Homemade Bread - Can it ever taste nice?

belfastgirl23

I put the little oven on low and put it in the oven. But then my kitchen is FREEZING

lindadykes

Rising the dough doesn't have to be a problem, it will rise in a fridge if you leave it long enough.

When I was younger I couldn't make decent bread, but then I got the following tips and recipes from a TV programme, and though I tried a BM, I have gone back to handmade, coz I think it's actually easier, and I can make 3 loaves at a time as opposed to one at a time with the BM.

1.5 kg Bag of Flour - I use the organic strong bread flour, but it should work with any plain flour.
1 Sachet easy blend yeast
2 tsp salt
400ml boiling water mixed with 400ml cold water

Put the flour in a large bowl, add the salt and yeast and give them a mix with your hands. Make a well in the flour and add the water all in one lot. Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix the water into the flour, until there is no visible water, then get your hands in and draw it all together till the flour is all incorporated. Tip the whole lot out onto a clean worktop - there should be no need to flour the surface or anything like that - begin Kneading. You will have to knead for about 5 - 10 minutes, but you should "feel" a change in the dough. It will go from feeling like a lump of pastry to a nice elastic feel, that doesn't feel at all sticky any longer. Shape into a rounded shape and put back into the bowl.

Now to get it to rise! - put a smidgen of oil on the palm of one hand and rub your hands together to coat them with oil - lightly rub them over the surface of the dough, this will prevent it sticking or drying out. Now take a clean new black bin bag, give it a good shake out, then put the bowl containing the dough into it and making sure it is sort of well puffed up over the dough, tuck the ends under the bowl.

Leave to rise for 2 hours - it will double in size by the end of that time regardless of the temperature of the room.

Remove from the bowl onto your worktop - knock back and knead briefly - for only about 2 minutes. Divide into three pieces. Shape each piece into a bloomer shape and use a knife to make 3 slashes in the surface of the dough. Place the loaves on baking trays and put them back in the bin bag for about 30 minutes - bake.

Incidently the bought bread tastes different - and IMHO inferior because it is made using an industrialised process called the Chorleywood process, that was invented in the 1960's to read more about this process click here.

The process messes around too much with a natural process for my liking. This article also explains why HM bread can use ordinary plain flour.

StressedSteph

I never realised how much the quality of the flour effects the bread.

I bought some Somerfield 72p flour and the bread was rising lovely, I thne bought some of Tesco's 42p flour and it does'nt rise half as much as the Somerfield flour.

Trouble is I have 6 bags of the Tesco flour to use up :-/

jordylass

lindadykes wrote: »

Rising the dough doesn't have to be a problem, it will rise in a fridge if you leave it long enough.

Thanks for this, I'm going to give these a try.
Can I also say I envy your location, it must be one of the most beautiful spots in England.

odds-n-sods

steph, use it for regular baking instead.

The quality of flour makes a big difference in the finished quality of bread, just like any other food.

Swan_2

about raising dough in a cold place

there was a thread about that very subject just recently, click HERE to read more

cold-mummy

hi steph
i use tesco cheap flour and i have no problem with my bread!
500gms flour ,half a pint of warm water ,1 sachet of yeast
1.5 teaspoon salt,1.5 teaspoon butter.on a quick cycle of 2 1/2 hours in breadmaker!
you could give it a try!

odds-n-sods

cold-mummy, that's because you put more yeast in it, I use typically 1 tsp yeast in that size bread dough, that's less that's in 1 sachet. Extra yeast is what's in commercial bread to get it to rise quickly with cheap flour.

maypole

Rosibean

Just looking at your recipe, going to try it, is yours a panasonic bread maker?

rosieben

maypole wrote: »

Rosibean

Just looking at your recipe, going to try it, is yours a panasonic bread maker?

Its Organic Wannabe's recipe which I tried out. highly recommend it. I just did it to dough in the bm and then finished by hand and baked in the oven. I have a Cookworks bm and also an old Prima; they're both great for mixing but I dont like the bread baked in them