Homemade bread

Quenastoise

I like the idea of homemade bread but have not had much success before - all my loaves have been coming out heavy and cake-like.

Today, thanks to the good people at Hovis and their pre-prepared mix and a breadmaker, I've managed a light granary loaf - success ! However, even without buying the ingredient ready mixed and using my own mix instead, it means 4 hours of the breadmaker running - so surely it's not a money-saving idea ?

And if someone had a good recipe for bread, I'd be grateful. For instance, one of my cookery books is Warnes and they don't mention sugar in the mix. Surely yeast needs sugar to do its job and rise ?

Many thanks in advance

julie97au

I make my own wheaten bread and anyone who tries it loves it. Here is the recipe

12oz SR Soda Bread Flour
10 oz Wholewheat flour (course or fine depending on taste)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 oz marg
2-3 large handful caster sugar - (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 eggs
1 carton buttermilk )1 pint)

Sieve SB flour with baking powder
Rub in marg and sugar
Add wholewheat flour
Make well in indgredients adn add beaten egg and buttermilk until stodgey - not too wet or too dry - you may not use quite the full pint of milk
Divide between 2 greased loaftins lined with greaseproof paper
Bake in preheated oven at 180 for 40 - 45 minutes - skewer should come out clean

Really tasty and easily made. Hope you enjoy it.

alwaysonthego_2

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wssla00

julie97au wrote: »

I make my own wheaten bread and anyone who tries it loves it. Here is the recipe

12oz SR Soda Bread Flour
10 oz Wholewheat flour (course or fine depending on taste)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 oz marg
2-3 large handful caster sugar - (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 eggs
1 carton buttermilk )1 pint)

Sieve SB flour with baking powder
Rub in marg and sugar
Add wholewheat flour
Make well in indgredients adn add beaten egg and buttermilk until stodgey - not too wet or too dry - you may not use quite the full pint of milk
Divide between 2 greased loaftins lined with greaseproof paper
Bake in preheated oven at 180 for 40 - 45 minutes - skewer should come out clean

Really tasty and easily made. Hope you enjoy it.

Hiya,

Just a quickie. Where do you get soda bread flour? I don't think I have seen it in Scotland...

lindadykes

My "daily" bread these days is a no knead wholemeal recipe based on the Doris Grant loaf. This has got to be the easiest way to make bread and has just 3 ingredients other than water - wholemeal flour, yeast and salt. The loaf does tend to look a bit "cake like" when it comes out of the oven, but cut it open and it is the lightest recipe I've found for a 100% wholemeal loaf. You do need a loaf tin for this one though, but one can be bought cheaply in ASDA.

1lb Wholemeal Flour
1 tsp Instant dried yeast - I use the Dove's in the orange packet.
1 tsp salt
16 fl oz of handhot water - I use half boiling water and half cold and this seems to work ok.

Put flour, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl, stir to combine.

Add the water all at once and mix with a wooden spoon - don't overmix just mix till everything is combined.

The mixture at this point is much wetter than conventional bread dough which is why you need to use a loaf tin.

Tip the mixture into the greased loaf tin and roughly level the top.

Leave to stand in a warmish place till the dough rises to the top of the tin.

Pop into a preheated oven (200 C) for about 20 mins or so till nicely browned.

That's it! the easiest least labour intensive loaf I've ever made.

julie97au

Just a quickie. Where do you get soda bread flour? I don't think I have seen it in Scotland...

I buy it in my local Asda store. I am from Northern Ireland, but would imagine it should be able to be bought in Scotland too.

cheerfulness4

Quenastoise wrote: »

However, even without buying the ingredient ready mixed and using my own mix instead, it means 4 hours of the breadmaker running - so surely it's not a money-saving idea ?

I think you'd be shocked to realise what a small amount it costs. Well I was anyway. I used my monitor and it came to around 5p for the full cycle and less than a 1p to just make dough.

Even taking into allowance different machines and electric tariffs, I still thoguht this was rather good.

rosie383

The reason you don't need sugar for the recipe above is that the powdery yeast you buy now is a fast acting yeast and doesn't need sugar to activate it.

Have a try at some of the Irish breads which are easy and quick to make.

Wheaten soda:

11oz wholemeal flour
2 oz oats
1 oz butter ( I used Trexx)
1 tsp bicarb of soda
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
7 fl oz buttermilk (homemade style)

Preheat oven on full heat.
Put all dry ingredients into a bowl and rub in the fat.
Add enough buttermilk to give a dough that just comes together but isn't sticky. Form into a round about the size of a large bread plate and put on a baking tray dusted with flour and score a cross into the top.
Put on top shelf of oven and immediately turn heat down to gas mark 6. Bake for 25 mins.

lovelife_3

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

I think you'd be shocked to realise what a small amount it costs. Well I was anyway. I used my monitor and it came to around 5p for the full cycle and less than a 1p to just make dough.

Even taking into allowance different machines and electric tariffs, I still thoguht this was rather good.

Thank you for this information :T I am using my breadmaker every day and was worrying about this. I am using Asda Bread flour, only 60p for a 1.5 kg bag and i get 4 loaves out of it

MicheH

I'd really appreciate some help if you can.

I've made my third attempt at homemade bread, followed the instructions on the back of the pack of bread flour and it's still come out hard and heavy!

What am I doing wrong?

freyasmum

MicheH wrote: »

I'd really appreciate some help if you can.

I've made my third attempt at homemade bread, followed the instructions on the back of the pack of bread flour and it's still come out hard and heavy!

What am I doing wrong?

Hiya,

HM bread is always going to be denser and heavier (and generally yummier ) than shop bought. The reason for this is that shop bought bread - talking about sliced, prepacked bread here - is made using a process (chorleywood, if you're interested) that whips air into it, making it lighter. This is ideal for manufactureres as they can produce a bigger looking loaf with less actual bread!

Anyway, back on topic... you're probably not doing anything wrong at all, but you may want to check how old your levening agent is as yeast gets less effective with age. And another thing I've seen people mention is to add a vit c tablet as this helps the loaf to rise.

Hope that helps a bit