Help!! Bread Machine Bloopers

Help!!

cathysquickneasydishes 17 years ago

Hello! I sure hope you all are much smarter than I am. My bread machine and I currently aren't speaking to each other as my first recipe turned out disasterous!! I havent had the courage to try it again since. I am sorry that at this point I basically have no experience and no successful recipes to share and hopefully will be accepted as an eager student in the bread machine world!!

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suzakel 17 years ago said:

Hi!
We've been using a bread machine successfully for more than 15 years. I'll post the two recipes we make most often. Give me a day or so.

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suzakel 17 years ago said:

I just posted a recipe and photo for wheat bread. My machine is a Hitachi. I'm not sure that they're made any more. The basic cycle is 4 hours 10 minutes. I've heard that some of the newer machines have much shorter cycles and if that's what you have, I'm afraid I won't be much help to you.
Here are some tips that we've found make it more likely that we get a successful loaf.
Warm the milk or water that you're using.
If you're using water, use filtered water instead of tap water.
Use bread flour. It really does make a difference.
Make sure the yeast is fresh, and that it's the quick rise, or made for bread machine variety.
If you try my recipe, I hope that it works well for you and your machine.

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pointsevenout 17 years ago said:

There are some interesting machine bread recipes on this site and others that I have wanted to make but do not have and don't want to buy a bread machine. So I have been going through recipes trying to convert machine bread recipes to hand kneaded bread recipes. My observation is that most all machine bread recipes call for a rapid rise yeast while the hand kneaded recipes call for an active dry yeast.
So when making my hand kneaded breads I make sure to use active dry yeast. In making your machine bread recipes, try making sure to use rapid rise yeast.

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pointsevenout 17 years ago said:

Here is a nice site with a lot of machne bread recipes as well as other conventional bread recipes:

http://www.breadworld.com/

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tyche 17 years ago said:

Cathy, start talking to your machine. Do use the suggestions from people here about instant yeast and warming the water. Do follow the instructions about the order things go into the machine. Check the date on the yeast and make sure it is no where near its due date. Be sure that you measure the ingredients accurately. And then begin with the simplest white flour recipe in the book. The problems I have had in the past related to the yeast not being fresh, the water being too hot or too cold. The temperature and humidity in the house can also have an effect, but that shouldn't really be an issue. Also, once you close the machine, don't open it again, unless the recipe says so.

Most important, have fun. Give yourself permission to make some bad loaves, before they get to be perfect. The Joy of Cooking has some great information on breads, that has allowed me to relax and not worry.

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snailer12002 17 years ago said:

Never fear! There is plenty of flour out there! I found out that measuring in weight is better than a standard dry measurement. I also found out that most machine breads are dry, so I add a little more butter, or honey, or according to one of my foodie friends, a little olive oil! I'm new at this too! Just hang in there! I'm trying new recipes this week and will post the ones that are edible!!!!ha
Welcome to the group!
Lori

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