Hello, all. I usually lurk, but I have a question today :^)
I recently purchased a Breadman Ultimate, and have been trying the recipes
included for french bread. On my last loaf, I tweaked the sugar & salt
measurements a bit, as I have a hard time actually putting sugar in something
called french bread, and I prefer a bit saltier flavor. I decreased the
sugar by approx. 1/2 tsp, and increased the salt by a little less than that.
My loaf turned out seemingly fine, but the crumb is weaker than that of a
loaf made strictly according to recipe. I could spread butter easily on the
"as per recipe" bread when toasted, but broke through the slice of the
tweaked bread. The tweaked bread also crumbled much more easily. My
question is, why? I'm curious to know, as I'm used to making bread by hand
according to Elizabeth David's recipe, and have tweaked that in several
different ways with great success for the most part. Is it the recipe, or
the machine? I want to try Ms. David's recipe in the machine and see what
happens...
Also, does anyone else have trouble with part of the ingredients not getting
mixed in when using the horizontal breadpan in the Breadman?
Thanks for all your help!
Yvonne