How do you manage your breadmaking?

Mrs_Cupier

I hope I'm not covering old ground here, couldn't find anything by searching the forum.

Anyway, I'm looking at the possibility of making our own bread. Family of 5, about 3-5 supermarket loaves a week depending on how often there is toast. The thing is, there isn't the space (or the cash!) for a breadmaker at the moment and, having borrowed my in-laws' breadmaker a couple of years ago, we weren't impressed with the results. So, I'm going to have to do it the really OS way - and I don't see how I can fit it into the week.

Do any of you produce this volume of bread without a machine? How do you manage the process? I've made our bread before, when DS1 was a baby, and had to stop because there just wasn't time and I was horribly ill being pregnant with DS2 - and we used a lot less then. I really don't want to be baking every other day (a real possibility if I do it a loaf at a time) but I'm worried about the time taken to mix, rise, knock back, rise again and bake 5 loaves at a time - particularly when I've only got two loaf tins.

Does anyone have any ideas I can pinch??

Thanks a lot!

super41

I realise you've given reasons for not getting a breadmaker, but I just wanted to say don't give up on the idea entirely. We have a Panasonic model and I have to say it makes the most fabulous bread and so easy! Takes a couple of minutes to add the ingredients and done over night it means you have a lovely fresh loaf in the morning. They're not cheap at about £85 I think but we reckon in the 2 years we've had it, it will have paid for itself. Can't bear bought bread now it seems so tasteless!

linzibean

I'm having a bit of trouble making bread now the weather has turned.... I only have electric heating in the flat so I don't like putting it on much, and dont have an airing cupboard - making leaving toe dought to proof not so easy!! I'll have ti bite the bullett and put the heating on sometime...

Mrs_Cupier

Thanks... I'd love a breadmaker if we could find one with good results, but I've the world's silliest kitchen. It was built in the 1930s, so not really designed for eating in ( but we have to!) and it was helpfully 'refitted' in the late 70s, moving the sink right next to the cooker (naturally!). What this really means is my only worksurface is 140cm by 50cm, and a breadmaker would eat a large chunk of that. I suppose I could make DH eat in the garden, and use his place at the table.....

rainbowrisin

There's only the littlies and I, so can't say we make 3-5 loaves a week, but I do make one or two a week. What I do is make the dough up the night before (usually takes about 10 minutes), then I leave it out to rise overnight. During the summer it was fine on the work surface, but now it's got a little cooler I've transferred the dough to near the airing cupboard where it's just a little warmer.
When I get up (about 6am) I switch the oven on, then knead the bread, shape the loaf or rolls and leave them to prove whilst I get youngest littlie washed, dressed and ready to face the day. I stick it in the oven then and it's warm bread rolls for brekkie (they take about 10 - 15 mins) and the loaf finishes off whilst we're all eating brekkie (I do a smallish loaf and four rolls from one batch of dough).
I find that fits well with our schedule. If I'm having an "oven" day I usually cook something else at the same time, which I prep the night before - a pie, flan, a chicken or whatever. The only thing I have to be careful about is to make sure we have a late start to the day (out of the house by 10, say) or my other things don't have time to cook, or will over cook if I leave them till we get back.
The actual bread making I find takes hardly any time, and I enjoy it. Hope that helps.

CoD_2

could you make a few loafs of bread, rolls, and freeze? bread can also be frozen in slices which helps as you can just defrost a few bits at a time. then you could just have say sunday afternoon as breadmaking time. x

kethry

i make my own bread by hand (was brought up to do it that way by Grandpa who made his own bread every other day first thing for 30 years after he retired). I might buy the odd loaf of tescos multigrain, but i try not to because 1) of the yeast content (commercial bread has a LOT more yeast in) and 2) because of the expense - we only like wholemeal, multigrain bread and even tescos own is 88p a loaf.

Admittedly i don't work, and i don't have children, so i find that finding the time much easier than i imagine many working mothers would. Someone's already mentioned doing the first prooving overnight - that's what my grandad used to do, but i find it only needs 2 hours to prove the first time. I quite often just knock up a batch of dough, cover it, and head out to do shopping or something, then knock it back when i get back. During the summer months it would easily prove in 2 hours, since it was warmer, but its struggling nowadays, so i try to time the second proving to when i'm cooking in the kitchen anyway so the whole room is that much warmer.

someone mentioned not having an airing cupboard: you can prove bread if your dough is resting in a ceramic bowl (wouldn't work with a metal one, i think it'd get too hot), cover with oiled clingfilm, wrap well in a *sealed* plastic carrier bag then rest over a washing up bowl of hot (tap hot) water. Just replace the water every so often to keep it warm - put a towel over the whole job to help keep the heat in. That's how i used to prove my bread when i didn't have central heating at all and it worked even in the depths of winter!

I find that actually making the bread, once you're used to it (and you're not having to stop to check how much of the ingredients) i can knock up a batch of dough in about 10 minutes. You really don't need to knead for very long - i usually knead along to "its a kind of magic" by Queen and that's long enough - just till it looks like cellulite. LOL.

my recipe goes as follows:

1 3/4 lb white strong flour* / 1/4 lb wholemeal flour* / 1 packet dried yeast / 2 tsp demerara sugar / 2 tsp salt / handful each of poppyseed, linseed, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed and sesame seed / 2oz butter (room temp) / 3 tbsp bran / 2 tbsp ground linseed or flaxseed / crunch or two of the pepper mill / 18 fl oz handhot water

1. weigh out the ingredients. You can sieve the flour, i don't bother. Mix all the dry ingredients (except the seeds) together.

2. rub the butter into the dry ingredients till the butter has all worked through to be like breadcrumbs. Then i add the seeds and stir well.

