Help with bread, trying to make bread for my family

My theory is either the yeast is dead or the water was hotter than you think.

You can proof (test) the yeast as described here.

Gary

No need to increase the temperature, you have already showed that the yeast is not dead.

TomP

1. Does the 4-1/4 bread flour refer to cups?  
2. How did you measure the flour?  Did you scoop the flour with the measuring cup and then level it off?  Did you stir/fluff the flour before gently spooning it into the measuring cup and then level it off?  Or some other method?
3. Does the 1-7/8 olive oil refer to tablespoons?

My first impression from seeing the baked loaf in the pan is that the dough was very dry and stiff.  If it was, that would impede the rise.  If, for instance, the recipe writers assumed that the flour would be stirred and loosened before being spooned into a cup but you scooped the flour instead, that could result in a drier dough.  Flour is compressible, so scooping packs more flour in the cup than spooning does.  I'm not saying that's what you did but it could be one factor for this bake.  

I'll wait to see your response about the olive oil before offering any theories there.  If the units are tablespoons, I don't see that it should have caused any problems.

Your yeast appears to be lively, so that isn't an obvious candidate for things having gone the way they did.  The one thing that does come to mind is whether the recipe called for instant yeast instead of active dry yeast.  

Your question about the order of placing ingredients in the pan is a good one.  I don't have bread machine experience, so I can't answer that for you but I suspect that your machine's instructions or recipes probably address that.

Paul

Hi,

I converted your recipe from cups to metric, and it looks like this:

 Ingredient       | Weight (g) | Baker’s % 

Flour            | 510        | 100%      

Water            | 315        | 61.8%     

Sugar            | 50         | 9.8%      

Salt             | 12         | 2.4%      

Butter/Olive oil | 26         | 5.1%      

Yeast            | 7          | 1.4%      

What stands out is that the sugar content is a bit high for this type of yeast. In my experience, if sugar is over 8% of the flour weight, it’s better to use an osmotolerant yeast. Without it, your dough may not prove properly during the second rise in the machine.

One way to work around this is to mix the dough in the machine, shape it by hand, then return it to the pan and prove it just once before baking. Are you familiar with your bread machine settings and how to adjust them for this method? If not, you could try reducing the sugar to 3 tablespoons, which would bring it down to around 8% or even less.

Additionally, depending on your flour, the dough might be too dry and need a bit more water than your recipe indicates.

For reference, here’s the basic white bread recipe that comes with my Zojirushi bread machine—it seems a bit more balanced if you want a guideline:

Original Recipe (cups and tablespoons):

* 1 1/2 cups water

* 4 1/4 cups bread flour

* 3 tbsp sugar

* 2 tbsp dry milk

* 1 1/2 tsp salt

* 2 tbsp butter

* 2 tsp active dry yeast

Converted to grams:

| Ingredient | Weight (g) | Baker’s % 

 Flour      | 510        | 100%      

Water      | 355        | 69.6%     

Sugar      | 38         | 7.5%      

Dry milk   | 15         | 2.9%      

Salt       | 9          | 1.8%      

Butter     | 28         | 5.5%      

Yeast      | 5.6        | 1.1%      

Yippee 

From their manual. The blue text is for the quick setting.

Although machines list order of adding ingredients, I don' t think it makes much difference if you're making the bread right away. My suspicion is that it only matters if you are using the timer for a later bake, in which case you don't want the yeast sitting in the liquid or salt.

It's in volume! There's a nonsense already ;)

1-1/3 Cup water at 92degrees

4-1/4 bread flour

4 Tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Salt

1-7/8 olive oil (I did substitute for butter)

2-1/2 tsp Fleischmann's Original Active Dry yeast

• 1 cup water = 236g
• 1 cup flour = Anything from 120 - 136g (if you google it)
• 1 tbsp sugar = 12g depending on what sugar you are using.
• 1 tsp salt = 5-6g
• 1-7/8 olive oil? Is this tablespoons?
• 1 teaspoon dried yeast = 3g

Taking the water and flour alone this will give you...

315g water

510g - 578g flour : So you can see a big discrepency. 

I would say go with 70% hydration and alter the recipe to...

• 500g bread flour
• 350g water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 25g butter
• 7g dried yeast