Are you in search for ways to avoid problems when using your bread machine? You’ve come to the right article! These tricks and tips will aid you in your cooking quest. Read on, chef!
- Avoid uneven loaves by lifting the dough ball after kneading. Don’t you just hate uneven loaves? Imagine you’ve waited for a couple of hours for the loaf to finish, then when it’s finally done, it’s uneven! That just ruins the day, doesn’t? But don’t worry. There’s a counterattack for it. All you have to do is lift the dough after the kneading cycle and place it in the center of the bread pan just before it rises. What a piece of cake! Or bread!
- Dealing with sourdough? Calm yourself. You have to be patient with sourdough. It deserves your clemency and understanding after all. Sourdough loaves usually take up 12 hours to rise. One thing you could do is use the bread machine to make dough, then use your oven for proofing or rising in the bread pan in the oven. That’s if you don’t like the idea of waiting half a day for your bread to rise.
- Introduce Bread Machine Yeast to your bread machine for best results. Bread machine yeast comes in a jar that you have to refrigerate after you open. It’s a mortal sin not to do this hack.
- Measure everything properly especially the flour. This is an important hack. You should follow the instructions in the recipe. When it comes to the flour, use a measuring scale to make sure you use the exact amount of flour every time. Scooping the flour into your measuring cup won’t guarantee the same amount of flour, so do yourself (and your bread) a favor and weigh your flour!
- Combine whole wheat flour and bread flour. Yep, you’ve read that right! Whole wheat flour is ideal for making flatbreads and pizza crust like this delicious garlic+herb pizza crust recipe, but not for a sandwich bread. Plus, it doesn’t have the required protein to make a tall rise. This is why combining it with bread flour is a brilliant idea. The ratio could be 1:1 or 2:1, meaning you’ll need two parts of whole wheat flour for every one part of bread flour. Remember to use high-quality flours only! Don’t ever compromise the taste and texture of your bread by settling with cheap and low-quality flours.
- Mix gluten-free flours. I’m sure you want to achieve a delicious gluten-free bread. How will you do that? Blend two or more gluten-free flours! The bread will
taste, feel, and rise better!
- Get to know your bread machine. Ahh, this is one of the hacks that are usually ignored. Sometimes you’re too focused on the ingredients that you neglect the getting-to-know stage you need to go through with your appliance. Either that or you think reading the manual once is enough. I’m so sorry to disappoint you, but it’s best to comprehend all the cycles on your bread machine before you start anything. Knowing how to customize or adjust the settings is going to be beneficial for you as well, especially when dealing with wheat bread and sourdough recipes.
- Restart the bread machine if you have to. Go on, don’t be shy. If you think the bread hasn’t risen the way it should be or there seems to be a problem, restart your appliance. Unplug it and reset. You could select the same options or change the cycle—your choice.
- Get rid of the hole in your baked loaf by removing the dough ball after kneading and pulling the kneading paddle off of the spindle. Another annoying thing that ruins the classic appearance of your baked loaf is the hole at the center. Who knew there’s a hack for that? All you have to do is take the kneading paddle off, restore the dough ball to the pan and let the machine do the rest of the job.
- Check your automatic hoppers once in a while. This is applicable only for bread machines that are equipped with automatic hoppers that release fruits, nuts, or yeast to the recipe at a specified time. This feature is absolutely useful, but sometimes the nuts and fruits can get stuck in the hopper making their distribution late or impossible. What should you do? Make sure not a single thing gets stuck before the kneading cycle has finished.