and turn it oiled side up in the bowl; cover with a bowl cover (shower cap type), plastic wrap, or wax paper, then cover with a clean kitchen "tea" towel (dampened with hot water if you are making whole wheat bread) and set the dough to rise until doubled in bulk turn out dough, knead 2 minutes, divide into portions according to recipe or not - form loaves and put in greased loaf pans or not - cover again with wrap, and let rise until doubled in bulk preheat oven, bake bread until done, let cool at least a few minutes before cutting - and enjoy!...See MoreGluten Free Dairy Free French Bread
Comments (8)Please, let me know how your bread turned out. Because I make so many breads to sell weekly I buy my flours at a nearby co-op in bulk - like 25# and 50# bags, xanthan by the ounce, fresh baking powder, almond meal, dry milk powder, and yeast in bulk, plus dried fruit, chocolate, nuts and honey, etc. They do offer on-line sales, you don't have to be a member to order, no minimums, and have thousands of products. The Grain Mill Grocery Cooperative www.grainmill.com; you can pick up in Wake Forest NC or Myerstown PA, or have it delivered to you. You may want to check locally for food co-ops or call your County Extension Agent. You might be surprised to find one quite close to you. Another on-line store I like is Barry Farm Foods (www.barryfarm.com). You can buy some of their products on Amazon but going to their website to order is less expensive and much more comprehensive. You can buy a huge variety of flours in 1# or discounted 5# bags but they also have an abundance of cooking and baking ingredients, and all gluten free things are clearly marked and verified. When you buy cornstarch locally check the price per pound. The fancy yellow plastic packaged containers cost $1.59 to $2.39 per pound - for the same stuff as the plain white box off brand box for $1 at my local grocery store. It pays to check prices on everything gluten free because it is a "fad" so a lot of places have inflated their prices. I'd be cautious buying from stores like Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, and Whole Foods. Yes, the things are available but I find prices quite high relatively, so even if I buy on-line and pay shipping it's cheaper, especially if you buy in larger quantities than the little 22 ounce pre-packaged bags. GF flours keep a very long time, unlike wheat flour, so buying in bulk saves you money, and you know you are going to use it in the near future. A little advice for storage - buy some good food-grade storage containers for your bulk flours. The disposable Glad, Rubbermaid, Zip-lock, Hefty bags and boxes, even plastic wrap and freezer boxes breathe. Pantry pests can get in along with oxygen that degrades them quickly. Containers that are rigid plastic, or glass, that are noted as air-lock and/or spill proof are best - Snapware, Glasslock, Pyrex, Cambro, even my favorite - Mason jars. For big quantities I use food grade 5 and 7 gallon buckets with very tight lids from the restaurant supply store, where you can also buy good smaller storage containers. Never use your vacuum sealer bags to store flours or other loose ingredients - they make them taste and smell funny. Using the sealer on Mason jars is a better option to remove the air in the jar. Nancy...See MoreDaily Bread
Comments (22)Our daily bread is challah. My husband makes a double batch almost every Friday (2 small loaves go to my son who lives nearby). When my other son's visit, he may even make a triple batch to make french toast for everyone and send a loaf or two home with them. I think my husband would happily have that as his only bread - there seems to be a trend here of husbands who prefer soft breads. Bit it isn't universal; one of my son's makes sour dough and really likes that. He has tweaked the recipe to use white whole wheat for part of the flour. If we have any other kind of bread, I make it. So I fill out variety for our daily bread. I've been working on perfecting bagels and rye bread. My bagels sometimes come out perfect and sometimes come out tasting fine but looking kind of bumpy. I think that happens when they have over-risen before boiling so I'm working on perfecting that timing. I'm pretty happy with my rye bread now. The secret to getting the right chewy deli rye texture is the choice of wheat flour for the bread. It needs a flour that isn't quite a whole wheat but that uses more of the grain than white bread flour. BC (before Covid) I was using first clear flour from King Arthur, but that was out of stock forever (King Arthur's website now says it is "sold out for the season." I've found that 110 flour from Central Milling produces good results. I tried it because some websites on flour types said that German 110 flour is equivalent to American first clear. I also do pita, naan, sour dough and whole wheat breads. I just made some naan and wasn't happy with the results; we replaced our ovens recently and I need to figure out what settings on my new oven work best for naan....See More- 10 years ago
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