Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
11:18 am
November 30, 2009
Offline
Well I did make bread yesterday. I made two one-loaf recipes (one by hand and one by mixer). The mixing source is the only difference (and probably the amount of flour as I can feel it more by hand). The results – two different loaves of bread:
Hand – the loaf is light and the air bubbles are evenly distributed. The height of the bread is about 2-3.25 inches.
Mixer (finished by hand) – the load is talllllllllll but it's mostly crust as i have that big air bubble again; the actual bread is about 2 inches tall (through the whole loaf).
From now on I'll use the mixer for mixing and hand knead.
Any ideas on why the difference?
Thanks for your comments and guidance.
Juliana
12:04 pm
December 14, 2010
Offline
There are many variables in bread making. In a one loaf recipe the percentage of flour and water can be easily changed. Working with weight instead of volume I will presume a 1-1/2 pound loaf. That would happen with 14.5 ounces of flour and 9.5 ounces of water, changing to 15 ounces of flour and 9 ounces of water will make a drier dough. That small change results in one loaf having a hydration of 66 percent and the other of 60 percent. That will produce dramatically diferent loaves. We are considering a tablespoonful of water or two tablespoonsful of flour.
1:24 pm
December 28, 2008
Offline
Julianna, there are soooo many variables, but mostly having to do with ambient conditions, at play here that there simply is no easy answer.
I have the small bowl KitchenAid and it is not infrequently that I find myself making multiple loaves in two different bowls almost at the same time, and STILL the loaves are different! When doing a bowl full of dough, then a second bowl full of dough almost immediately following is about as close as you can get to making them identically. And yet, there are always subtle or less than subtle differences.
As Ross has repeatedly told us, yes, weighing the flour offers better control than measuring it. For whatever reasons, many of us are not doing it, which we are free to decide for ourselves.
It was most frustrating for me to have to make bread entirely using the mixer. But then, I am now retired, so don't really have the same issues I worked out while slapping that dough around in years now long past! I still haven't learned to translate all bread recipes into successfully using the mixer, but it's coming along.
It took a while, but I finally figured out that the on/off switch worked just fine, and could be used many times in the process to check the condition of the dough! Not at all sure why I had thought that guessing was a good thing, or that I could suddenly tell by looking at what was in the bowl. But, my bread is much more likely to turn out good now that I don't expect it to happen by magic somehow, and now get in there feeling it frequently during the mixing process.
Yes, I would still rather knead by hand, but adjusting to the use of the mixer is far superior to the alternatives. At least for us.
My best guess is that something as seemingly insignificant as whether the furnace blower is running at various stages of making the bread dough has more impact than we might suspect. It seems in this kitchen that the process is more difficult to control during the winter months than during warmer weather – in many ways more of a challenge than in any kitchen in which I've ever made bread. I dunno…
1:58 pm
November 30, 2009
Offline
Ross – thanks. Pete – I dunno either. BUT I love the journey! Thanks all.
Juliana
3:06 pm
December 28, 2008
Offline
(Don't tell anyone, Juliana, but it could also be that I forget what I'm doing sometimes… 
)
3:10 pm
December 14, 2010
Offline
Even with careful weighing sometimes the flour takes up the water differently from one day to the next even from the same bag. This time of year the humidity in our homes is generally quite low but if the flour is in the kitchen and there is a pot of soup simmering then we may push the humidity up a little. All of this is why home bread making is more of an art than a science.
Sometimes when I am making a batch and it feels a little dry I leave it that way and bake it to see how much difference if makes.
4:02 pm
September 25, 2009
Offline
Hi! I'm new to the forum, and am so happy to find a bread baking topic! I've been baking my own bread for about 2 years now, and haven't bought rolls or a loaf of bread in over a year!
As to the current topic, the only real problem I've found with dough that's too dry is that it tends to bake up more dense and cake-like. But it's still edible!
According to my handy-dandy James Beard bread book, very large air holes in the bread is usually from too much kneading or too long of a rise. Maybe that 5 minutes in the mixer was too much?
11:39 pm
December 14, 2010
Offline
Bread dough can be too dry but it is rather hard to make it too wet. 3 cups of flour and about 10 ounces of water will make a rather wet dough but it will compensate for kneading too much flour into the dough when you knead it on the table and when you shape it. I often use 10 &1/2 ounces for some breads but I don't advocate that for everyone. If you follow the 3 cups and 10 ounces ratio and it is too wet to handle knead in a little more flour about a tablespoon at a time.
Spooning flour into the cup and striking it off level is a very consistant way to measure the flour.
On other forums it has been established that over kneading is not easy to make happen.
