I have a really good bread machine (Cuisinart) that can make various sorts of breads including thick crust French and Italian, which I’d have sworn no machine could do.
But I’ve had a little problem with bread falling. BTW, going by weight worked like a charm. 1 lb of flour makes a 2 lb loaf, and I have a good kitchen scale. But THAT wasn’t the problem.
Further research says sloppy measurement (guilty) of yeast, and sugar, if used. When baking freestyle, you look at the rise and take it to baking based on how it looks. So sloppy measurement of those two is fine. But a bread machine depends on timing, and thus many minutes at x temperature. So measure matters!
I’m going to bake today (big 5 min deal!) and get it right.
I’ve had some problems lately with bread falling in the oven. After consulting Beard on Bread, I’ve concluded that I have not used enough flour and have let it rise too high. It’s all very annoying as I have been baking most of my own bread for the forty-five (plus) years. Sigh….I guess refreshing one’s method doesn’t hurt.
Just out of curiosity, do you bake in your bread maker or your oven?
HAPPY DANCE that all is well with Jane!!! 🙂 😀 😆
In the bread maker: it can create a real good crust without the necessity of putting cups of water into the oven. I’m an Italian bread addict, and the only Americans who’ve ever tasted it are likely those who’ve been to Italy and can never find it in the states, those who live next to an Italian bakery, or those who have an Italian mama or are friends of somebody with an Italian mama. You cannot put Italian bread in a wrapper. Period. If you start with Italian bread and wrap it, you have non-Ialian bread when you open the wrapper an hour later. The only way to keep it from going stale is to wrap it well in a good flour-sacking tea towel, double thickness, and store it on the counter.
Or eat it really quickly! 😉
I have found that if you use a simple sugar, such as fructose or dextrose, the yeast do not have to work as hard to break the sugars down and produce the CO2 needed to make the dough rise. Honey is a good source of simple sugar, because it’s mainly fructose. I use honey when I make cinnamon rolls (yes, I confess), and the cycle in the machine is 2hrs, 25 minutes, but it doesn’t bake, just mixes, rests, kneads, rests. When I tried making garlic bread in the machine, it simply refused to rise, so I don’t know if that was a function of the garlic preventing the yeast from breaking down the sugars or maybe the garlic acts as a catalyst and causes the CO2 to dissipate more quickly. One other thing, I don’t find the honey perceptively alters the taste of the bread, but if others do, perhaps going to a health food store and getting a simple sugar might be the answer.
Lol—I do use it sometimes; often maple syrup, too.