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6:55 pm
March 3, 2010
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I would only use fresh potato water, at the very most, from the day before.
I did when I made whole wheat bread, and loved it. I still have plenty of whey in the freezer, and added to it just this past week. I am not sure how to translate that into my recipe now though, as I used to use 1/2 whey and 1/2 water, and now I am using 1/2 milk and 1/2 water. I am not sure that I want to give up the milk portion, but am a bit chicken to try the milk and whey. I guess I have experimented before, I could do it again just to see.
7:15 pm
April 12, 2010
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OK, I had to try this recipe because previous to this I've never made a double-rise bread that wasn't a rock in the end. Despite a slight near-mishap, It came out fine, but I just want to make sure that fine to me is the correct way it should be. I tastes good, a little chew to it which I like, but lots of crumbs. It's very crumby. Does that sound right? I got compliments on it!
8:07 pm
March 3, 2010
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I ended up using a ratio of: 1 part water, 3 parts milk, 2 parts whey, and it works great! It brings out a really nice texture.
Here are some trouble shooting answers that I have found while researching bread problems:
Crumbly…reduce rise time (and add more milk instead of water)
Too dry of a dough…add more water (I would add more milk!)
Too wet…leave your dough 10 min. if there is no change, add more flour.
I have had crumbly bread in the past, and I tell you, reducing the rise as well as using milk instead of all water or half whey (and half water) made a big difference! It gave the grains more moisture. I also found that kneading 7-10 minutes each kneading time makes a huge difference in my bread as well. The diastatic malt is great…you just have to remember that after you form the loaves and let it rise to make slits in the top of the loaves so that the dough can expand and not leave giant holes in the loaves.
I make the dough (my own recipe), knead 7-10 min., let it rise for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, knead it for 7-10 min., shape, slit, let rise for 1 hour or a bit longer in the oven, then bake (with a pan on the bottom rack with water in it) at 400*F for 40 min. When it comes out, I butter the top and let the loaves cool on racks. I am very pleased with my recipe now. The longer the rise, the better the flavor, but you need to watch that you don't let it rise too long.
8:17 pm
December 28, 2008
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Lots of crumbs is not unusual with homemade bread, in my experience. Just part of the deal when it's fresh and natural good food!
3:34 pm
April 1, 2009
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Hi everyone, I have a question about adding items to my bread--I have to use a bread machine to do the dough, my bread recipe calls for 4 1/2 of flour ( that make 2 nice nice loaves) I am adding some grains --flax, oats, wheat germ and toasted sunflower seeds. Do I need to reduce the amount of flour?
I also use 1% milk and add 2 table spoons of dried buttermilk powder (from the Amish spice store-it is so cheap there) my bread is so good, but I want to add more goodies to it. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
6:13 pm
September 19, 2010
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Hi, JoJo. The general rule of thumb is to reduce the flour by the same amount of other grains you add. Rules of thumb aren't exact, though. I would start by reducing the flour by, say, 2 cups if I were adding 2 cups of other grains. Then I would Knead in as much additional flour as necessary to make a smooth resilient-feeling dough. Since you're using a bread machine, it may not be as easy to make minor adjustments to the flour. If you're adding non-flour grains, too much may leave you with crumbly bread. My Sunset bread book suggests not more than one-third of the flour be replaced with other grains. Good luck!
6:27 pm
April 1, 2009
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Thank you!
8:41 pm
September 7, 2010
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I was just scanning the posts, regarding cutting bread while warm. I use an electric knife. It works perfect on warm bread. Then just spoon on the butter, jam, jelly, whatever is your favorite. It doesn't get any better than home made bread. I love Suzanne's grandmother's recipe, as does my family.
11:07 pm
August 24, 2010
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I'm trying the Grandmother bread tomorrow for the first time. Wish me luck. I'm beginning to think I am severly bread impared. 
8:54 am
May 14, 2005
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Electric knives are great for warm bread! I love mine!
hershiesgirl, good luck with your bread!
12:11 pm
December 28, 2008
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Well, shoot! Of COURSE the electric knife would be great on warm bread! I just never think to use it, since it is a relatively new addition to the kitchen stash.
But, we have a thin, long bladed serrated bread knife. It does a good job even when the bread is warm. Having used just about every knife available at one time or another on bread, the length of the blade seems to be most important here – maybe something about not having to hack at the bread? The serrated blade seems next most important. Or maybe the other way around, but that long, thin blade just does the trick.
