Hi everyone,
I enjoy this bread baking list so much and have gotten many wonderful
recipes! I've decided to share some of my experiences with my Chefmate
(Seiko) bread machine.
I live at high altitude (6400') and have always had a problem with bread
not rising enough before baking, unless I use all white bread flour. I
tried adding lots of gluten, but that didn't help. I also made sure the
water content was correct. Then I noticed something: my bread machine has
3 rise cycles! During the first 2 cycles, the bread rose great. On the
3rd rise cycle, the bread didn't rise so well and the baked loaf was always
too small in my opinion.
So, last weekend I just used the dough cycle and took the bread out (only 1
rise in the dough cycle). I shaped the loaf and put it in a pan to rise.
It only took about 20 min to rise way above the pan (high altitude and a
warm oven to rise in account for this, I think). I baked the loaf for 40
mins in 350 deg oven and had the best loaf ever!
So, if other people like me are having problems with a Chefmate brand, just
try what I did and you'll be pleasantly surprised! And it almost feels
like you're making bread from "scratch"! :-)
Happy baking,
Gina