handmade bread

oldMcDonald

....waiting for the piccy and keep coming back to the thread....

Justamum

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

oh my goodness.

Dinner is off. We're all eating bread and butter.:o

That good was it? I remember years ago before we were married my DH decided to make me a loaf of bread for Valentine's Day (yes, he's that romantic :rotfl:) He wasn't sure of quantities, so just chucked in what he thought. It ended up rising like Quatermass's monster so he had to put it in the oven to stop it! :rotfl:

Bunny200

DD1 and I are having a baking day tomorrow, we're going to make this bread and fairy cakes so wish me luck! First attempt at proper bread since I make bread rolls (aka bricks!) in school cookery classes!

Penelope_Penguin

oldMcDonald wrote: »

....waiting for the piccy and keep coming back to the thread....

.....I'm still waiting for the slice of warm bread and butter GR promised me

Gingham_Ribbon

Ah sorry. we got visitors and they haven't been gone long. I'll take a pic while there's still some left - not much mind. There were rolls too but they've gone.

Gingham_Ribbon

Doh. No battery in the camera. Sorry. I'll make another tomorrow!

Claire70_2

count_rostov wrote: »

I know that there are some real breadmaker fans on this board but I just can't see the point. The bread they make is just like shop bread...will I be crucified for saying that?
I've always made my own bread (even when I was a student - so geeky). I don't bother kneading so it takes me about 10 minutes, including clearing up time. It has a crunchy crust and a very springy inside, with quite big holes. This is how I do it:
Somewhere between a 1/2 and 3/4 of a bag of strong bread flour (I use all white, if you want brown bread I would recommend using 1/2 and 1/2 brown and white flour or the bread won't rise properly)
dessert spoon dried yeast (or one sachet easy-blend and no sugar)
teaspoon sugar
handful pinenuts/sesame seeds/walnuts/sunflower seeds whatever (non-essential, is yummy without)
teaspoon salt
about 1 - 1/2 pints water

1) mix sugar with about 1/2 pint of hand-hot water, whisk in yeast, leave in a warm place until about an inch of froth on top
2) put flour, nuts/seeds, salt in a bowl, whisk the yeast mixture so the froth is amalgamated, stir into dry ingredients, then pour in probably about another 3/4 pint water, stirring all the time, until all the flour is mixed in and the mixture is very sticky, far too sticky to knead. Leave to prove in a warm place until roughly doubled in size.
3) thoroughly grease a bread tin - I use butter as oil never makes a proper film and it's very annoying if the bread sticks
4) Give the risen dough a brisk stir with a knife to knock the air out of it. Pour into bread tin. Leave somewhere warm until risen slightly above the top of the tin. Bake in a hot overn (200C or thereabouts) for about 1 hour
5) Take it out of the tin and knock the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow it's cooked, if not pop it back in the oven for another ten-fifteen minutes.

If I'm in a hurry I use a sachet of easyblend yeast, put the mixture straight in the bread tin and just let it rise once.
It's important to have somewhere warm for the bread to rise, I'm lucky enough to have an Aga but on top of a radiator/in an air cupboard is fine. The cooler the atmosphere, the longer it will take to rise. If you want to let it rise overnight, it will rise in the fridge!
These quantities are really approximate as different brands of flours absorb different amounts of water. Basically the dough should be like a very very thick batter, or plaster just before it goes hard. It doesn't matter if it's wetter or dryer, you just need to cook it longer if it's very wet.
This doesn't take long - I work full time and make a loaf every evening.

What do other handbakers do? Would breadmaker fans ever be converted?

im a breadmaker fan ... but I have one of your loaves rising now.... I was a little worried about the first stage .. it seemed very wet, but after reading your post again it seems right

Bunny200

Bunny200 wrote: »

DD1 and I are having a baking day tomorrow, we're going to make this bread and fairy cakes so wish me luck! First attempt at proper bread since I make bread rolls (aka bricks!) in school cookery classes!

Well its in the oven but to honest I'm not very confident, there wasn't much frothing and here hasn't been much rising but I thought I'd chuck it in anyway. I think I might have another brick!!:o

Bunny200

Bunny200 wrote: »

Well its in the oven but to honest I'm not very confident, there wasn't much frothing and here hasn't been much rising but I thought I'd chuck it in anyway. I think I might have another brick!!:o

well.... that didn't work. I now have a very dense very heavy spongey brick!!:rotfl: Where did I go wrong? Maybe the yeast I used was the wrong type, certaintly didn't get any frothing, maybe the odd bubble, I used Hovis Fast Action Bread Yeast and added the sugar and water. Could the water have been too hot? used water from the kettle but hadn't boiled for a while. Then I put the mixture in an oven that was warm, turned off but it didn't really rise much.

I want to give it another try so what did I do wrong. Maybe I should try kneeding it next time!!

Must try harder!!!

Claire70_2

Well mine was a disaster ...

First of all when it cooked it rose above the tin and then all down the sides and onto the oven and burnt on the bottom of the oven ...

Then when I took it out of the oven it was a brick... it was cooked but it was heavy enough to take out next doors windows.. not that I tried ...


So Im sorry but its back to the breadmaker for me.... after Ive cleaned the oven