Loaf 50

mostly white sourdough (*****)

I forgot to do the usual premix stuff early evening and suddenly realised around 9pm that I hadn’t sorted anything out. So, some unexpected adaptation required.

~2100
  • 60/60/60 premix. 60g starter / 60g wholemeal flour / 60g water
  • Menu 32 – 17 minutes

Then same as for loaf 49 except 10g more wholemeal flour

  • 110g strong wholemeal flour (Doves)
  • 260g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 260g water
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 for 10 minutes then Menu 10 overnight on timer.

result

really good. Can’t find anything to complain about. Might stick with this ingredients list for a few loaves and experiment with methodology. e.g How important is the premix bit? Is it really necessary? Perhaps the rest time overnight on the French menu is enough to allow a rise before baking.


 

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 49

mostly white sourdough (****)

~1840
  • 80 / 80 / 80 (80g starter / 80g wholemeal flour / 80g water)
  • Menu 30 for ~ 2 hours
~2100

Have used a little more in the premix than usual (60g when you add it together) so will reduce main mix proportions a little.

  • 100g wholemeal flour (Doves)
  • 260g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 260g water
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 for 20 minutes then Menu 10 overnight.

Results

Looks good. Nice crust and good taste. Always hope they’ll rise a bit more though. Perhaps the density is just a feature of sourdough loaves. When I see the crusty ‘wings’ at the sides I wonder if it’s risen then dropped back down again, but I think it may just be residue on the side of the pan from the dough cycle.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 48

Mostly white sourdough (*****)

Back to normal. Checking the reliable is still reliable.

1840

60/60/60

  • 60g starter
  • 60g wholemeal flour
  • 60g water

Meu 32 full 45 mins > Menu 30 1 hour

2030
  • 90g wholemeal flour (Doves organic – 10g up on loaf 42.)
  • 290g strong white flour (Nelstrop – 10g down on loaf 42)
  • 270g water
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 7 mins > Menu 10 overnight

result

All good.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 47

Cotswold Crunch and white sourdough (****)

premix

  • 80g starter
  • 80g wholemeal flour
  • 80g water

Menu 32 full 45 minutes > Menu 30 2½ hours.

main mix

  • 175 Cotswold Crunch (finish the packet)
  • 205g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 260g water
  • 17g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 20 minutes > menu 10 overnight

result

Looks good but a bit dense. That’s the Cotswold Crunch finished. I’m not a huge fan. I think it works best, at least with sourdough, mixed in smallish amount with strong white flour.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 46

Seeded sourdough (****)

One more go at seeded sourdough then back to something more reliable. There’s nothing actually wrong with the bread – it’s just dense. That may just be a characteristic. I may do a seeded loaf next using the normal dried yeast recipe. I need to check the quantities of wholemeal vs flour now that I think about it though. It’s not something I’ve been looking at closely.

So I’ve reduced the water. I’m wondering if it needs longer rise time. I did a couple of tests recently and, to my surprise, discovered that the breadmaker temperature is not raised during the rest period. I always thought it was raised to 30℃ to get everything at the same temperature. I don’t know if has an ambient temperature it settles at, or if it’s just left to rest doing nothing. I’m pretty sure – although could be a false memory – that my old SD 253 (or was it a 255?) had something in the manual about this.

I like Menu 30 because it’s predictable. You know that the machine will be at 30℃ – for 24 hours if left to its own devices. So this time the ingredients will be unchanged, but there will be a big change to the method. A lot of rise time on menu 30, and the bake will not be done using the timer overnight.

~1025
  • 60g starter
  • 60g wholemeal flour
  • 60g water

Menu 29 for full program (2½ hours).

~1500
  • 80g wholemeal flour (Doves)
  • 300g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 260g water
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 for 20 minutes then menu 30. Will leave alone until after club swim session.

1736

Looks well risen. Is that good? On to menu 3.

2137

It doesn’t look massively different to the previous two loaves. This is probably as good as it’s going to get.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 45

Seeded sourdough (***)

Loaf 44 looked pretty promising but on closer inspection was pretty dense. Not enough to make it inedible but I do like a lighter loaf. Superficially the ingredient list for 44 and 43 were pretty similar, so what were the differences?

