I wish to bake my own organic bread..can anyone help please?

taxi73

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if any of you smart people can help me...

I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and I'm trying to follow an organic diet at the moment.

I have a real problem trying to find organic bread in the shops so I was wondering about these breadmakers and what ingredients I need to make the loaf and whether I can buy all the organic ingredients....


So basically two questions
(1) Which is the best breadmaker on the market?
(2) What are the ingredients I need to bake an organic loaf(I prefer wholemeal) and are they easy to find?

I'd be grateful for any help ...thanks taxi x

Paranoid

Hi Taxi

Can't advise on bread making machines as I have made our bread for years by hand. Very satisfying. You'll never be happy with shop bread again!
So far as ingredients go all you need is wholemeal organic flour (preferably stone ground), salt, water. and yeast. Make sure the flour is marked as 'hard' or for 'bread making' A little fat, I use butter, helps flavour and keeping. I use about 1/2 oz to 16oz flour.
Personally I use fresh yest, cheap from Morrison's SM. Others say dried yeast OK.
Organic flour is not hard to find in supermarkets or health food shops. Or you might care to look at www.shipton-mill.com. They produce a splendid range of flours and will send for a fixed charge of £5. Still a good buy so long as you order a reasonable quantity.
If you are not fixated on a bread making machine a mixer with a dough hook is a fast alternative to hand kneading.
The 'bible' of bread making is Elizabeth David's 'Bread & Yeast Cookery'.
Hope the bread and BC work out well.

vatic

taxi,

I bought a Panasonic SD254 breadmaker 2 weeks ago and have been extremely pleased with it. Panasonic also has an older SD253 and an the newest is the SD255 which has an automatic raisin dispenser. They all regularly go on offer at hotukdeals.com so it's worth checking out there or on ebay if you're more adventurous.

I have been able to find breadmaking ingredients anywhere for good prices. I have bought organic wholemeal strong bread flour at my local Sainsbury's and Asda. They both worked very well. Both of the shops also had a good variety of other organic flours available too (spelt, rye, granary, etc.). Make sure if you're using a breadmaker to make bread that you use dried fast acting yeast (comes in packets -- I have used Allinson's with good success). You will also need water, and small amounts of salt and granulated sugar to make basic wholemeal loaves.

A big thing I can recommend is make sure you have a kitchen scale too. Yes, yes that sounds obvious but I never owned one until I bought my breadmaker -- it makes the difference between perfect bread and barely edible!

MyRubyRed

taxi73 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Just wondering if any of you smart people can help me...

I have been diagnosed with breast cancer and I'm trying to follow an organic diet at the moment.

I have a real problem trying to find organic bread in the shops so I was wondering about these breadmakers and what ingredients I need to make the loaf and whether I can buy all the organic ingredients....


So basically two questions
(1) Which is the best breadmaker on the market?
(2) What are the ingredients I need to bake an organic loaf(I prefer wholemeal) and are they easy to find?

I'd be grateful for any help ...thanks taxi x

I can't bake at all I just want to wish you well xx

cyberbob

I have a Panasonic breadmaker which I do not use much as you can tell the difference between breadmaker bread and totally handmade. I make most of mine by hand and once you have a system and recipes you are happy with its doesn't take too long.

I use Dove flour for all may baking and there is a noticable quality difference

http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/

You can buy it in most supermarkets but their less popular ones you may need a good local shop. I'm lucky we have a great local shop that sells a huge variety.

If you do decide on an breadmaker the Panasonic ones seem to have the best reviews my MIL has a kenwood one and thats not too bad either as the bread doesn't tast overly breadmakerish

MarieSmith

I have the Panasonic SD255 got it from kitchen science as it was the cheapest deal I could find at the time. Before I bought it I did a very thorough research and it was the best it the market with consistent excellent results.

I've had it for about a year now and I bake bread at least 3 times a week. It is always delicious and with minimal effort. I use the M&S organic (wholemeal or white) flour and it gives me the best results from any other and I have tried almost all brands (including all those mentioned above).

I recommend the two hands down. I also use the SD255 and the M&S flour to make other types of bread (sweet, savoury, stuffed etc) and pizza bases and cakes. Always great.
Also surprisingly the Tesco organic self raising flour is also excellent for cakes etc.

rachbc

I started out with bm but now do it by hand as its so much better and really very easyif you get in a routine and bake a few loaves at a time.

Yeast and salt have no organic classification so all you need to worry about is organic bread flour which is easily available in supermarkets and health food shops.

Good luck with everything

taxi73

Thanks everyone for your help.
I'd heard the panasonic ones are good...funny enough it was the yeast and salt that I was worried about getting organically..lol...but if they have no classification then no worries.
I won't be able to knead by hand as I have my operation on friday and I also don't have a proper oven at the moment.
So I thought a breadmaker would be best forme...I'll have a look at that panasonic model.
Thanks for the help.

Paranoid

Hi Taxi

Best wishes for Friday

taxi73

Thanks Paranoid xxx

You shall be pleased to know that from your help I have just reserved a Panasonic sd255..the last one in the store for collection tomorrow.I have got my text code for it and am looking forward to making my own bread.
The reviews are great on that model.