:( Help me make perfect bread

scaredy_cat_2

this is a v stupid question but is stopping me cooking bread - i have a 2lb loaf tin - BUT when i looked at the link from kethry it explained the difference - so my stupid question is if you make a lb loaf does it go in the lb tin??? as my 2lb tin looks small enough and i wondered how tiny a 1lb tin would be!! sorry for asking a probably v obvious question but its stopping me doing it!

kethry

I've been told my tins are 2 lb loaf tins (i always thought Grandpa - who i got em from - was wrong in that, but maybe he was right? argh. i don't know any more!!), but i always split the 2 lb of flour i make between them. lemme go measure em.. they're 20 cm by 13 cm by 9cm (width, depth, height). Does that help any?

keth
xx

p.s this may be where it comes from, i did a search for bread baking tins and got this: "The loaf pans are available in ½lb, 1lb and 2lb sizes. These sizes make the statutory sizes of tin loaf that a baker was allowed to sell before metrication.". so yes, i think the 1/2 lb and 1lb sizes would be rather small.. i suspect the 1/2 lb sizes were to make really small loaves that would be like little buns maybe? or just for smaller cake sizes too - remember, cakes can be made in these too. *shrug*. anyway, just measure your tin against mine, and if its the same size, and you made the amounts i gave you, then split the dough in two as i said in the link. Otherwise, feel free to pm me!

kethry

argh ok.. after 10 minutes of doubting myself.. i did a lil research on the net. I probably heard Grandpa wrong: my tins are 1lb tins, they must be, because i honestly can't see a loaf of bread made from 2lbs of flour fitting in there.

in addition i looked at the Bread entry of Wikipedia: "One pound (500 g) of flour will yield a standard loaf of bread, or two french loaves." So there you go.

sorry for the confusion! (and that will teach me to research properly before drafting an answer.. )

keth
xx

bigpaws23

well, for my first attempt I am pretty pleased.
My only concern is that the oven was too hot at 230?? They were really brown after just 15 minutes and I had to put a piece of foil over them and the crust is a little bit 'too well done'. They only needed 30 minutes to bake.

Would I turn my oven down a bit or cover them before I put them in or am I supposed to put a tray of water in the bottom to make steam?

This is the first time my mix actually doubled in size - it was really fun seeing it grow LOL! I think the tip about putting the bowl in another bowl of warm water and covering with a towel made a lot of difference.

off to make toast now!

bigpaws x

scaredy_cat_2

hi no your first answer did make sense - my loaf tin says 2lb on the bottom but when i make a banana loaf i use 10oz flour - combined with the other ingredients it fills the tin!! which is why i was confused - you're right that with my tin as well 2lb flour is never fitting in there!! so i am slightly confused about the sizes BUT not about splitting the dough in 2 and making 2 loaves - i measured my tin too and it is about the same size

so i have decided i am not going to analyse this but just go by your measurements and make 2 loaves - thanks for you help - and at least i will be able to do it now!!

sammy_kaye18

Keth - you are a godsend!

I have always wanted to hand make some bread - adn now i have a recipe that will be my goal for today - sound syummy nd fingers crossed will save us a fortune if i can get it right - would love to know the rolls times/measurements too if possible.

lots of love

Sam

x x x x

ps ill let you know how my loaf turns out! I dont have a loaf tin so will be making a round loaf on a baking tray.

pps editied nealry 4 hours later after beign and buyign a bread tin - i brought a 2lb one but am gonna attempt a 1lb loaf in it - purely on the basis that if i make a brick its not alot wasted and i can have a second attempt

kethry

bigpaws23 wrote: »

well, for my first attempt I am pretty pleased.
My only concern is that the oven was too hot at 230?? They were really brown after just 15 minutes and I had to put a piece of foil over them and the crust is a little bit 'too well done'. They only needed 30 minutes to bake.

Would I turn my oven down a bit or cover them before I put them in or am I supposed to put a tray of water in the bottom to make steam?

This is the first time my mix actually doubled in size - it was really fun seeing it grow LOL! I think the tip about putting the bowl in another bowl of warm water and covering with a towel made a lot of difference.

off to make toast now!

bigpaws x

bigpaws -

glad it turned out well!! to answer your questions:

you don't say what kind of oven you have, but it sounds like you've put the loaves into the oven a little too high up - try moving the shelves down one. The other thing you could try, if its scorched more on one side than the other, is turning it half way - i have to do this with mine, after 15 minutes, as i have a gas oven with the flames at the back. It comes down to your individual oven - is it hotter at the top? bottom? etc. I would try just moving the shelf down a bit with your next loaf, the loaves should be central in the oven. 30 minutes sounds about right to me, most of mine cook in that time. it's basically trial and error till you find what works for you.

