Bread flour vs ordinary plain flour?

Flyboy152

On top of which there is a wider variety of strong flours than soft; granary, wholemeal etc.

Purplekylie22

Flyboy152 wrote: »

On top of which there is a wider variety of strong flours than soft; granary, wholemeal etc.

No No No dont confuse me my brain is only very small after having 3 children asda has white strong bread flour that will do for now at least!

bitemebankers

In the interests of moneysavingness, Lidl to a good UK-produced white bread flour at very reasonable price. I'd recommend it.

Purplekylie22

oh yey thank you, biteme

mioliere

While you're waiting for your breadmaker, try this delicious recipe for soda bread, which uses ordinary flour and doesn't need kneading http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=2787388&postcount=8

The recipe calls for buttermilk, but I make my own sour milk substitute by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the milk and letting it stand for five minutes, then it's ready to add. The recipe is foolproof so thanks to Smashing who posted it originally!

Hope this helps.

kezlou

The main difference between flour is the gluten content.

When i make bread i.e a loaf i use half white bread flour and 1/2 plain flour, works out fine, really light and fluffy.

Recently i've just been using all plain flour and again the bread has been lighter than all bread flour.

So i just mainly use plain flour, my lot all prefer it too and i have a wheat allergy, it stops me from being ill. I found this out after i just ate bread made from bread and i was absolute agony.

Also you can use, if the bread machine has a dough setting. you can use all plain flour to make pizza dough. Very moreish and yummy.

hth

kez

Farway

Purplekylie22, As this will be your first foray into BM breadmaking, please just use either Lidl or Asda bread flour [if you want foolproof use Waitrose Canadian strong flour, it is not cheap]

And remember to use correct easy yeast, in sachets. And avoid the "rapid" setting for first attempt

Use lukewarm water as well, you can safely ignore the add milk powder bits, and do follow the recipe provided until you get the feel of it, nothing worse than a flop at stage one

PS, plenty of time to experiment once you know you + BM can produce a good loaf

SailorSam

Farway wrote: »

And remember to use correct easy yeast, in sachets. And avoid the "rapid" setting for first attempt

I don't use the sachets of yeast anymore, someone on here suggested 'Doves Farm' yeast, in an orange wrapper from Tesco, it's much cheaper than the sachets.

bitemebankers

I used that too, SailorSam. It works out a *lot* cheaper if you're a very regular baker.

To help preserve the life of the yeast, I seal the pack with a clip-seal, place that inside a clip-top plastic container and put that in the fridge. In this way it lasts at least 12 months.

Farway

SailorSam wrote: »

I don't use the sachets of yeast anymore, someone on here suggested 'Doves Farm' yeast, in an orange wrapper from Tesco, it's much cheaper than the sachets.

It may well be, but I was attempting to advise the OP and avoid a disappointing first loaf, plenty of time to chop & change once OP knows they can succeed, just follow the instructions first time