Help with fruit bread

bex32, Feb 7, 10:32pm
Put some in the breadmaker last night on timer for this morning. But when I got up it was small and hadn't risen. Yes, I put the yeast in. I made the 750gm loaf, and it had 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt in which I thought was a lot for sweet bread, and a small loaf. Checked the recipe book and all the sweet breads have 1 1/2 teaspoons in them. Do you think this is an error? Would the salt have stopped it rising?
Anyone have a recipe for this that I could try?

245sam, Feb 7, 10:55pm
bex32, whilst I don't normally use purchased bread mixes, for this very nice, moist and spicy fruit bread I DO use purchased bread mixes and until Bin Inn no longer stocked their Hot Cross Bun Spice Mix I used that too for this loaf. After much 'surfing' I found a very good alternative to Bin Inn's spice mix so I'll give you that recipe too... . .

SPICE MIX FOR HOT CROSS BUNS OR SPICY FRUIT BREAD
From the recipe for Hot Cross Buns - http://degroot. id. au/recipes/2006/04/14/hot-cross-buns

¼ tsp each ofground coriander seedsandground ginger
½ tsp each ofDutch cinnamon, ground allspice (pimento)andground nutmeg
a sprinkle of ground cloves

I have also made a bulk mix of the spice mix using a former coffee grinder (now exclusively a spice grinder) to one at a time grind the coriander seeds and allspice, and I finely grated the nutmeg, then I used:-

1 tbsp each ofground coriander seedsandground ginger
2 tbsp each ofDutch cinnamon, ground allspice (pimento) andground nutmeg
several sprinkles of ground cloves - a bit of guess-work really for this one

The bread recipe to follow... . .

245sam, Feb 7, 10:56pm
MOIST SPICY FRUIT BREAD
375g white bread mix
125g wholemeal bread mix
1 tbsp each of sugarandSurebake yeast
15g (5 level tsp) spice mix
1 egg
120ml milk
200ml water
200g mixed dried fruit

Place the bread mixes, sugar, yeast, spice mix, egg, milk, water and dried fruit in the bread pan in the order specified for your bread machine.
Select the sweet or white setting on your machine to complete the bread cycle.

Hope that helps. :-))

bex32, Feb 8, 12:25am
Thanks for that, although I would like to know why my one didn't work, I haven't had any problems with bread not rising before, and was thinking it must be the salt issue because that seems to be a lot for a small loaf. And I put it on the sweet setting which is only 2:40, the normal bread setting is 3:10. Don't know if it had anything to do with that either... If someone had a recipe from their breadmaker book that works, how much salt is in it?

245sam, Feb 8, 12:54am
bex32, from that book have you made any other of the sweet breads that also have 1½ tsp salt and did they work? I do think that amount of salt sounds excessive - how much flour and how much yeast is in the recipe?

I have a Panasonic breadmaker and book which has a fairly good variety of recipes and... . . there's only one recipe that has as much salt as your recipes - actually that recipe, for Malted Oatbran Rolls, has 2 tsp! ! salt and I haven't made them so I can't tell you how and if that amount of salt worked. Most of the recipes in my book have 1 tsp salt and that's for about 450g flour in all white flour or some combo of flours, etc.

Does your fruit bread recipe have any spices in it? Although I have never had any problems with the spices in my recipe at #3 I believe that spices can sometimes inhibit the work of the yeast.

Actually I've never had any problems with any of the breadmaker recipes I've tried and I have vague recollections of using the following recipe prior to acquiring the recipe at #3 which is our favourite sweet bread.

CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD
3 tsp Surebake yeast
450g white flour
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp each of sugar and salt
2 tbsp each of milk powder and butter
320ml water
1 cup water

How does that recipe compare with yours? :-))

thitryfiver, Feb 8, 12:55am
I use an Alison Holst3cup, recipe 1/2 white flour & 1/2 wholemeal has 1 tsp salt, I bake it on rapid, 1hr 55 min, it always rises well.

bex32, Feb 8, 2:07am
No, I haven't made any of the sweet breads before, except hot cross buns but that was a different recipe.
This is the recipe I used:
3tsp Yeast
3 cups (480g) Flour
1 T Milk Powder
2 T Brown Sugar
1 1/2 t Salt
2 t Nutmeg
1 1/2 t Ground Cloves
1/3 c Mixed Fruit
1 T Margarine
250ml Water

bex32, Feb 8, 2:08am
would another 1/2 teaspoon of salt stop it from rising though? Seems very strange. It tastes quite salty too.

245sam, Feb 8, 2:29am
bex32, I really think your taste buds have answered your questions/concerns/doubts - your bread should not "taste quite salty too" so I really do not think that it needed/needs 1½ tsp salt.

In my Panasonic's book there is this... . .
"Salt is very important in bread making as it gives the bread a more even texture. It also controls action of the yeast by inhibiting enzyme activity, thus controlling the amount of carbon dioxide produced. Bread with reduced salt will have a weak gluten structure and a more open texture, too much salt inhibits fermation. Salt also contributes to the flavour. "

In Alison Holst's Bread Book too much salt is listed as being a reason for "a small compact loaf or poor rising", and so too is not enough water - on comparing your recipe and the recipe I posted (#5) I suggest that your disappointing loaf of bread may actually have been a combination of factors - too much salt and too little water, presuming of course that your yeast is ok which it should be if you've been successfully using it very recently for other breads.

Hope these thoughts help solve the ? ? (mystery) for you. :-))

bex32, Feb 8, 2:56am
Thanks 245sam for your help. I might try your cinnamon raisin bread that you posted, although what is the quantity of raisins? They weren't listed.
I'm guessing sunbeam made a typo with the salt measurements in all of the sweet bread recipes!

245sam, Feb 8, 3:27am
oops, sorry about that bex32 - it would hardly be Cinnamon Raisin Bread without the raisins would it? ! ! ! !

My Panasonic breadmaker book has many of the recipes for three different sized loaves - is that size in the recipe ok for your breadmaker? If so, the raisin quantity is the 1 cup at the end of the recipe - it does not have 320ml water AND 1 cup water, just 320ml water and 1 cup raisins.

Hope that makes sense and again, my apologies for the error/omission. :-))

bex32, Jul 29, 12:42pm
Haha thats ok, yes that size is good, don't want a big loaf, it always tastes best fresh! Thanks for all your help, i'll try your recipe on timer tonight!