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Bread machine users - any tips?

  1. #1
    jvn
    jvn is offline Registered User
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    Bread machine users - any tips?

    We have a bread machine and recently been having a series of disasters with bread not rising enough and being a bit soggy - I think it's the humidity or the heat. Any bread machine users got any tips or failsafe recipes for Hong Kong.

    Thanks :-)


  2. #2
    carey is offline Registered User
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    I don't have any tips. But buying a bread maker has been on our list for a while now. I am just unsure which one to get (Kenwood and a Japanese brand call Zojirushi is what you can get at fortress) and where to get the needed ingredients for it.


    Which brand are you using? It's something to avoid because the problem you are experiencing?

    Thank you.


  3. #3
    rani's Avatar
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    A friend had a machine and she found that the bread didn't rise in the summer with the humidity. The bread came out much better in the winter

    Last edited by rani; 08-20-2010 at 08:53 AM.

  4. #4
    jvn
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    Yeah, we were doing fine in the cooler weather but when it started getting humid it's just got worse and worse.

    Carey, I don't think it's a problem with the machine (we've got the Kenwood - I think BM250) but I handmade some bread dough yesterday and baked it in the oven and it turned out fine. I think because I was handmaking, I could see it needed much more flour than in the original recipe and I could also see it needed longer to rise. So it's going to be an process of experimentation to get the recipe right for the humidity.

    Definitely get one with a dough only setting as they bake much better in the oven and it's pretty easy to let the machine mix it then put it in a tin, let it rise again and put it in the oven. In the machine, they started getting soggy tops which again I think is just too much moisture in the machine when baking, the oven is a dryer heat.

    You can get bread flour and dry yeast at our Park'n'shop (Macdonell Road one) and get bread mixes and flour at Great too - some recipes call for fat free skim milk powder which I haven't found but I haven't looked very hard yet - maybe a health food shop.


  5. #5
    heidikan's Avatar
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    Ingredients are actually very easy to find. Most CitiSuper provides all already. So it would be one-stop shopping only. Yes, weather would affect the baking result and that's why we have to always adjust.
    Lately, I tried also mixed ready-to-bake powder from IKEA store. That's quite nice and price is reasonable. You may go for a check!
    Cheers, Heidi


  6. #6
    carey is offline Registered User
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    Thanks for the tip ladies. I might actually going to get a bread maker then.


  7. #7
    HKfornow is offline Registered User
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    I had spectacular failures because my dough (using my Kenwood Bread maker) would not rise, until another lady told me that the problem could be the yeast I was using, so gave me a bag of Hovis, which worked out well, and I ended up buying a big bag of Mauripan yeast from a baking shop, and the bread has definitely improved.

    Carey, if you haven't gotten your bread maker yet and you like to bake, I would suggest getting a heavy duty Stand Mixer (most have dough hooks). I just got mine recently, and I was amazed at how easy it was to use. Of course it involves more clean-up, but I just felt that I had a little more control over the whole process. Whichever you decide I'm sure the aroma of fresh baked bread will be worth it.

    Last edited by HKfornow; 09-15-2010 at 09:11 AM.

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