Panasonic bread maker

[Mungler]

Alright then we used to have an amazing local bakery called "Roses". It's still there but the owners are beyond retirement age and are now running it into the ground - they used to bake all their bread fresh and at Xmas the queue for the bakers would be twice as long as that of the people picking their turkeys up from the butchers.

 

Now a days, most of the bread is bought in, the prices keep going up and now nothing they sell is that interesting, special or worth the extra money (a loaf is £1.65 for a standard sandwich loaf).

 

It's a real shame, but it got me more into home baking. As a family of 5, hand baking is unrealistic and luckily I got given a Panasonic bread maker and I've been really impressed with some of the results and the simplicity of it all - even one of the standard "loaf in a bag" packet mixes gives a better result for less money than any of the local bakeries.

 

So then, I know from other threads there's lots of home bakers "using electric bread makers" out there and I'm wondering who is doing what and using what ingredients for best results?

 

I'll kick off with something as simple as a Hovis pace brown bread mix but with a large handful of "munchy seeds" (Sainsburys, in s soy dry coating) makes a loaf that toasts beautifully and that your bowels will thank you for - brown seedy bread, toasted, salted butter and marmite - bliss.

[FalconFN]

I family favorite for us (and one we use if we haven't got bread in for kids sarnies) is to make a pizza dough, which takes 45 mins, then make 6-8 golf ball sized lumps and roll them out very thin. Put them, one at a time, in a very hot frying pan (without oil) cook for 20-30 seconds on each side and they'll puff up nicely. This is the important bit; as you cook them, put them in a carrier bag (loosely wrapped so there is a gap between the flat bread and the bag). This will keep them moist and soft and stops them going brittle so you can use them as wraps.

 

I use a bit more water and olive oil than recommended (I do it by eye now so can't give you measurements) so that the dough is easy to roll thin. You can also add onion seeds and coriander seeds for an Indian bread to go with curries, or add oregano and basil for Italian style.

[bakerboy]

Hi, I know or knew Roses well (Shenfield if I recall correctly), as you say they were a very good bakers, but sadly selling a bakery business these days is very hard, and the business sadly goes the way you describe.

 

I am afraid I do not have any recipes for bread machines, as mine are all from scratch, but I recommend Bread Mixes from G.R.Wrights, Flour Millers of Ponders End.

You can purchase the mixes in most Supermarkets, and Wrights offer wide range of interesting and tasty breads.

Good luck.

 

Terry

[Mungler]

Terry, cheers for that, I'll give them a go.

 

And yes, that's the Roses I'm talking about - the old boy's a mad West Ham fan

 

Falcon, I might give that a go with some garlic.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Mungler

[Dunkield]

You should have got a book with it with recipes in, I assume you are looking for something other than those?

 

I use the 'basic white' recipe and just add as much wholemeal as I can before the family start whinging

I guess you could add the other bits to this?

 

Anyhoo from memory it's:

 

400g flour (I use 300 white/100 wholemeal)

15 grms butter

1/2 tsp dry yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp milk powder

1 tsp salt

300 ml water

 

Toasted with home made thick cut seville marmalade it is

 

EDIT: I should add this is just my recipe, you should always start with minimum loads and work your way up, I take no responsibility for any injuries caused by using this data

Edited January 30, 2012 by Dunkield
Health and Safety

[Catweazle]

I use the supplied recipes, but substitute 25g of butter with 2tbsp olive oil. The two-stage ciabatta recipe is good but it requires a "culture" dough to be made 12 hours before the final mixing, and baking in a conventional over.

 

I would really miss the Panasonic, the bread really is as good and consistent as you could wish for.

[Dunkield]

We also use ours to make naan bread, and that works a treat as well

[Guest cookoff013]

someone at work brought in bread made with cocoa and alittle chocolate. lovely.

[jeffo64]

Also have the Panasonic, best machine I've had and its my fourth machine. The recipies from the book are great, but I use a teaspoon of bread improver which is powdered vitamin c, especially good in the wholemeal because it will rise a little better, you can get it Holland and Barrett.

Edited February 29, 2012 by jeffo64

[malkiserow]

300 grm strong white flour

200 grm strong wholemeal flour

350 ml water

1.1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast

1 tbl sugar

2 tbl oil

2 tbl milk powder

1/2 cup of mixed seeds at at the begining (NOT later on) as this helps the mixing

 

Jobs-a-gudun