Recipe for 4 loaves at a time

[MaggieFlyer]

I've been searching for a bread recipe that will give me 4 loaves at a time. I tried doubling a 2 loaf recipe with disastrous results. I use rapid rising yeast instead of traditional yeast. I have a recipe that isn't too bad but it makes 1 pound loaves which seem a little small. Can anyone help me?

MaggieFlyer

[Donna M.]

Hi Maggie! That is a montrous amount of dough to work with. I personally can't imagine it. You should be able to double a 2-loaf recipe if that is what you want. What went wrong when you tried it before?

[MaggieFlyer]

It was maybe too much dough to handle. It was very heavy & seemed too dry. While kneading it seemed to tear & break & wan't smooth & elastic. It didn't rise properly & I ended up with dense loaves that taste ok but aren't the bread I'd like to make.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that in the days when people baked bread all the time, they made 4 to 6 loaves so they could bake as much as possible at one time. I found a recipe for 4 loaves that uses about 12 cups of flour which had so-so results the first try but I think I can do better the next time.

I was hoping I'd find some bread experts here who could help me in my quest. But maybe I'd be better baking 2 at a time.

[Heather Sullivan]

I've found bread doesn't keep so well so it's easier for me to bake what I need for a day, maybe a day and a half rather than baking enough bread for the week.

[Donna M.]

I'm pretty sure what the problem was by your description. I think that the dough was not kneaded enough to develop the gluten. That is why it didn't rise properly. In the future, you could divide the dough into smaller portions and knead each individually. I really think it would be almost as fast to just mix up two separate batches of dough, though.

When kneading by hand, you must knead very thoroughly, for a minimum of 10 minutes. Your dough should look smooth and satiny, and feel kind of like your earlobe when pinched. Don't add too much flour. The dough should be slightly sticky. I usually lightly flour my surface and spray my hands with Pam before working with dough.

[UnknownChef86]

Donna M. wrote:
Hi Maggie! That is a montrous amount of dough to work with. I personally can't imagine it. You should be able to double a 2-loaf recipe if that is what you want. What went wrong when you tried it before?

It's funny what different people's perception of monstrous is. My "normal" batch makes 3-4 loaves, depending on the size of the pan. To me, a single-loaf batch seems like it's almost not worth bothering over if I'm going to make it by hand. I just throw that in my bread-machine. The largest batch of dough I ever made by hand made 15 loaves. I don't remember now why it was that I made such a large batch. I just remember kneading this mound of dough, baking it off for what seemed like forever and thinking that I...would...never...do...it...again!

By the way, Maggie, I would have to agree with Donna's take on why your bread didn't fly. It sounds like it wasn't kneaded enough, thereby not allowing the gluten to build up properly. Another possible reason could be the flour range. How much flour you need can vary drastically due to the humidity (or lack of it) in the air, the age of the flour, and even the type of wheat used (soft or hard wheat). If there's a range (3-4 cups, for example), always go for the lower range and add more as needed. Even when I'm making bread in the bread machine, I check it a couple of times while it's mixing, to make sure the ratio is right.

I would say first, find a bread dough that you like. Then, imo, there's no reason that you couldn't multiply it times 4 to make a bigger batch. I'll be honest and say that I've found three to four loaves to be the most comfortable for me to work with. Any bigger and it starts to get a little unwieldy. You may possibly have to play with the salt in the recipe. Salt doesn't always multiply out right in some recipes, for whatever reason. But you might want to try it with the original amount to start.

Hope some of this helps.

[MEAN CHEF]

UnknownChef86 wrote:

Donna M. wrote:
Hi Maggie! That is a montrous amount of dough to work with. I personally can't imagine it. You should be able to double a 2-loaf recipe if that is what you want. What went wrong when you tried it before?

It's funny what different people's perception of monstrous is. My "normal" batch makes 3-4 loaves, depending on the size of the pan. To me, a single-loaf batch seems like it's almost not worth bothering over if I'm going to make it by hand. I just throw that in my bread-machine. The largest batch of dough I ever made by hand made 15 loaves. I don't remember now why it was that I made such a large batch. I just remember kneading this mound of dough, baking it off for what seemed like forever and thinking that I...would...never...do...it...again!

By the way, Maggie, I would have to agree with Donna's take on why your bread didn't fly. It sounds like it wasn't kneaded enough, thereby not allowing the gluten to build up properly. Another possible reason could be the flour range. How much flour you need can vary drastically due to the humidity (or lack of it) in the air, the age of the flour, and even the type of wheat used (soft or hard wheat). If there's a range (3-4 cups, for example), always go for the lower range and add more as needed. Even when I'm making bread in the bread machine, I check it a couple of times while it's mixing, to make sure the ratio is right.

I would say first, find a bread dough that you like. Then, imo, there's no reason that you couldn't multiply it times 4 to make a bigger batch. I'll be honest and say that I've found three to four loaves to be the most comfortable for me to work with. Any bigger and it starts to get a little unwieldy. You may possibly have to play with the salt in the recipe. Salt doesn't always multiply out right in some recipes, for whatever reason. But you might want to try it with the original amount to start.

Hope some of this helps.

You cannot multiply all the ingredients in bread by 4 and expect it to work. You would have an overabundance of yeast.

