Bread Flour

LittleBrownBear

Hi, I'm thinking about getting a bread machine and making my own bread. I was just wondering if anyone knew who sold the cheapest bread flour or who has the best stuff to use? My supermarket choices are Morrisons, Sainsburys, Aldi and Lidl (though do also have access to a co-op and tesco but they are both small express type stores) Thank you in advance

BB34

Aldis have breadmixes that are very reasonable, and the seed one is lush!

happy35

i think Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons sell white bread flour for about 60p for 1.5kg

I have used each of them and dont have a favourite, one bag makes about 18 quite large bread buns or 3 loaves of bread.

LittleBrownBear

Thank you both for taking the time to reply

frugal_shopper_2

Lidl's bread flour is ok but if you start baking bread regularly you may also want to consider some of the online suppliers as buying it in 16kg or 25kg sacks can work out quite reasonable for higher quality flour & some companies offer interesting pre-mixed blends in addition to the basic white bread flour.

http://www.wessexmill.co.uk/acatalog/Small_Bags.html#a69
http://www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct-shop/bread-flour
http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/flour-and-ingredients/sack-flour/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bacheldre-Watermill-Stoneground-Strong-Bakers/dp/B005FPX2H8/

As far as buying a breadmaker goes research various makes & models first as they vary an awful lot. I have lost count of the times I have heard people say they use their bread maker to nix the dough but then bake it in the oven as they do not like the way it turns out in the machine which defeats the object of buying a machine to make bread, you should be able to add ingredients & let the machine do the rest if it can't do that satisfactorily you are better off investing in a decent mixer with a dough hook. Personally I haven't found a breadmaker I am happy with so I tend to use a kenwood chef to mix the dough then bake it in the oven as per normal. If a rectangular sandwich loaf is required rather than a freeformed loaf then most good cookshops will sell proper loaf tins or searching for the terms 'pullman pan' or 'pain de mie' should find lidded loaf tins available online or on internet auction sites.

If you want fresh yeast to make your bread then many bakeries will sell you a 1kg block for 99p or if you go to Tesco & ask for fresh yeast at the instore bakery they will give you a few ounces free.

Edwardia

Hovis wholemeal flour 1.5kg 2 for £1 https://www.approvedfood.co.uk

ca55ie

I use a very strong canadian flour -either white or wholemeal - from waitrose at £1.69 per 1.5kg. This works much better in a bread maker.
I use my Panasonic breadmaker 3-4 times a week. It takes less than 5 mins to combine the ingredients and makes excellent loaves. http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/Kitchen+Appliances/Breadmakers/SD-257WXC/Overview/5075580/index.html

franskies

I bake by hand because I use a low knead method. Look up Dan Lepards recipes, he recommends leaving the dough for 10 minutes then giving it three 10 second kneads over thirty minutes with a ten minute break between them each. I do three one minute kneads instead because I'm a bit scared to try the 10 second knead.

As for flour, I highly recommend Waitrose essentials strong white flour, it's brilliant. About 80p for 1.5kg. They also stock Doves yeast which I find to work well and it works out cheaper than most ready quick yeasts.
Sainsburys bread flour is now about 66p and is much better than Asdas and Lidls.

Brown bread wise, I use Sainsburys TTD malted seed flour because the taste is wonderful though it's not the cheapest at £1.09 for 1kg.

kippers

I make white bread regularly and have done for years. I've used Asda's, Tesco's and Sainsburys and they are all ok. It is cheapest at the moment in Asda at 60p and the other two are 66p

LittleBrownBear

Hi Everyone, this is all really great and helpful, thank you all so much

santer_2

Good price if you have a local one

http://www.jjfoodservice.com/product.cfm/Marriages%27s-Golden-Crust-Bread-Flour-1x16kg/FLO052

Have used this, bakes well but only keeps fresh for two days

http://www.jjfoodservice.com/product.cfm/Belloforte-Strong-White-Pizza-Flour-1x16kg/PIZ216