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Hints and Tips for Successful Bread making
In this section, you will find useful information about successful bread making (Tips for successful bread making), which even often baffles experienced cooks and bakers. You will also find information about trouble shooting that covers all flour cookery in the section ‘What went wrong�? We have also set up some ‘Frequently Asked Questions�? which will give you answers to some of the most common problems and when results are not as good as you had hoped for.

Tips for successful bread making
Ensure the room you are working in is warm or that you have a warm place to put the dough to rise before you begin. Ideal places included an airing cupboard, a sunny draught free window or a shelf above a warm radiator.

Measure everything accurately.
To knead bread by hand, turn the dough onto a work surface and knead the dough by folding towards you, then pushing down and away from you with the heel of your hand. Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the action. Knead until smooth and no longer sticky.

To knead in a mixer: Prepare the yeast liquid in the mixer bowl, add the additional ingredients and using the dough hook mix on the lowest speed for one minute or until the dough is formed. Increase the speed slightly and knead for a further three minutes.

Knock back: is to pummel the dough to let the air out and then to knead it for a few minutes.

To get a crusty loaf or refresh a slightly stale loaf- wrap in foil and put in a hot oven 220C Gas 7 for 10 minutes and allow to cool in foil.

Rising times can be varied to suit your convenience
Quick rise- ½ hour in a warm place such as an airing cupboard
Slower rise �?1- 1½ hours in a warm kitchen
Overnight rise- up to 12 hours in a cold place such as an unheated utility room, conservatory, porch or even garage.
Slower rising times make for a stronger dough and therefore better bread.

If there is excess dough store it in a lightly oiled, polythene bag, secured shut and place it in the fridge- use within 2 days. Before using remove from fridge and allow to stand in a warm place for 15-20 minutes then shape as bread or rolls and use as normal.

To make soft sided rolls �?place rolls 2cm apart on a baking sheet so they batch together during rising and cooking.

To make crusty rolls with wheatmeal or non-milk doughs place 4cm apart on baking sheet and brush tops with lightly slated water.

What Went Wrong
FLOUR COOKERY
This is a question which often baffles even experienced cooks. To avoid calamities, always measure the ingredients accurately and never mix metric and imperial measurements, always use one or the other. Follow the instructions carefully. Successful cooking is more than simply following a recipe as skilful handling and a real interest in the subject are also important.

Here are some answers to some of those items when results are not as good as you had hoped for.

Bread
A ‘flying top�?when the top crust breaks away from the loaf: Under-proving. Dough surface dried out during proving. Oven too hot.

Crust splits at one side of the loaf: Loaf baked too near side of oven.

Loaf has a flat top: Flour too soft. Too little salt. Dough too wet. Poor shaping of dough.

Crust surface cracks after removal from oven: Over-proving. Oven too hot. Cooling in draught after baking.

Dough collapses when put into oven: Over-proving.

Heavy, close texture. Poor volume: Flour too soft. Too much salt. Insufficient kneading or proving. Yeast killed by rising in too hot a place.

Coarse, open texture: Too much liquid. Over-proving. Oven too cool.

Uneven texture with large holes: Dough not knocked back properly. Dough left uncovered during rising.

Sour, yeasty flavour and smell of alcohol: Over-proving. Too much yeast. Stale yeast or fresh yeast creamed with sugar.

Bread stales quickly and is crumbly: Too much yeast. Flour too soft. Rising too quickly in too warm a place. Under-rising. Over-proving.

Scones & Soda Bread
Speckling: Flour and raising agents insufficiently sieved. Incorrect proportions of bicarbonate of soda and acid (sour milk or cream of tartar). Too much sugar. Granulated sugar used.

Close texture, heavy or tough: Too little raising agent. Over-handling. Mixture too dry or too wet. Oven too cool.
Poor volume: Insufficient raising agent or cooked too slowly or over-handling.