Edited to correct a mind fog error
1:27 pm
September 25, 2009
Offline
Yup, it is hard to over-knead. But you definitely can let it rise too long. Gluten is kind of like rubber bands – if you let it stretch and stretch and stretch it will break, and you can lose your structure. It's happened to me when I got distracted. I came into the kitchen to find my bread drooping over and down the sides of the loaf pans. It had risen and finally collapsed. It looked like something that might have happened on "I Love Lucy." I gathered the dough all together and reshaped it, but it never got a good rise after that. I ended up with a flat, dense loaf.
But it still tasted okay :)
1:47 pm
December 14, 2010
Offline
The yeast had depleted all of the available sugar by then. There isn't anyway to redeem it then that I have been able to make work.
7:04 pm
January 19, 2011
Offline
I bought someFleischmanns bulk yeast at Sams Club. It is so much less expensive than the yeast at the grocery store, and I always used it when I used my bread machine. I never made any adjustments but it says on the package to use 1/3 of an ounce dry yeast for 1 ounce fresh yeast. Is this referring to cake yeast? Also I wonder if I was to make individual bread bowls would it be good to make them from the same recipe I use for the loaves, or do you need a lighter or denser loaf?
8:05 pm
December 14, 2010
Offline
1/3 ounce is about a half tablespoon. Bread bowls are more a matter of how you shape the loaf than the specfic recipe. I would use a basic flour, water, yeast, salt recipe. Made just a little on the stiff side.
11:34 am
November 30, 2009
Offline
Pete said:
(Don't tell anyone, Juliana, but it could also be that I forget what I'm doing sometimes…
!Pete! (hehehe)
11:52 am
December 28, 2008
Offline
Well, it happened again yesterday! I had preheated the oven, was preparing to put a lovely loaf of pumpernickel into the oven when the phone rang. The call went on longer than it should, finally remembered to put the loaf into the oven, then forgot when I'd done it! It was only to bake for 30-35 minutes, so there wasn't a whole lot of leeway there. It seemed like it was 30 minutes after the phone call ended, but apparently not.
That lovely loaf will be fine for making toast, but it's too doughy in the middle for the French toast I was planning…
2:13 pm
September 25, 2009
Offline
Oh dear, Pete!
And I just took out two freeform multigrain loaves. One of them looks fine, and the other is almost *black* on one side. Yikes! Never had them get so uneven. And I turned them halfway through baking and everything.
You just never can tell what will happen!
2:57 pm
December 28, 2008
Offline
The one great thing about almost every homemade loaf is that even when they are misshapen, under or over done, or most any other calamity, they are STILL better than store bought! Just call it "rustic," or make crumbs, or croutons, or, or… 
10:18 am
December 14, 2010
Offline
Several years ago when my sister-in-law died the family assembeld from all over the country and there was no bread in the house but there was yeast and flour so I could make bread. The flour must have been surplus from the stores on Noah's Ark. It would not develop any gluten!. We went to Sam's and bought some fresh flour and I made bread. Meanwhile I had shaped the first batch and put it in pans. It rose a little and I baked it. I could have defended to house with it, that bread was the worst ever. They liked it.
1:22 pm
November 11, 2010
Offline
As I sit here reading about bread mis-haps I have 2 questionable loaves of sourdough with nuts and raisins in the oven. Was gone for almost 2 months, but thought I'd go ahead and try using the starter I left in the fridge. Don't think that was a good idea. Fortunately, I also dried some out and so I'm rehydrating and feeding that over the next couple days and will likely throw out the 'old' stuff that I left unattended for 8 weeks!
1:32 pm
September 25, 2009
Offline
Wow, that's a long time to let starter go! Let us know how the bread turns out.
As long as it didn't smell off, or have mold on it, I don't think it will hurt your bread, and I'm sure it's REALLY, REALLY sour by now 
, but you probably won't bring it back to life anymore.
5:24 pm
January 21, 2011
Offline
The only trouble I've ever had with breadmaking is using the so called "rapid rise" yeast. On a couple occasions when I used it, the bread refused to rise at all. So I went back to regular yeast and haven't had any problems since.
Recently I made a bread recipe that required no kneading. It's easier to make, but you just have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't overrise. It turned out well, and had a nice texture. If anyone's interested, I shared the recipe on my blog today.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Suzanne
Most Users Ever Online: 120
Currently Online:
18 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
Leahld22: 2676
Ross: 1951
MaryB: 1777
JeannieB: 1477
Shells: 1184
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 13
Members: 5888
Moderators: 3
Admins: 4
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 14
Topics: 2994
Posts: 57781
Newest Members: christiewahlert, basketsldj, joycelorelle, Leah Beth, bwshook, Amy
Moderators: Pete (7965), wvhomecanner (3063), Flatlander (1555)
Administrators: Suzanne McMinn (7255), emiline220 (15), CindyP (7770), BuckeyeGirl (4363)
Sections
Latest Posts on the Farmhouse Blog:
- May 24, 2012 - Bread 911!
- May 23, 2012 - Get This Print!
- May 22, 2012 - Second Place Ribbon
Sign up for the Chickens in the Road Newsletter, too!
