Recipe for a Fruit mix bread

I have adapted the Raisin bread recipe found in page 16 of the Zojirushi recipe.

Water - 2/3 cup
Bread flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1.5 Tablespoon
Dry Milk - 1.5 Tablespoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Butter - 1 Tablespoon
Cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon
Active dry yeast - 1 teaspoon

When beep sounds, add:
Fruit mix - 1/3 cup

The final product is close to that of a raisin bread except that raisins are substituted with fruit mix. After 1 day, the bread feels is a bit dry. The bread might have been sliced too thinly thereby causing it to lose its moisture more quickly. Normally it produces 8 slices, this time round it was sliced into 10 pieces. As a guide, a 6-slice loaf produces tender juicy slices.
I might have left the slices of bread to cool down in the the open for too long.

As a guide, I will remove them from the container 10 minutes after taking them out from the bread machine. The loaf will be left to cool down for 25-30 minutes. After that I will slice them. Leave them to cool down for another 5 minutes before storing them in an air-tight box. E.g. I use Lock n lock storage box model no HPL818. Its the perfect size to store my bread.

Recipe for a Almond-Chocolate Chip bread

Reference: Betty Crocker's Bread Machine Cookbook

I have not tried this recipe before. May try it sometime in the future.

Recipe for a 1 Pound Almond-Chocolate Chip bread

Water - 3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon
Bread Flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 2 Tablespoon
Dry milk - 2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Butter - 1 Tablespoon
Vanilla - 1/4 teaspoon
Yeast - 1 teaspoon

When machine beeps (after approx 30 minutes), add almonds and chocolate chips.
Semisweet chocolate chip - 1/2 cup
Sliced almonds - 1/4 cup

Chemistry classes for Breadmakers

We can add

Bread flour: A special type of wheat that are higher in gluten-forming protein than all purpose flour. Bread flour absorbs more water and produces a more elastic dough, thereby producing a tall, well-formed loaf.

All-purpose flour: A blend of selected wheats suitable for all kinds of baking. It can be used in bread machine. However it contains less protein than bread flour, bread volume will be lower and texture coarser than breads made with bread flour.

Whole wheat flour: Made with complete wheat kernel. Breads made with whole wheat flour have a nutty flavour and dense texture. They do not rise as high as breads made with bread flour because whole wheat flour has less protein. For better volume, mix 50% whole wheat flour with 50% bread flour.

Rye flour: Milled from rye grain instead of wheat. Its usually combined with wheat flour for bread making to increase the dough's gluten-forming capabilities producing a dough with greater elasticity and better volume.

Sweeteners: Provide food for yeast to work. Sweeteners include sugar and honey. They add flavour and help the crust achieve its brown colour. Artificial sweeteners are not recommended for yeast baking because they do not feed the yeast like regular sweeteners do.

Salt : It controls yeast growth to prevent overrising which can cause the bread to collapse. Salt also adds flavour to bread.

Fats: such as shortenings and butter, adds tenderness and flavour to breads.

Liquids: such as water and milk are used to regydrate amd activate the yeast and blend the flour to create a sticky, elastic dough. Use only room temperature liquids. Water gives bread a crisper crust; milk gives bread a velvety texture and added nutrients. Do not use the timer
function for recipe that contain fresh milk.

Dry Milk: It is often used in conjuction with the timer function. If dry milk is not available, it can be substituted with fresh milk. So instead of adding water, just add the same quantity of fresh milk.

Eggs: It is added to bread dough for taste, richness and colour. Use large eggs. Do not use the timer function.

Yeast: A live plant that is the essence of yeast bread. When activated by warm liquid and fed by sugar, yeast release tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide, making the dough rise. For best results, yeast needs adequate amounts of liquid and other bread ingredients.

Bread Troubleshooting guide

Storing them
Store them tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Loaf didn't rise

• Too much salt (inhibit yeast action) -decrease salt by 1/4 teaspoon
  
• Too little sugar (inhibit rising) - increase sugar by 1 teaspoon
  
• Too little butter can inhibit rising
• Old or improperly stored yeast
• ingredient placed in container in the wrong order
  

Loaf is heavy and dry

• Too much flour (decrease flour by 1 Tablespoon)
  
• Too little liquid (increase liquid by 1 Tablespoon)
  
• Too little yeast (increase yeast by 1/4 teaspoon)

Load has a yeasty aroma or coarse texture or overrisen

• Too much yeast (decrease yeast by 1/4 teaspoon)
• Salt was omitted

Loaf is too brown

• Too much sugar
• Too much fat
• Regular setting (try changing to a light crust setting)
  

Sally Lunn Bread

Over the past few days, I have been baking breads that I had done previously. No point talking about them when there is no breakthrough or nothing new.