10:53 pm
September 20, 2010
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I live in Illinois, where the Lake Effect tends to make temps ridiculously chilly, and the constant wind makes it even worse. Keeping our home at 70 degrees costs several hundred dollars (even when we were living in an apartment, with only two walls exposed to the outside). To save money, we wear long sleeves and keep the house around 60-65 degrees. As you can imagine, that makes getting bread to rise an interesting challenge.
I've only made three batches of bread so far – I just started making my own bread last week. The first batch took eight hours to rise – EIGHT HOURS. Ridiculous. I figured it had to be the temperature. So I turned the gas oven on to 200 degrees, and sat the bread pans on the top of the stove.
My dough took two hours to rise. Still a little frustrating, but acceptable. However, I noticed that the lower half of the bread had a different texture and taste. I took a wild guess and figured that was from letting it rise in direct contact with the top of the stove.
My last batch was made with the oven set at 300 degrees (I was baking something else while the dough was rising), and the loaf pans were left on the metal racks over the stovetop burners. The dough took exactly one hour to rise, and THE BREAD CAME OUT PERFECT. Absolutely perfect.
If you have a glass-top stove, try putting a cookie cooling rack on the stovetop while the oven is on. I think it gives just enough height so that the heat can help the bread to rise, yet not enough heat that the dough starts to change consistency and flavor.
And if you are curious, the recipe I was using was the Grandmother Bread recipe – kids love it!
7:45 am
April 1, 2009
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OMG--the electric knife!! I am like Pete, I forgot I had one. Suzanne did a post on cutting bread, and she mentioned an electric knife, and I ran (drove) to WM and purchased one, I put it in the lower cupboard because I had no place for it up top and forgot it was there, thank you for reminding me!
Have a good day!
7:54 am
February 22, 2010
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Patricialynn, my daughter always put bread to raise in the furnace room. We have a gas furnace and hot water heater so there is always a little heat.
8:06 am
May 14, 2005
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A trick I like to use when the house is cool and bread rises slowly is to boil a pot of water. Put the bread on the top oven rack. Put the pot of water on the lower oven rack. (You have to use a smallish pot so it will fit on the lower oven rack.) Shut the oven door to keep the heat inside. This way you can heat the oven without turning it on, which I think works better for the bread. Sometimes, if it's that cold, I have to take the pot of water out and re-boil it then put it back, to keep the heat coming. Once the bread rises enough, then take the pot of water out and turn the oven on to bake.
9:05 am
April 1, 2009
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That is pretty much what I do to, and it works very nicely--I heat my oven to the lowest setting, which is 100 degrees, then turn on the oven light and leave it that way for about 20 mins. then tun the oven off, and it seems to work for me.
9:28 pm
June 12, 2010
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Okay another newbie at bread…I've got the artisian bread in 5 down – but I want to make "real" bread and make it tasty, so I'm now trying my hand at kneaded doughs – grandmother bread being what I am trying first. So I did a one batch mix…and on the flour probably used 4 cups before it felt like what I thought bread dough should feel like.
then I let it rise. Then when I punched it down and took it out for my bread pan shaping it seemed all sticky again – is that right? or should I add even more flour. I think it's all rising correctly but I wasn't sure about the stickiness of it.
11:17 pm
September 20, 2010
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Hi Cyndi,
I always add a little more flour when I am shaping it, you could try one Tablespoon at a time.
7:22 pm
December 4, 2010
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My first try at Grandmother Bread -- I was really excited because I can made a pretty decent loaf -- using whey instead of the water in the recipe.
Made a sponge first using the warmed whey, yeast, sugar and one cup of flour. The sponge was REALLY happy by the time I added the rest of the flour.
Kneading went well, rose well -- not too fast, though -- then time for the final rise in the loaf pans. It rose again, maybe double, but not anything to write home about, but then when I put it in the oven and baked it at 350, the loaves didn't brown, at all. Well, one browned just a tiny bit.
Taste? I didn't like it. Now, I can drink whey by itself, no problem, but I didn't like the flavor, so next time I'll try just 1/3 whey and the rest water.
Question though: Why didn't they brown? The oven temp is right. I have a thermometer, gave the oven a good 35 minutes or so to preheat, baked it on the middle rack.
Thoughts anybody?
7:42 pm
February 10, 2009
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Where was your oven rack? It makes a big difference in my oven, it browns better if it's on a center slot which is slightly higher than where it normally is for most things.
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