Homemade Bread - Can it ever taste nice?

meanmarie

Can't remember who said it Looby Loo but " those who can, do, those who can't, teach!" I used to think that I would never master making yeast bread...have been making brown and white soda bread for more than fifty years...as every time I tried it was a disaster.

I admired my son's breadmaker (don't ask me for brand) and the bread they made with it, using mostly bread mixes, was delicious and never brick like. I then got one as a present and I have not yet made a loaf that hasn't been like a brick...type of flour made no difference, nor did following instructions to the letter. I then decided to use it to just make pizza bases as I am not too fond of the kneading process and this turned out fine. I now make my dough in the breadmaker, bake it in tins for loaves or shape it into rolls or whatever I want, leave it to prove for a while and bake it in my oven...result! It is definitely cheaper and tastier than shop bought bread , unless you go for the fancy expensive breads...which cost over €2. I sometimes use mixes bought in Lidl if I want rye or other breads, as I haven't got much space for storing lots of different types of flour and rye flour is not usually available where I shop...a decent sized loaf will cost me around €.75c and wouldn't be available for double that in a shop.

Sorry for ramble but homemade bread, when it turns out well, is so much better than shop bought and so much cheaper that there is no contest IMHO

Marie

duchy

StressedSteph wrote: »

Just looked up the Panasonic Breadmaker and nearly fell off my chair - It's £100.00 :-OOOOOOO
Feels hard to justify buying it, when I am not even trying to waste money sending a txt message, let alone shelling out £100.
I guess it would make the money back eventually, but still....Decisons Decisions.........

I got (well got the Ex-OH to buy it for me for Christmas) the Panasonic-not the £100 one but the £79 -exactly the same but no nut dispenser BUT Amazon had it on offer before Christmas at £39 !
Definitely worth keeping an eye out for-I haven't bought bread since Christmas (although I *might * splash out on an electric knife as I'm rubbish at slicing bread ) I'm amazed at how good the results are....and how gorgeous the house smells !
I'm not a domestic goddess or even a kitchen gadget person but the BM is definitely the exception to all my rules ! I love it

Churchmouse

I'm the same as duchy, well not quite, I bought mine for me:D I was just browsing the link when my finger twitched on the mouse, and the deed was done, it was bought:rotfl: Only got to use it 3 days ago and all three loaves have been great.;) Best £39 I've spent. I look forward to widening my range, so far have only made the large basic white loaf.

I too am rubbish at slicing, so I am thinking about buying an electric food slicer. DH is soooo pleased I found this money saving site, but wonders when the money saving kicks in:rotfl: He's not sure how much longer we can afford for me to linger here:rolleyes:

duchy

LOL Churchmouse-yes it did strike me that an electric knife wasn't awfully moneysaving but it's about quality of life as well as actually saving (that's my story and I'm sticking to it !! )
Was going to try current loaf tonight but got into doing some family history and it's not worth going to bed now.....and let's not talk about the birth certificate I sent off for on-line whilst I was at it !!! Eeeek

belfastgirl23

I made a white loaf in the BM last night but this time made a small one rather than large and I think it came out a bit lighter and fluffier? Don't know if anyone else has noticed this butmight be worth trying..

SueSmith am def going to try the foccacia at the weekend - can I ask if the recipe is in the panasonic book cos I don't remember noticing it and if not can I have yours please?

I did try making foccacia by hand before but it was a disaster....

StressedSteph

Think I might be going through Quidco to buy the SD254, this is £35 cheaper and all it is lacking it the Raisin dispenser. As we are not that keen on Fruit bread I don't think this will be a problem.

I read on one of the threads that some people use Tesco Value Plain flour at about .25p per packet and the bread turns out just as nice. IS this REALLY true, you many of you use any old flour??
If this is true then bread making will save me ALOT of money .

xxx

belfastgirl23

Hi stressedsteph sorry I can't answer your last question but I'm sure someone will come along who can and I will be really interested in the answer. I know you asked on the ohter thread about buying a breadmaker from amazon - as far as I know you can't do quidco on amazon butyou can go through nectar estores if you have a nectar card and get nectar points. The other thing is that if amazon drop the price of an item within 30 days of you ordering it they will refund the £ - see this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7632791&highlight=amazon#post7632791

You can also register your buy on

http://www.timberfrog.com/apcn/index.php

and they will let you know if the price drops...

I just got £11 back no hassle from some dvds I ordered before Xmas...

FZwanab

StressedSteph wrote: »

Affordmylife - I have to admit that I did admit defeat with it pretty quickly - practice makes perfect I guess.

Just looked up the Panasonic Breadmaker and nearly fell off my chair - It's £100.00 :-OOOOOOO
Feels hard to justify buying it, when I am not even trying to waste money sending a txt message, let alone shelling out £100.
I guess it would make the money back eventually, but still....Decisons Decisions.........

,


I had to justify it myself and so I make 2 pizzas and 1 garlic bread pizza one night a week, I triple the ingredients for dough in the machine. I have done this over the past year and I feel it has paid for itself, never mind the bread that I make in it also.

liz545

I love to make homemade bread - I always use strong flour, as the gluten content is higher than normal plain flour, which gives you a better rise. Homemade bread will probably never taste the same as supermarket bread, because they tend to use lots more yeast in order to get the bread to rise very quickly, so it has a softer, spongier texture. Rather than buying a breadmaker, I'd practice on doing some basic recipes at home, and see if you can get the hang of it before shelling out the money. You don't have to use HM bread for your sandwiches every day, but it's nice to know how to knock up a fancy loaf for weekends, and much cheaper than buying artisan/gourmet breads! Why not try soda bread for a start - it's really simple and quite fast as you don't need to let it rise: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/soured-cream-soda-bread,1415,RC.html

Lorian

liz545 wrote: »

I love to make homemade bread - I always use strong flour, as the gluten content is higher than normal plain flour, which gives you a better rise. Homemade bread will probably never taste the same as supermarket bread, because they tend to use lots more yeast in order to get the bread to rise very quickly, so it has a softer, spongier texture.

I found you can make a softer spongier (more shop like) loaf, just follow the basic loaf receipe, use oil instead of butter, do the 1h55 rapid bake and select light crust.