Paul Hollywood's Bread tv programme

Nikkisun

ash28 wrote: »

I have to say I had never really seen much of Paul Holywood before - I never watched the Great British Bake Off, however I did watch this programme.

I sometimes use a Panasonic breadmaker to make bread and although the bread is quite nice it isn't nice enough for me to make it our permanent source of bread.

Watching the first programme I thought I'd have a bash at making a bloomer, I used iPlayer to guide me through the process and the bread was absolutely delicious and we have eaten that ever since - I have bought no bread - a first for me. The bread has been consistently good even though I have used different brands of flour and yeast over the last couple of weeks.

Our grandson (11) who lives with us doesn't like milk so his breakfasts are normally toast/crumpets/muffins etc - since making the first loaf his breakfast has been bread and butter - no jam or anything else wanted on the bread.

I have made the pittas and will never buy another one they were absolutely lovely.

I will make the hot cross buns this weekend and if they taste as good as they look I will be delighted.

And this from someone who was convinced years ago that they would never be able to make decent bread by hand.

Regardless of the rest of the programme content, the gems that have come out for me more than make up for it - and to be honest I've found the other parts interesting too.

If he, up himself or not, can persuade or inspire some people to have a bash at making their own bread instead of eating the chemical crap the majority of us eat, that has to be a good thing.

Did you cook the bread in a loaf tin or just on a baking sheet?

We have tried the bloomer and his 8 strand plaited bread and whilst both were very yummy they spread out on the final rise so both were quite 'flat' they taste good but you certainly couldn't make a sarnie with them!!

sonastin

I've been toying with the idea of making bread by hand for a while so the programme (in reality this thread, which lead me to the programme) gave me the push to actually get on with it. In the last week I've had 6 attempts at mastering the bloomer - attempt 6 is in the oven right now. Still can't seem to get the baking time right for my oven (too dark on top, still not sounding "hollow" or looking baked underneath) but its getting closer.

I found episode 2 far less inspiring as there was very little that you could do at home. We're watching OH's programmes at the moment but I'm sure I've heard him snoring so I might be able to watch episode 3 soon

To all the folks that have made hot cross buns - is this from the book? If it was on the show, I must have missed it. You'd have thought it would be on before easter though!

anniemf2508

second batch of hot cross buns....loads better this time

flea72

sonastin wrote: »

To all the folks that have made hot cross buns - is this from the book? If it was on the show, I must have missed it. You'd have thought it would be on before easter though!

It was on the great british bakeoff easter masterclass last week

Very easy to make, my 11yr old made two batches at the weekend. Consensus within family was, the chunks of apple were a nice addition. Wont be buying hcbs anymore, as these were so cheap to make, and tasted lovely

ash28

Nikkisun wrote: »

Did you cook the bread in a loaf tin or just on a baking sheet?

We have tried the bloomer and his 8 strand plaited bread and whilst both were very yummy they spread out on the final rise so both were quite 'flat' they taste good but you certainly couldn't make a sarnie with them!!

Baked it on a baking sheet - they did look a little bit flat on the final rise but rose beautifully in the oven. The oven was preheated with a tin of steaming water in the bottom.

I followed his instructions to the letter even to the finger indentation being left if you prodded the dough. I weighed all of the ingredients including the water.

Perhaps the dough was a bit soft?

hilstep2000

His ciabatta looked really complicated!

Justamum

hilstep2000 wrote: »

His ciabatta looked really complicated!

Apart from the shape it didn't look like any ciabatta I've seen. Usually it's got massive holes in it, whereas his had the texture of normal bread.

flea72

Justamum wrote: »

Apart from the shape it didn't look like any ciabatta I've seen. Usually it's got massive holes in it, whereas his had the texture of normal bread.

Ciabatta is a bread roll. I think you are confusung it wih foccacia

anniemf2508

I used his recipe to make the ciabatta last week and it does turn out right, it was holey and really light

Grouchy

Umm, I found the last episode a bit queasy. Pizza and chiabatta are standard. Some lovely classic recipes overloaded with added faddish ingredients or full of and swimming in buckets of oil. Unhealthy and over the top, made my stomach turn.
Large segments of the progamme are not about baking breads really.
I won't be watching again.