User Manual

7
STORING BREAD
• Your bread won’t keep like commercial bread.
• It’s best eaten fresh, but you can store it for a couple of days at room temperature in a
polythene bag with the air squeezed out.
• To freeze bread, let it cool, put it in a polythene bag, try and squeeze as much air as you can
from the bag then seal it.
• Don’t put bread in the fridge becasue it will go stale even faster.
INGREDIENTS
Flour
The type of flour used is important. Unless the recipe specifically says, you can’t use ‘ordinary’
plain flour for making bread. Buy flour labelled ‘strong’ or ‘bread’. The commonest is normally
marketed as strong white flour. These strong or bread flours contain more gluten than ordinary
baking flour. Gluten is the protein that gives the bread its structure and texture. It retains the
carbon dioxide produced by the yeast putting the elasticity into the dough.
Other Bread Flours
These include strong brown or “Farmhouse” flour, strong wholemeal, and whole wheat bread
making flours. These provide an excellent source of dietary fibre, but contain lower levels of
gluten than strong white flour. This means that brown loaves tend to be smaller and denser than
white loaves. Generally speaking, if you substitute strong white flour for half of the brown flour
in the recipe, you can make bread with a “brown bread” flavour and a “white bread” texture.
Yeast
• Yeast is a living organism. Given moisture, food, and warmth, the yeast will grow releasing
carbon dioxide gas. This forms bubbles which are trapped in the dough, making it rise.
• Of the various types of yeast available, we recommend using dried yeast, also known as dry
active yeast, and instant yeast or easy blend dried yeast. These are usually sold in 7 gram
sachets and don’t have to be dissolved in water first.
• If you don’t use all the yeast in a sachet, throw it away, don’t save it because it will go stale.
• Don’t use fresh yeast in your breadmaker.
• Check the date on the sachet of yeast. If it’s approaching its best before date, discard it and
buy some more.
• You may also see ‘fast action’ or ‘bread machine’ yeast. these are really potent yeasts that
can make dough rise up to 50% faster. If you want to use these, you’ll need to experiment
to get the best results. You could start off by trying them with the fastbake programs.
Liquid
• The liquid ingredient is normally water or milk, or a mixture of the two.
• Water makes a crispier crust. Milk gives a softer crust with a velvety texture.
• The liquid should be warm (34-38ºC). Too hot or too cold will inhibit the yeast. One simple
method is to add 2 parts of cold liquid to 1 part boiling. For example, if the recipe requires
300g of water, add 200g of cold water to 100g of boiling water. The result will be at just the
right temperature.
• Don’t use milk if you are going to use the timer. It might curdle before the bread making
process starts.
Butter/Fat
These make the dough more tender and enhance the flavour, giving the finished loaf a richer
quality. They help to retain moisture, making the bread keep fresh longer. Margarine or olive oil
can be used instead of butter, but they are less effective. We don’t recommend using any type of
low fat spread.