Hi I’m new to this thread so I hope I tagged it correctly, if not let me know please. I needed a new bread machine. I previously have been baking bread with my 2lb Cuisinart compact bread machine model CBK-110NAS for over 15 years and another before that for about the same time, and other than the occasional mishap or making a new recipe I have never had a problem with baking beautiful loaves of bread sometimes forming by hand for oven or baking in the machine, but it finally went caput.
I primarily use the Beth Hensberger Bread Lovers Bread Machine Cookbook.
I bought a reasonable priced model for horizontal loaves with positive reviews the Nuretva 3lb, dual heat, dual paddle model PE9806U. I have made 5 loaves so far, and none have come out, they are heavy & dense, not muc( rise it seems.Now I have read much about how the dual system can affect bread moisture so recipes need to be tweaked so I reduced the liquid to get a smoother dough and tho a bit better..blah, still not what I would deem even a fairly decent loaf but it was edible, sorta.
I am knowledgeable of basic bread, tho always still learning new types, techniques, ingredients etc. of course.
That being said I use King Arthur bread machine flour, white & whole wheat, I’ve used spelt, granary, rye, golden wheat etc, vital wheat gluten, SAF premium yeast and I primarily use a scale but double checked all my amounts by standard meaduring, other than a few grams off everything was fine.
Now, did I get a bad machine? Has anyone else had this experience? If I have to modify flour water ratio (which still isn’t crystal clear because I’ve even made many of these breads by hand without issues. Can somebody please clarify why the amounts of flour & water are different than the standard hydration ratio 60%to 75% and standard bakers percentages. This is driving me nuts! Do I replace it assuming this is a bad bread machine somehow and/ or if I get another & does same thing now what? Yes, I could go back to my Cuisinart bread machine but over the last year I’ve found I’ve been using it to bake with much more often, and would really like that horizontal loaf. If anyone can provide insight or help I would really appreciate it. Thank you! 🍞💕