Cookaholics Bulletin Board

We have been talking about getting a breadmaker for some time, but one of the concerns was that we wouldn't eat the bread soon enough before it would go bad, which happens pretty quickly down here. We came across the Zojirushi Mini Home Bakery which makes 1 pound loaves, which is a lot better for the two of us than a 2 pound machine.

It doesn't have tons of bells and whistles, but I am looking forward to getting to know it and figuring out how to make whole grain breads. A first loaf of simple white bread disappeared in no time.

One question I have is about holding dough. I am not an experience bread baker, but the reading I have done sounds like if I was to make a dough tonight, remove it after kneading and before first rise, I can put it in an oiled bag or bowl in the refrigerator overnight. The idea is that I could then come home tomorrow, shape some hamburger/hotdog rolls, let them rise and bake for dinner. Will this work or am I setting myself up for failure?

Any other ideas you have for me? My father loves hot rolls so I was thinking of making some partially baked brown and serve type rolls in small foil pans for him if testing is positive.

--Lisa

I have the larger size Zojirushi: I love how it works on the dough setting. Then I take the dough out, shape it and let it rise the second time and bake in my oven.
I much prefer to be able to control the oven temp as well as the finished temperature of the bread. I never bake inside the breadmaker.
I cool the finished loaf, slice it and then freeze. Frozen bread slices thaw in mere minutes.

Linda,

Have you ever held the dough for 24 hours after shaping?

Thanks,

--Lisa

I have the same Zo. I also now have a child, a roommate, and my father living with me in addition to the husband I started with. I wish I'd gotten the big one. Well, hindsight and all that...

I've never held dough that I've made in the breadmaker and I tend to keep my fridge rather cold (just above freezing), but I have made dough in the mixer and let it raise in the fridge. This is usually because of the logistics involved in some large elaborate meal. I usually mix and refrigerate for the first rise the night before, then, in the morning, I'll shape and put it back in the fridge for the second rise. I take the rolls out an hour or so before baking. That way, they can bake while the roast sits, and we can have warm rolls. The difference with the Zo is that the first rise will have already occurred in the machine. Since you want to do the shaping in the morning, you'd essentially be giving the dough two rises before shaping. It would probably work better to make them when you can do the whole thing, then freeze the rolls until you need them.

I like the recipe for Big Beautiful Buns from the KA Baker's Companion. Instead of AP flour, I use half white whole wheat and half bread flour. The recipes from the Breaking Bread with Father Dominic series include instructions for making 1-lb. loaves in a breadmaker. They've all turned out very nicely for me, although sometimes I have to lower the amount of yeast I use.

Thanks, Jess. You can never win when trying to find the right size for an appliance when looking years ahead, can you? It never works for me!

I might give it a try one day when I have time, and try to grab the dough out of the machine before the first rise and refrigerate it. I'll report back if it works.

--Lisa

It worked - I made dough last night and rolls tonight. I looked at the breadmaker directions, which includes fairly close time estimates for each phase. I used the dough setting, and set my timer to go off just before it did the punch down after the first raise. I pulled the dough out, rolled into buns and put them on a parchment covered pan in my fridge. I keep my fridge really cold, so when I got home tonight, I pulled them out, put them in a slightly warmed oven (oven was off) and let them proof. They rose nicely and baked up nice and soft.

I need a better sized pan, the buns were a little long for the sausage I made, and I would have liked them a bit thicker. I like the top split bun but it makes 12 rolls, and I made 8 with this recipe.

--Lisa

Lisa, I don't do it that way but I have in the (long ago) past. As I remember, it worked just fine. Of course, it takes extra time to bring the dough to room temp and rise.
I have a dough rising box that I love; it would be perfect for that. Maybe I'll give the cold rise another shot.