Bread Making

[Fisheruk]

So who is baking their own bread. My mum was a farmer’s daughter and throughout my childhood baked bread 3 times a week so I never got to eat “shop” bread.

We had a bread making machine in the cupboard which SWMBO rarely used. I started using it as a bit of a hobby a few years ago, never really liked the loaves baked in the machine, so developed the technique of letting the machine mix the dough and then proving it in the oven and baking it in proper tins.

Since the first lockdown I have stepped up production and bake most days two loaves or twelve rolls. White and Brown, my two daughters families live close by so I take orders and deliver fresh baked bread most days.

 

[holloway]

No better smell than freshly baked bread when you walk in the house ,your family are very lucky !

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, looks some nice loaves 👍 

[39TDS]

I think bread is my favourite food. I eat far too much of it.

[moondoggy]

Love baking bread.

You can’t beat a crust cut from a freshly baked loaf, smothered in best butter. 😋🍞

Currently using Marriages Strong White flour with Saf Levure Active Dried Yeast.

[Jim Neal]

I've used a bread making machine in the past, but th bread always turns out really dense, heavy and claggy... sticks to your chest!  Used to be OK to dip in soup but not very nice for sandwiches.

Does proving/baking outside the machine avoid that problem?  I'm wondering if it's the flour/yeast making it a bit undesirable or just the fact it's baked in the machine

[bruno22rf]

If you get a chance try Wessex Mill French Bread Flour - bread made from this stays fresh for days. Jim - I'm guessing you're doing something wrong as your dough is clearly not rising sufficiently. Try fresh flour, even the Aldi cheap stuff makes a decent loaf, put your liquid in first, use Olive oil instead of butter/marg (unless you use salt free), add everything else , minus the yeast,and fire up the machine. When mixing starts in earnest (3-4 minutes), sprinkle in the yeast and use a plastic scraper to scrape any dough sticking to the sides of the pan. You can also get flour improvers on the bay of plenty that will make your dough rise higher. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by bruno22rf

[Fisheruk]

6 hours ago, Jim Neal said:

I've used a bread making machine in the past, but th bread always turns out really dense, heavy and claggy... sticks to your chest!  Used to be OK to dip in soup but not very nice for sandwiches.

Does proving/baking outside the machine avoid that problem?  I'm wondering if it's the flour/yeast making it a bit undesirable or just the fact it's baked in the machine

Yes, it is much easier to control outs of the machine. It is also a question of many things, temperature, quantity of yeast. Flour is also important. I use to use flour and yeast from Aldi but now that I’ve stepped up production I buy in bulk. If I buy 48kg at a time I get free delivery from the mill which means I have a plentiful supply and no searching around for bags of flour. Bulk yeast in 500g vac packed units last a month or more if kept in a container in the fridge once opened.

[D_shooter]

I’ve baked a few recently, I seem to go through stages. 
 

Never used a machine, can’t see the point. 

[bruno22rf]

"Never used a machine, can't see the point" - cos I'm lazy!! I'm also drinking coffee and reading a book while you're up to your elbows in flour. PS - during last years yeast "drought", if you spoke nicely to the bakery at tesco, they would often give you a "lump" of fresh yeast. Aldi flour was great a couple of years ago but then the quality dropped like a stone - glad to see, over the last 6 months, that it's back on par.

[dead eye alan]

I can not stop dribbling now!  😄

[D_shooter]

17 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

"Never used a machine, can't see the point" - cos I'm lazy!! I'm also drinking coffee and reading a book while you're up to your elbows in flour. PS - during last years yeast "drought", if you spoke nicely to the bakery at tesco, they would often give you a "lump" of fresh yeast. Aldi flour was great a couple of years ago but then the quality dropped like a stone - glad to see, over the last 6 months, that it's back on par.

I understand! All my kneading is done in a stand mixer so really it’s forming the loaf and putting it into the Dutch oven is the only real effort, hardly a strain! Plenty of time to do other things while it’s proofing! 
 

It also means I can make other types of bread rather than just a farm house / tin loaf! 

[D_shooter]

8 hours ago, Jim Neal said:

I've used a bread making machine in the past, but th bread always turns out really dense, heavy and claggy... sticks to your chest!  Used to be OK to dip in soup but not very nice for sandwiches.