Too pale: Top not glazed with egg or milk. Oven too cool. Baked too low down in oven. Mixture very plain.

Scones, spread and lose shape: Mixture too wet. Baking tray greased too heavily. Kneading unevenly. Twisting cutter when scones were cut.

Scones unevenly risen: Badly kneaded. Uneven pressure on rolling pin. Dough of uneven thickness.

Rough surface: Inadequate mixing. Insufficient kneading.

Cobbler topping soggy underneath: Fruit or meat mixture not hot enough when topping put on.

Girdle Scones:
Sticking to girdle: Girdle insufficiently heated or dirty.

Spreading: Batter too thin (it should only just pour from the spoon).

Pale and leathery: Girdle too cool.

Over-browned and hard: Girdle too hot.

Pastry
Shortcrust, Cheese and Rich Shortcrust Pastry.

Hard and/or tough: Insufficient fat and fat unevenly distributed. Too much liquid. Over-handling. Cooking too slowly.

Crumbly, too short and hard to handle: Too much fat. Over-mixing. Not enough liquid to bind fat and flour. Self-raising flour used.

Soggy inside: Insufficient baking. Filling too hot when covered by pastry. No steam vent made. Too much liquid. Too much sugar in contact with pastry.

Shrinkage during baking: Pastry stretched during rolling and shaping. Insufficient resting time before rolling/baking.

Blistered crust: Fat insufficiently rubbed in. Water unevenly mixed in.

Flan case base risen during baking: Self-raising flour used. Not carefully pressed into tin to exclude air underneath. Pastry not pricked to prevent air pockets or not weighed down with baking beans or foil during baking.

Cooked, cheese pastry tough and rubbery with a rough appearance: Cheese grated too coarsely. Cheese too fresh causing it to stick together and disperse unevenly in mixing. Baked in too hot oven causing the cheese to melt and bubble.

Cooked rich pastry has speckled appearance: Granulated sugar used. Too much sugar. Baked in too hot oven.

Suet Crust Pastry
Hard and tough: Insufficient baking powder if plain flour is used. Over-handled. Too much water. Baked at too high a temperature.

Small lumps of undissolved suet in cooked pastry: Suet not shredded sufficiently finely. Oven too hot.

Puff, Flaky and Rough Puff Pastry
Hard and tough: Too much liquid. Dough insufficiently kneaded. Rolling in of fat too heavy and too lengthy. Not kept cool. Too much flour used during rolling. Oven too cool.

Poor volume, lacking in flakiness: Fat too warm and blended with flour instead of remaining in layers. Lemon juice omitted. Insufficient resting between rolling. Over rolling and too heavily rolled. Edges sealed with glaze. Oven too cool.

Rough and uneven on top:
Dough left uncovered between rollings: skin has formed and been rolled into dough. Dough insufficiently kneaded. Uneven rolling.

Soggy in the middle: Under-baking. Oven too hot. Baked too high up in oven.

Shrinkage during baking: Pastry stretched during rolling. Insufficient resting time. Oven too cool.

Leakage of fat: Dough too soft. Fat too soft. Uneven rolling and folding. Oven too cool.

Uneven rise: Unevenly rolled. Unevenly folded. Fat unevenly distributed. Sides not straight and corners not square during rolling out. Edges not trimmed before use. Insufficient resting between rolling out andbefore baking. Uneven oven temperature. Too much egg glaze used, particularly on cut edges.

Choux Pastry
Pastry too thin: Ingredients incorrectly measured. Water not boiling when flour added. Insufficient beating.

Paste too thick: Ingredients incorrectly measured. Liquid boiled too long and evaporated.

Cooked pastry close and heavy: Insufficient beating. Oven too cool.

Eclairs badly cracked: Oven too hot.

Hot Watercrust Pastry
Dry, crumbly and will not mould: Insufficient fat. Insufficient water. Fat and water too cool when added to flour. Dough cooled before kneading.

