Troubleshooting Bread Machine Recipes

[Darienne]

Host's note: this was split from the I Will Never Again...(Part 4) topic.

 

 

If I knew what I had done, you can bet I've never do it again.

 

I've made only gluten-free bread before this in this Breadman machine with no problems.  This time I was making a Challah, which I've made many times before in my old machine, a Regal, probably circa 1996, which I bought for $5 in a Moab second-hand store.  I don't have the attribution of the recipe, but I have a feeling I found it either on eGullet or through a connection to eGullet.  

 

What I did wrong...I have no idea.   None.  Not a one.  

 

At least it's good for a laugh.  

 

Added:  It still tastes good.  

Edited April 7, 2023 by Smithy
Added host's note (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

9 minutes ago, Darienne said:

 

If I knew what I had done, you can bet I've never do it again.

 

I've made only gluten-free bread before this in this Breadman machine with no problems.  This time I was making a Challah, which I've made many times before in my old machine, a Regal, probably circa 1996, which I bought for $5 in a Moab second-hand store.  I don't have the attribution of the recipe, but I have a feeling I found it either on eGullet or through a connection to eGullet.  

 

What I did wrong...I have no idea.   None.  Not a one.  

 

At least it's good for a laugh.  

We need you to post "what happened next".    Did it eventually cook through?    Was it recognizable as challah or even bread?    Did it release from the pot?    I sympathize  with your disappointment.    Unless it "ate well".

[Tropicalsenior]

36 minutes ago, Darienne said:

What I did wrong...I have no idea.   None.  Not a one.  

It happened to me once and I had no idea what I had done differently. But after that, I just used the dough cycle and baked the bread in the oven.

[Darienne]

 

12 hours ago, Darienne said:

 

What I did wrong...I have no idea.   None.  Not a one.  

 

 

The other peculiar fact which I had not noticed when I posted last night, is that the crust of the bread was way too baked.  I set it for medium...but it came through almost toasted on the outside and not thoroughly cooked in spots on the inside.  

 

And yet...as noted, I've baked several gluten-free loaves with no problem with the bread maker end of it.   (The problems with those loaves lay elsewhere.)

[Darienne]

12 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

We need you to post "what happened next".    Did it eventually cook through?    Was it recognizable as challah or even bread?    Did it release from the pot?    I sympathize  with your disappointment.    Unless it "ate well".

Tasted like Challah.  Looked like a loaf that had gone crazy.  As noted above...not cooked through properly and too much too dark crust.  

 

Bottom line.  Fed only to family and it tasted just fine.

 

Added:  So my next plan would be either to make another gluten-free loaf in the Breadman...or another Challah in the Regal and see what happens....

Edited April 7, 2023 by Darienne (log)

[TdeV]

From first glance, I question the size of both bread machines (1.0 lb, 1.5 lb, or 2.0 lb).

 

Can you post the recipe, @Darienne?

[Darienne]

14 minutes ago, TdeV said:

From first glance, I question the size of both bread machines (1.0 lb, 1.5 lb, or 2.0 lb).

 

Can you post the recipe, @Darienne?

Size:  I checked the manual quickly and although I can't find the reference to size...I know the Breadman takes a 2-pound loaf.  I did however find the following: 'Do not exceed 4 1/2 cups of dry ingredients".  And you'll see that the recipe does not.   Obviously the old Regal has no problem with the Challah recipe.  

 

Recipe:  OK.  I can't locate my recipe right off the bat, but I can tell you that the ingredients and directions are identical to the following (which might well be my own paring down of the original recipe to only what I need to use it.  The "Notes" are my own.   "David A. Goldfarb"'s name would explain my sense of having gotten the recipe somehow on eGullet. ) 

 

CHALLAH RECIPE, BREAD MACHINE

 

David A. Goldfarb - eGullet
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Combine all ingredients:

2 large eggs + water to make a total volume of 1-3/8 cup (dough should be on the wet side)
2Tbs. butter or oil
2Tbs.+2tsp. sugar (you can use coarse crystal turbinado sugar)
2-1/2 tsp. salt (you can use 2-3/4 tsp. of Diamond Kosher salt)
3-1/2 cups bread flour
2-1/4 tsp (1 package) dry yeast machine bread kind

You can bake it on the basic light cycle

 

- or make it with the dough cycle, braid, rise again, then bake at 375F for 30-35 min.