re: steam - if you want to soften the crust up (i find this recipe gives rather hard crusts) then try covering the loaves with a folded teatowel when they're out of the oven till they get cool. this traps the steam and helps to soften the crust up some (at least enough that i can eat it, and i have tender teeth!). I do know that to make crusty french baguettes, they put steam in the bottom of the oven but the way that they do it is rather dangerous to try to replicate in our ovens - they have a special door or something... its basically leaving a metal pan in the bottom of the oven to get hot too, then at the relevant point, pouring a load of water on it so that it flashes to steam very very fast and its incredibly hot.. thats what gives real baguettes their crusty bread on the outside, but to try to do that in our oven would run the risk of steam scalds, so i really don't recommend it. (I've never tried it, and no intention of trying it - if i want french bread, i buy it!)

glad it mostly worked anyway!!! (BTW you may not need the warm water technique on a very hot day).

keth
xx

kethry

scaredy_cat wrote: »

hi no your first answer did make sense - my loaf tin says 2lb on the bottom but when i make a banana loaf i use 10oz flour - combined with the other ingredients it fills the tin!! which is why i was confused - you're right that with my tin as well 2lb flour is never fitting in there!! so i am slightly confused about the sizes BUT not about splitting the dough in 2 and making 2 loaves - i measured my tin too and it is about the same size

so i have decided i am not going to analyse this but just go by your measurements and make 2 loaves - thanks for you help - and at least i will be able to do it now!!

no problem scaredy cat, glad to help - it got me to think and i learned some stuff, which is never a bad thing!!

good luck with the loaves - let me know how you get on with the end results?

keth
xx

kethry

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

Keth - you are a godsend!

I have always wanted to hand make some bread - adn now i have a recipe that will be my goal for today - sound syummy nd fingers crossed will save us a fortune if i can get it right - would love to know the rolls times/measurements too if possible.

lots of love

Sam

x x x x

ps ill let you know how my loaf turns out! I dont have a loaf tin so will be making a round loaf on a baking tray.

pps editied nealry 4 hours later after beign and buyign a bread tin - i brought a 2lb one but am gonna attempt a 1lb loaf in it - purely on the basis that if i make a brick its not alot wasted and i can have a second attempt

Sam,

glad to help!! good luck with the loaf tin. I would do it as you've done it - it has room to stretch that way, and if its rather a long thin loaf (comparatively speaking) then you've lost nothing, whereas if you did it the other way round and it wasn't big enough then the results could be.. um.. messy (thinks of dough oozing all over the sides of the tin) at best!! You could try measuring your tin and comparing it to the measurements i gave above, that would give you an idea as to which is right.

If you want to make a whole loaf on a baking tray, then thats very easy, just shape and put on the (greased) tray in the shape you want - you could split it into 2/3rds and a 1/3rd and do a round loaf with a smaller round ontop, or you could split it into thirds and do a plait.. whatever you do you must prove it for the second time, give it a chance to bulk up again.

with regard to the rolls, when i did it at the weekend i think (if i remember correctly, my parents were visiting and i was rushing around a lot!) it was at Gas Mark 7 for 20 minutes. I just cut the dough into eighths, rolled them into short fat sausagelike shapes, and put them on the baking tray, covered and left for an hour or so to double in size. it worked well. Do give them enough space to double in size, it doesn't matter if they're touching when they go into the oven, but don't cramp their style either. I'm planning to do some more rolls tomorrow: i'll properly document what i do this time, with photos.

btw with regard to saving a fortune: if you compare this bread against cheap plastic white bread, then its quite a lot more expensive. However, its not really a fair comparison, if you were to compare like for like (especially with the seeded version i make) then its probably half to a third cheaper - i've calculated that my seeded loaves cost around 50p, possibly less, to make. If you just want to do white bread then the savings aren't as substantial. However, (since money isn't always everything), if you make the mix i gave the instructions for (the combo of white/brown and seeded) then its that much healthier than plastic white, and it uses a LOT less yeast than the commercial bakers, which is a good thing, particularly for women. I don't suffer yeast infections down there, and haven't since i started baking my own bread.

any more Qs.. yell - but i am out this afternoon, so any answers will be a while in forthcoming!

keth
xx

bigpaws23

Hmmm, dough seems a bit, erm, undercooked isn't the right word, but it's not quite dry enough in the middle.
Crust was well cooked though and I did have the shelf really low down because they looked like they were going to rise heaps (they did!)

My oven is regular electric with no fan.

Do you think I put a little too much water in the mix or didn't cook them for long enough?

Thanks for all your help!
Bigpaws x