November 13, 2024 - 3:53am
Poor harvest?
Has there been a poor harvest this year? I have two Panasonic Bread Makers, & I am having to unplug them with an hour remaining, because they have not risen sufficiently. I wait an hour, then bake for 51 minutes. I always used to leave them alone for the full 4 hours, & get a perfect loaf. I have tried flour from several sources, always with the same poor result. I use a vitamin "C" tablet, to aid rising.
I have been baking my own bread for more than 20 years..
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poor quality? Maybe?
The possibilities include:
Is it a lot cooler now in the room where your BM's are located?
Panasonics (even older models) are pretty unique in that they change their programs' timing and "rise" temperatures based on ambient temps. In their service docs, they call it "Process Judgement". Usually the changes are relatively benign, but a couple times (during a really hot spell) the change was significant and I did not like the result.
Also, what is the ratio of Vit C to flour you are using?
Test the yeast in a little warm sugar water. Leave for 10-15 minutes and see if it foams up well.
Old stocks or outdated raw materials can affect the rise. If you've tried different types of flour and the result doesn't change, it might be the yeast that's the issue.
This kind of generic 'AI' advice does tend to kill good conversation!
Unless you are using fancy, local farm, single source ingredients it is very unlikely. Mills are experts at maintaining baking quality of their flours regardless of the quality of the incoming grain.
maybe so, but I have had a number of bags of high quality major brand flour go bad long before the 'use-by' dates. Perhaps the problems lie in variations in storage by distributors, warehousers & retailers.
Rob