Bread machine: wet or dry ingredients first? | Mumsnet (2024)

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Bread machine: wet or dry ingredients first? | Mumsnet? ›

Manufacturers usually recommend adding the liquids first, followed by dry ingredients, with the yeast going in last. This keeps the yeast away from the liquid ingredients until kneading begins.

Generally, our bread machine troubleshooting suggestion is to add liquids first, followed by the dry ingredients.

What: Mix dry ingredients together first. They're all going into the same baking pan anyway, right? Well, yes. BUT whether you are making cookies, muffins, cake, or pancakes, the general rule of baking is that dry ingredients should be combined together thoroughly in one bowl BEFORE you add the wet ingredients.

If your breadmaker has no yeast dispenser, add the yeast into your bread pan first. Then add all remaining ingredients (top-to-bottom order) into your bread pan.

Adding Ingredients to the Bread Machine

Manufacturers usually recommend adding the liquids first, followed by dry ingredients, with the yeast going in last. This keeps the yeast away from the liquid ingredients until kneading begins.

By putting the yeast in first and the water in after the flour, this ensures that the yeast does not become active too soon. The flour is acting as a barrier.

Set Up the Stations

Fill three bowls or dishes large enough to hold the food you are breading with each ingredient—flour in the first, the egg wash in the second, and the breadcrumbs in the third.

When in doubt, you should usually abide by the combining orders of the recipe you're following because the author may have a specific reason for writing it that way, whether or not the reasoning is clear to you. But if you end up doing it the wrong way around, don't despair.

No matter what you're baking, you should always whisk your dry ingredients before combining them with the wet. Sifting really ensures just one thing: zero clumps. Clumps won't fully hydrate from your wet ingredients, which can lead to dry pockets in your baked goods.

First, the bread maker combines the ingredients and kneads the dough with a paddle that connects to the bottom of the bread pan. Once the first kneading is complete, a heating element provides just enough warmth for the dough to rise without baking it.

Do you beat eggs before adding to bread machine? ›

First of all, the stirring function of the bread makers is not sufficient to completely mix the eggs so it is better to beat the eggs before adding them into the bread pan.

In order to keep these things from being shredded or mashed during the kneading cycles, add them at the end of the second kneading cycle, about 3 minutes before the machine is due to go into its first rise. This gives the machine time to knead your additions into the dough, but doesn't give it time to tear them apart.

Enzymes get to work in the dough breaking the starch down into simple sugars. The yeast consumes the simple sugars and lets out carbon dioxide and ethanol. The carbon dioxide gets trapped in the gluten network and the bubbles expand. The dough rises and becomes full of air.

Add Ingredients Didn't Mix

Cause: Typical of too much flour (or other dry ingredients) or not enough liquid. Here's what you can try doing to improve your loaf: Reducing your flour* or increasing your liquid. When the dough is too dry, add ingredients like nuts and raisins cannot penetrate the dough ball.

Bread machine yeast and rapid-rise yeast are specially formulated for the bread machine and become active more quickly than active dry yeast. You can use active dry yeast in your bread machine, but it should be dissolved in water before being used.

If you add the mix-ins too early, they will essentially cut up the gluten strands of the dough. Just remember, mix and autolyse first, then add mix-ins.

Yeast needs a warm (but not hot) environment to grow in, and for this reason, all liquids added to the bread machine (including eggs) should be at room temperature. Water is a common ingredient, but since many people use the timer on their bread machines, most recipes call for non-fat dry milk or powdered buttermilk.