Making better bread

Achieving consistently good bread can involve trial and error. That’s because of the many variables in breadmaking. The freshness and quality of your raw ingredients – along with the ambient humidity and air temperature – can make a difference.

Follow our tips for better bread:

• Measure ingredients accurately (use scales if you have them).
• Always use high-grade flour with a protein content of at least 11.5g of protein per 100g of flour. (You can find this information on the nutrition information panel.)
• If you’re not using yeast with improvers (like Edmonds Surebake) add 50mg of unflavoured vitamin C or a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice.
• You may have to adjust the quantities of flour and water on a seasonal basis. Check the dough after the first five minutes of kneading: it should have a smooth “satin” look and be slightly sticky. If it’s too sticky, add extra flour (one tablespoon at a time). If the dough’s looking stiff or “tight”, add extra water (one tablespoon at a time).

Baking gluten-free loaves

All breadmakers in our test except the Tefal Home Bread OW3001 have a “gluten-free” setting.

But with some experimentation, you can bake satisfactory gluten-free loaves in almost any breadmaker. Gluten-free recipes often rely on eggs to help with rising and to improve texture, so they don’t require as much kneading or rising time.

On breadmakers without a gluten-free setting, try using the “fast” (sometimes labelled “rapid” or “super fast”) setting. Or you can use the “dough only” setting, leave the dough to rise, and then bake using the “bake only” setting.

These methods will work in the Tefal using its “super fast” setting or its “dough” plus “cooking only” settings. But they may not be possible in the Sunbeam, which doesn’t have a “fast” or a “bake only” setting.