Cooking with Jonny69: baking bread.

I think you're having trouble with your yeast too. I've got a feeling you've stumbled across the same yeast that I did and I just couldn't make it make decent bread no matter what I did.



I could not get this Allinson yeast to make decent bread no matter what I did. The yeast seemed to change the dough or something as I was kneading and it would go like chewing gum, incredibly sticky and it would not hold its shape. The dough would collapse on itself and rise outwards and just run into a puddle on the tray. Then the loaf would not pop up at all when it was baked. The finished bread was dry and dense. You couldn't slash the top of the loaf because it was so sticky, it would grab the knife and string out, yanking the shape out the loaf.



This Dove's yeast from Waitrose is exactly the same as the stuff in the sachets and works great. I tipped away the Allinson yeast and used the tin to store this stuff as it comes in a foil pack. If you bought the Allinson stuff, I recommend chucking it out and use this instead, or if you can't get it, stick with sachets.

On top of that, just make sure you knead your dough plenty :)
 
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Matutu said:
Here it is with a small slice taken off, it seems quite a dense loaf.

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It looks like a there's a bit of crumbing there, so it might benefit from a bit more kneading. This helps it hold its shape when it's rising. Also maybe try a bit more water in the dough, but it looks ok. @ Bigboy, what do you think?

[quote="David_VI, post: 22461767"]Hey, how did you manage that? I've tried to make a boomer style loaf and when on the baking tray it just sinks down, wouldn't sit in the middle and rise..[/QUOTE]
Hmm, again, got a pic? Outside and inside :D
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I discovered a cunning way to make sandwich loaves more consistent. I don't like the way they rise really high in the middle and leave you with small slices at the ends. I tried shaping the dough so it was higher at the ends than in the middle but it was a faff. Much easier is to split the dough into two, roll into two balls and plop them in the tin next to each other. The balls rise into each other and the result is this:

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I've not been posting much recently but I thought I'd pop in to say I've finally invested in a Kitchenaid mixer. I wasn't going to buy one before I moved house, and I wanted to wait until the right offer popped up. Debenhams had them on offer for £379, but you didn't actually seem to be able to buy them at that price in store or on the website because the whole company magically appeared to be out of stock. John Lewis honoured the offer with their price matching and sent it to my local Waitrose. Awesome service and it's an awesome machine. In candy apple red and I'm really pleased with it :)
 
Cool, bring on the photos! I've not been able to bake anything for a while because I haven't bought an oven for my new place yet. I've put the Kitchenaid to good use though, doing lots of thick flatbreads in the frying pan. I even managed a pizza in the frying pan which was 90% as good as from the oven. Not quite as good, but much better than shop-bought :D
 
cobrax said:
been using this yeast, and the two times i tried it didnt come out right at all
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I've not had any success with that yeast at all. Instant yeast for me too.

If you have a Waitrose near you, this stuff is the same as you get in the sachets but work out cheaper and less packaging: http://www.waitrose.com/webapp/wcs/...661-Doves+Farm+quick+yeast.html?storeId=10317

(Doves Farm quick yeast if linky no worky)

Top tip: keep the tin from the Allinson stuff to put the Doves yeast into ;)
 
Lack of taste is usually down to a lack of salt. 300g of flour needs one heaped teaspoon of salt and 500g of flour needs just under two. If it was a bit rubbery, it sounds like you kneaded it enough but it might have been a bit too tight. Try letting it rise a bit bigger and bake it a bit longer. Looks pretty close to me though :)
 
Mark A said:
Do you just put a damp towel straight onto the dough for the final rise? I was letting it rise in the mixing bowl with a towel over the top of the bowl. But as soon as I get it out of the bowl and reshape on the baking tray it shrinks.
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No, first rise is in the bowl with cling film over the top. Then shape it into a loaf and stick it on a floured baking tray and let it rise uncovered. Give it a couple of slashes with a really sharp knife just before you put it in the oven and it has somewhere to expand to when it pops up in the heat :)
 
I've currently got a sourdough starter on the go in a big jar. I cheated a bit and didn't wait for the natural yeast to find its way in; instead I used a splash of the dregs out my cider barrel so it's firing away on natural apple yeast. Have been feeding it with the odd tablespoon of flour and water. It's... lively :D
 
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