Stupid bread making question alert...

beebuzz168

Right, there is still snow outside so I'm not going anywhere today, and I've had some packet yeast sitting in my cupboard for months so it's time to do some breadmaking :j

I've already hit upon my first problem - what sort of flour do I use? I know this is probably a ridiculous question, but should I use plain or self raising?

All I can seem to find on the net is comarisons between using bread flour or all-purpose flour...

Can anyone help a complete novice like me?!

Thanks

CCP

The best flour for making bread is proper bread flour (obviously) - it has a higher gluten content than plain or self raising flour so the loaf rises better. I think you should be able to use either plain or self raising instead, though - your bread won't rise as much and won't be as soft and fluffy as if you had used bread flour, but it should be edible, at least.

I seem to remember that someone on the forum tried this just before Christmas and reported that it did work, so hopefully whoever it was will be along shortly to confirm how they did it!

HTH

The_Mighty_Gusset

Strong Plain Flour - the stronger the better
Self-Raising is for making cakes.

beebuzz168

Thanks CCP

So, given that I'm going to use an all-purpose flour, it wouldn't matter whether this was plain or self-raising?

My initial assumption was that it would be plain flour as the yeast will do the "raising" bit but then I had a moment of indecision and now I don't know what to do!

Debran

My mother made bread every week when I was a child. That would have been during the 1940s. She used plain flour. There wasn't such a choice of types of flour like there is today: just plain, self-raising or brown.

ragz_2

I made some the other day with value plain flour and it was fine. I followed the recipe on the yeast packet.

Sublime_2

I have found they don't always rise so much with ordinary flour, as opposed to strong flour, but still makes an acceptable loaf.

CCP

beebuzz168 wrote: »

Thanks CCP

So, given that I'm going to use an all-purpose flour, it wouldn't matter whether this was plain or self-raising?

My initial assumption was that it would be plain flour as the yeast will do the "raising" bit but then I had a moment of indecision and now I don't know what to do!

I haven't tried this myself, but, if I had to choose, I'd probably go for plain rather than self raising. If SR was all you had, though, it would probably be fine - I can't imagine the addition of a bit of baking powder (which is what they add to make it SR, I think) would do any harm.

Please post back to let me know how it goes - I'm intrigued to know if it works as I've just used the last of my bread flour and may need to try this myself if things don't thaw out soon!

beebuzz168

I opted for plain flour... it's now doing it's first stint in the airing cupboard.

Fingers crossed... will post back with my results later

Lily-Lu

beebuzz168 wrote: »

I opted for plain flour... it's now doing it's first stint in the airing cupboard.

Fingers crossed... will post back with my results later

I used plain flour a few weeks back (thought I was out of bread flour at the time, and didn't realise I had a whole unopened packet at the back of the cupboard). Anyway, I was pleasently surprised at the results. It turned out nicer than any I'd made before using the strong bread flour. Even my eldest son commented on how nice it was. So, I bet yours will turn out fine

beebuzz168

Well... I'm so blooming proud of myself, the bread is lovely!!

As a first attempt I think it was pretty spot on, so I can confirm that using plain old plain flour makes very good bread - can't confirm whether it's better than using proper bread flour as have never tried it that way!

Thanks for the advice guys...