"notbob" > wrote in message
...
>
>> For a 'french bread' I am assuming 100% white flour so it you have a
>> decent
>> protein level flour (better for bread etc), added gluten isnt needed at
>> all.
>
> This is getting really old. I even bought a fresh jar of Fleischmann's
> BreadMachine yeast. It still came out a brick. A 60%-of-pan size brick
> as
> opposed to the last 40%-of-pan size brick, but a brick just the same.
> Nice
> even air pockets (small), good flavor, good crumb (?), but definitely not
> a
> loaf of French bread. No loft. No large air pockets. This getting very
> frustrating. I might try the other machine. The other machine gave me a
> bigger (more rise) loaf despite being a rye recipe. Grrrr.......
>
> nb

The kind of French bread you are attempting can't be made in bread machine.
The dough needs to be a wet (high hydration) dough. For final shaping, the
dough needs to be handled as little as possible. The large, airy holes are
developed from pre-existing holes from the first rise. If the dough is
kneaded and rolled a lot before the final rise, all the big holes are broken
down into many little holes and produce a final crumb of fine texture and
small holes. You could try removing the dough from the bread machine before
the final kneading/manipulation and then shaping the dough yourself and
baking off in the oven.
Janet