Baking tips/facts

Flour: ground grain grain, including gluten, bran and semolina (e.g. whole wheat flour).

Flour: sifted flour, so without groats and bran (e.g. wheat flour/white flour).

Wheat flour, also called white flour, is sifted whole wheat flour.

Recipe: By mixing flour/flours yourself, you can create your own favorite bread. However, you should always mix at least 1/5 but preferably 2/5 to 1/2 white flour with flour

Examples:

• 80% whole wheat flour / 20% wheat white flour

• 80% whole wheat flour / 20% rye white flour

• 80% spelled flour / 20% wheat white flour

• 50% rye flour / 50% wheat white flour

• etc, etc…

Moisture: The moisture percentage of the wheat can vary, which will affect the amount of water you should use in a recipe from our mill. This variation in moisture percentage can be due to the weather of that year, but also to the wheat variety (mixture) used. With industrial mixes, varying the mixture and all kinds of (chemical) additives ensure that the baking quality is constant. With our products it is a matter of trying it out, but in any case start with too little water. Sometimes 280 ml is sufficient while the prescription may state 300 ml.

Basic recipe:

- 500 grams of dry matter. Is flour or white flour.

- The ratio of flour to white flour is 4/5: 1/5

- Can also be 3/5 flour and 2/5 white flour

- 2% (10 grams) of dry matter: sugar

- 2% (10 grams) dry matter dry or long-life yeast

- 1.2% (7 grams) of the dry matter is salt

- 300/320 ml lukewarm water/milk

- 25 grams of margarine/butter

Temperature: dough is sensitive to cold and drafts, try to work at room temperature and avoid drafts.

Always cover dough with plastic or a damp cloth.

The temperature of the added liquid (water/milk) must be lukewarm (approximately 40 degrees C.)

Rye flour: baking bread from 100% rye flour always produces a very firm bread as an end result.

It is tasty, but tastes differ. Always use 50% more yeast (15 grams with 500 grams of rye flour).

Rye flour as an add-on to other flours/flours gives a tasty result.

Oven: baking yourself in an oven gives a much better result than the bread maker. Floor bread is also tasty. Use an oven stone or tile, which is already placed in the oven when you start preheating the oven. Do not put the dough in the bread tin, but simply let it rise like a rolling pin and then place it on the oven stone/paving stone. Delicious!

Dough: If the dough is too stiff/dry when kneading, add water/milk. If the dough is too soft, add some flour. Dust sticky dough with a little flour. Works very easily.

Result: home-baked bread will always be slightly firmer than bread that we have known from the bakery/supermarket for the last 20 years. Simply because you do not use a bread improver, which introduces "air" into the bread. However, the taste is always better.

Color: There is no darker bread than wheat bread. All types of bread that are darker have been artificially colored. Natural (malt) or chemical dyes are used to achieve this effect. So it has nothing to do with healthier bread, that's a myth.

Legal: the only type of bread that is legally prescribed in the Netherlands is whole wheat bread. This bread must contain 100% whole wheat flour. All other species are free. As an example, spelled bread. The bread can contain 100% spelled flour, but it can also be made of 80% whole wheat flour and 20% spelled flour or vice versa, etc.

Baking problems:

The bread does not rise.

• Whole wheat bread or rye bread rises less than white bread. The bread rises better if you add bread improver or gluten, 1 or 2% is sufficient. Add a little more water, a dough that is too dry will rise poorly. Make sure that the kneading shaft is in place. Check whether you have used the basic ingredients in the correct quantities. You have added too much salt and the yeast will not work. 1.6% salt is sufficient. That is 8 grams of salt on 500 grams of flour. Our mixes already contain salt. You have used too little yeast. For 500 grams of bread flour, 10 grams of fresh or 4 grams of dry yeast is sufficient. The yeast is older, which reduces its effectiveness. Use a little more yeast or buy new one. The bread maker is in an environment that is too cold. The selected program is too short, so the bread does not have time to develop. Use a program that lasts about 3 hours if there is no preheating in the program and 4 hours if the bread maker first preheats the raw materials. Flour and water were not at the right temperature. Water that is too hot can kill the yeast and flour and water that is too cold slow down the action of the yeast. Add a little sugar so that the yeast starts working faster, a teaspoon is often sufficient. If you add too much sugar, the yeast will work too quickly and will be used up before the bread is baked.

