New hens not going into Eglu Go Up

[Alis girls]

i know a lot of you rave re this but I am a little disappointed. Santa aka OH got it me for Christmas and I managed to make several wholemeal loaves ok but the sandwich programme produced summat resembling a house brick. After yesterday effort another wholemeal also came out as a brick we took it back. Let me add I have checked trouble shooting section - my yeast is fresh and for breadmakers, flour fresh and I followed to the letter. We also took the bread to show them we werent being funny - the girls face was a picture. As we consume a lot of sandwiches in packed lunches a programme such as this is must. Anyone had similar probs?

[Dizzy-Deb]

I have a panasonic, had it last year and can honestly say havent had a 'bad' loaf out of it at all.

 

I mainly make a wholemeal loaves, and a few white. Havent made a sandwich one. Have done a fair few packet mixes and again come out ok.

 

Sorry to read you have had a huge disappointment with yours. I can only guess it must have been faulty.

 

I will do a sandwich loaf the weekend see how it comes out. xx

[Alis girls]

Forgot to add we got a replacement so will let you know what happens. anyone wanting bricks for BarBQ - let me know Oh and thanks DD for reply if this does the same I will be on the forum looking for advice

[Alis girls]

Well sandwich loaf seems ok - so hopefully it was breadmaker and not my instruction following

[Snowy]

Did you use 100% wholemeal flour? If so, try using 1/4 wholemeal, 3/4 white. Wholemeal flour always makes bricks, even when doing it completely by hand. A mix of the two is much lighter!

[Alis girls]

Yes i think I did but have this time too and its fine. Thanks for advice will check if things go pear shaped again Ali x

[Chucky Mama]

Maybe the temperature settings were faulty in the first one I agree that 100% wholemeal is not the greatest. I usually do 50/50

[The Dogmother]

I once had that problem, turned out to be the poor gluten quality in British flour at the time - I bought Very Strong Canadian Bread Flour and have been fine since

[penelope]

Hi There

 

I was lucky enough for Santa to buy me a replacement of my old worn out one. I too have the panasonic & have had loads of yoummy & 1 of the most hilarious bricks that I could hardly lift......certainly not one for the chickens!!

 

I wanted a new one as I am now coeliac & the panasonic is supposed to be good for Gluten Free baking & my old one had worn out.

 

I would def agree with Claret that the best flour to use is Waitrose canadian bread flour. I use 50/50 white & wholemeal & it is the best alarm clock I have ever had!! Waking up to a scrummy loaf that I can now only sit & sniff & not eat is is impossible to stay in bed for!!

 

I am still experementing with the G.F recipes to find a really yummy one.

 

Hope your replacement works better.

 

Good luck with it. x

[The Dogmother]

I use the same mix penelope, and I sometimes use a locally produced six grain flour, I always use the seed dispenser to add omega seeds as well. I've had my Panasonic for about 5 years now and it's still going well *touches wood quickly*. Unfortunately, UK flour went through a bad patch quality-wise a couple of years back

[Alis girls]

thanks for advice girls - I think it was the breadmaker as this new one I set to XL and it came out with a delish humongous loaf and the other never did. I have checked flours and I did buy some Waitrose canadian one so will see but so far so good _ touches head but thanks for the advice - I seem to be the kiss of death on breadmkers so keep everything crossed for me please

[chickencam]

I had a poor batch of yeast before Christmas and the cold weather does have an effect on rising times even in a breadmaker so because the times are fixed that could have been a problem.

[Eggasperated]

I agree about the outside temperatures affecting loaves, I've also had a spate of lop-sided loaves when I was leaving a window open near the bread maker, if I remember to keep the window shut the loaves are fine. This seems really odd to me considering the bread maker is a little environment of its own .

[C&T]

You also get a REALLY bad loaf if you ladle tonnes of salt in as you read the quantities wrong....

 

Bless OH - he really was trying to be helpful at the time!

 

Echo the not using 100% wholemeal flour - 50/50 seems much nicer.

 

My bread maker also has a French bread recipe and setting - and that is really nice and light and fluffy. So can recomend that if your machine has something similar.

[clucker1]

I have a lovely panansonic breadmaker too. This is my second one which is now nearly a year old. It replaced my old one, which when it died was 11 years old. My new one I have been much more successful with wholemeal loaves, normally do 3/4 strong brown flour to 1/4 white strong flour. I normally use Doveswhite bread flour and waitrose own wholemeal . Wouldn't be without it! In the cold weather, I leave my flour on top of the radiator (the cupboard it is normally stored in is on an outside north facing wall).

[Seagazer]

I bought a Panasonic breadmaker at the weekend to replace my old Morphy Richards compact one which had gone kapput. I used it for the first time yesterday and at first I wasn't even sure if it was working as it was so quiet. I wasused to quite a lot of noise from the old one and it had a window so that I could see what was happening.

 

I made a white loaf and it came out lovely although it is very pale even though I put it onto the medium setting. Very impressed so far.

[Poached Egg]

Got a Panasonic last year to replace my (13yr) old machine. Impressed with all the recipes and sandwich loaf is perfect size for kids' lunchboxes. Only problem was when OH used the measures supplied.

 

The machines aren't designed to cope with low temperatures, as discovered when my mum left the top of her kitchen door open (on a very cold day) and it was too cold for it to start. After 10 mins on the phone to customer services they said 'madam, how cold is it in that room?'

[Valkyrie]

We have a Panasonic - but it's pretty ancient now. Our favourites are the spicy cinnamon and fruit one and ciabatta. We all like home made pizza too, so the dough is prepared in the machine.

[alandbailey]

I have the 254 and was disappointed with the bread using british flour a year or two ago. I now use 1/3 of any Lidl bread mix and 2/3 Candian stong white plus a sachet of Allisons or Hovis yeast for breadmakers. I add a tablespoon or two of ground organic hemp seed and the taste is really great. It goes against the grain (pun-sorry) to pay top price for anything, but the result is worth it.

[Saronne]

The Brioche loaf is to die for!

 

 

Saronne x

[TIMONLINE]

We have a SD-2501 breadmaker and we notice that some of the recipes allow the us of a timer and some don't but can't see any rationale for use/non-use on the timer. Any ideas anyone?

[Saronne]

Hi

If you want fairly straight forward bread ready when you come home from work or when you wake up in the morning then the timer's for you. I'm guessing that certain recipes, e.g. ones containing eggs and milk (brioche loaf) possibly aren't as safe sitting in that warm-ish environment, hence the 'no-timer' option.