Yeast

[kendo]

Hi People.

 

I've used Tesco "quick" yeast for making bread and rolls before.

It raises OK, but the resulting texture is always somewhat 'spongy',

and the taste, although homebaked and good, isn't up to the quality

I'm striving for.

 

I always try and use good flour.

Are there any tips or recommendations people could pass on?

 

Thankyou.

[Serendipity]

Hi People.

 

I've used Tesco "quick" yeast for making bread and rolls before.

It raises OK, but the resulting texture is always somewhat 'spongy',

 

 

Breadmaker or oven?

 

Are you sure it's not your flour? Bread flour should be very high protein content (14-15%), cake flour is around 10% (although french bread flour is lowish protein), and will make bread with a softer texture.

[RLWP]

By spongy, do you mean full of large bubbles? we had that when we were using slightly too much water in the breadmaker

 

Richard

[Athy]

, do you mean full of large bubbles?

Like the last kebab restaurant that I went into.

[jampot]

hiya

we make all our bread by hand on the boat(used a breadmaker before, but now we have the time being retired) and always use Doves Farm yeast, in fact, never used any other brand of yeast. Never seen it in supermarkets - it seems to be stocked by these healthfood shops (but not Hollands and Barrett)and because it has such a long shelf life before opened, we keep a good stock in.

cheers, Janice

[kendo]

Hi folks. thanks for the replies.

 

handmade bread, gas oven. learnt to do it by experimenting with a breadmaker,

but prefer the hands on approach now. by "spongy", i mean it's like victoria

sponge inside. not bubbly, like a ciabatta.

 

had disastrous results with 'hovis' yeast before, which is why i've been

sticking to tesco's own. always try and use the best (bread) flour i can

source. never felt brave enough to venture into healthfood shops before,

but now i have a good reason.

 

cheers.

[Phil Ambrose]

Hi folks. thanks for the replies.

 

handmade bread, gas oven. learnt to do it by experimenting with a breadmaker,

but prefer the hands on approach now. by "spongy", i mean it's like victoria

sponge inside. not bubbly, like a ciabatta.

 

had disastrous results with 'hovis' yeast before, which is why i've been

sticking to tesco's own. always try and use the best (bread) flour i can

source. never felt brave enough to venture into healthfood shops before,

but now i have a good reason.

 

cheers.

 

I think the secret is to experiment with your recipe, we use a bread maker and at first we found the bread fell short of what we expected. However we tried varying quantities etc untill we got it just right for us. I think that the recipies that come with bread makers are a bit "general purpose" in other words they start you off and after that it's up to you to make adjustments. The same is probably true of hand baking bread, in fact during my time as a chef I learnt that you had to adjust any cooking method to suit your particular kitchen/ingredients/whatever.

 

Phil

[ionadragon]

Hi. I too use Doves Farm quick yeast, from health food shops. But I have found the magic extra ingredient that makes fabulous wholemeal or mixed grain bread is Claybrooke Mill Organic Dough Improver, from Lakeland (plastics). Everyone who eats my bread tells me that it is the best they ever tasted. I use the best ingredients, organic flour, olive oil, honey and sea salt. If bread is the staff of life then it is worth using the best ingredients and it still costs less than bought loaves. Good baking!

[Mac of Cygnet]

No-one seems to have mentioned the use of Vitamin C as a bread improver. It is widely used by commercial bakeries and is a much cheaper way of improving the texture and keeping qualities of a loaf than some of your fancy ingredients mentioned here. I use half a 500mg tablet crushed per loaf, and I can certainly tell the difference if I've forgotten to add it. FTR, I use ordinary Allinson's yeast, but let it work with the sugar and (lukewarm) water for about ten minutes before adding the other ingredients.

 

Mac

[Mick_B]

Mac... I've heard of hash cakes but never vitamin C loaves.

[avonside1563]

Always use Doves Farm Yeast and Vitamin C powder in the bread machine, hardly ever a failure.

[Phil Ambrose]

Always use Doves Farm Yeast and Vitamin C powder in the bread machine, hardly ever a failure.

 

 

Oh yes I also use vitamin C powder but only when baking Brown/Wholemeal bread, never come across Doves Farm yeast but only ever use Hovis or Allisons quick acting yeast as recommended by bread machine recipe book.

 

Phil

[bridgit]

Did anyone see the bbc 2. Great British bake off?

 

The master baker gave a demo on bread baking. He used two sachets of yeast to 1lb 1oz of strong flour.

 

He also wet his hands and work surface will olive oil instead of dusting with flour.

 

I found this method much better, it worked for me.

[Grace and Favour]

No-one seems to have mentioned the use of Vitamin C as a bread improver. It is widely used by commercial bakeries and is a much cheaper way of improving the texture and keeping qualities of a loaf than some of your fancy ingredients mentioned here. I use half a 500mg tablet crushed per loaf, and I can certainly tell the difference if I've forgotten to add it. FTR, I use ordinary Allinson's yeast, but let it work with the sugar and (lukewarm) water for about ten minutes before adding the other ingredients.

 

Mac

 

Hi Mac,

I too always use Vitamin C - but I suggest you try using pure Vitamin C crystals (NOT the tablets - the tablets have far too much filler in)

You might also like to try adding a teaspoonful of pure ground ginger (powder) to the ingredients as well - - it works with the Vit C and produces a superb texture (and doesn't make the bread taste of ginger!)

[Mac of Cygnet]

Hi Mac,

I too always use Vitamin C - but I suggest you try using pure Vitamin C crystals (NOT the tablets - the tablets have far too much filler in)

You might also like to try adding a teaspoonful of pure ground ginger (powder) to the ingredients as well - - it works with the Vit C and produces a superb texture (and doesn't make the bread taste of ginger!)

 

I hardly think the amount of filler in half a Vit C tablet is going to be detectable in a loaf, and I have the tablets anyway, being a believer....... But I'll cetainly try the ginger.