Crust burst after being filled or during baking time: Crust unevenly moulded. Too thin in parts. Careless handling.

Texture crumbly and doughy: Self-raising flour used.

Soggy layer of pastry inside pie: Filling too moist. Oven too hot. Insufficient baking

Cakes & baked sponge puddings
Badly cracked or peaked top: Too much raising agent. Too much mixture in tin. Mixture too wet or too dry. Oven too hot. Cake too near top of oven.

Top sunk in middle: Too much raising agent. Over-creaming of fat and sugar. Over-beating after egg added. Mixture too wet. Tin too small. Under baking. Oven too cool. Slamming oven door during baking.

Over-browning of top, hard crust: Oven too hot. Over-baking. Cake too near top of oven. Tin too large. Too much sugar. Fruit cake taking several hours baking not protected with paper.

Insufficient browning: Insufficient sugar or egg. Mixture too wet. Under-baking. Oven over-loaded.

Cakes sticking to tin or sides and bottom too brown: Poor quality tin. Tin insufficiently greased and/or lined.

Cakes forms crusty ring round sides: Tin over-greased.

Speckling on top: Raising agent and flour poorly sifted. Too much sugar. Granulated sugar used. Insufficient creaming.

Tunnelling in centre of cake and uneven texture: Over-mixing or uneven mixing when adding flour or liquid. Mixture too dry, causing air pockets. Raising agent and flour poorly blended.

Fruit sunk: Mixture too wet. Fruit wet. Glace fruit syrupy (wash, dry and flour well to correct this). Fruit too large and heavy for mix. Oven too cool. Opening oven too soon. Too much raising agent.

Coarse texture: Fat not rubbed in or creamed properly. Inadequate mixing. Too much raising agent. Oven too cool.

Rubbery texture: Over-mixing. Too much egg and/or milk.

Dry, crumbly texture and stales rapidly: Mixture too dry. Fat not rubbed-in or creamed sufficiently. Too much raising agent. Baking too slowly.
Close texture: Too little raising agent. Too much fat, egg or flour. Mixture too dry or too wet. Over-mixing. Inadequate creaming and/or beating. Oven too hot. Under-baking.

Uneven rise: Oven incorrectly preheated. Oven shelf or oven not level. Cake not in centre of oven/shelf.

Small cakes spread: Mixture too wet. Not enough fat. Too much or too little raising agent. Too much mixture in cases. Oven too cool.

Steamed Puddings
Pudding heavy and soggy: Mixture too wet. Inadequate covering of pudding. Water off boil. Under-cooking. Filling too moist.

Pudding too dry: Mixture too dry. Over-cooking.

Pudding breaks and sticks to basin when turned out: Basin insufficiently greased. Pudding not left to stand for 3 �?5 minutes before turning out. Under-cooking.

Batters

Batter Pudding
Soggy, heavy or tough: Batter too thick. Tin too small. Oven too cool. Fat too cool.

Insufficiently risen: Batter too thin. Too little egg. Oven too cool. Pudding too low in oven.

Pancakes
Soggy: Batter too thick. Not enough fat in frying pan. Under-cooked. Too much batter used for each pancake.

Break easily: Batter too thin. Insufficient egg.

Difficult to roll or fold: Batter too thick. Pancakes too thick. Over-cooked.

Fritters
Greasy: Fat too cool. Fritters not drained well after cooking.
Food inside uncooked: Fat too hot. Coating too thin or uneven. Pieces of food too large.
Batter floats off food: Batter too thin. Food not dried before dipping in batter. Fat at wrong temperature.

Scones

Ideally sift flour and baking powder twice to really mix

these ingredients well.
Make scones by hand in preference to a food processor to

achieve a lighter result. Scones do need to be kneaded, but

too much makes them tough and heavy.
To test when scones are cooked, take one from the middle

of the tray and break it open. If its cooked inside its time

to remove them from the oven.

Important Announcement The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
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