That could be your problem. It needs to be something like "Fast Action dried yeast" (or at least that's what my Sainsbury's own brand says on the box). It does not last for long compared to a lot of things you might keep in a larder - the BBE date on my latest purchase from a massive Sainsbury's branch (so I assume high turnover) is less than 1 year off. Have a look at the BBE date on yours...
That's the same batch I'm using up before I switch to the May 2015.... It worked OK for me yesterday, in the ratio 1 teaspoon yeast to 500g flour, 300ml water, 1.5 teaspoons salt and a larger spoon of sugar, plus some oil. The Panasonic does take around 3 hours to make the dough, but then it's ready to bake, although yesterday it probably sat around for at least another couple of hours before baking. Your loaf does not look as flat as what I have managed by forgetting to put the yeast in!
Tomorrow shall be another attempt. We'll see how it goes! No machines here though. (Apart from the oven.). I want to be able to make great bread by hand!
Try looking at a book called Dough - Simple Contemporary Bread by Richard Bertinet. He has a very different way of kneeding the dough but I've had some really good results using his method. For his basic bread recipie he uses no fats or sugar, just flour, yeast, water, and salt. He explains the basic methods on making the dough and shaping it for various types of loaf or roll He cooks quite well for a French man
I'd recommend the River Cottage Bread Book, it'll give you an good understanding of the basic techniques and processes of making bread, along with a decent selection of recipes. I've got a few other bread books, but that's the one I use most often, usually improvising on the basic recipe to get the type of bread I want.
I had another go. After the last 2 attempts I tried to evaluate what I thought I could do differently to result a better loaf. I applied all the advice I was given; I used strong flour instead of plain, more yeast, some sugar, hotter water when making the dough, I did a second rise and the oven was hotter at the time of putting in the oven. It's a lot better this time. The loaf rose nicely and whilst still heavy overall, there was a nice springy feel when it came out the oven. The crust is nice and thin, a complete bake through out the loaf and the inside is nice and springy. The strong flour makes a much nicer dough. I only did an hour for each rise, so the signs are encouraging that if I was able to wait a while longer if get a nice big loaf. I also need to invest in a bread tin. Here's the results: For the next loaf: *Wait longer for a decent 2nd rise. *Try a slightly cooler oven temp. (220C meant a quick rise in the oven but a quick completion time. Slightly cooler might hold off the crust formation longer) *Add salt *Use a bread tin
Looking pretty good, although I think you need to look at your shaping technique. (See that River Cottage book that I mentioned before.) You only need a bread tin if you want bread that looks like it's been baked in a tin; I rarely bother with that, although I do often use baskets or a French roll tray. Even if you're using a tin, you should still learn how to shape the dough correctly before it goes in the tin. I don't generally use sugar (unless I have to resort to yeast that needs to be activated in advance). I suspect you want deeper slashes in the top of your loaf. Start with the oven hot (250°C, if it'll do it). After 10 minutes, check how it's doing, and turn the heat down to somewhere between 170°C and 200°C, depending on whether it's starting to brown or still looks very pale.
My most recent attempt has just come out of the oven. I tried your advice of 250C for 10 minutes then 10mins at 180C. It worked pretty well. However! I put the dough in a saucepan for the second rise, in the airing cupboard for an hour. It filled the sauce pan and would have made a lovely light, enormous loaf if I could have baked it in there. It lost a lot of puff removing it from the pan but gained most of it back in the bake. If id kept it in a bread tin I think it would be lighter in future. I must get one. I used twice the amount of flour and I've started to add all my other ingredients by feel rather than weight. It seems to work out ok. I'm pretty happy with the dough and taste now, just need to find the best way to retain all the gassy goodness in the final product from the second rise. Tastes good too but needs more salt. Edit: I also forgot to cut it before the bake, so could have improved that too.
