[quote=“Belgian Pie”]Be careful with yeast and salt and sugar … they can kill the yeast if mixed wrongly … it kills is by osmosis, rupturing the yeast cell and dehydrating it effectively killing it.
Remember that dry yeast must first rehydrate (in your dough mix or in water) before it can start it’s job … you can test the yeast by using a little sugar in water adding the yeast and wait until it starts bubbling.
Yeast is killed at temps. over 42 C
BTW, there is no ‘fast’ bread baking in a baker’s dictionary …[/quote]
That’s not quite true, instant yeast doesn’t need to be rehydrated first, you just chuck it in and it gets activated when the ingredients are mixed. The Fermipan yeast is perfectly fine to just add to a dough, I’ve done it every time and it comes out just the way it should. That said, it needs warmer water, between 45-50 degrees to activate, unlike fresh yeast which isn’t happy over about 37 degrees in my experience.
The yeast activated when I put it into water, but the loaf still didn’t rise.
The flour isn’t even properly mixed.
Maybe it is a problem with the machine?
Don’t know what’s wrong, but that sure doesn’t look right - and bread machines should be close to idiot proof. Hell, mine once worked when I didn’t notice I’d poured in the desiccating salt package along with the flour. (I still threw away that loaf: it had a little packet sticking out of the top.)
I think it’s time to exchange the machine. Maybe bring along the photo for evidence, or better yet, the loaf.
I like the Dr. Goods oven, available at DIY baking supply shops like the one near the Minquan bridge, about $8200. They deliver. I recommend an extra baking tray, a $500 half-sheet, high quality, won’t warp like cheap ones.
義興材料行 (‘the Minquan bridge store’)
台北市富錦街５７８號
Fujin St., Lane 574, #2. Phone 2760-8115 or ２７６５－４１８１
Heading east on Min2quan2 E. Rd. toward the bridge to the Neihu Costco, as you cross the last small street (Fuyuan Jie, I believe) with a signal, stay in the far right lane; take it as it remains a small surface road to the right of the Minquan bridge, rather than going up onto the bridge. Go about a block, past a Buddhist supply shop and tire shop, and turn right onto a small residential street, 富錦街. Go one short block and the store is on your left, the only store in the midst of residences. Closed Sundays.
[quote=“Mawvellous”]This is the result of last night’s effort.
The yeast activated when I put it into water, but the loaf still didn’t rise.
The flour isn’t even properly mixed.
Maybe it is a problem with the machine?
That looks like the result of a malfunctioning machine to me. I personally would recommend getting a refund on it if you’re still within the time limit for that. I don’t have a high opinion of the quality of Kaiser products; they’re cheap, made in China junk. It’s a shame that Costco even carries Kaiser items.
I am taking the machine back tonight.
Considering whether to get a refund or replacement - others seem to have had a more positive experience with the machine.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]
That’s not quite true, instant yeast doesn’t need to be rehydrated first, you just chuck it in and it gets activated when the ingredients are mixed. The Fermipan yeast is perfectly fine to just add to a dough, I’ve done it every time and it comes out just the way it should. That said, it needs warmer water, between 45-50 degrees to activate, unlike fresh yeast which isn’t happy over about 37 degrees in my experience.[/quote]
If you read all the posts you should know that you distort by cutting out one post …
Dough when finished kneading should be around 26-27 degrees C, so water temp depends on the temp of your ingredients (flour mostly) bakers use a formula to calculate, but at home they people mostly use lukewarm water … dough rising happens normally at a temp of around 30-32 C …
In summer I used to use ice water to mix in the dough … in winter warm water …
Not all dry yeast is instant yeast. Not all instant yeast straight out of the pack is healthy yeast, so it should be tested.
But yes, you’re Swedish and you probably know better … :ohreally:
Mawvellous, I’m sorry to see the result of your bread … definitely something not kosher.
So I went to Costco yesterday to get a replacement machine.
But today’s baking also ended in failure. I must be doing something wrong, but have no idea what. If any other Forumosan’s own this machine and could provide idiot proof instructions, I would be most grateful. :loco: Surely I cannot have ended up with two faulty machines.
Sorry to hear that. I tried a breadmaker once (well, the same cheap 2nd-hand one many times), and gave up. I recommend returning it for a refund, and learning to bake bread the proper way. Seriously.
