Honey Wheat Bread.. Not coming out right

[Robin]

Ok I recently got a breadmaker. Its a Westbend breadmaker. Not sure which model but its an older one. I dont think they sell it anymore. But it seems to work ok.

I tried this recipe.

Betty Crocker BCF1690 2 lb. Bread Machine Recipe - Honey Wheat Bread
1 cup Water
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ cup Honey
1½ cups Bread Flour
1½ cups Wheat Flour
1 tablespoon Shortening
1 tablespoon dry milk
1 teaspoon quick active dry yeast
1. Place all measured ingredients into bread pan in order listed
2. Select: Whole Wheat cycle, Medium crust color
3. Remove bread carefully from pan, let cool.

My first attempt it came out very dense. By reading several websites and the Westbend manual for their newest model, I surmised to add a little more water and perhaps I didn't add enough yeast.

My second attempt was.. well.... disapointing. I ended up flushing it all down the sink because I got fed up.

How would you alter the recipe so it isnt such a dense bread?

 

[Russellkhan]

I'm not sure what's going wrong with that recipe, but perhaps you'll have better luck with a different one. Here's one that I've used in the past with good results. I've never tried it with a bread machine, but it's a similar size to the recipe you used, so it should fit.


2 tablespoons (1 ounce) orange juice
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
4 tablespoons (½ stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter; cut into 6 pieces
3 cups (12 ounces) traditional whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons (1 ¼ ounces) sugar
Heaping ½ cup (1 ¼ ounces) dried potato flakes or 3 tablespoons (1 ¼ ounces) potato flour
¼ cup (1 ounce) nonfat dry milk
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

From here, I would just do it the same way your other recipe advised or follow your bread machine's instructions for whole wheat bread if it has any.

This recipe is from King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking, but I learned it at 100% Whole Wheat Bread, a great site for those new to bread baking.

 

[lifesaver]

Oooooooooooooooo! Those sound delicious. Thanks for posting.

 

[Alix]

Robin, I hope you come back to see this. I use a WestBend breadmaker too and I posted the recipes that work for me in this thread. Hope that helps!

 

[dave the baker]

Robin:
Way too much whole wheat flour. Use a proportion of 1:3 or even less. That's one wheat to three white. Milk also retards rising, or lightness.

 

[Robin]

Robin, I hope you come back to see this. I use a WestBend breadmaker too and I posted the recipes that work for me in this thread. Hope that helps!

Thank you Alix I will check it out.

Robin:
Way too much whole wheat flour. Use a proportion of 1:3 or even less. That's one wheat to three white. Milk also retards rising, or lightness.

Thanks Dave I'll try to reduce the wheat flour.