Baking bread

Carmen

I have been thinking about baking my own bread. I shall be buying a bread maker, but I have know idea beyond that
What flour, yeast etc should I buy? Is it cheaper than buying bread (even with supermarket offers?)
Can anyone please offer me advice?
Thanks
Carmen x

Mr_Lahey

General ingredients are:

Butter
Strong white flour
Dried Yeast
Water
Salt
Sugar

Personally i think its much better than buying bread.

knithryn

It won't be cheaper than your cheapest supermarket bread but that tastes like cotton wool.
It will make bread that fills you up, and it will make your house smell fab. Plus you can get a loaf made in the middle of the night in your pjs,... although it will take a few hours.

x-cupcake-x

I use Lidl strong bread flour currently 61p or Carrs Breadmaker Flour I think it's £1.30ish depends which shop I'm near when I need the flour.
I use a tin of Allinson yeast which says you can't use in BM but I've never had any problems with it :think:

I can get nearly 4 loaves of bread out of a 1.5kgs bag of flour, the yeast is 49 p the rest of the ingredients I have in the cupboard anyway, so apart from electricity it's about 30p if I'm using the Lidl flour for a really yummy loaf

Mr_Lahey

knithryn wrote: »

It won't be cheaper than your cheapest supermarket bread but that tastes like cotton wool.
It will make bread that fills you up, and it will make your house smell fab. Plus you can get a loaf made in the middle of the night in your pjs,... although it will take a few hours.

I usually sort the ingredients the night before and then set the timer for the bread to be ready at 6 am, my maker keeps it warm and when im up at 7 it is warm and good to be cut.

Like you said the house smells gorgeous!

thriftlady_2

Don't forget you can make it without a bread machine too

Handmade Bread

Swinstie73

Thanks thriftlady for that recipe, was just about to ask for one as I tried to make a loaf tonight and it came out like a brick! The dough was supposed to double in size but didn't work out. Will try that one.

bargainbird

Gotta say i have a BM, but don't use it. I do use a FP to do the dough tho

wssla00

I got my BM from Argos for £10.50 and it is brill takes a couple of hours and makes yum bread. The best mix i have found is ciabatta bread mix from aldi 59p and does two 1lb loaves. Other than that its well easy to make a batch from scratch so long as you keep yeast sugar salt and strong flour in your pantry

midnightraven3

this is a nice bread to make

http://www.bakingmad.com/recipes/herb-breads/grated-cheese-onion-bread

but i also have a breadmaker, and i LOVE it
i have the panasonic SD255, as many do
there are thread on here, somewhere about them as so many people love the machine
a bit pricier than most but worth it

Carmen

Thank you for your positive and helpful advice :T
WOW 30p a loaf :eek: that is a huge incentive.
Cannot bear the though of mixing a dough by hand, I suppose it keep the finger nails clean
Can I make the bread without salt? Some say it is not good without!
Carmen x