Bread

Anyone here a die-hard bread maker?

I thought one day there should be an organisation like CAMRA for real breadheads

And there is

http://www.realbreadcampaign.org/

awesome. i'm a breadenger but i love a good sourdough.

Straight in with the rye-bread love.
(Tags-a-go-go already)

awesome. i'm a breadenger but i love a good sourdough.

+1 yummy.

I beat up some sourdough and threw it really far cos it wouldn't play ball

i have always wanted a bread maker so i could create my own concoctions / loaves !
the stuff in the shops is soooo expensive these days

I rock the yeast bread and the odd soda bread loaf. don't bother with a bread maker - you don't get a decent crust. knead it yourself and cook it in the oven ftw.
My day to day recipe:

750 grams flour (mix of wholemeal, brown, strong white and a handful of oats)
a few nuts & seeds
1 packet quick yeast
pinch of salt
warm water

mix it all together, knead for 10 mins, divide into 2 x loaf tins, rise for 30min in a warm place, bake at gas mk 6 for 30min, turning halfway through, eat.

OBC

(obligatory Baps! comment)

This geezer's pretty useful when it comes to technique

I got obsessed with making my own sour-dogh for about 10 months...

Ive tried to make bread a few times, tend to have problems with yeast.

Got a tin of this stuff, always comes out tasting too yeasty but having barely risen.

Is this stuff just crap, or is there a knack to it?

I love the stuff my parent's bread maker used to make.. it was 531!
If I ever get back there I might 'borrow' it and bring it to London..

I buy my bread from St John. £3 a loaf. Worth every penny.

i'm just off to pinch a loaf now...

i have always wanted a bread maker so i could create my own concoctions / loaves !
the stuff in the shops is soooo expensive these days

Most of it tastes like cardboard as well.

Ive tried to make bread a few times, tend to have problems with yeast.

Got a tin of this stuff, always comes out tasting too yeasty but having barely risen.

Is this stuff just crap, or is there a knack to it?

Can't say without more details but try

• leaving it somewhere warmer to rise (but not too warm obviously)
  
• allowing it to rise for longer
  
• making a sponge before you make the rest of the dough
  
• using fresh yeast
  
• adding a bit of sugar to boost yeast activity
  
• HTFU
  
  

Here's some advice I gave to some other geezer on another board

try making a sponge (with just 1/2tsp yeast, couple of tbsps flour and enough warm water to make it into a sloppy liquidy type thing) first, leaving that to ferment in a warm place for a few hours or even overnight in the fridge*,

then add the sponge and another 1/2tsp yeast to your usual amount of flour, plus any additional warm water required to get it to the right consistency.

Rather than kneading, gently stretch and fold the bread (fold top to bottom, stretch, botom to top, stretch, left to right, stretch, righ to left etc as if you were wrapping up a parcel if you see what I mean) for a couple of minutes. I think 10 minutes of kneading is a bit excessive and gives me heavy bread

Again leave in a warm place for a few hours so it can rise, or overnight in the fridge if necessary,

shape it then leave to prove in your baking tin or on a baking tray, warm place again, few hours or overnight in the fridge,

then bake - I do a high temp for the first few mins to increase the CO2 bubble expansion rate (in other words to make it rise quickly) then turn down to the usual temp for the rest of the time

Oh and I forgot to add, you want your dough to be as wet as possible while still handleable.

It's fucking annoying and difficult trying to handle very wet dough because it tends to try to stick to your fingers and anything else it touches.

But on the plus side, you will end up with a lighter texture and bigger air bubbles in your bread.

*any time you put dough in the fridge allow it to warm up to room temp before doing anything with it

I've tried for years to bake wholemeal, but it's never come out right - I've had much the same problems as DFP - yeasty flavour, stodgy consistency, not rising properly - all sorts of rubbish.

If anyone's hand-kneading and is getting good results, can you just say what ingredients you're using (including fresh or powdered yeast), how long you're kneading it for etc. I badly want to get it right...

I've tried for years to bake wholemeal, but it's never come out right - I've had much the same problems as DFP - yeasty flavour, stodgy consistency, not rising properly - all sorts of rubbish.

If anyone's hand-kneading and is getting good results, can you just say what ingredients you're using (including fresh or powdered yeast), how long you're kneading it for etc. I badly want to get it right...

Wholemeal is always going to be stodgier than white bread. There is nothing you can do to make it as light as white bread, but you can do things to make it as light as possible. See the quote in post #16

All you need to use is flour, water, salt and yeast.

Sugar will make the yeast work faster, but if you're prepared to let it take its time then sugar isn't needed - I never add it unless I need the bread ready quickly.

If it tastes yeasty then you've probably added too much yeast, and if it hasn't risen properly then you didn't leave it long enough and/or didn't leave it in a warm enough place.

You could also try mixing 50% wholemeal with 50% white flour, so you get a compromise between the wholemeal's flavour and the white's texture

I made this bread yesterday

It is very easy. There is no kneading involved. There is nothing quite like making your own. The flour cost 30p. Tastes delicious.

I followed this video
YouTube- Making No-Knead Bread

and there are more details here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

DIY FTW!

I got obsessed with making my own sour-dogh for about 10 months...

Would like to hear about the experiments as I'd like to perfect my own.

I started making bread recently - thought I'd rekindle this thread.

Got a sourdough ferment on the go at the moment - taking a lot longer than I thought and the first batch will probably be awful despite following the recipe.

Anyone got any tips?

As previously mentioned I tried to make sourdough the other night, was nice but a bit dense, don't think I kneaded the dough enough.

where did you mention that?

How long did you ferment for? I'm using a recipe from a book I got from gf's Dad for Christmas - which involves a 4 step process taking about a week from initial ferment to final dough

Food thread. Didn't, just whacked a load of flour and buttermilk together, kneaded it a bit and chucked it in the oven. It was Mrs Glover's recipe, don't blame me if it's wrong!

Ah right. Sounds tech :)

I'm sure mine will be total pants too. Will post pictures when its done