Home made bread - Advice for a newbie!

RHYSDAD

As the title suggests i would love to get into the whole home baked bread thing, but i need a bit of advice and/or any pointers (materials, ingredients etc) and a few basic recipes please. I'd like to ideally bake by hand, from scratch so no breadmaker info please!
Also a list of equipment i'd need too would be useful.

Many Thanks in advance, RD. (Apologies if this question has already been asked, which i'm sure it has!)

Addiscomber

Equipment wise you could get away with a large bowl to mix in, scales, a measuring jug and a baking sheet. (The large bowl could even be as basic as a scrupulously cleaned washing up bowl if necessary.) If you take to breadmaking you could go on to loaf tins and possibly a heavyweight mixer such as a Kenwood Chef or Major, but they are not essential. Some of the nicest looking breads are free formed on baking sheets.

Ingredient wise start with Strong white flour for your first attempts, most supermarkets have an own brand and they are fine to use. (If you prefer wholemeal substitute it for white a few more 100grams at a time in a recipe you are used to, until you reach a proportion that you enjoy eating and are happy with the texture. Most home bakers struggle to produce a 100% wholemeal loaf that does not resemble a house brick.) You will also need yeast. Dried is probably the easiest to use, and there are 2 types. One is quick acting and only needs one period of rising. The other sort is more traditional in that the dough needs to be risen twice. I prefer the taste and texture of twice risen dough, but keep both types of yeast in stock so that I can use the quick acting if pressed for time. You will also need a little sugar, salt and fat or oil, but you almost certainly have those anyway.

This link gives a recipe for baking by hand, with a version for each type of dried yeast. (Allinson make the most readily available dried yeast, but their flour is very expensive compared to own brand.)
http://www.bakingmad.com/madaboutbaking.aspx?nID=23

This page will show you how you can shape the loaf to put it on your greased baking sheet. the recipe looks OK as well, but it is for a very small quantity - probably as it is aimed at children and they would struggle to knead enough dough for a decent loaf.
http://www.botham.co.uk/seed/bread1.htm

Do have a go! Hand baked bread is wonderful, and a useful skill to have. Once you have mastered the basic loaf you can use the principles for any other recipe you come across. Please let me know how you get on.

weezl74

1.5 kg bag of wholemeal plain flour- 55p
fresh yeast for free from the bakers!:D
3 tsp salt - .013p (got 500g of salt from lidl for 13p!)
about 2 1/4 pts warm water, add gradually til you get a not too slippy dough.

Mix by hand. No need to knead.(!)

put into 4 greased or lined loaf tins.

Leave in a warm place to rise for 40 ish mins til dough peeks above the top of the tin.

Bake for 25 mins on gas mark 6, or until browned on top and sounds hollow when tapped with a knuckle.

14p a loaf! 77 cals per slice, if you cut 15 slices per loaf.

Enjoy...;)

Weezl x

Nicki

weezl74 wrote: »

1.5 kg bag of wholemeal plain flour- 55p
fresh yeast for free from the bakers!:D
3 tsp salt - .013p (got 500g of salt from lidl for 13p!)
about 2 1/4 pts warm water, add gradually til you get a not too slippy dough.

Mix by hand. No need to knead.(!)

put into 4 greased or lined loaf tins.

Leave in a warm place to rise for 40 ish mins til dough peeks above the top of the tin.

Bake for 25 mins on gas mark 6, or until browned on top and sounds hollow when tapped with a knuckle.

14p a loaf! 77 cals per slice, if you cut 15 slices per loaf.

Enjoy...;)

Weezl x

I have no idea why this recipe works, but I've just tried it and it does! The only other recipe I've ever found for wholemeal bread that works for me is much more time consuming and has many more ingredients. For only a few minutes work though, I now have 2 2lb and 4 1lb loaves cooling nicely on my worktop, and a sneaky taste test of one proves that they are nice and light in texture.

I used quick acting dried yeast as it was all I had, and wholemeal bread flour not plain flour btw and it came out fine.

Addiscomber

I have just come across this video showing how to make bread by hand, including how to knead.
http://www.atomicshrimp.com/bread/

GlasweJen

I've seen this yeast for free thing and I'm curious. I don't live near a supermarket with a bread counter so I can't get yeast from there, does anyone know where else I can get yeast?