 

NOTES:

- I use closer to 1 1/2 cups of liquid & eggs

- I slice the loaf in half when I take it out of the machine to cool.

- Use regular sugar and regular salt cause I don't have the other

- I've never stopped the machine to braid, etc, the bread and do it in the oven.

[TdeV]

One of your assumptions is not correct, @Darienne. Only difficulty is to figure out which!

[Tropicalsenior]

Reading over the recipe, my guess would be too much liquid. But then I'm only judging the amount of liquid that my flour would take. I know from experience that that in Canada is much better than what I can get.

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Reading over the recipe, my guess would be too much liquid. But then I'm only judging the amount of liquid that my flour would take. I know from experience that that in Canada is much better than what I can get.

You could be right.   But to puff up quite that much?  And not in the other machine?  I'll cut back on my next attempt.  But then I use that much in the old Regal machine.  

 

However:  the flour is one I've never used before: Robin Hood Bread Machine Flour.   My bread machine yeast was brand new...but you wouldn't think that could be the problem.  

[TdeV]

Darienne,

 

Beth Hensperger's bread machine recipe for 2.0 lb Challah (which I have not made yet) uses

• 1 cup water
• 2 large egga + 1 yolk
• 1.5 T honey
• .25 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups (482g) bread flour
• 1 T + 1 t gluten
• 2 t salt
• 2 t SAF yeast or 2.5 t bread machine yeast

 

 

I have made Molly's Challah from King Arthur which uses

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
• 170g (3/4 cup) warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons or 25g sugar
• 454g to 482g (3 3/4 to 4 cups) All-Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (67g) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons (43g) additional sweetener (sugar, honey, or molasses)

 

@Tropicalsenior's guess looks favoured.

 

Have you ever made that recipe successfully?

[heidih]

My first thought  upon seeing the image was a flash to Lucy's issue

https://www.google.com/search?q=lucy+epispde+bread&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS950US950&oq=lucy+epispde+bread&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i8i13i30.8547j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:75838f56,vid:RA3hc4P3qe8

[Darienne]

29 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Darienne,

 

Beth Hensperger's bread machine recipe for 2.0 lb Challah (which I have not made yet) uses

• 1 cup water
• 2 large egga + 1 yolk
• 1.5 T honey
• .25 cup vegetable oil
• 4 cups (482g) bread flour
• 1 T + 1 t gluten
• 2 t salt
• 2 t SAF yeast or 2.5 t bread machine yeast

 

 

I have made Molly's Challah from King Arthur which uses

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
• 170g (3/4 cup) warm water
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons or 25g sugar
• 454g to 482g (3 3/4 to 4 cups) All-Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (67g) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons (43g) additional sweetener (sugar, honey, or molasses)

 

@Tropicalsenior's guess looks favoured.

 

Have you ever made that recipe successfully?

No to both.  I've only made the one I posted and I've done it for years now.  I'm not a bread maker any more really.  We have a commercial whole grain bread that we really like and so that does most of it.  And I went gluten-free for over a year to see if it changed my life at all (and dairy and caffeine- free also and no it didn't.  The problems I had still remained with me.)

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

You could be right.   But to puff up quite that much?  And not in the other machine?  I'll cut back on my next attempt.  But then I use that much in the old Regal machine.  

 

However:  the flour is one I've never used before: Robin Hood Bread Machine Flour.   My bread machine yeast was brand new...but you wouldn't think that could be the problem.  

I've never been entirely happy with any of my bread recipes that were baked in the machine.  I much prefer to use the dough setting and bake  in n the oven.

[Tropicalsenior]

After my first total failure, I always baked mine in the oven. I also never trusted the amount of moisture in the recipe. I always checked the dough as it was mixing and either added more liquid or added more flour as it was needed.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Tropicalsenior (log)