Does proving/baking outside the machine avoid that problem?  I'm wondering if it's the flour/yeast making it a bit undesirable or just the fact it's baked in the machine

Try a higher water to flour ratio, should help it being less dense, although it gets harder to handle.
 

Over proofing is a detrimental as under proofing so it’s important to get that right! 

[Mr.C]

Bread machines are very good for making fresh pasta too

[JKD]

1 hour ago, D_shooter said:

I’ve baked a few recently, I seem to go through stages. 
 

Never used a machine, can’t see the point. 

These look brilliant and I suspect taste delicious 😋

37 minutes ago, dead eye alan said:

I can not stop dribbling now!  😄

🤤🤤🤤😀 Me too 😛😋

[oscarsdad]

They look really good. 
 

my wife has been doing a lot of bread making, the labour of sourdough has stopped now with homeschooling but she’s still baking normal bread. Flour quality makes a massive difference, we buy in bulk from shipton mill. She’s also developed her own recipe which works much much better in the bread machine - no condensed milk powder and a hell of a lot less sugar than the recipes the machine came with. Still come out a stupid shape with a hole from the mixing blade though so often proofed in there and then baked in the oven. 
 

She has also done some really nice and really quick air fried donuts and some really good air fried pretzels 🥨.

[captainhastings]

Them loafs look delicious. You can't beat home made bread. I used to make a lot and got better and better at it. But it didn't keep long and sort of tied you up time wise as you had to be around the place when you timed the proofing etc. Bread make never gave as good results as doing by hand 

[bruno22rf]

captsainhastings - try the wessex mill french bread flour, dont ask why but the bread stays moist for days. Oscarsdad - take the blade out after the final mixing.

[old'un]

2 hours ago, captainhastings said:

Them loafs look delicious. You can't beat home made bread. I used to make a lot and got better and better at it. But it didn't keep long and sort of tied you up time wise as you had to be around the place when you timed the proofing etc. Bread make never gave as good results as doing by hand 

The wife buys a couple of crusty loaves from the Asda bakery, she cuts them in half, raps them in clingfilm and puts them in the freezer, keeps for ages and when thawed its just as fresh as the day she bought them.

Tip, Keep the clingfilm on when thawing, stops the bread drying out.

[D_shooter]

3 hours ago, captainhastings said:

Them loafs look delicious. You can't beat home made bread. I used to make a lot and got better and better at it. But it didn't keep long and sort of tied you up time wise as you had to be around the place when you timed the proofing etc. Bread make never gave as good results as doing by hand 

Home baked bread will never last as long as shop purchased because you don’t add the various ingredients needed to keep bread soft/spoiling. You can if you so which desired purchase the bread fortifiers from amazon or the likes and use it. 
 

however with all home cooking, filling your food with E numbers / preservatives from a packet is all wrong! 

[kenholland]

i like to make a granary, once needed i put it on a little portable heater and cover it with a small towel to get it to rise faster , once it gets to the top of the tin , into the oven, sorted , smell , taste , what more can i say.

[Fisheruk]

8 hours ago, D_shooter said:

Home baked bread will never last as long as shop purchased because you don’t add the various ingredients needed to keep bread soft/spoiling. You can if you so which desired purchase the bread fortifiers from amazon or the likes and use it. 
 

however with all home cooking, filling your food with E numbers / preservatives from a packet is all wrong! 

Lemon juice is a natural additive which has the the same application as using a “fortifier” a teaspoonful is all you need and you won’t taste it.

[GingerCat]

To break the boredom of lockdown we make some bread in the pizza oven. 1 was a wholemeal using spelt flour and the other a white loaf with sundried tomatoes and loves. Both were very nice  

[JKD]

41 minutes ago, GingerCat said:

1. To break the boredom of lockdown we make some bread in the pizza oven. 1 was a wholemeal using spelt flour and the other a white loaf with sundried tomatoes and loves. Both were very nice  

What type of "loves" did you use,,,, sounds interesting 😜

[islandgun]

My bread making machine, I'm up to 6 courses but struggling 😟, Its a dome and ive shaped sand as a former at the top to finish but its not very neat

Edited January 16, 2021 by islandgun