Bread Machine Basics

All bread machines knead and bake a little differently, but they all follow the same principles.  ROGERS recipes have been developed to work with ROGERS Flours and in all brands of machines.  Some minor adjustment is sometimes required for different machines.  We are happy to provide a troubleshooting guide to help you make the adjustments for your machine, but usually, it is as simple as changing the amount of water by 1 tablespoon.

Some Simple Rules to Follow:

• Add ingredients in the order listed in the recipe.
• Measure carefully.

Understanding the Ingredients:

• WATER – is the most challenging to measure carefully. 1 tablespoon off can affect the shape of your loaf. The temperature should be tepid.

 

• SKIM MILK POWDER – will help with colour and tender crumb. Bread made with milk powder will stay fresher longer.

 

• SUGAR – provides food for the yeast and adds flavour. Sugar sources can be white, brown, honey, maple syrup, or molasses.

 

• FAT – produces a tender crust and soft loaf. You can use shortening, margarine, butter or oil.

 

• SALT – is the yeast inhibitor, preventing the loaf from over-rising. It must not come in direct contact with yeast.

 

• FLOUR – Bread flour will produce the lightest loaves because it has higher protein and a dough enhancer which helps the bread to rise, especially when making whole wheat, rye or multi-grain breads. Rogers Bread flours can be found in 2.5 kg bags at a variety of retail outlets.  In BC, we also sell our wholesale bread flours, in 20 kg bags at some Costco outlets. Silver Star is unbleached white bread flour, and Coarse Whole wheat is whole wheat bread flour.

 

• If using All-Purpose Flour you may need to add extra gluten, about 1 tbsp. per cup of flour. If using No Additive All Purpose Flour you will need to add extra gluten as above and also lemon juice which is a natural dough enhancer; 1/2 tbsp. per cup of flour is recommended.

 

• YEAST – Instant yeast is required for bread machines. It is finer, faster acting and designed to add as a dry ingredient.

 

TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE

These are the bread machine problems most frequently reported to us and the most likely causes.

 

Problem:                  Possible Cause

Short loaf                    -not enough yeast or weak yeast, not enough sugar, not enough liquid, too much salt

 

Too much rising,            -too much yeast

mushroom top               -too much sugar

sunken top.                     -too much liquid, not enough salt

 

Under-baked,               -too much liquid

gummy centre              -recipe too large for pan

 

Heavy, dense                -not enough yeast

texture, knobby            -not enough sugar

surface                           -not enough liquid, -too much flour, especially whole grain

 

Open, coarse                -too much yeast

texture                          -too much liquid, not enough salt

 

Crust too dark               -too much sugar, too much shortening

 

To pinpoint the cause, change only 1 ingredient at a time.

Increase or decrease flour or water by 1 tbsp. at a time.  Water is the easiest and first item you should try adjusting.

Sugar can be adjusted by the 1/2 tbsp.

Yeast or salt adjust by 1/4 tsp. at a time.