They really are inherently inferior IMO by virtue of their concept and design:
You can use a machine to help with the kneading (and preferably finish by hand), but the tiny hook in a dough machine is not very effective for kneading compared to the large paddle and large dough hook in, say, a KitchenAid mixer (as you can see from the incomplete mixing in your loaves). Good bread needs not only proper mixing of the ingredients, but lengthy kneading of the mixed dough to help produce gluten from the proteins in the flour. The gluten forms the structure of the bread which allows it to hold its shape when it rises. The kneading can’t merely be from a tiny 1" hook spinning in the middle of the dough. It needs to involve a turning over, folding and stretching of the entire mass, which a large dough hook can do to some extent but human hands do better. And lest anyone say that takes too much time, I’d like to point out that actually it’s very therapeutic. Really.
You can’t replace human judgment of when the dough’s done with its first rise or the loaf is done proofing, which will vary based on hydration, yeast amount and freshness, other ingredients and the weather. It varies A LOT based on the room temperature. A LOT. I would never trust a timer to make those decisions, any more than I’d let a timer tell me when I had backed up enough while parking my car. :loco:
The amount of money spent on a bread machine is better spent toward more versatile machines IMO, which can do more than one task. For the price of a bread machine, which can only make bread, you can get a cheap oven which can reheat foods like pizza well, or which can bake pizza, pizza bread, casseroles, cookies, pies, cakes, meats and so on. If money is no object, you’re best off getting a good quality mixer like a KitchenAid ($14k) and a decent oven ($8200+). The mixer will let you easily whip egg whites for meringue and waffles, easily mix cookie doughs, and so on. If money is a concern, just learn to do it by hand, and skip 10 minutes of Beevis and Barfhead once every few days. It’s a win-win situation.
It seems like it’s not getting hot enough, so the bread is only half baked.
The flour isn’t really a big deal, but I didn’t have any problems like that with mine.
In fact, I had the opposite problem with the loafs getting too big and hitting the lid and expanding in the area between the top of the tin and the lid…
No idea what’s going on though, but yeah, you might be better off investing in an oven…
Look at that, I still had the English manual as a PDF knocking around dl.dropbox.com/u/911286/TR555.pdf not that I think it’ll help much…
Dragonbones - I can definitely see the advantages of making bread in the oven - we already have a cheap oven that could be used for the purpose. However, we have very limited space for food preparation and kneading is a very time consuming process. Using a bread machine may be inferior to kneading yourself, but you should still be able to come up out with a decent loaf of bread. The fact that I have failed to do this suggests that something else is wrong - maybe the machine, ingredients, or recipe. I am going to try and different recipe tonight and see what happens, if this all fails I will refund the machine and go back to buying bread from the bakery for a while.
TheLostSwede - Thanks. Those instructions are definitely clearer than the horrible, error-strewn English instructions provided by the Kaiser machine. Strangely Kaiser gives completely different recipes in the Chinese and English part of its instruction manual.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]It seems like it’s not getting hot enough, so the bread is only half baked.
The flour isn’t really a big deal, but I didn’t have any problems like that with mine.
In fact, I had the opposite problem with the loafs getting too big and hitting the lid and expanding in the area between the top of the tin and the lid…
No idea what’s going on though, but yeah, you might be better off investing in an oven…
Look at that, I still had the English manual as a PDF knocking around dl.dropbox.com/u/911286/TR555.pdf not that I think it’ll help much…[/quote]
Muchas gracias! Thank you for that important file. You rule, man!
[quote=“Icon”][quote=“TheLostSwede”]It seems like it’s not getting hot enough, so the bread is only half baked.
The flour isn’t really a big deal, but I didn’t have any problems like that with mine.
In fact, I had the opposite problem with the loafs getting too big and hitting the lid and expanding in the area between the top of the tin and the lid…
No idea what’s going on though, but yeah, you might be better off investing in an oven…
Look at that, I still had the English manual as a PDF knocking around dl.dropbox.com/u/911286/TR555.pdf not that I think it’ll help much…[/quote]
Muchas gracias! Thank you for that important file. You rule, man! [/quote]
aren’t there any ready bread mixes available? My fam in Europe uses a bread maker all the time and they just go to the supermarket get a box of bread mix (similar to cake mixes) put it and ready, they have tons of flavors available…
This ain’t Europe… I mean, I have enough of a hard time finding rye flour and you’re expecting ready mixes? Well, I’m sure some are available, I know they sell something odd in the baking supply shops that I once bought instead of rye flour that was some kind of horrible ready mix and IKEA sells (sold?) a couple of ready mixes, but they were meant to go in the oven. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a specific ready mix for bread machines here ever…
:ohreally:
oh. Poor you. Our recipes are in Chinese (that’s why I’m 2nd chef). I’m not sure how much I can help. I’m sure other people on here can help more.
