To make bread or to not make bread

Rossy2692

livalot wrote: »

I am a little confused. If I use exactly the same recipe in both a breadmaker and a Kenwood chef, let resulting dough rise naturally and then bake both doughs in the oven what the difference would be???? How does the kenwood differ, does it do all the proving for you several times? :question:::huh::wall:

Its the way the Kenwood chef dough hook kneads it, no bread maker could ever mimic the same movements, kenwood and other mixers like that are same in principle as the industrial mixers they use in bakeries, the dough is soft, silky just fab! :j

Justamum

Nodette wrote: »

Any tips for using the tins?

Never, ever wash them! They develop their own non-stick patina after a while. I use the spray oil to grease my tins.

oly2c

I bought a Kenwood Chef many years ago specifically to make bread. I no longer use it for that as the BM is more convenient. There is nothing magical about the simple Chef dough hook and there is certainly no advantage for mixing dough. I can't accept that the mixing resulting from using a Kenwood is in any way superior to that from my BM. Quite the reverse, there is no dry flour left on the bowl which has to be spooned back with the Chef.
There might be some advantage in leaving the dough overnight to prove as suggested though I haven't tried this.

YORKSHIRELASS

I have a cheap and cheerful breadmaker and there are some recipes that are good but to be honest I use it more for making pizza dough, tea cakes and raisin bread. Maybe I need to start experimenting with it again. I find a lot of supermarket bread disappointing for the price.

I know one Delia Smith book I have advocates slow rising for bread which is why keeping it in the fridge overnight probably works so well.

Oh and my Mum used to have a Kenwood Chef which I havent seen for years - maybe I need to find out if she still has it. I cant believe the price of them!

Rossy2692

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

I have a cheap and cheerful breadmaker and there are some recipes that are good but to be honest I use it more for making pizza dough, tea cakes and raisin bread. Maybe I need to start experimenting with it again. I find a lot of supermarket bread disappointing for the price.

I know one Delia Smith book I have advocates slow rising for bread which is why keeping it in the fridge overnight probably works so well.

Oh and my Mum used to have a Kenwood Chef which I havent seen for years - maybe I need to find out if she still has it. I cant believe the price of them!

I got mine when they were £179 in Currys in December, been wanting one for YEARS, i gave my breadmaker away as no one liked the bread, they eat every last bit of the Kenwood bread so that in itself speaks volumes for me

peachyprice

oly2c wrote: »

There might be some advantage in leaving the dough overnight to prove as suggested though I haven't tried this.

There's no might about it, if you google '!!!!!! bread proving' you'll find hundreds of results about the benefits to taste and texture of bread made this way.

Justamum

Rossy2692 wrote: »

I got mine when they were £179 in Currys in December, been wanting one for YEARS,

Same here. I notice they've gone back up to £374.99 :eek:

I bought a couple of bottles of pear cider - I haven't had cider for years - but when I tasted it I realised it tastes of what is is - fermenting rotten fruit, and it's not nice. So I decided to use it to make a fruit bread, which I did today. It's delicious (I did add some spices though which probably disguises the rotten taste).

Justamum

peachyprice wrote: »

There's no might about it, if you google '!!!!!! bread proving' you'll find hundreds of results about the benefits to taste and texture of bread made this way.

Long slow rising definitely makes a huge difference in taste.

On the Hairy Bikers Bakenation (I think it was called) they went to a bakery in France, and the baguettes there are left to rise for 24 hours before shaping, then they rise for a further 24 hours. I should imagine they taste absolutely delicious. Unfortunately the baguettes available in supermarkets here won't have the same advantage, and are probably made using the same Chorleywood process as all the other bread in the shops (it certainly tastes like it anyway).

silly_moo

I've had my Panasonic BM for 18 months and wouldn't be without it. It definitely is one of the best things I have ever bought. It's used 2-4 times a week and we make a few different types of bread including the super tasty spicy fruit loaf and also dough for rolls, pizza, brioche, etc.

Before I bought the BM I made quite a few loaves by hand, including sourdough loaves. They were really nice but just not worth the hassle IMO. Our house is pretty cold so the dough never ever rises, even if I put extra heating on or keep it near the hot oven, and the whole process would take ages.

It only takes a few mins to chuck the ingredients into the BM, the bread is ready in 2-5 hrs, the paddle comes out easily and the tin is so clean it only needs a wipe. My guess is it's also cheaper to run the BM than heat up the whole oven for one small loaf.

I guess it's a matter of personal taste but we love the BM bread, especially the rapid one which is ready in only 2 hours. We didn't need to change the recipes but will need to work on reducing salt and sugar soon as our baby is almost ready to wean.

The novelty of having fresh warm bread in the morning has already worn off so we make a loaf in the evening and leave it out overnight so it's easy to cut in the morning. We found out that you get fewer slices if you cut fresh warm bread, even using the electric knife.

Honeythief

Rossy2692 wrote: »

Yes you can!!! I make the dough in my kenwood before i go to bed and bake it in the morning, no hole in my bread and no 'horrible' incipid tasting bread from my kenwood! :j

No I can't. It takes time for the dough to rise and then it has to be baked. I'd have to stay up until it was risen and kneaded, and then put it in the oven, and then get up early to put the oven on. Thanks but no thanks! I love being able to chuck the ingredients in just before I go to bed, hit a button, and wake up to fresh delicious bread. And it really is delicious. I'll admit that the two holes in the bread from the two paddles are annoying, though

Maybe we just have a good base recipe and a good basic breadmaker that work well together... I don't understand what other people are doing wrong to get inferior loaves, but it's probably just dumb luck that it isn't happening to us.