The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Simple bread loaf

aputschoegl's picture
aputschoegl

Simple bread loaf

I have been trying to make a simple loaf of bread with minimal ingredients and haven't had much success.  The ingredients I wish to use are a heritage whole wheat, water, honey, salt and yeast.  I have also added sunflower seeds and walnuts.  I have used a bread maker to mix and bake the loaf and it has tasted okay but don't really like the crust.  I also added the water and flour first and let it sit for 30 minutes after a recommendation of from America's Test kitchen and then added the rest of the ingredients in the bread machine.  After the kneading process, I transferred the dough to a bread pan but the dough was very gummy and the bread didn't turn out all that great.  Does anyone have any suggestions to make a loaf work with these minimal ingredients?  Thank you!  

Nancy Allen's picture
Nancy Allen

I have the same question. Please reply.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

but I am no expert baker here. I see that you did not give the dough two rising periods. You might want to try this: After mixing/kneading the dough in your bread maker, let it rise in a bowl until it is almost double. Alternatively, you could put the bread machine on the dough cycle and leave it alone till it is done. Then take the dough out of the machine, shape it and place it in your tin. Once again, let it rise till it is almost double and bake. The idea is that you need to get the yeast produce all that gas that will make your bread rise.