Hi Irwin,
Thank you for your comments. A couple points, though, I'd like to
reiterate after the preliminaries:
>You went to a lot of trouble to solve a problem
Yes. As I said, I almost gave up and trashed my machine. Only the
discovery of the existence of this fine list, where information is so
freely exchanged, persuaded me that breadmachine-baking isn't a black art.
>Someday, your could be made into a movie!
Yeah, but nobody'd pay to see it, especially if Steven Seagal gets killed
in the first ten minutes like he did in Executive Decision, leaving the
audience with only Kurt Russel to play the persistent, if hopelessly
outgunned, breadmachine-jockey. Come to think of it, that sounds like
something maybe Mel Brooks would be interested in. (Darn, I'm digressing
again!)
>There is no doubt that the Zoji, with its two component kneading
>system has superior kneading capability. The pulling and stretching of the
>dough (compared to the stirring of other machines) is what develops the
>gluten to the point where it produces a dough strong enough to rise
>without the bubbles bursting.
Understood, and I don't mean to burst your (gluten/CO2) bubble, however you
recall I wrote that both the borrowed Zoji and my Goldstar produced
virtually identical hockey-puck loaves until I did two things. (1) I
added 1 Tbsp. gluten per cup of non-white bread flour, and, (2) I reset
the machine and allowed the dough to sit for 20 minutes following the first
knead (both machines white-bread cycle). I believe I read about that in
the Zoji book. After making the above modifications to the baking cycle,
both machines produced loaves of equivalent quality.
Past experience showed me that adding gluten alone wasn't sufficient to
produce an acceptable loaf; I also had to reset the machine, wait, and then
restart. The improvement in texture, rise and especially flavor were
significant. I suspect that it is the additional time the yeast are
allowed to do their thing, as well as the additional kneading time, that
turns the trick. That makes sense, because when I make bread by hand, I
NEVER produce a finished loaf in only 3 hours, 40 minutes like my bread
machine does. It always takes most of a day.
The added gluten doesn't hurt, but by itself, it doesn't fully account for
the success of the recipe in my machine, in my kitchen. I don't mean to
imply that everyone should do what I've done; this just happens to have
(apparently) solved my problem. Your mileage may differ, and all that.
As for the Zoji, my impression is that it is a superior machine to the
Goldstar, and probably to many other machines. It's quiet, powerful,
smooth, apparently very well-made, and expensive. I wish I had one, but
until my Goldstar dies, it'll have to wait.
>It is a bread that even children who only like Wonderbread will eat!
You haven't met my Gregory! He even makes me cut the crusts off Wonderbread!
>Now, about pumpernickel. . .(snip). . .It produces gas, lots of
>it. So I would suggest that you never eat a lot of pumpernickel in a crowd.
>Especially if you are the only one eating it.
Hmmm. . . both CO2 and methane (components of intestinal gas) are, so they
say, Greenhouse gases, so the US EPA might be expected to either outlaw or
levy a tax on the components to make pumpernickel. :-)
I guess that explains why Donna G. hasn't come up with a recipe for cabbage
bread, right? I made some veggie soup once. . . ONCE. . . that contained a
_whole_ head of cabbage. After consuming a goodly portion, and
experiencing the fulsome effects of said cabbage, I ended up feeding the
remainder to the dog, then regretted it all evening!
>Happy baking.
Indeed I am!
"Happy baking to all, and to all a good night!"
(With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)
Cheers!
Quinn
Laguna Niguel, Calif., US of A