handmade bread

thriftlady_2

fluffybunnies wrote: »

You need a little bit of sugar for the yeast to feed on and help it grow.....

No you don't. I do know as I make bread several times a week and I don't use sugar.

I make bread using ordinary yeast without sugar and also sour dough which is made from a starter of wild yeast which I cultivated from flour and water only and feed with more flour-no sugar, it grows by itself.

fluffybunnies

I also make bread several times a week and always have to use a teaspoon of sugar for the yeast to feed on.

I also don't use salt, as salt is not necessary. ON the occasion i used salt i found it inhibited the yeast so much that my bread didn't rise at all. Same result without sugar.

thriftlady_2

fluffybunnies wrote: »

I also make bread several times a week and always have to use a teaspoon of sugar for the yeast to feed on.

I also don't use salt, as salt is not necessary. ON the occasion i used salt i found it inhibited the yeast so much that my bread didn't rise at all. Same result without sugar.

All those French bakers have been getting it wrong then, the French bread law (by which their traditional daily bread is protected) states that it must only contain; flour, water, yeast and salt.

Joe_L

Thanks Count Rostov for helping bake the finest bread I've ever baked. I kept pretty much to the spirit of your recipe, if not being exact, and made a sloppy mix, with mixed fruit and sunflower seeds. I proofed and baked it in a halogen oven and it came out perfect.

simpywimpy

I made the soft bread rolls from the Elizabeth David recipe.

There was no sugar, just flour,, fresh yeast and milk. No kneading either just mix and leave for an hour then knock back and knead for 2 mins and shape to rolls.

I still had the problem of the second rise not doubling as it should so the rolls were small

I didnt have the heavy dense result of a previous roll recipe. These were much lighter and were scoffed very quickly

tomterm8

Hm, haven't been able to post for a while, because I bought a new computer, and this broke the interweb thingie. So, I have given up and am back on old faithful, a true test of buddhist noattachment since it requires the patience of a yogi to wait for each page to load.

With my sour dough culture, I kept on refreshing the starter (i.e daily for around two weeks. The starter started off quite sour and bad smelling, but simply keeping on refreshing it every day it matured, and really ended up smelling quite pleasant. After two weeks it could trebble in size in around 8 hours.

So, at that state I tried a semi-levened bread, i.e. I made a sour dough bread, gave it one prooving of a round 4 hours, knocked it back and added some packet yeast and the salt. And gave it another prooving of a couple of hours.

This worked well. The loaf had quite an open texture, tasted slighly sour, and was quite nice tasting.

I waited another week or so before the starter was mature enough that I decided to make a pure sour dough bread. I made a basic white loaf, started the day before doubling the starter twice, so we had roughly 300g of starter, and then made up another 150g or so first thing friday morning. Then I kneeded the resultant sponge, and left it to proove for 4 hours or so... by which time it doubled in size. Knocked back, kneeded in salt, kneeded for ten minutes, and shaped into a bloomer. After another 4 hours, it was ready to cook.

Interestingly, the bread seems to continue to rise in the oven, and overall you seem to get more bread for your money. The resulting bread was reasonably successful, very soft, but with quite a sour taste. I must admit though, I actually prefer "normal" bread, I think the sour taste of the bread is very much an aquired taste.

Interesting experiment, but I might give it a rest for a while and concentrate on normal bread production...

[Deleted User]

my uncle had an os bakery ie he made bread by hand for a living and bread making is in my genes. I have been making handmade bread for 40 years and have been experimenting with sourdough (my prefered leven) for 18 years on and off

re the salt and sugar debate:

salt: Without salt, bread rises faster and air pockets enlarge where the gluten has broken, allowing holes to form. It regulates fermentation. Bread made without salt will taste bland. If you choose to eliminate salt, decrease the proofing time so that the large air pockets don't have time to develop. I use salt in all my breadmaking

sugar:

Sugar is not an essential ingredient in bread baking. This is because flour contains a small amount of natural sugars and some starch is converted to sugar during the fermentation process. It helps to produce a golden brown color of the crust, improves the textureof the crumb, helps to retain moisture in the crumb. I use up to 2tsps sugar if I want a special crust ie if we have visitors and my bread is on display

salt is an important and powerful ingredient in breadmaking and the amount used needs to be carefully measured. Too much and it will kill any action. Too little or none and rising may take place too quickly with a resulting collapse of the dough if you take your eye off it. The resulting bread will be solid

jacki981

I made my best loaf so far yesterday minus the sugar after Reading the above comments! I will no longer use it!
I'll make some more soft rolls again soon As they were fab!

competitionscafe

In the current (November) issue of BBC Good Food magazine (page 228) there is a recipe for a 'cheat' version of a sourdough loaf - (Rustic Country Loaf) anyone tried this?

I am giving it a go, so will report back.

It starts with 225g strong white bread flour mixed with a teaspoon of yeast then 200ml warm water added - this goes in the fridge in a covered bowl overnight.

The mixture is growing in the fridge now and looking nice and light and bubbly.

Tommorrow I will add 500g strong white bread flour, 2 tsp yeast, 2 tsp salt, 75ml plain yoghurt and then make pretty much as usual (first rise,second rise then bake).

So it's not a 'proper' sourdough but will see how it turns out. I know what people mean by the 'sour taste being an acquired one - I like it if the bread is for a sandwich, or to go with soup or cheese but don't like it if the bread is for toast with honey or jam - prefer 'ordinary' bread for that.

mouseymousey99

I'm on my third batch now Comptetionscafe its a good recipe. I have though swopped the yougurt for olive oil (just my preff) and noticed I've got an even lighter loaf. It does produce a lovely crusty loaf (I have photos but I'm not sure how to add them).