  • 10g more water
  • 5 tbsp mixed seeds
  • Program 3 (Raisin Bake) instead of Program 10 (French)

So, what to nudge? I can’t really change the program back to French because the seeds need to go into the seed dispenser when they get dropped into the dough at chucking out time. And it’s a seeded sourdough, so it’s gonna need seeds. That leaves the water. I’ll try reducing it from 270g to 240g. That’s 30g – probably a bit on the high side – but I want to see if it makes a difference, good or bad.

Off we go …

~1710
  • 60g starter
  • 60g wholemeal flour
  • 60g water

Menu 32 then menu 30 for around 2½ hours.

~1940
  • 80g wholemeal flour (Doves)
  • 300g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 240g water (down 30g from loaf 44)
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 for full program.

2035

Add 5tbsp mixed seed to dispenser, then put on Menu 3 overnight on timer.

result

Similar to 44. That reduction in water hasn’t made as much difference as I thought it might. If anything, this has risen a little less than 44, but same or slightly lighter texture.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 44

Seeded sourdough (***)

There are not a huge number of variables in breadmaking, probably even less so using a machine. Even so, it’s important to resist the temptation to experiment too much from one loaf to the next. I try, usually unsuccessfully, to subscribe to the maxim of only changing one thing at a time.

I’m thinking that I probably use too much water a lot of the time. I’ll be reducing this a bit to see if it makes much difference. Perhaps about 10g at a time.

Off we go …

1707
  • 60g starter
  • 60g wholemeal flour
  • 60g water

Menu 32 for 20 minutes, nudging the unmixed flour in with a wooden spoon in the first few minutes. Tried taking a depth measurement with a laser tape but not very productive. The mix is looking a bit thick and uneven.

1727

I’ve got to do a club zoom bike turbo session now. So on to Menu 30 until afterwords.

2110

Change of plan … I had planned just doing another basic mostly white sourdough loaf but I have an awful lot of seeds. They probably need using. Perhaps it’s the turbo session messing with my head …

Anyway, let’s try:

  • 80g wholemeal flour (Doves)
  • 300g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 270g water
  • 15g EVOO
  • 3g salt
  • 5 tbsp mixed seeds

The Raisin Bake program gives quite an exotic mix of seeds but I’ve generally drifted towards just adding the overall volume that the recipe suggests. In this case, 5 tablespoons. There will obviously be some variation on water content and volume depending on seeds; pumpkin seeds are quite a bit bigger than poppy seeds, but generally I’ve found the 5tbsps rule of thumb worked ok. But that was using dried yeast. This is the first time trying it with a sourdough premix.

On to Menu 32 for 18 minutes, then menu 3 overnight.

result

Looks ok. I was initially quite upbeat about this but it’s actually quite a dense loaf and not quite to my liking. Perhaps little less water, more flour?

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Resting temperature

I have been working on an erroneous assumption. I’ve always assumed that while resting, the breadmaker maintained a cosy 30℃ temperature. Furthermore, I also assumed that when on a timer, it set the machine to 30℃ before the program itself even started.

Just to check, I checked. And I’m wrong on both counts. This means that when I put the machine on overnight on the timer, the dough sits at room temperature all night, and even during the rest period when the program starts for real. For some reason I had it in my head that the machine ‘settled’ the ingredients by maintaining some ambient temperature. I also assumed that this was 30℃.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits

Loaf 43

Mostly white sourdough (*****)

premix

  • 60g starter
  • 60g wholewheat flour
  • 60g water

Menu 32 for 20 minutes then two hours on menu 30.

main mix

  • 80g wholewheat flour (Doves)
  • 300g strong white flour (Nelstrop)
  • 260g water (another nudge down)
  • 16g EVOO
  • 3g salt

Menu 32 for 18 minutes then menu 10 overnight.

result

Good.

Standard Footnotes

Breadmaker is SD-ZX2522 (discontinued) (Instruction Manual)

Most used program menus
Abbreviations sometimes used
  • EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • swf – Strong White Flour
  • wmf – wholemeal flour
  • M32, M30 – Menu 32, Menu 30 etc …
Other bits