I owe the community an update on the bread issues I posted about a while back. TL;DR: A proper (7:5) flour-to-water ratio helped a lot.
I owe the community an update on the bread issues I posted about a while back. TL;DR: A proper (7:5) flour-to-water ratio helped a lot.
After getting a useful pointer from David Dubrow, I went through various recipes and YouTube videos, noting exactly what ratio of flour to water they ended up with. For kneaded bread, the ratio was generally very close to 7:5 flour:water. I tried that in my next bread, but found it (as mentioned earlier) incredibly sticky and hard to knead.
With inspiration from some of the YouTube videos, I tried inverting my usual process: I put together the appropriate amount of flour and then added the wet ingredients all at once. This was only briefly messy, then the dough combined into a very nicely kneadable form, that practically needed no more flour during kneading. The bread came out quite nice.
Having tried that, I picked up my LéCué silicone baking form ()http://www.lekueusa.com/BREAD-MAKER-BROWN-plu0200600M10M017.html), which I had previously stopped using due to the water being uncontrollable in it. When adding water to flour instead of the other way around, it's a lot more usable. I use 500 g flour (half-and-half whole-wheat and high-protein) to 350 g water, and it fills the form nicely. By using some margarine on my hands before adding the water, the limited amount of dough sticking to my fingers comes off easily, and I have much fewer and simpler dishes to deal with afterwards.
With these two changes, bread-making has changed from a messy, time-intensive endeavour I would put off for weeks to something I do when I have a bit of time on a weekend and can hang around until baking is done.
Next project will be improving the taste and maybe making the dough more airy.
http://www.lekueusa.com/BREAD-MAKER-BROWN-plu0200600M10M017.html
After getting a useful pointer from David Dubrow, I went through various recipes and YouTube videos, noting exactly what ratio of flour to water they ended up with. For kneaded bread, the ratio was generally very close to 7:5 flour:water. I tried that in my next bread, but found it (as mentioned earlier) incredibly sticky and hard to knead.
With inspiration from some of the YouTube videos, I tried inverting my usual process: I put together the appropriate amount of flour and then added the wet ingredients all at once. This was only briefly messy, then the dough combined into a very nicely kneadable form, that practically needed no more flour during kneading. The bread came out quite nice.
Having tried that, I picked up my LéCué silicone baking form ()http://www.lekueusa.com/BREAD-MAKER-BROWN-plu0200600M10M017.html), which I had previously stopped using due to the water being uncontrollable in it. When adding water to flour instead of the other way around, it's a lot more usable. I use 500 g flour (half-and-half whole-wheat and high-protein) to 350 g water, and it fills the form nicely. By using some margarine on my hands before adding the water, the limited amount of dough sticking to my fingers comes off easily, and I have much fewer and simpler dishes to deal with afterwards.
With these two changes, bread-making has changed from a messy, time-intensive endeavour I would put off for weeks to something I do when I have a bit of time on a weekend and can hang around until baking is done.
Next project will be improving the taste and maybe making the dough more airy.
http://www.lekueusa.com/BREAD-MAKER-BROWN-plu0200600M10M017.html
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