Bread machine: wet or dry ingredients first?

[whimsicalname]

I just bought a second hand bread machine with no instruction manual. Whilst I've got the hang of a few recipes, I'm still at a loss as to what order to put the ingredients in in. Someone said I should put liquid in first, but this seems counter intuitive.

It's a US brand which they don't have in the UK (and don't have instructions for on line, annoyingly).

Any ideas?

I have a Panasonic and the water goes in last

I put it in in this order: yeast, flour, salt, sugar, oil and then water.

That's how they tell you to do it in the Panasonic booklet that comes with the machine

Zombie also has a Panasonic. All the recipes have the liquid ingredients in first, followed by the flour and then the salt, sugar and yeast.

I have a Panasonic, and the instruction leaflet order is the same as Norberts - liquid last. Although I discovered recently that DH has been doing it the other way around for at least 3 years with no apparent difference - so I don't really think it matters!

Sorry, it's a Kenwood, not a Panasonic. The instruction booklet says to always put the water in first followed by the other ingredients in the order listed in the recipes. All the recipes have the liquids listed first as I said in my previous post.

Interesting! I might just try water first one day. You know, when I'm feeling reckless.Thank-you all.

I have a Panasonic and, despite the instructions saying water last, I put in water first, the dry ingredients on top and then make a little dent in the flour for the yeast. Makes lovely bread and I'm sure it'd be just as lovely the other way around as well. If I'm setting the delay timer to make a loaf the next day I think keeping the yeast dry until it gets started makes sense.

I have a Panasonic and have been doing it the wrong way round (water first) for years without problems. I recently did it the correct way and couldn't tell the difference.

I have a Morphy Richards and it is water first and yeast last. The key is to stop the yeast starting to react with the water before the mixing starts. So if you put the water in last and immediately started the machine, you would be fine. But if you wanted to delay the start, you are better to put the water in first and let the other ingredients soak into it, and then put the yeast on top and it is less likely to start reacting. I think anyway.

The main thing is to keep the yeast away from the salt as that will kill it.

I have had both a machine that listed to put the water in first, and a machine that lists the water last. As others have said it is about keeping the salt and yeast apart - so placing the flour and water inbetween is ideal.

I had an LG and used a couple of panasonic recipes I found online and they worked well on the small loaf size

I put them in in the order they come out the cupboard.

My Morphy Richards says put the wet ingredients in first, and the yeast last. BUT, I don't use it now, I bake by hand and you start off by activating the yeast in the water before adding the flour or, if using the half-sponge method, mixing half the flour, all the water and all the yeast together, only adding the other half of the flour 6-8 hours later. I don't think there is any hard and fast rule so long as you keep the yeast away from the salt for as long as possible. In defence of the manufacturers of all these machines, you have to put instructions because people expect them.

Well, I tell you, water in first with my bread machine is a revelation. It's made a corker of a loaf.

The only problem is that I use cup measures, and usually use the 2 cups of water in at the end to rinse it round. Now I need to find another cup measure so that the flour doesn't stick to the cup. But I imagine that's not insurmountable.

Thank you all for your input.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but after the maker has done all the hardwork before it starts baking do you remove the padel

No, I just let it bake with it in. That way I get to pick bits off while it's hot.

I have a Panasonic and the recipe book states wet ingredients first. That's the way i've always done it in the machine.

Hand made however it dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, then add the wet.