Making bread

Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers

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I was making reasonable bread, then I changed my Neff oven for an updated model of the same oven, now my bread seems dry as if its two days old. Can any of you wonderful people point out what I'm doing wrong and how to remedy this. 😕
 
Sticky Fingers said:
I was making reasonable bread, then I changed my Neff oven for an updated model of the same oven, now my bread seems dry as if its two days old. Can any of you wonderful people point out what I'm doing wrong and how to remedy this. 😕
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I don't know what a Neff oven is, but can you put a pan of boiling water in with it while it bakes? That might help. I do that to crisp up the crust sometimes.
 
One thing that springs to mind immediately are cooking temperatures.
Presumably there was a reason for 'changing' to an updated version. I know when I have ended up with new ovens in the past (one hazzard of renting is that you usually end up with cheap, dodgy ovens prone to not cooking at the correct temperature) I have basically had to learn to cook/bake again and re-learn all those times I had learnt for a specific recipe or dish in a specific cooking vessel.
So my first thought is that your old oven was cooking at a lower temperature than your new oven and that you are simply over cooking the bread. Is the new oven a fan assisted oven? Is the bread in a bread tin or just on a baking sheet?
 
If you think it's a matter of overbaking, you could use a meat thermometer and stick it into the bread. 190F-200F is usually considered done for bread.

Also, on the fan oven topic, I have an oven that has a fan assist, if I choose to use it. In the guidebook that came with the oven, it does say not to bake bread in the fan-assist mode, as it'll result in a dry loaf.
 
TastyReuben said:
Also, on the fan oven topic, I have an oven that has a fan assist, if I choose to use it. In the guidebook that came with the oven, it does say not to bake bread in the fan-assist mode, as it'll result in a dry loaf.
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Oooh - I've been cooking bread in fan assisted forever. Must try non-fan to see if it makes a difference.
 
morning glory said:
Oooh - I've been cooking bread in fan assisted forever. Must try non-fan to see if it makes a difference.
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Yeah, I don't think it's one of those things that's the end of the world. People have been baking bread in fan ovens for generations, and I doubt they'll stop now, especially if that's all a person has.

Truth be told, in the two-plus years I've had this oven, I've used it in fan mode once, to roast a chicken (they're supposed to be fab for crisping the skin) and found it didn't do that great a job, and having to constantly remember to adjust the temp and the time just isn't worth it to me, seeing as I can rarely halve a recipe reliably. :)
 
Thank you all
morning glory said:
Neff is a brand name - I assume its a standard electric oven.

There shouldn't be any reason why it produces dry bread. Sticky Fingers, can you give us the ingredients you use, cooking time & temperature?
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Morning Glory my recipe is from a Mary Berry book (hope she don't mind me quoting it)

450g strong white flour
7g fast action yeast
40g butter (melted)
1 tsp salt
300ml warm water
Cooked at 200 deg C for 25 mins

TastyReuben said:
I don't know what a Neff oven is, but can you put a pan of boiling water in with it while it bakes? That might help. I do that to crisp up the crust sometimes.
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TR a Neff as MG said is a standard oven I think its made in Germany

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
One thing that springs to mind immediately are cooking temperatures.
Presumably there was a reason for 'changing' to an updated version. I know when I have ended up with new ovens in the past (one hazzard of renting is that you usually end up with cheap, dodgy ovens prone to not cooking at the correct temperature) I have basically had to learn to cook/bake again and re-learn all those times I had learnt for a specific recipe or dish in a specific cooking vessel.
So my first thought is that your old oven was cooking at a lower temperature than your new oven and that you are simply over cooking the bread. Is the new oven a fan assisted oven? Is the bread in a bread tin or just on a baking sheet?
Click to expand...
SSSO I moved home and left the old oven at that house, as it was a good oven I replaced it with an updated version.
everything we cook seems to be fine and the old oven was just 2 years old, but as you say the temps could be a little different.

I cook with a fan oven
I will try baking it without the fan and adding hot water in the bottom of the oven and bake it for slightly less time.
I'll post the results.🙂
 
The recipe looks like a standard bread recipe except that it has added butter - the basic recipe is almost the same as the one I use except I add 1tbsp of olive oil sometimes and no butter. Often no fat at all.
 
No disrespect to Mary Berry - but, in my view, using butter in bread does tend to give a slightly 'cakey' texture to the loaf

I've been using EVOO in all my breads for about 8/10 years, I think. I find it helps make a good, malleable and elastic dough

I never measure it - a modest splash for 300g of flour, and a decent gloop for 600g (roughly)
 
I have made it without the butter with no difference to the dryness. I think that SatNav is possibly correct so the next loaf I will reduce the temperature to 190 deg C for the same 25 mins.

Wandering Bob What is EVOO??
 
TastyReuben said:
Also, on the fan oven topic, I have an oven that has a fan assist, if I choose to use it. In the guidebook that came with the oven, it does say not to bake bread in the fan-assist mode, as it'll result in a dry loaf.
Click to expand...
morning glory said:
Oooh - I've been cooking bread in fan assisted forever. Must try non-fan to see if it makes a difference.
Click to expand...
I've also never heard that using a fan oven can result in dry bread - you can't turn the fan off on mine and I don't recall my bread ever being particularly dry. One thing you need to remember with fan ovens is to turn the temperature down by 10 degrees C (unless the recipe is designed for a fan oven of course!) so maybe the dryness is due to overbaking?

I sometimes include olive oil in my bread, but often don't - I've not tasted them side by side, but I don't think I've noticed any difference to my basic loaf....either in taste or in how long it keeps for.
 
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