June 22, 2015 - 7:28am
Help with Shiptons Three Malt and sunflower flour
I've bought a couple of bags of the three malt flour from Shiptons, with the hope I can make a 'granary' type loaf, which is SWMBO's favourite fodder.
I have read that this flour produces a rather heavy loaf; by this I presume the bread will be tight, and more dense than other breads. As the LOML likes her bread to be soft and 'new' in texture, should I 'cut' the three malts with a small proportion of white bread flour?
Any ideas welcome.
My Thanks in anticipation.
Back to work on my lamb-pie recipe. Must perfect it!
Wobbly
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Can't say I've tried that particular flour - but I do cut my wholemeal flours (whether wheat or rye) with white if I fancy a less toothsome loaf. Maybe try 50-50 and then tweak from there?
It's already a mix of wholemeal and white, but when I was using it to make sourdough, my starter was white flour and it was coming out just fine. I tended to make it a little wetter than normal as the grains will absorb some of the water you put it - but I was also doing overnight ferments which you might not be able to do with a normal amount of yeast in the machine.
-Gordon
Reynard, Gordon.
Thank you.
I was thinking along the lines of 75/25 so maybe I'll split the difference and go 70/30! As it happens, I am half-expecting my first bake to go as wobbly as me! :)
Thanks again
Wobbly
First loaf; three malts flour, seeded, made In my bread machine.
It tastes okay, and the texture is nice and light. The paddle came out easily,
I didn't realise the ingredients needed to 'rest' before mixing. I can't ever recall doing this with hand mixing and kneading. I thought my machine was up the 'Swanee'. But as this would have been the third one to return, I decided it must be me! I finally ferreted out the need to 'rest' after putting the ingredients into the tin. . I am happy with this loaf, but it does have a very slight yeasty flavour. Too much salt? Or too much yeast?
The mix was 75% Shiptons three-malt and 30% Allinsons strong, white flour. My wife is happy with it too, and I had the nicest bacon sandwich I've had for a long, long time !
The picture I uploaded doesn't show. Oh well never mind. Seems I have to have a place to put the image first. Which I don't have!
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm238/Woodwayze/092.jpg
Looks good :-) And I do like the sound of that bacon butty...
I'd lean towards a tad too much yeast - maybe reduce it by a fraction next time and see where it takes you. Meant to add in my previous post that swapping some (or all) of the water for milk also gives a softer end result - and a longer shelf life.
Reynard, Gordon.
It seems it was the yeast. I reduced by a fraction of a teaspoon, and the bread rises just as well; without that slight after taste. The only problem now is that my wife doesn't like the fact that new bread is hard to slice by hand. The sandwiches are now too thick, and too new, and she fears indigestion. (I dunno what I have to do to please! Lol! ) I shall have to leave the bread until next day I suppose. (After I have eaten the crust with lashings of butter!) Or maybe I'll try a wholemeal loaf, which will be more dense. Or buy a slicer!
Gordon, I am indebted to you for pointing me towards Shipton's. This flour is making my ideal loaf, albeit that I have to control my bread consumption. So thanks for that. I got 10 x 1Kilo bags on Amazon for just over £17.00, and free delivery. I don't know if that's good, but I am getting three large bakes out of one bag, Around 50p a loaf, for bread as nice as this? Yes please!
Thanks again
Wobbly
So what you need is some good digital scales to let you weigh out the yeast in grams. I don't know about bread machines but typically I'd be using 7 or 8g of dried yeast per 500g of flour, so if you're using about 330g then I'd probably be using 4-5g of dried yeast, but I'd also check the bread machines guidelines.
Shiptons price is £1.30 per kilo directly off their website, so £1.70 seems expensive to me - however if you order less than £30 off their site, then you pay delivery (about a fiver IIRC - my orders are always much bigger so I always get their free delivery).
If the loaf comes out of the machine a little on the crusty side, then wrap it in a tea towel while it's still warm until its cool - that'll help trap any escaping moisture at that point. Don't leave it wrapped too long though....
Personally, I'd avoid 100% wholemeal bread. I don't need the extra fibre and I prefer the taste and texture of lighter loaves!
-Gordon
that reducing the yeast a bit has gotten rid of the aftertaste :-)
I have an electric slicer - one of those rotary jobs with a vertical blade that'll give me a thickness that goes from paper thin to doorstop. It's a must for fresh sandwich breads, or rather for me it is, otherwise I tend to end up with an unholy mess that's only suitable for turning into breadcrumbs. Once a loaf is a few days old I can slice it ok with a bread knife. On the other hand, I'm fine slicing fresh rye breads with a knife - and I can get the slices nice and thin...
Mmmm, I'm the opposite to Gordon. I do like a nice wholemeal or heavy rye, but that's probably my eastern European heritage calling to me LOL. They're just the thing with butter and honey or with a nice chunk of strong cheese... Although to be truthful, I go round the houses breadwise, from white to dark and just about everything in between :-)
Bests,
Witty.
Reynard... Ah well, I have been looking at a slicer at Lakeland. It seems to have good reviews too. But at this late stage in the month, I'll have to wait until payday!
