[mumofstig]

It's on the next shopping list now, thank you 

[Aunt Sally]

Not orange flavoured of course 

[shokkyy]

I hadn't realised it improved the bread, I always thought it was used purely as a preservative. I've got some in the cupboad because I use it for freezing apples, so I'll try chucking some in.

PS Just as an aside, have you ever looked through the recipes on the Dove's website? Some of them look yum, I could have a lot of fun working through that list.

[Aunt Sally]

Vitamin C in Dough Systems
Ascorbic acid’s ability to improve bread dough
has been known since the 1930s. In dough systems,
adding ascorbic acid to the flour improves
both bread texture and loaf volume. The ascorbic
acid is first oxidized to dehydroascorbic acid. Then
the reduction of dehydroascorbic acid back to
ascorbic acid drives the reaction of sulfhydryl
compounds in the gluten to form intermolecular
disulfide bonds. It is the network of
disulfide bonds formed in the gluten structure that
enables the dough to retain carbon dioxide produced
by the yeast, which in turn allows for
maximum volume and improved texture.

But I'm sure you all knew that anyway

[mumofstig]

Of course we did   

[shokkyy]

Does the amount of Vit C go in proportion with the amount of flour, i.e. if 1tsp = 1kg flour, 0.5 tsp = 500g flour?

[Aunt Sally]

It's the way I do it but I don't think it's critical.

[Chrysalis]

Just a query... did you check that it wasn't Dove's Gluten-free flour?  It makes a deal of difference....  sometimes it's a small label (or I must be blind occasionally!)

[shokkyy]

Just for interest, here's an update on this. I tried changing the amount of sugar, salt, water, and I tried adding vitamin C. I even tried making the dough by hand instead of using the machine. None of this made any difference.

So then I tried sending an email to Panasonic customer support (makers of my bread machine), explaining my problem. They said that a great many people were having similar problems this year. They said that poorly risen loaves were most often caused by poor gluten content in the flour, which this year is common because of the poor wheat harvest caused by the difficult weather conditions. Apparently that's particularly the case with organic flour, because the quality of the gluten is entirely dependent on weather and soil conditions since the farmer is unable to add anything chemical to help or protect the wheat while it's growing.

In all honesty, I didn't believe them. But I bought a bag of supermarket own brand bread flour to try, just to eliminate that possibility. And it rose beautifully, no problems at all. It was the Dove's flour causing the problem all along. I have used Dove's in the past with no problems, but I guess it's just this particular batch. Sadly, I had bought two of their bulk packs, i.e. 10 bags of flour

[compostqueen]

I used some Doves spelt flour today, a fresh bag. It was fine, thankfully 

[mumofstig]

They said that poorly risen loaves were most often caused by poor gluten content in the flour, which this year is common because of the poor wheat harvest caused by the difficult weather conditions. Apparently that's particularly the case with organic flour, because the quality of the gluten is entirely dependent on weather and soil conditions since the farmer is unable to add anything chemical to help or protect the wheat while it's growing.

In all honesty, I didn't believe them. But I bought a bag of supermarket own brand bread flour to try, just to eliminate that possibility. And it rose beautifully, no problems at all. It was the Dove's flour causing the problem all along. I have used Dove's in the past with no problems, but I guess it's just this particular batch. Sadly, I had bought two of their bulk packs, i.e. 10 bags of flour

Supermarket may have imported flour, foreign flour is often hard wheat, as I understand it.
It's worth asking Dove what has caused the problem this year, they may have advice for you.

[Aidy]

I would check with Doves too.
Personally I only ever use Carrs or Allinsons as I have always had top results with them so it aint broke so I aint fixing it