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sugar, water or milk. You can verify the freshness of your yeast by submitting it to the
following test: dissolve 1 teaspoonful of sugar in half a cup of lukewarm water and
subsequently add the yeast to this mixture. If the substance starts sparkling and boiling
after a few minutes, you can be sure that you are using fresh yeast.
Approximately 5 to 10 minutes after your bread maker has been activated, you can
equally test the quality of the dough. The dough should look like a smooth and elastic
round ball. Open the lid and gently touch the top of the dough with your fi ngers. Be
careful and make sure the kneading paddle remains in action. If the dough somewhat
sticks to your fi ngers, this implies the dough is going to be fi ne. Should the dough
however stick to the bread pan, then it is probably too moist. If the dough does not
stick to your fi ngers at all, the pastry you are making is too dry.
Salt brakes the effect of the yeast and sugar exactly does the opposite. If you are not
allowed to use either sugar or salt for dietary reasons, you must not add the other
ingredient either. Your bread will not contain sugar or salt.
If you bake another bread straight away, you will fi rst have to allow the bread maker
to cool down for 10 to 20 minutes.
Different types of bread will have different structures and sizes, due to the different
nature of the ingredients used. These differences are completely normal and need not
to worry you.
For some recipes, you may need to adjust the quantities, i.e. the amount of yeast,
fl our or water. Never adjust all these quantities at the same time, for it will not have
any effect. Adjusting a quantity may be necessary because of the quality and specifi c
gravity of the fl our, differences in ambient temperature or freshness of the ingredients.
Home-made bread, made with this bread maker, does not contain any preservatives
and is therefore perishable. If you wrap the bread in a vacuum package after cooling
down, you will be able to keep it for a few days. Of course you can also freeze the
bread.
PROBLEMS WHICH MIGHT OCCUR
Several factors can cause your bread to fail. In the following list you will fi nd a series
of problems and possible solutions.
THE BREAD HAS CAVED IN
If your bread looks caved in, this means the dough you made was too moist. Try
adding a smaller quantity of water. When you use preserved fruits or vegetables,
please make sure they have been soaked and thoroughly dried beforehand. You could
also try using a lighter variety of fl our. If your bread caves in, this could also be the
result of over-rising. The dough has risen to an extent it could not cope with. In this
case, try adding a little less yeast, 1 or 2 gr.
THE CENTRE OF THE BREAD IS NOT SUFFICIENTLY BAKED
This may be due to the type of fl our you used, often too heavy varieties such as rye
fl our or wholemeal fl our. Try to program an extra kneading process when using these
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