I am not supposed to eat too much bread, being type 2 diabetic. I got into this mainly to provide my wife with decent Bread. But I am enjoying the occasional decent sandwich now, and I don't worry what sort of brown bread it is I make! I even have a white loaf on the go at the moment, just to see how it turns out. I'll give that to Number One Son, for his sandwiches!
Gordon... I bought a set of digital scales last week as it happens. The recipes I am using seem to be coming out nicely, so they must be accurate enough. My next 'challenge' will be a fruit loaf of some sort; I just need to get some cinnamon! My next bulk order of Shiptons will be direct from them too. There's quite a saving if I buy the larger bags. I might have to make a bigger 'flour cupboard!
Cheers.
Wobbly (John)
a little of something, then you might as well have the very best and make it a true pleasure. :-)
There's a really nice cinnamon, raisin and oatmeal loaf recipe on here, btw. I've made it a few times and it's become a firm favourite. It's not especially sweet, but it's lovely. The only tweak I've made to the recipe is that I soak my fruit in tea like I'd do for a bram brack... I have various fruit loaf recipes knocking around as well, so give me a shout if you fancy trying them. Hopefully they can be adapted to being made in a bread machine.
My slicer is quite elderly (it was a gift from a relative many moons ago) but still does the job. Am going to pick up a storage bin later today to put my flour in as I'm tight for cupboard space. And a small digital scale might very well be my next purchase. I actually have a pair of very good balance scales, one metric, one imperial, but they do struggle with the very small quantities...
bests,
Witty.
I made a spicy, fruit loaf today. Followed the instructions in the Bread-maker manual, but the fruit dispenser didn't work, so I ended up with a very nicely baked, spicy, wholemeal loaf, sans fruit. With the spice alone, it's not to my taste, so I guess No. 1 Son will get a gift on Sunday! Lol!
I'll have another go, this time putting the raisins in at the beginning. I am wondering if the manual was written by someone without a full command of English; until I can unravel the directions, I shan't be using the raisin and nut dispenser! It must have been my error, but I can't find any indication as to how this dispenser actually works.
So I will have a look at that recipe you mention, and see whether I fancy it.
I still have to finish the cupboard for my baking paraphernalia, but all things come to those who wait!
Cheers
Wobbly
Maybe look online? There may well be a "how to" guide lurking on a server somewhere, or even a vid clip on youtube...
I picked up a very nice 30 litre storage bin in Wilkinson's yesterday. It's just the thing to keep my flour away from my pair of feline assistants, and I can tuck it under the work surface, out of the way. The joys of a teeny, tiny galley kitchen...
Bests,
Witty.
Witty;
Unless you live on a boat, your galley couldn't be much teenier than my kitchen; nine feet by nine feet, as near as cuss-it. I could knock down a wall between the utility, but SWMBO says no!
I found a video on YouTube which shows the use of the dispenser. Yet it still doesn't explain why my dispenser didn't dispense! I'll keep looking!
Cheers.
Wobbly
Mmmmm... 10ft x 6ft, and I don't live on a boat LOL! Just in a very small cottage ;-) 9ft square is positively palatial :-)
Good luck with the dispenser. Hopefully it isn't faulty; maybe do a troubleshooting search, other people might have had the same problem. Otherwise I doubt it would hurt any if you put the fruit in right at the beginning.
Bests,
Witty.
So Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall must live in a very big cottage, looking at the size of his kitchen! Lol!
I made a right pigs ear of this fruit loaf again. I got it all started, and it seemed to be taking a long time. That was when I noticed the dough-hook on the worktop. I hadn't put it into the machine when I started it.
So it was a quick transfer to a large saucepan, fit the dough-hook, and start it all over again; noticing in the process that this time the raisin dispenser had operated. Nothing to fall into the mix though, because I had put the fruit into the bin with everything else at the very start! Ho Ho Ho! .. What a plonker!
Cheers. Enjoy the weekend
Wobbly!
Mr Whittingstall does have a film crew to trip over ;-) And numerous other assistants, I would assume...
Hope you still managed to produce an edible loaf after all that. On the plus side, at least you now know the fruit dispenser works perfectly well when it's empty...
As for the weekend, it's been a fairly quiet one here, doing the usual weekend-y type stuff. No bread baking though, as I have a large 2.5 lb rye sourdough to work my way through first. It's such a tasty loaf and it would be a shame to let it spoil.
I did procure some granary-type flour the other day - actually, the Hovis one. Will be interesting to see how well it sits in a sourdough loaf.
I use the Shipton Mill Organic Light Malthouse (301) mixed with Bakers White No.1 (101) when I want a granary loaf.
I use 200g Light Malthouse, 300g Bakers White, 325g water, 1 tsp salt and either 1 sachet instant yeast or 15g fresh (with 50g water taken from the 325g), depending on what I have around.
I am sure you could adapt that to your bread machine.
If you want to try something a little different, add half a cup of their Cut Malted Rye Grains (306) to 500g strong white. The cut rye will absorb some water so add a little extra warm water (say 15g).