[UnknownChef86]

MEAN CHEF wrote:

UnknownChef86 wrote:

Donna M. wrote:
Hi Maggie! That is a montrous amount of dough to work with. I personally can't imagine it. You should be able to double a 2-loaf recipe if that is what you want. What went wrong when you tried it before?

It's funny what different people's perception of monstrous is. My "normal" batch makes 3-4 loaves, depending on the size of the pan. To me, a single-loaf batch seems like it's almost not worth bothering over if I'm going to make it by hand. I just throw that in my bread-machine. The largest batch of dough I ever made by hand made 15 loaves. I don't remember now why it was that I made such a large batch. I just remember kneading this mound of dough, baking it off for what seemed like forever and thinking that I...would...never...do...it...again!

By the way, Maggie, I would have to agree with Donna's take on why your bread didn't fly. It sounds like it wasn't kneaded enough, thereby not allowing the gluten to build up properly. Another possible reason could be the flour range. How much flour you need can vary drastically due to the humidity (or lack of it) in the air, the age of the flour, and even the type of wheat used (soft or hard wheat). If there's a range (3-4 cups, for example), always go for the lower range and add more as needed. Even when I'm making bread in the bread machine, I check it a couple of times while it's mixing, to make sure the ratio is right.

I would say first, find a bread dough that you like. Then, imo, there's no reason that you couldn't multiply it times 4 to make a bigger batch. I'll be honest and say that I've found three to four loaves to be the most comfortable for me to work with. Any bigger and it starts to get a little unwieldy. You may possibly have to play with the salt in the recipe. Salt doesn't always multiply out right in some recipes, for whatever reason. But you might want to try it with the original amount to start.

Hope some of this helps.

You cannot multiply all the ingredients in bread by 4 and expect it to work. You would have an overabundance of yeast.

Depends on the recipe, the cook, and perhaps even the preferences. If that has been your experience, I can see why you would advise that. I, personally, haven't had any problem with it and see no particular reason to advise otherwise.

[MEAN CHEF]

UnknownChef86 wrote:

MEAN CHEF wrote:

UnknownChef86 wrote:

Donna M. wrote:
Hi Maggie! That is a montrous amount of dough to work with. I personally can't imagine it. You should be able to double a 2-loaf recipe if that is what you want. What went wrong when you tried it before?

It's funny what different people's perception of monstrous is. My "normal" batch makes 3-4 loaves, depending on the size of the pan. To me, a single-loaf batch seems like it's almost not worth bothering over if I'm going to make it by hand. I just throw that in my bread-machine. The largest batch of dough I ever made by hand made 15 loaves. I don't remember now why it was that I made such a large batch. I just remember kneading this mound of dough, baking it off for what seemed like forever and thinking that I...would...never...do...it...again!

By the way, Maggie, I would have to agree with Donna's take on why your bread didn't fly. It sounds like it wasn't kneaded enough, thereby not allowing the gluten to build up properly. Another possible reason could be the flour range. How much flour you need can vary drastically due to the humidity (or lack of it) in the air, the age of the flour, and even the type of wheat used (soft or hard wheat). If there's a range (3-4 cups, for example), always go for the lower range and add more as needed. Even when I'm making bread in the bread machine, I check it a couple of times while it's mixing, to make sure the ratio is right.

I would say first, find a bread dough that you like. Then, imo, there's no reason that you couldn't multiply it times 4 to make a bigger batch. I'll be honest and say that I've found three to four loaves to be the most comfortable for me to work with. Any bigger and it starts to get a little unwieldy. You may possibly have to play with the salt in the recipe. Salt doesn't always multiply out right in some recipes, for whatever reason. But you might want to try it with the original amount to start.

Hope some of this helps.

You cannot multiply all the ingredients in bread by 4 and expect it to work. You would have an overabundance of yeast.

Depends on the recipe, the cook, and perhaps even the preferences. If that has been your experience, I can see why you would advise that. I, personally, haven't had any problem with it and see no particular reason to advise otherwise.

Believe me it has nothing whatever to do with the recipe, the cook or even preferences. YOU DO NOT increase the yeast near as much as you would the rest of the ingredients. Bread baking 101.

[UnknownChef86]

MEAN CHEF wrote:

UnknownChef86 wrote:

MEAN CHEF wrote:
You cannot multiply all the ingredients in bread by 4 and expect it to work. You would have an overabundance of yeast.

Depends on the recipe, the cook, and perhaps even the preferences. If that has been your experience, I can see why you would advise that. I, personally, haven't had any problem with it and see no particular reason to advise otherwise.

Believe me it has nothing whatever to do with the recipe, the cook or even preferences. YOU DO NOT increase the yeast near as much as you would the rest of the ingredients. Bread baking 101.

MC, I have no interest in arguing with you, therefore I will not do so. I will say, however, that in my experience as a professional breadmaker, and in my personal experience, I have not found this to be the case.

Recipes sometimes need to be adjusted. That is true. At that point, adjust them. But I have not found it to be the case in what you are saying.

[MaggieFlyer]

Thanks to all who have taken the time to give some advice. I've been too busy lately to try another batch, have just been using the breadmaker. But I will try 4 loaves again soon.