Bread making for imbeciles

[ShiftyBagLady]

i did leave it to rise a second time but not for as long as i should have, only about half an hour because i was desperate to get it cooked i didnt have a tin though, i think i might have to invest in some bakeware because i am determined to bake a cake. determined i tell you

 

[WouldBe]

Cakes are a lot easier. Mix it up. Slap in tin. Bung in oven. Job done.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

i still manage to get it wrong
lets not get started on that though, i'm enjoying this triumph

 

[Hocus Eye.]

This makes me want to get back into bread making. I used to have a ritual of making a small loaf every Friday after work. This was years ago. The kneading was therapeutic, as is the smell of baking. I experimented with different mixtures of wholemeal and strong white flour. White bread rises up more but wholemeal has more flavour of course. I mentioned this to a friend the other day and she encouraged me to start doing it again and offered to eat it for me. cheek!

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

After reading this thread I left the breadmaker on the shelf this weekend and made two batches of rolls by hand and a couple of loaves of bread.

Faster, just as easy and twice as nice.

 

[Herbsman.]

I tried to make a couple of baguettes last night, and supported them with rolled-up tea towells while they proved, but the dough was so moist that they sort of fell into the shape of chabattas I'll keep the dough a bit drier next time. The crust and crumb as almost perfect; lots of big holes in the crumb, and plenty of crispy chewiness in the crust. Yom yom!

 

[zenie]

Always add some strong white flower to your wholemeal.

Why?

Cheers for the tips Herbsman but I think I'll stick with the easy way. My breadmaker bread tastes great

 

[Herbsman.]

Why?

Because the addition of white flour helps to make the finished product softer, less dense, and helps it to rise more. I prefer 100% wholemeal though.

Despite being a bread champion I still fucked up my first attempt at making wholemeal baguettes - they were solid as a rock.

As for your breadmaker preference, you can do what you like love! It's not me who has to eat it

Bread machines may be convenient and perfectly capable of producing great-tasting bread, I don't deny that.

I, however, am a member of the Anti-Breadmachine Coalition (ABC) and the Artisan Baker's Confederation (also ABC). We at the ABC (and at the other ABC) believe that bread machines are a demeaning insult to the art of bread making and the skills of artisan bakers. Truly great bread comes only from the hands of a skilled craftsperson who is trained to the highest ability to mix, ferment, shape and bake an excellent hand crafted loaf of bread. The quality of bread producable by hand simply cannot be matched by that of a bread machine.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

The quality of bread producable by hand simply cannot be matched by that of a bread machine.

It's true. Bread machine bread is nice, nicer than supermarket bread, but it is nothing on hand kneaded bread which is the bollarks.