Re: Bifinett KH 1171 breadmaker

I have only had this machine for under 2 weeks and have owned a bread machine in the past. I had a bit of trepidation before buying this due to my experiences with my first breadmaker. However, since I have owned other Bifinett products, I DO appreciate the 3 year guarantee AND the very efficient service that I've always received in the past, thus decided to take the risk.

I have to say that I am very impressed. I have baked 3 loaves so far and all have been perfect or nearly perfect (first one was slightly less than perfect).

However, for those of you who are totally inexperienced with baking bread, you need to be very wary of the recipe book suggestions. My first loaf was made with Francine multi-cereal bread flour. The instructions on the package are very exact, telling what setting, weight, and crust to use. Since the BM recipe book was stating about 350 ml of WARM water to 500gr flour, I decided to compromise and use 300 ml water to 500 gr flour, as that sounded like way too much water to me. The bread came out great, but was just a bit spongey. The second time I made the bread, I only put in 275 ml of COOL water as per the instructions on the flour bag and the loaf came out perfect! , a better rise and more density.

I just baked another loaf this morning with the Lidl/Navarre pain Ciabatta flour. It has also come out perfect, but I put in 310 ml water , NOT 360 ml as they suggest in the recipe.

Since there is a 10 to 15 minute heating time at the very beginning of the cycle, putting in warm water in the beginning may actually cause the water to be too hot, thus killing off some of the yeast, just my theory, here.

I would strongly suggest never putting more than 300 ml of water to 500 grams of ANY flour in the beginning. Since you have a window, you can watch the kneading and add more water if the dough is looking too dry.

I feel that this breadmaker is an excellent value and would highly recommend it. In fact I've already convinced one family to buy one for themselves after they came over and actually tasted my bread. :o)