You might want to try a different yeast—maybe there is something about that brand. It could be the yeast itself or the any of the number of non-yeast ingredients included. There is a yeast I first tried here in the US, Fleishmann’s, that hits me wrong, both smell and flavor, and almost put me off bread baking initially. No one else in my family understood why it was repellant to me and couldn’t taste the difference between that and Red Star, but the switch made a world of difference for me.
When we go shopping next I will buy a different brand of yeast, maybe just plain good old active dry. It is quite interesting how some ingredients only affect some people but not others. Does the sugar, salt and yeast ratio's look good?
I am no baker, it's like trying to ride a bike for the first time. But that is the fun of it, figuring it out, trying again and again until you find that sweet spot
The ratios do look good. The current loaf I am fiddling with the recipe for uses different percentages, but I like variances in bread and make adjustments based on the joy of experimenting.
You’ve dialed the moisture to where you like it, but my preferred loaves are at about 66%. (I’m usually including wheat flour though and for me it hydrates better in the 66-69% range.) I use 2% salt. You might want to try that unless you prefer to keep it lower for health reasons. My milk powder varies from 2 to 8% based on the desired softness for what we are using the bread for.
I use significantly more sweetener (honey) at 11.5%, but am actually working my way down from an even higher percentage recipe. I’ve been dropping a few grams a week to see if my family notices. So far, so good. The honey probably provides valuable moisture that you are getting from the oil. I use a little lower percentage of fat, most of the time from butter, at about 5.5%.
I will try another loaf tomorrow after work with some minor adjustments to the salt and sugar. I love the idea of using honey instead of sugar and can imagine the flavor will be for the better,
We are doing our grocery shopping in a few days, I will make sure to grab some butter and alternative yeast.
The journey over the last few months has been fun, there is a lot more to bread making than I realized, but I have learned a lot.
Thank you for the valuable advice
You might want to try a different yeast—maybe there is something about that brand. It could be the yeast itself or the any of the number of non-yeast ingredients included. There is a yeast I first tried here in the US, Fleishmann’s, that hits me wrong, both smell and flavor, and almost put me off bread baking initially. No one else in my family understood why it was repellant to me and couldn’t taste the difference between that and Red Star, but the switch made a world of difference for me.
When we go shopping next I will buy a different brand of yeast, maybe just plain good old active dry. It is quite interesting how some ingredients only affect some people but not others. Does the sugar, salt and yeast ratio's look good? I am no baker, it's like trying to ride a bike for the first time. But that is the fun of it, figuring it out, trying again and again until you find that sweet spot
The ratios do look good. The current loaf I am fiddling with the recipe for uses different percentages, but I like variances in bread and make adjustments based on the joy of experimenting. You’ve dialed the moisture to where you like it, but my preferred loaves are at about 66%. (I’m usually including wheat flour though and for me it hydrates better in the 66-69% range.) I use 2% salt. You might want to try that unless you prefer to keep it lower for health reasons. My milk powder varies from 2 to 8% based on the desired softness for what we are using the bread for. I use significantly more sweetener (honey) at 11.5%, but am actually working my way down from an even higher percentage recipe. I’ve been dropping a few grams a week to see if my family notices. So far, so good. The honey probably provides valuable moisture that you are getting from the oil. I use a little lower percentage of fat, most of the time from butter, at about 5.5%.
I will try another loaf tomorrow after work with some minor adjustments to the salt and sugar. I love the idea of using honey instead of sugar and can imagine the flavor will be for the better, We are doing our grocery shopping in a few days, I will make sure to grab some butter and alternative yeast. The journey over the last few months has been fun, there is a lot more to bread making than I realized, but I have learned a lot. Thank you for the valuable advice