3. add the water, stir until dough starts to come together, then dump out of bowl onto floured surface. May add more water/flour, depends on the batch, temp, all kinds of factors. I work it until i have a good ball of dough that ain't sticking to the surface, then knead until dough looks like cellulite.

4. put back in bowl, cover with clean teatowel and leave in warm place for 2/3 hours till doubled in size.

5. knock back, divide in two, knead each piece then flatten and fold in three (like folding paper for an envelope). put each batch of dough fold down in a greased 1 lb bread tin and recover with the same teatowel and leave for 1 hour or till risen enough for your liking (i've been known to leave it for 2 hours if it hasn't risen enough!).

6. bake in a gas mark 8 oven for 30/35 minutes or .till it sounds hollow when you tap the underside of the loaf. tip it out of the tin and put on a wire rack to cool. If you want a softer crust recover with the teatowel while it cools (traps the steam).

* the 1 3/4 white to 1/4 brown is a ratio, doesn't really matter what ratio you use, the more brown you use, the heavier the loaf will be. I've gone up to 1 1/4 white to 3/4 brown before but its heavier, i prefer 1 1/2 white to 1/2 brown personally.

hope all this helps... good luck with the breadmaking!

keth
xx

Addiscomber

I know you say that you can't afford a breadmaker at the moment, so won't intrude there, but I wonder if you would actually have to keep/use one in your tiny kitchen, or whether you could plug it in somewhere else? I haven't got one, but presumably they don't make much mess, perhaps on a tray somewhere.

I wonder about having one, but I have heard that the loaves have a hole where the mixing bit goes, and we don't fancy that much. Also that the loaves arn't a regular shape. Anyone??

johnjp

I usually make two loaves at a time, because the loaves only stay fresh for max 3 days. I use a kenwood chef major with a dough hook and a stainless steel bowl. I got the mixer about ten years ago for 20p at a jumble sale. They can be found all over the place, try charity shops, freecycle, jumbles, boot sales etc etc. The mixer does all the work as I refuse to become a puritan martyr just to have delicious, organic, wholemeal, chemical free, cheap, plentiful and so on and so on. I also do white pizza dough (last night for 8 children)ps I have 3 boys,am a single dad and work!
Now for my method.
I like to use Doves Farm Organic strong wholemeal flour, but any good flour will do, of course.
I use Meridian Organic blackstrap molasses, for the yeast activator.
Allinson dried yeast
Sea salt
Oil
I also use a large tin can (empty) e.g. the sort of thing tinned fruit / tomatoes come in.
For two loaves measure two cans of flour, one each of white / wholemeal if you prefer a lighter loaf, into mixing bowl and add just under 1 tablespoon of salt. You could also add about 1 cup of ground seeds - pumpkin, sunflower etc
500ml cold, 250ml of boiled water together, test temperature by holding finger in water for 10 seconds, allow to cool if too hot to endure!
1 heaped teaspoon of molasses in a 1litre pudding basin, whisk to dissolve.
pour in approx 250ml of water, sprinkle heaped tablespoon of yeast, whisk for several seconds and put in a warm place till yeast has risen to top of bowl, like a souffle, usually about 10 mins.
Scoop a hole in the flour, whisk the yeast mixture and pour into the scoop, use about 250ml of the water to rinse out the pudding basin, pouring that into the mixing bowl, add 3 tbspn of oil (olive oil is okay but I prefer sunflower or rape/canola) use a large spoon to blend ingredients together. The mixture should be quite dry.
Shove the bowl on the mixer and mix until the dough becomes one lump which isn`t sticking to the bowl sides, carefully use more water if it`s too dry, if the mix gets too wet use some more flour.
Put the bowl of dough in a warm place, covered with a damp teatowel, for one hour or until it has doubled in size. Go for a longish walk to work up an appetite.
Punch down the dough while thinking negative thoughts! Whoa steady on!
Place the bowl on the mixer and run for ten minutes (not you dummy, the mixer!) Grease baking tins with oil.
Scoop out mixture onto a floured surface and flatten to about 3cm thick by 25cm wide, cut in two equal pieces and roll like a swiss roll. Put each lump into a tin and press down firmly to remove air pockets. Cover with a cloth and place in the warm. When loaves have doubled place carefully (this is now a living thing!) into an oven heated to 200celsius (gas mark pretty hot!, thingummy faren-doo-daa), immediately lower the temp to 150celsius and bake for 35 minutes, until the loaves (removed from the tin!) sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Place on a rack and cover with a cloth.
All done!
But I bet you can`t resist cutting of a thick crust and spreading on a thick wedge of organic butter, can you?

rhubarbs

I have and love the panasonic machine too. I do still make regular bread too sometimes... Have you heard of the 'Grant Loaf'? It was discovered by Doris Grant by mistake and was promoted during WW2 as it is quick, easy and nutritious. It's secret is that it requires no kneading and only one short rise, it's also delicious.

This is the version I make:-

Lightly oil a 2pound bread tin

700g wholemeal strong flour
yeast (fresh or dried)
1 heaped tsp honey or brown sugar
1 tsp salt
600ml warm water.

Put flour and salt into large bowl.

Mix yeast, honey and 150ml water, leave for 10 mins to activate

Pour yeast and remaining water onto flour, mix rapidly. It is a much wetter dough than a standard dough.

Put mixture into oiled tin. Leave in a warm place for 30mins until dough rises to just below top of tin. I quite often sprinkle with oatmeal.

Bake at 200c for 35mins.

You can also mix seeds in with the flour at the beginning.

One tip for making bread in colder weather is to put the flour into the microwave and cook it on high for 20seconds, it really does help.

fudgem

I'm a bit puzzled about the references to needing warmth to help the dough to rise, since I put mine in the fridge overnight and it rises beautifully.

There are some great tips in this thread though:T