What makes bread turn out bitter?

[HeiressofBickworth]

I'm not a proficient bread-maker, but I'd like to start using my bread machine more often. I put all the ingredients required by the recipe in the bread machine and when it came out, the crust was too hard (I can turn it down to "light" crust) but the worst part was the bread tasted bitter. Not being able to use it for toast or sandwiches, I used it for french toast this morning -- still tasted bitter, even through the maple syrup. Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup water
2 cups white bread flour
1 tbsp dry milk
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp fast-rise yeast
Recipe from "Electric Bread" Innovative Cooking Enterprises 1994

Which ingredient or combination of ingredients caused the bread to be bitter?

Any assistance will be appreciated.
Thank you.

[rug]

1. They weren't rised well.

[HeiressofBickworth]

2. Do you mean the bread machine

didn't allow sufficient rising time? How would I overcome this?

[rug]

3. Sorry, it was a pun.

"They weren't raised well . . . "

I can't bake.

[elleng]

4. HA! THAT's good,

and TRUE!!!

[HeiressofBickworth]

5. Silly me

I thought your reply was a well-intentioned, knowledgeable suggestion as to the problem. The fact that I believed it shows that I'm no baker either.

You're a cutie -- thanks for the giggle.

[Warpy]

6. Nothing there should make it bitter to the point of being inedible

I would run a folded paper towel around by the mixing blade to see whether or not something is leaking into the container.

The only other culprit I can think of is rancid butter. While dry milk can go off, it takes a very long time for it to do so since butterfat has been removed from the solids.

My guesses are either that the moon was in the house of Klutz and the recipe had an accidental substitution or something is going on with the machine.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. Bitter taste => check the expiration date for the flour.

[Major Nikon]

8. Something may have not gotten mixed very well

Either that or your flour has gone rancid.

[HeiressofBickworth]

9. I doubt its the flour

I made another loaf of bread the same day -- different recipe -- and it turned out just fine. It was a French loaf, used the machine for the dough and then baked it. Likewise, the butter was good as I used it on the French bread and it tasted fine. The main difference between the two recipes was the French loaf did not call for dried milk nor did it call for butter. Could it bee the dried milk threw the taste off?

I think I'll look for a different recipe for plain white bread that doesn't have the dried milk in it to see if it makes a difference.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Are you using nonfat dried milk?

Generally nonfat dried milk is shelf stable for eons. Dried whole milk on the other hand can go bad with long or warm storage.

[freshwest]

10. Is it sour or bitter? Maybe it's from rancid butter, milk or old yeast?

[winter is coming]

12. It's either the butter or dry milk, and probably the butter.

IMO, salted butter tastes "old" long before unsalted does. I don't think I've ever had any unsalted butter lose its fresh taste, but that may be an artifact of how often I use unsalted versus salted. Also, it's possible for butter to pick up off odors/flavors from anything funky in your fridge. In that case, wrapping up anything "potent" helps, and a small box/dish of baking soda tends to absorb strong odors, too. btw, you can freeze butter, if it's something you don't use often.

I've never had dry milk go bad, but it does darken slightly as it ages... from "winter white" to a bona fide light ivory.