The bread looks like a crater.

• Too much liquid and/or yeast has been used, causing the dough to rise too quickly. Before baking, the yeast has passed its peak and the bread collapses. Use less water. The bread has been in the bread tin for too long after baking. Use bread improver or add gluten. The bread has risen too high and then collapsed. Reduce the amount of yeast or choose a faster program. The machine has been in a draft or has been bumped during proofing.

The bread rises too hard and sticks to the lid.

• Reduce the amount of yeast. Reduce the amount of flour. Reduce the amount of water. Reduce the amount of bread improver or gluten.

The bread is not fully baked.

• You have used too much liquid. Extend the baking time. Use a little more flour, the flour mixture may contain too much flour and that will make baking more difficult.

The bread is too heavy or uneven.

• Not enough water has been used. Add a little more water next time. If the bread maker is dancing, too little water has been used. Check this 15 minutes after starting kneading. Add a little more yeast. Use a bread improver.

There are too many holes in the bread.

• Too much water has been used. When checking after 15 minutes, the dough is too mushy. Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour and use less water next time. Too much yeast has been used, use a little less next time.

There are flour residues on the sides of the bread.

• The solid ingredients, especially the flour, stick to the walls during kneading and stick to the rising dough. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the mold 5-10 minutes after starting the first mixing, but do not touch the dough hook.

Crust is shriveled or wrinkled.

• Liquid has condensed on the bread while cooling. Remove the bread from the bread maker immediately after baking.

Crumbly, rough structure.

• The bread has risen too much, use a little less yeast next time. The dough contains too little liquid. Too many whole grains or seeds have been added, which have absorbed the moisture. First soak the whole grains and seeds in water or add more liquid.

Burnt crust.

• There is too much sugar in the dough, this mainly occurs with sweet doughs. Use less sugar or try setting the crust color to light. Use the sweet bread program if it is on the machine.

Too light bread.

• Add milk, powdered or fresh. The milk sugars color the bread slightly browner. Set the crust color to dark. Add a little more sugar.

Crust too chewy and hard

• Use more butter or oil and replace some of the water with milk.

Bread is not baked in the center or on top.

• Too much liquid added.; next time use a little less liquid or add a little flour. After 10-15 minutes of kneading, the dough should form a nice ball that rotates around the dough hook. If it is too wet, add a little flour, if it is too dry, add a little moisture. Too large quantities, so the machine cannot handle the dough. The bread then becomes so large that the heat cannot circulate properly and the top is not heated enough. The dough is too heavy; it contains too many grains, seeds or nuts or contains too much sugar, eggs or fat. The lid has not been closed properly or the machine has been used in a place that is too cold. The flour may be too heavy because a lot of rye or whole wheat flour has been used. Replace this with one part flour.

The crust is too soft or too crispy

• For a softer crust, use more fat and milk instead of water. For a crispy crust, use less fat and replace the milk with water. Use the French program for a crispier crust. The crust also remains crispier if you remove the bread from the mold immediately after baking and let it cool on a rack.

Air bubbles under the crust.

• The dough is not mixed properly or not deaerated properly when turning between rises. If this happens more often, add a spoonful of water.

Additional ingredients are chopped and not left whole.

• They were added too early and chopped by the dough hook. Add them when the beep sounds or 5 minutes before the end of the kneading cycle. Leave chopped nuts and fruits in larger pieces. If necessary, add the nuts and fruits by hand, if necessary. When the beep sounds, let the machine knead. When this has stopped, you can remove the dough ball from the machine and squeeze in fruits and nuts by hand. Then put the dough back in the machine and continue the program.

The bread is dry

• The bread has been left to cool uncovered for too long and has dried out. Bread with a low fat content dries out quickly. Use more oil or fat. The bread has been stored in the refrigerator. Next time put it in a special bread bag and store it in the lunch box.