Kinnikinnick bread mix
Today I decided to try making bread again, this time with kinnikinnick Kinni-Kwick Bread & Bun Mix. Because I live at a high altitude, and am still learning to bake at over 8,000 feet, I did a google search for instructions on baking gluten free at high altitude. The instructions I found advised me to:
1. Increase baking temperature by 25 degrees.
2. Subtract 5-8 minutes of baking time.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of flour for every 1,000 feet over 3,500 feet.
4. Decrease liquid by 1 tablespoon for every 1,000 feet over 3,000 feet.
Now that I had my adjustments, I started my baking experiment. On the back of the package of Kinni-Kwik Bread & Bun Mix, the instructions say:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Blend 3 parts of mix with 2 parts of cold water, milk, or non-dairy alternative. Mix the batter for a full 2-3 minutes with elextric beater. Scoop into greased muffin pans or small bread pans. Place pans in pre-heated oven immediately and bake 20-30 minutes for buns and 40-50 minutes for breads.
The full bag contains 5 1/2 cups of mix, and says to use 3 3/4 cups of liquid for the entire bag. So, here is what I added:
The full bag of mix
1 egg
enough liquid with the egg to make 3 1/2 cups liquid
4 tablespoons of sweet sorghum flour
I mixed it for 3 minutes, then scooped the batter into two disposable loaf pans. I placed the pans on a cookied sheet and placed them into my oven, which I had preheated to 400 degrees F. Then I set the timer for 40 minutes.
Ooops! high altitude did this!
When the time went off, OMG! It was like a lava flow! It was like the blob! It was like this stuff just kept on growing! It overflowed onto the cookie sheet, and then some. It was in the bottom of my oven, burning to black cinders there.
The overflow burned in the oven
I had to use a knife to cut the two pans apart. There was about a third of the product wasted by it climbing out of my pans. The good news is, that I was able to salvage it, and will be using it to make some dressing for chicken and dressing next week. It just wasn’t in the slicable loaf format that I was looking for.
The inside of the bread turned out good!
All this aside, I don’t think it was the fault of the product itself–it has to be the high altitude causing the humongous rising of the dough, producing the siamese twin loaves of bread, and the lava flow onto the cookie sheet.
After I was able to get the loaves apart, and cut the overflow off the sides of the pans, the loaves came out great!
All turned out good!
The end product is a sliceable loaf of bread, that tastes pretty darn good. I will use this mix again, but if I am still at high altitude I will use three pans instead of two.
good bread after all
Thoroughly enjoyed the laughter I shared WITH you over this ordeal. I must say, whether your postings are heart-warming, funny, or just filled with incredible scenery in photographs, I always enjoy them.
Too funny, I love to hear stories of others tragedies …I can't tell you how many breads I have punted out the door. One time it took 2 dogs to drag off the last horrible bread. They couldn't even tear it between them so they each took a side of the bread and ran down the alleyway with it. They had to figure out how to share.
Fortunately, yours still was etable. I was working on Betty Hagmans breads which just did not work for me for some reason, so I quit until I found Pamela's bread mix. Which works great and now I make other breads from scratch.
Sounds like your having the time of your life! Keep on with it!
I'm presently at about 7,800 ft. in Colorado and my muffins also were a disaster at this altitude. Betty Crocker gluten free cupcakes came out excellent with no adjustments. Namaste cookie mix came out excellent, also, with no adjustments. I have Kinnikinick bread mix and will wait to return home in AZ (4,400 ft.) to try it out.