Bread. What's the big deal?

[Idaho]

Our breadmaker makes bread with a proper crust. And we don't put any sugar in the loaf. Just flour, yeast, splash of olive oil and a good pinch of salt + water.

The advantage of a breadmaker is that you realise at 11:15pm that you have run out of bread. And by 11:17pm you have put the ingredients in, pressed the button and know you will awake to a fresh loaf ready for breakfast.

 

[fractionMan]

I want one for my boat now. But I'd only be able to run it when the engine is on, which is about 1 or 2 hours between 5 and 8pm in the evening or when I'm moving it.

Hmmm.

 

[mr steev]

Me

You can you know! Presuming you know how to use a spoon (and even that's not essential)

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

But you use a food processor!

I'll accept that bread is best made by hand, but you can't beat the convinience of a machine. Even if you rush the kneading stage, you're still going to have to be there to put the oven on, and to take it out. Most machines have timers so you just plug it in and it's done whenever you want it

My oven has a timer, it's not that much of a pain to take some bread out when it beeps. I think this is what I am getting at. It's so fucking simple but nobody can be arsed to even do that.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Like I said, let's see you do it several times a week, every week

I cook a home made dinner every night and bake a cake once every two weeks. I really don't think it's going to be a problem of me to carry on doing five minutes of prep for a loaf of bread a couple of times a week.

Plus it's a good activity/education that my daughter can get in involved with.

 

[Herbsman.]

My oven has a timer, it's not that much of a pain to take some bread out when it beeps. I think this is what I am getting at. It's so fucking simple but nobody can be arsed to even do that.

To make 'awesome' bread takes a lot more effort than to make 'good' bread. It involves maintaining a sourdough starter, and long, slow fermentation of the dough, with regular, gentle stretching and folding sticky dough that takes a lot of care to handle. Then remembering to remove the steam after 5-10 minutes of baking. I've given up, I just cant be arsed with the extra effort and potential failure of making 'awesome' bread, and I dont think merely 'good' bread is worth the inconvenience. Sliced Aldi bread FTW

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

You can you know! Presuming you know how to use a spoon (and even that's not essential)

Yes but where do you get suet from? Huh? Answer me that!

 

[mr steev]

It's so fucking simple but nobody can be arsed to even do that.

Tis true.

I did read somewhere though, that if everyone (or even the majority) of people made their own bread the uk wouldn't be able to produce enough good quality flour! One of the things about the chorleywood process is that it uses poor quality flour so the uk doesn't have to rely on imports

 

[mr steev]

Yes but where do you get suet from? Huh? Answer me that!

shops and supermarkets

 

[Chz]

I thought you kind of did all the mixing and kneading and just put it in the bread-maker to cook.

Quite the opposite here. I found the breadmaker just didn't cook things the way I liked them, but it's valuable for no-fuss kneading and it warms up to about 30C to allow the dough to rise in my freezing-assed kitchen.

I could most likely get by without it now, but I give credit to the machine for getting me into it in the first place.

Oh, an molasses is an underrated source of sugars for brown, seedy bread. Yum!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Yes but where do you get suet from? Huh? Answer me that!

Anywhere. See - all the answers you had to where to buy yeast.

Atora in most places I prefer the veg stuff.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

To make 'awesome' bread takes a lot more effort than to make 'good' bread. It involves maintaining a sourdough starter, and long, slow fermentation of the dough, with regular, gentle stretching and folding sticky dough that takes a lot of care to handle. Then remembering to remove the steam after 5-10 minutes of baking. I've given up, I just cant be arsed with the extra effort and potential failure of making 'awesome' bread, and I dont think merely 'good' bread is worth the inconvenience. Sliced Aldi bread FTW

I think my bread is awesome. It is light and tasty, just how I like it.

Nimble is my regular buy. I don't like the stodgy bread.

 

[Herbsman.]

