I have a Trillium Breadman and it has a "fruit and nut" cycle. This cycle
has an additional first rise of 65 minutes. The scanty instructions say to
use it for "breads such as banana and apple walnut."
I have been successful with a heavily banana/walnut bread (1 1/3 cup banana
and 3/4 cup walnuts) using the standard cycle. From a baker's
standpoint, what would this initial rise accomplish? I am interested in
answers such as "it lets the banana soak into the flour" or "you want a
fine crumb for a fruit bread, so you want an extra rise" or "fruit inhibits
yeast, so you need the extra rise time."
(For those who are asking about machines, I like the Breadman a LOT. I
usually make heavy, whole grain, wheat-free breads (with 1/2 cup gluten)
and it works just fine. I only wish it had a PAUSE button during the knead
cycle so I could manually fold nuts or raisins or corrective water/flour
into the dough without restarting from the beginning -- manufacturers are
you listening? Readers do you know of any machine that has such a
feature?)
- susan (schapin@mitre.org) (I represent only myself; none of the
opinions expressed above are endorsed by my employer.)