Husband doesn't like my homemade bread....

Ben84

I greatly prefer home made bread, or proper bakery bread over the factory made loaves. People say they're lighter and softer, but I would use the word inflated. There's a lot of air in those loaves, they deliberately whip it in and add lots of yeast to make the dough rise bigger and faster.

I do however find home made white bread is normally lighter, although I make all different types. For an extra boost, once it has been shaped and finished rising the last time, I put it in the cooker on the slow-cook setting for about 10 minutes before turning it up to gas mark 6 and baking it. This seems to increase it quite a lot. Still never gets anywhere close to the extreme volume of factory made bread, but I don't want to make bread like that.

lucasmum

I have found the best bread I make is when I use my breadmaker on the dough setting to mix and the first rise, I then take it out, shape it- tonight I am making rolls like this. Then I will let the shaped dough double in size again then bake in the oven.
For my second, 'manual' proof I warm my oven just slightly with a pan of water in the bottom. This comes from my college years and adapting my oven like their proper provers. It gives the best warm, moist air that the dough rises best at. I always turn the oven off before I put the bread in just shut the door and leave it in the warm air. I find it ony needs 30-40 mins this way.
Then I take the pan of water out and bake in the oven. Hope this helps. Good luck.

mophead

traciekan wrote: »

i have been making this every night in the machine and it hasnt failed yet

1 tsp fast yeast
500g white flour string ive been using lidls
25g butter ive been using baking marg
1 tsp salt very flat
1 flat tbs sugar ive been using brown light

320 mls water
on basic and medium

it works out 30 p a loaf

exactly the same recipe that i use but just recently started using dough improver i add a teaspoon per 500g of flour. Works a treat.

http://www.claybrookemill.co.uk/claybrookemill/web.nsf/pages/additives

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BREAD-DOUGH-IMPROVER-200g-FOR-4-95-INCLUSIVE-OF-POST_W0QQitemZ250240866592QQihZ015QQcategoryZ20669QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Kaz2904

I make mine in the BM. My MIL had some this evening and said how lovely it was- in fact she even asked for some when she first saw the loaf!
She wants me to make her some next week but I may make one for her on Saturday as she's having the kids overnight.
I love it- so does DH and the kids. It can be a pain to make it sometimes but well worth the effort.

BrandNewDay

I just figured something out... while it's hard to resist fresh warm bread, when you slice it before it cools, it kinda collapses... which makes it more dense.

Next time, I will make two loaves. A small one to eat right away with butter and then the other to leave to cool.

I think I'll try that dough improver, too.

mophead

BrandNewDay wrote: »

I think I'll try that dough improver, too.

You won't believe the difference.

BrandNewDay

mophead wrote: »

You won't believe the difference.

I just bought the 200g from the Ebay seller. Figured I'd give it a try! thanks!

Oh, yeah... I forgot to mention another reason why I bake bread... my DH doesn't approve of turning on the heat from March to November, and even then ONLY after the sun goes down and until we go to bed. I know it's supposed to be spring, now, but on rainy days, it does get chilly in the house! Cooking with the oven is one way of heating up the house a bit!

mophead

Let us know how it goes don't tell DH that you made it and see if he can tell the difference i know mine can't even the kids said it's the best bread they ever had. Can't make enough of it in fact i think it's costing me more might have to go back to tesco value bread

BrandNewDay

He can always tell... the huge, uneven slices give me away.

liz545

I've recently been using milk instead of water in my loaves, it gives a nice, mild flavour with a slightly lighter texture. Boil the milk in the microwave, and then let it cool to hand-hot temperature, and try using a touch more yeast (2 or 3 tsp instead of 1). I think it's partly a getting used to it thing - my OH has always been very complementary about my bread, but he's admitted that it's denser than shop-bought, I rather like it but give it time, and experiment with different recipes!