I made my first loaf. It was high on one side and had peaks. Not pretty. I am disappointed. Any idea why?
1890460
If it was hot day, you should use cold water for baking bread. And you also could do water less than normal( little bit). Or you could mix regular bread flour a little bit ,if you don't mind.
2048208
You can't avoid a hole in the bread maker because you bake inside of it and there is a little propeller there to mix the doe. You would have to take it out, place into some other form, take propeller out, place it back. Who cares about the little hole. If bread is like a brick, then maybe you need to read instructions in the book and follow them exactly. Also make sure you have fresh yeast, that your yeast is not dead or too old. Have good quality flower too. My kid read instructions and made the first loaf of whole weat bread and it happened to be wonderful. That load was gone the same evening. He was very proud of it. Everybody praised the bread and the price was much cheaper than if I would buy it in the store. No more store bread for me.
1260227
Without measuring- it seems a little smaller, but not by much. Ive found that in order to yield same size loaves I've had to allow just a little longer rise time. Let it get tall. I also would suggest steam be present during beginning of bake, to get a nice tall oven spring. Loaves will be close to what your used too, just a bit taller. Hope that helps. BTW, the crust makes it worthwhile.
1577509
Believe or not, it is the bread machine that failed. I returned mine after 6 months of use and it was supposedly one of the best models out there. With me it was hit or miss. The bread would either turn well or really bad, even if the same steps were taken. A lot of it has to do with the temperature in the room. In the winter months the bread machine didn't work so well. We have switched to making our own bread in a dutch oven instead. Get yourself a copy of "My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method" by Jim Lahey.
1543552
I have no idea. I baked all my life and never experienced this. Try and see what happens.
2172896
I think sometimes the problem is in the paddles. I have had a couple of loaves turn out a bit strange, and usually the reason was that the paddles weren't locked down properly. One time I used too much of a heavy flour with not enough liquid (when experimenting with my own recipe), so that can cause problems as well. Otherwise, everything else has turned out perfectly.
2035789
I'd be interested too! I've made two loaves of bread so far in my small Zojirushi (3 days old!) but both were kind of dense. If I make anything successfully, I'll post the recipe here. But if anyone has any to share, I'm definitely interested too.
1819569
There are several possible solutions. The bread may have been left in the bread pan too long after baking. Remove the bread from the pan sooner and allow it to cool. Try using more fl our (a teaspoon at a time), or less yeast (1/4 teaspoon at a time), or less water or liquid (a teaspoon at a time). This could also be the result of forgetting to add salt to the recipe.
1272140
Yes and I made it from the Lekue recipe and it was a bit dry. I re did it and added some yeast and it was fine. I have found the bread maker very useful as I love fresh bread but the supplied recipes from Lekue are not my favorites. I use several out of the book "Joy of cooking" and they all work great. I hope this helps. It seems everyone likes bread a different way. The best advice I can give it measure well, write doen what you dom and when you find really good results you will have the information to duplicate it.Thanks,Joe
2201749
This is my second try and I am seeing the same issue with bread sinking in the middle. The loaf done today was too crumbly . I have used the exact recipe from the book not sure what is causing it to sink. Any suggestions
2118027
You assume correctly ... Vertical is correct, the one loaf pan is horizontal. I occasionally have same problem with one tray not kneading properly. If if catch it quick enough I can push dough together with spoon and it then mixes properly and I get a good loaf, if I don't catch the problem I have bad loaf ... Guess this is a problem no only for me. West Bend needs to fix the problem.
2188478
THIS IS NOT NORMAL. SEND IT BACK AND ASK FOR ANOTHER; KEEP SENDING IT BACK UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU HAVE PAID FOR. You are making REAL bread, not the rubbish others settle for. The lid MAY have been damaged in shipping. In addition, the lid should move fairly easily, should close all the way - there is a BIT of a "click" as the lid closes properly.
1361673
Mine never worked right. Burned the bread even on light crust. I returned it.
2201747
I am having the same problem, two loaves, one white one light rye, both collapsed before the bread was done. I am using fresh ingredients, following the recipe exactly and measuring accurately. Since in both cases the bread looks wet and under cooked I will try leaving out some water. I may also cut back a pinch on the yeast as the loaves seem too large for the machine even though I am only making 1.5 pound loaves, not 2 pound.
2201748
I had that problem, too. After spending all weekend tweaking around with the recipe that came with it, I finally got a good loaf when I cut the salt back by 1/4 tsp. Just make sure that you use Active Dry Yeast, and, NOT Quick Rising Yeast.
1066626
I'm having this problem. My old bread maker which was Oster also did a much better job. This Oster bread machine was smaller but made a 2 lb. loaf the price was right so I bought it. I'm using the recipe book but not having success. The first loaf of raisin bread I was pleased with. The second loaf I made the machine did not cook the loaf until it done. I don't understand it has to be the machine !
2257912
The loaves are alot smaller than I anticipated. In trying to find the right temperature, adding more oil and applesauce to my recipe, I never found the right or perfect combination and my loaves came out very dry. I'm not very happy with my purchase. I used zuchinni bread, banana bread recipe that called for 2 c of flour, etc. Made alot of loaves, but that was OK since I have alot of family members.