Bread Machines For Dummies (46 page)

Your machine hesitates while it's kneading

Check what's going on immediately. Chances are good that the dough is too stiff. Add liquid.

If that's not the case, it may mean that your belt is slipping. This could mean the belt has stretched or it could mean that the gear that holds the belt has a hairline crack. You will need to have the machine repaired or replaced.

In your bread machine use and care manual there should be a toll-free number to call for a repair service nearest you. However, oftentimes the company will have only one repair service and you will have to mail your machine to that location. Be sure to find out the cost and the estimated cost of shipping before you make the decision to send your machine in for repair.

You forget to add the extras at the signal

Most bread machine manuals have a chart to show how long the kneading, rising, and baking times are. When you remember those extras you didn't add, check your manual to determine how much time has transpired in the bread machine cycle. You can remove the dough from the machine during the first part of the rising process and work the extra ingredients, like fruits and nuts, into the dough by hand. Then return the dough to the machine to continue rising.

If your dough is past the early rising stage, put your extras in a small self-sealing bag and store. They will be measured out for your next loaf. Your bread will still be delicious without the extras.

You forget how the delay timer works

After you have the ingredients in the bread pan and have selected the cycle, determine how many hours and minutes it is until you want to be able to take that bread out of the machine. Begin pressing the up arrow until that number appears on your digital screen. Press Start. The machine will delay the start time so that the time of completion will be the number of hours that you entered. And that's how the delay timer works!

S
ome people say that baking is an art; others say it's a science. However you view baking, you have to admit that it's easy, almost too easy, to mess up a recipe. Blame it on lack of artistry or lack of scientific precision, you're going to run into little problems once in a while when you bake. The following sections list common problems and offer some solutions.

But wait — once again let us remind you that if you check the dough for its consistency you can avoid many disappointments. We described in full detail in Chapter 5 how to do the dough consistency test. Because we think it's so important, here is another miniversion of it:

Check the dough about five minutes after the machine starts kneading; the dough should be a soft, slightly tacky ball. If it is dry, add water, one tablespoon at a time; if it is too wet, add flour, one tablespoon at a time.

The bread doesn't rise

Cut the small, dense loaf, as soon as it cools, into cubes and dry in your oven to use for croutons. At that point, you can crush the dried croutons to make breadcrumbs for baking. (See Chapter 9 for directions.)

Before your bake again, check the yeast for activity. Be sure that all the ingredients are between room temperature and 80° — no warmer, no cooler. Be sure that you're using the right amount of flour: When measuring, scoop the flour into the cup with a large spoon and level off.

In the fall and winter, your flour might be drier than usual if your home is heated. Dry flour makes the dough too dry. Dry dough is also common at high altitudes, because flour tends to dry out at elevations. Check the dough for consistency each time you bake. Never assume that because a recipe was okay last time, it's okay this time. You may need to add a tablespoon or more of water.

Bread flour has more gluten than all-purpose flour or whole-grain flour; therefore it will be more elastic and will expand easier. If you use all-purpose flour, try bread flour and compare your loaf size. Whole-grain flours will expand better if you add vital wheat gluten. (See Chapter 3 for more details.)

The bread rises too much

You may want to cut off the top, because it didn't completely bake. The air can't circulate sufficiently to bake the top if it rises too high. Usually, the rest of the loaf is very edible and enjoyable.

The bread will rise too much if the dough is too wet. Always check the dough for consistency each time you make it. Never depend on how it was the last time that you made it. You may have to add a couple of tablespoons or more of flour.

Fast-acting yeast may cause the bread to rise too much. Remember the general rule with yeast: 3/4 teaspoon of active, dry yeast per cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of fast-acting yeast per cup of flour. (Bread machine yeast is fast acting.)

Salt is an important ingredient to stabilize the rate of yeast activity. If it's reduced or omitted, the loaf will overrise.

The bread doesn't bake completely

You don't need the surprise of cutting into a sweet-smelling, golden brown loaf of bread only to discover that it didn't bake all the way through. An instant-read thermometer lets you know immediately if the bread has completely baked when it reads 190° when it's inserted into the middle of the bread. If the machine has completed the cycle and the bread is not completely baked, you can finish baking the loaf in your conventional oven in the bread machine pan.

Some machines have a bake-only cycle. If yours does, you can select that cycle and continue baking your bread in the machine. However, some machines will not let you continue baking until they've completely cooled down. In this case, it's best to finish baking in your standard oven at 375° for approximately 30 minutes.

If you cut the bread before it's completely cooled, it will look doughy because the structure sets up as the bread cools off.

The bread falls in the middle

Time to get creative: Continue to make the hole larger and use the bread for a salad bowl. You can even pretend that it was intentional.

But why did it fall? When the honeycomb structure that expands your bread is too weak, the bread collapses. There are several factors that can contribute to unstable bread:

The crust is tough

Toast it. This partial heat process changes the gelatinization of the starch in the bread so that the starch actually absorbs moisture from the gluten. Although the bread is now drier and in a different form, it is appears fresher and it is not tough.

If the bread is not completely baked, or it didn't bake at a high enough temperature, the crust could be tough. Try using the French Bread cycle. The temperature is hotter on that cycle.

If you would like a very tender crust, use milk for the liquid and butter for the shortening. You can even brush the baked bread with butter while it's still warm to further tenderize the crust.