Source
r/Breadit•
JasonSTX

Success finally. You really can't just 'wing it' with baking.

Found a 20 year old Goldstar that mom had in a cabinet, downloaded the manual and gave it a shot with the egg bread recipe they had.

First attempt looked like a wadded up pile of cardboard. Learned that when they said yeast, you needed to actually activate the yeast.

Second attempt rose... and collapsed. Very dense, still good flavor. I think I added too much yeast or maybe too much sugar.

I figured that maybe I should try a different recipe so I went with the one from the yeast manufacturer, Fleischmann's. That seemed to do the trick. Also used their bread machine yeast.

https://www.fleischmannsyeast.com/recipe/bread-machine-egg-bread/

I also had issues with trying to weigh everything. What finally clued me in is that while the bread flour said 1 cup was 120g, when I weighed 1 actual cup it was 160g. The humidity here is insane this week though so maybe that changes it? I settled on using a scale for the milk and measuring cups for the dry stuff.

I can now see why people do this. The smell is amazing, the bread tastes great and I know every single thing that is in it.

The success makes me want to try more as baking has never been my thing. Next up is a cheesy bread.

​

https://preview.redd.it/azc536onxaf91.jpg?width=994&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5017c51eb008c2922e28f7c3ffb01b04acfe3d04

Posted Aug 2, 2022, 1:35 PM UTC

3223
themagnificent-moron•

Get into cinnamon rolls and pastries it'll blow your mind

12
JasonSTXOP•

I mentioned that to my wife and she said "my mind says no but my stomach says 'Yes Please!'"

5
cliff99•

The weight of a cup of flour will vary a lot depending on how you scoop it into the measure cup, 160g/cup is the highest I've ever seen it listed in a recipe.

5
goldensunshine429•

OP weighed their scoop. My guess is they scooped directly with the cup and leveled, compacting the flour.

3
Specialist_Ad5114•

I love reading stories like this! I started my baking journey with cinnamon rolls and my first dough was a disaster. Too much flour, baking time too long, and not feeding the yeast. Over time I improved everything I could.

I've always been very anxious about how my food comes out of the oven, so I work very carefully. But afterall baking is still something I would love to do, because I believe even if the final product is not pretty like pictures on the internet, they're still delicious!

4
AlpacaPacker007•

You're 100% right on not being able to wing it with baking (or really anything that has to floof up) if you deviate too much from the right ratio of moisture and fat in the dough it just won't rise/bake right. With cooking (say soup) you can just add whatever ans it'll change thr results, but there's not much risk of it coming out like waded up cardboard.

4
JasonSTXOP•

Exactly.

3
Dexdev08•

Ive been winging it… no measuring cups nor weighing scales. Just a little bowl to count for ratios. And sprinkling some yeast.

I do an overnight proof so that may be the secret.

2
JasonSTXOP•

I have seen a few recipes that use the 'dough' setting and basically the machine just mixes it for you and you pull it out, work it and make whatever. I also noticed that our oven has a 'bread proofing' setting. At least most of the mistakes I make in the future will probably still be edible and as I understand those ratio's more, I can wing it like you.

3
Dexdev08•

At first i thought bread baking is really tough and precision is a must but it’s really forgiving, surprisingly.

Even better, most of my bread is no knead but instead cold proofed for 18 hours at least.

If you want consistency though then you have to measure everything.

3
alwayssoupy•

My first bread machine was secondhand from a friend and had a can-shaped pan that really never produced nice loaves, so I started using the dough setting exclusively. Even though I have since gotten a new machine ( which performs the mixing and kneading so much better) I still prefer to shape and bake on my own. I think you will find it easier to wing it as you try it more. The most useful tip I can give you is to let it mix for a few minutes and then take a peek at the dough. After a few minutes it should already be making a smooth ball. If it's sticking to the sides, sprinkle in a small amount of flour until the ball forms up. If you have more like 2 balls, add a little bit more warm water. It will make all the difference in your final product.

Regarding your earlier comment about ingredients: Years ago the son of a family friend underwent treatment for leukemia, and for the first part of the regimen had to be on a very low sodium diet. One of the things they were surprised by was the sodium content in store-bought bread, presumably from preservatives. I was able to make them much better tasting loaves using a fraction of the salt.

King Midas flour has an excellent website with a great recipe for cinnamon rolls and a lot of baking info in general.

For a lot of useful bread machine information check out saladinajar.com. She discusses the tip I mentioned above and offers a large selection of recipes.

1
JasonSTXOP•

Wow! Thanks for the tips. Salad In A Jar looks cool, reading the sourdough recipe now. This will probably be my new obsession for a while.

1
nerdyboy_300•

Reading these stories is so wholesome!! I started baking with regular bread but really got into it with cinnamon rolls, as many people do because they taste amazing no matter what and they incorporate a bunch of really useful bread baking skills. Then last year I decided to finally get into sourdough and it was a journey but now, almost a year later and many many kilos of flour after I’m pretty confident in my baking skills.

Welcome to baking and hope you have fun (really go for some cinnamon rolls can’t recommend them enough :>)

2
JasonSTXOP•

Ok. Several people are going in about cinnamon rolls. What’s your goto recipe?

1
nerdyboy_300•

I usually go for ATK’s ultimate cinnamon buns but they also have a quicker recipe that’s made in a cast iron and it’s also pretty good Have fun baking

1
JasonSTXOP•

It the subscription price worth it?

1
nerdyboy_300•

To me it is but I only get it when it’s discounted You can also just try to find reposts of the recipes ou read it in reader mode if you want

1
alwayssoupy•

If you do make a sourdough starter, King Arthur has some great uses for discard. I would love to do sourdough, but can't seem to get myself into a schedule to get the starter going. I had one once and you can actually mix the starter in with regular bread recipes for some extra tang, and I especially liked using it in pancakes. I may have to start one up again.😃

1
JasonSTXOP•

Before this last attempt I was looking at a new bread maker. Some of them had a sourdough starter button. No idea how it works but it sounded like it could make a single use starter inside the bread maker.

1
BaronVonNumbaKruncha•

Cooking is art, baking is science. One allows for self-expression and winging it, while the other requires following predetermined methods exactly.

0