Warning: Newbie bread baker post ahead, still learning the basics. 😉
Tried baking the Malt Loaf recipe from Paul Hollywood's "Bread" book today - also my inaugural bake using my new Ankarsrum mixer. The problem: insufficient rise. Wondering what thoughts you have on what I should do differently next time I try this same recipe. Details below.
I won't list Paul's recipe here, as I'm assuming that's a copyright violation - is that correct? I can provide details on that if it's helpful for problem solving.
In accordance with the process for the Ankarsrum, I used the dough roller/bowl scraper and added all of the wet ingredients to the bowl first. I then slowly added the flours, the yeast, the raisins, allowed the machine to mix everything well, then slowly added the salt. I allowed the dough to knead on the low setting for about 5 minutes. It was sufficiently "pulling away from the sides of the bowl" at the end of that time. When I took it out of the mixer, it was still quite sticky but after turning it out onto a lightly floured surface and forming the dough into 2 sausage-shaped rolls for rising in the bread pans, it was quite manageable and held its shape well.
After 3+ hours of proofing (first with a tea towel over the top of the pans on the counter for the first hour, and then - when it seemed like little if anything was happening - with a shower cap over the pans in the oven on the Proof setting for the remaining time), both loaves barely reached the top of the pans. And both actually fell a bit during baking. Pictures before and after baking appear below.
I'm new enough to all of this that I've maybe baked a dozen loaves of bread so far. Interestingly, I would say that all of them suffered from insufficient rise to some degree or another. Initially, I was using regular flour. When I made the switch to bread flour, that definitely helped - but I can't say that I've fully solved the problem yet.
In brainstorming a list of things I did with this bake that might have been wrong, I came up with the following:
I never actually take the temperature of the water I'm using. I have an instant probe, so it's really silly that I don't simply check it each time. I feel like this is probably my first and best opportunity for improvement.
I use instant yeast but I don't activate it in any way before using it. I just add it in with the rest of the dry ingredients, as that seems to be the commonly accepted practice. Should I dissolve it in the warm water first for a few minutes before proceeding?
I understand that salt is a yeast killer, so I'm always hesitant about how and when to add that in. I thought my strategy today was going to be ideal, since it basically went in last - and slowly - but it somehow still felt wrong to basically be sprinkling salt on the dough as it was mixing.
Since this was my first time with it, I wasn't sure about the kneading time in the Ankarsrum. Paul's recipe says to "knead gently but thoroughly for a few minutes to bring the dough together," but I wondered if perhaps I should have allowed it to knead for a few minutes longer.
Thoughts? What else am I missing?
The best part of this process so far is eating my mistakes because WOW - this recipe is definitely delicious, my horrible baking skills notwithstanding! 😂 Thanks for your thoughts.
