Cooking for the Freezer..

rchddap1

All this talk about fresh bread is making me hungry. And I'm finding myself contemplating getting a bread maker too. Got to find somewhere to put it first though. I only have a small kitchen and every corner is crammed full of things. Mind you I do have a cunning plan as baldrick would say. Thanks for the inspiration.

Curry_Queen

I have a minute kitchen and my breadmaker, slowcooker, GF grill live in their boxes on top of the fridge/freezer so I have to get them out to use, which take up all the space on my worktop, and clean and put them away again straight away

rchddap1

Swing a cat in my kitchen and it would hit all four walls as they say. I'm going to try and re-organise one of my cupboards. If I can sort that out, there should be enough room for a breadmaker. At least in theory anyway.

I think it might be about time that I treated myself. I've been really good with my cash this month so far.

squeaky

Curry_Queen wrote:

I did notice though that in this recipe it didn't have sugar listed, which every other loaf I've made asks for, and is presumably needed to aid the yeast in rising o

I reckon the recipe IS wrong. You must have sugar to feed the yeast. I've never seen a bread recipe without it either.

megasaver

Curry_Queen wrote:

It was a granary loaf, first time I've ever made one, using the Hovis granary flour and following the recipe on the packet, so have no idea what went wrong

Hi CQ, I too couldn't get on with Hovis granary flour - so don't despair, my loaves never turned out the way I expected with this flour - infact according to OH I could easily have broken a toe if I had dropped the loaf on my foot as it was soooo heavy . The only thing that saved the day was to use a light wholemeal recipe eg use 2/3 white flour and 1/3 hovis granary flour and remember to use sugar! BTW I still use granary flour but it always works out to 30% or maximum 50% of recipe. Why not have a go with a recipe you know works for you and just replace part of the flour with granary

HTH

PS sorry to go off topic again....arghhhhhh!

Curry_Queen

Ok, reading from the side of the Hovis Granary flour packet ...

Bread Machine recipe

500g Hovis Granary Bread Flour
25g butter
11/2 tsp salt
11/4 tsp Hovis Fast Action Yeast**
350ml warm water


**I used Dove Farm's Quick Yeast, as I do in all my breadmaking in the machine and never had a problem with it

Instructions were to add ingredients as per machine instructions (with mine it's fluids first then butter and flour and make a well for the yeast, keeping it away from salt) and set to wheatbread setting and large loaf (in my case that's 1kg loaf)

If anyone can see a flaw in this then please tell me as I want to try it again but get it right this time

rchddap1

Possibly the Hovis Fast Action Yeast already has an element of sugar added...hence the lack of it in the recipe? Or is my brain just going to sleep this Friday pm

Curry_Queen

megasaver wrote:

BTW I still use granary flour but it always works out to 30% or maximum 50% of recipe. Why not have a go with a recipe you know works for you and just replace part of the flour with granary

I'll give that a go and let you know how it turns out, thanks

Glad to know it's not just me that had problems with it

Curry_Queen

rchddap1 wrote:

Possibly the Hovis Fast Action Yeast already has an element of sugar added...hence the lack of it in the recipe? Or is my brain just going to sleep this Friday pm

I did wonder that too but I'm sure I've used that yeast before (if it's the one that comes in individual sachets) and I always added sugar with that too when doing white loaves

I don't have a packet to compare as I switched to Tesco own brand before buying the Dove packets from Lakeland.

rchddap1

I'll just go back to sleep then. Goodnight all.