Problem
Cause
The bread
The dough volume is larger than the tin
goes down in
and the bread goes down
the middle
The fermentation is too short or too fast
owing to the excessive temperature of
the water or the baking chamber or to
the excessive moistness. Warm liquids
make the dough rise too fast and go
down in the middle before baking.
No salt at all or too little salt
Too much liquid
Heavy, lumpy
Too much flour or not enough liquid
structure.
Not enough yeast or sugar
Too much fruit, wholewheat or one of
the other ingredients
Old or stale flour
The bread is
Too much or nor enough liquid
not baked in
Too much humidity
the center
Recipe with moist ingredients such as
yogurt
Open or
Too much water
coarse struc-
No salt
ture or too
High humidity, water too hot
many holes
Too much liquid
Mushroom-
Bread volume to big for the tin
like, unbaked
Too much flour, especially for white
surface
bread
Too much yeast or not enough salt
Too much sugar
Sweet ingredients besides the sugar
The bread
Bread not cooled enough (the vapor has
slices are
not escaped)
unequal or
lumpy
Flour depos-
The flour was not worked well on the
its on the
sides during the kneading
bread crust
Remedy Problems
a) Measure the ingredients correctly.
b) Adjust the ingredient doses and check that all ingredients
have been added.
c) Use another liquid or leave it to cool at room temperature.
Add the ingredients specified in the recipe in the right order.
Make a small ditch in the middle of the flour and put in the
crumbled yeast or the dry yeast. Avoid letting the yeast and
the liquid come into direct contact.
d) Use only fresh and correctly stored ingredients.
e) Reduce the total amount of the ingredients, do not use more
than the specified amount of flour. Reduce all the ingredients
by 1/3.
f) Correct the amount of liquid. If ingredients containing water
are used, the dose of the liquid to be added must be duly
reduced.
g) In case of very humid weather remove 1-2 tablespoons of
water.
60
h) In case of warm weather do not use the timer function. Use
Remedy
cold liquids.
a/f
i) Take the bread out of the tin immediately after baking and
leave it on the grid to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting it.
j) Reduce the amount of yeast or of all the ingredient doses
by1/4.
c/h/i
k) Do not grease the baking tin!
l) Add a tablespoon of wheat gluten to the dough.
a/b
h
1. Ingredients
a/b/g
Since each ingredient plays a specific role for the successful bak-
a/b
ing of the bread, the measuring is just as important as the order in
which the ingredients are added.
b
• The most important ingredients like the liquid, flour, salt, sugar
d
and yeast (either dry or fresh yeast can be used) affect the
a/b/g
successful outcome of the preparation of the dough and the
h
bread. Always use the right quantities in the right proportion.
• Use lukewarm ingredients if the dough needs to be prepared
g
immediately. If you wish to set the program phase timing func-
g
tion, it is advisable to use cold ingredients to avoid that the
b
yeast starts to rise too early.
h/i
• Margarine, butter and milk affect the flavor of the bread.
c
• Sugar can be reduced by 20% to make the crust lighter and thin-
a/f
ner without affecting the successful outcome of the baking. If you
prefer a softer and lighter crust replace the sugar with honey.
f
• Gluten, which is produced in the flour during the kneading
provides for the structure of the bread. The ideal flour mixture
a/b
is composed of 40% wholewheat flour and 60% white flour.
a/b
• If you wish to add whole grains, leave them to soak overnight.
b
Reduce the quantity of flour and the liquid (up to 1/5 less).
• Leaven is indispensable with rye flour. It contains milk and
j
acetobacteria that make the bread lighter and ferment thor-
oughly. You can make your own leaven but it takes time. For
this reason concentrated leaven powder is used in the recipes
below. The powder is sold in 15 g packets (for 1 kg of flour).
g/i
Follow the instructions given in the recipes (½, ¾ or 1 packet).
If less leaven than requested is used the bread will crumble.
• If leaven powders with a different concentration (100 g packet
for 1 kg of flour) are used, the quantity of flour must be reduced
by 80 g for 1 kg of flour.
• Liquid leaven sold in bags is also available and it is suitable for
use. Follow the doses specified on the package. Fill the mea-
suring cup with the liquid leaven and top it up with the other
liquid ingredients in the right dosage as specified in the recipe.
• Wheat leaven, which often comes dry, improves the workability
of the dough, the freshness and the taste. It is milder than rye
leaven.
• Use either the NORMAL or VOLLKORN program when baking
leavened bread. Baking ferment replaces the leaven and is
purely a question of personal taste. This is very well suited for
the use in the bread maker.
• Wheat bran is added to the dough if you want particularly light
bread rich in roughage. Use one tablespoon for 500 g of flour
and increase the quantity of liquid by ½ tablespoon.
• Wheat gluten is a natural additive obtained from wheat pro-
teins. It makes the bread lighter and more voluminous. The
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