I've made several attempts to make fruit bread and have yet to achieve results which I find satisfying. I'd appreciate some ideas please.
I've made the dough by hand and in a bread machine, in both cases the bread came out to "dry". But I don't think the solution is just to add more water! Perhaps I'd better explain what I'm aiming for and what I mean by "dry".
In Holland when I buy fruit bread it's soft, if you press it with your finger it stays pressed. When I was (much, much) younger I used to be a bread delivery boy, the bakery made dough cake (note: it was not a cake consistency) which was also pretty close to what I'm trying to achieve. The bread I've made so far is bread, it's a normal (and delicious) bread with fruit in it. In that sense it's been a success, but I'm looking for the "magic ingredient" or "magic technique" which will give a moist, soft consistency.
The recipe I've used is pretty straightforward: bread flour, egg, milk powder, salt, sugar, and water - in fact exactly what you'd expect if you were making bread! So what am I missing?
Keith
You can find, and download, the manual here...
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15352/Panasonic-White-SD-2501-WXC-Bread-Maker-3-Loaf-Sizes
Perhaps you can find a way to make it in your machine should the programmes be similar. If not then make it by hand.
Thank you! As it happens I have a Panasonic bread machine (an older model) and that is one of the recipes I have tried.
Keith
An actual recipe and the technique (how it was kneaded,fermented,proofed,etc) would be helpful.
As a general comment, there is not much enrichment in the ingredients. Adding oil,butter or dairy fat would help with the softness as would potatoes in some form (flakes or boiled).
I add ~30gms of butter to the mixture, no bread improver. And yes, yeast, dried.
The bread machine does what the machine program says (Panasonic, basic, fruit).
When I make it by hand I knead it first in a mixer (Kenwood) and then 10-15 minutes by hand. Let it rise, until doubled, knock back and knead again - but not so long. Knead in the raisins, form the loaf, put in tin, and allow to rise again until doubled. Then bake.
How much egg is in this recipe? Sub it all for egg yolks only. Eggs whites create a firmer and notably drier texture.
It has milk and eggs in it. Is the recipe you're following anything like this?
I'm interested in the idea that egg white tends to create a dryer, firmer texture, that's worth experimenting with, thank you very much.
The Panasonic recipe is pretty much what I have been using. The most recent example had one whole egg with rather less flour than this recipe calls for. I've been experimenting with different proportions in my quest, hence my "more or less" qualification!
A long time ago when i had a breadmaker (i do everything by hand now) this used to be one of my favourite recipe. It was never dry. Certainly don't use less eggs. Make sure to use whole milk or semi skimmed but not skimmed. And i always used oil instead of butter. See the manual for the conversion.
to me like the consistency that you are looking for is more likely to be an enriched quick bread (leavened with baking powder or baking soda) instead of a yeasted bread. Depending on the base flour used (whole wheat, barley, oat, rye, or whatever) the consistency will be more or less like what you have described.
Maybe check out the quick bread fora here to see if any of the recipes shared there are closer to what you are looking for?
and I use Menu 17 on page 33 (the hot cross bun recipe), but I use a Pulman Loaf Pan for the bake if I feel like a fruit bread instead of the buns.
That means I get a lovely loaf. For the mixed dry fruit I use 150g sultanas and 50g mixed peel.
a little vanilla, some egg yolk in the dough liquids (keep liquids around 50% of flour weight) and some lemon zest.
You may or may not like a pinch of fine nutmeg or cardamon. Rum or liqueur soaked fruit is also an option.
Thank you for the idea about quick bread. My experience with quick breads is that they have a more cakey consistency, rather than doughy, would you agree?
I agree about the lemon (actually I prefer orange) zest, and spices. I hadn't mentioned them because I'm after a consistency and I didn't think flavourings would significantly affect that.
Thank you for the hot cross bun recipe, I suspect that your Panasonic may be a more recent model than mine. The ingredients don't seem to differ all that much from the recipes I have tried. However one thing is different: this is a recipe for dough which you then shape and bake in a conventional oven. That's worth a try, thanks again!
and I agree that it's worth a try to shape the loaf and bake it yourself. More control over the baking time. Don't go over 190ºF/88ºC for the finished loaf.
Those temperatures look very low, how are you measuring them?
Mine is an SD257.
these temperatures are the final internal temperatures at the end of the baking time!
The baking temps are in the recipe.