Last week I baked a Sally Lunn bread using recipe found from the net. As the original recipe was meant for a 1.5 pound load, the amount of ingredients were adjusted accordingly.

3/8 cup fresh milk
1 big egg
1.75 cup bread flour
1/6 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon butter (about 30 grams)
1 teaspoon instant yeast

This is the first time that I'm using a recipe that is not shown in the book. One of the key ingredients that is featured in all the other bread is missing i.e. water. The amount of bread flour prescribed by the recipe is also much lower than other breads. Will the bread be too overly dry. Will it be hard. What setting should I used on the machine: Firm or regular loaf? Light or regular crust?

Despite these reservations, I embarked on my journey. I chose Regular loaf and light crust.

After waiting impatiently for 3.5 hours, I was greeted with a 'short' bread. It is shorter than most bread. Probably due to the high dosage of butter, it has a pleasant butter scent. Texture wise, I thought it was a little dry especially when you ate in on the next day. Nevertheless its a nice bread. The higher butter content makes the container more oily and you'll have to spend more time cleaning it.

Here's another Sally Lunn recipe (for 1 pound bread) found in Betty Crocker's Bread Machine cookbook (ISBN No 0-02-860367-2):

1 egg + enough water to measure 3/4 cup
2 cups Bread flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter (softened) (about 57 grams)
3/4 teaspoon bread machine yeast

I have not tried this recipe. But the amount of ingredient stated here appears to be more consistent with other breadmaking machine recipes. It also addresses some of my earlier concerns.

Special Investigation report - White patches found at side of bread

After an in-depth analysis of the baking process and hours of observing the kneading process, Special Detective Sasha Bear share with us his findings on the white patches found at the side of the loaf.


The milk or butter pattern found on the side of the bread is caused by milk powder and butter that stick on to the side of the container during the kneading process.

Common causes:

• The butter is too big. When the kneading starts, the blade pushes it to the side of the container. Due to its sticky nature, it is stuck to the side of the container throughout the baking process.
  
• The butter is too cold. It does not have time to melt. When kneading starts, the movement of the blade force the butter to stick to the side.
  

Some of the flour will cling onto the butter and they will stay on the side of the container. After the dough has expanded to a certain size, ingredients sticking at the side will "rejoin" the bread and appears as streak of white patches. at the side of the loaf.

When the bread is not using the timer function, chances is the butter does not have enough time to soften and melt. In such instances, try slicing them into smaller pieces to aid melting.

Bread No.11 - Chocolate Bread - Milo flavour (Firm)

After days of accumulating ingredients over the past 3 days, I'm ready to try baking a ew type of bread - Chocolate Bread laced with Milo (Texture: Firm).

This time I make sure the kneading blade was firmly attached at the bottom of the container before I proceed further.

Instead of the standard ingredients bread stated in the recipe, I decided to make some variation. Replace the unsweetened cocoa with Milo powder. Replace 2 tablespoons worth of bread flour with an equivalent amount of wholemeal flour. The recipe says 1/3 cup of crushed chocolate chip. I was too tired to measure it, so I pour about 53 grams of Van Houten chocolate chips into the dough.

The aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip bread greets you when I came back later. However when I peer into the small window located at the top of the breadmaker, I was slightly disappointed with the size of the loaf. It didn't rise as high as I expected. Still its much higher than the Rock (i.e. Bread No.3). Some parts of the bread is also laced with some yellowish or whitish stuff. I suspect its either my milk powder or butter.

As the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover. Despite its less than pleasant look, it is simply delicious. Despite a heavy dinner, I managed to squeeze a slice of the bread into my stomach. The chocolate chip had melted. The smell was enhanced by the bread's warm and moist texture.

What when wrong? Why didn't the bread rise as high as I wanted. The matter has been reported to our gourment detective, Special Detective Sasha Bear. He will provide you with his findings soon. Stay tune.