I suppose if you're used to hovis then any decent home made bread is going to seem awesome until you get something better than that. It's all relative innit.... I used to think the bread I used to make was awesome until I started making the effort to make top quality stuff. Now, a loaf made with minimum effort just seems far less than average.

 

[gentlegreen]

Non-machine bread will have to wait until I get to my rural semi-retirement en France ..

I have an idea of converting the french to my industrial strength seeded wholemeal... or at the very least impress them with my iron constitution

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I suppose if you're used to hovis then any decent home made bread is going to seem awesome until you get something better than that. It's all relative innit.... I used to think the bread I used to make was awesome until I started making the effort to make top quality stuff. Now, a loaf made with minimum effort just seems far less than average.

You have no idea how good or not my bread is. Just because you messed yours up and got better at it doesn't mean that mine isn't the most awesome bread since . . (well you know) off the bat.

Anyway. I did another couple today and they were even more awesome than before. Much less butter and salt.

 

[Herbsman.]

You have no idea how good or not my bread is. Just because you messed yours up and got better at it doesn't mean that mine isn't the most awesome bread since . . (well you know) off the bat.

Ok take it personally and overlook the point I was trying to make then.

Knob.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Ok take it personally and overlook the point I was trying to make then.

Knob.

Ok take it seriously and overlook . . . er? The. . .er

Well anyway, welcome to the internets.

 

[Brainaddict]

I quite like my bread dense and heavy. This makes things much easier - a lot of the effort people put in seems to be directed towards making light, fluffy breads.

I didn't have much time the other day and fancied a wholemeal loaf after reading this thread, so I mixed one up (3 mins), switched the oven on, waited half an hour, kneaded it (3 mins) and chucked it in the oven. It was quite heavy obviously, but it tasted amazing.

 

[gentlegreen]

Same with me.

If stuck, my version of pancakes /crepes / chapatis is wholemeal flour and water, fried in my wok, served with baked beans, tahini and Dijon mustard, or alternatively crunchy PNB and maple syrup.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I didn't have much time the other day and fancied a wholemeal loaf after reading this thread, so I mixed one up

We should start a self indulgent home made bread pictures thread.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Last nights.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

The last wonky top one I did.

Kids are currently enjoying pitta's. It is exactly the same recipe (as bread) except you divide the mixture up and then roll them out just before putting in the oven.

I am going to make some rolls (50:50 wholemeal:white) tommorrow to go with some nice cheeses when some friends come around. Anyone suggest some good additions to the mix? I was thinking some dates and walnuts.

 

[8115]

Some people find it easier than others to make bread. I've never made a loaf of bread as good as one from the shop. You must be one of those people who can make bread well.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

.

Thats a nice high looking loaf.

 

[Hassan I Sabha]

Cheers

Tasted fine, just rised(?) in a wonkey way in the tin.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I can't stop. Here is last nights.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I don't know if you can see this but the bread is red. I made it using chopped up plum tomatoes instead of water. It is amazingly yummy.

 

[Brainaddict]

I made a flatbread the other day, with cayenne pepper in it. It was lush.

Tomorrow I will make spelt bread - a first attempt.

 

[Ms T]

I make bread all the time and it is very yummy and quite easy but takes some planning because I use a sourdough starter which needs to be fed on a regular basis to keep it active.

I use 1lb of strong white flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 2 oz of starter, 12oz water. Mix it all up and leave overnight (about 18 hour is best). Dough will have doubled in size and be full of small holes. Remove from the bowl and place on a floured board. Stretch the dough a bit and then fold it in thirds, and then in half. Repeat a couple of times and leave to rest for 15 mins. Then place into a floured rising basket, cover, and leave in a warm place for 2-3 hours. When you're ready to bake, put a heavy Le Creuset type dish into the oven on its highest temperature for half an hour. When it's heated up, place dough in the dish, put on the lid, turn the temp down to 220C and bake for 30 mins. Then take off the lid, turn temp down to 200C and bake for an additional 15-30 mins.

Yes, it's a bit of a pain, but it makes really, really great bread. Way better than the breadmaker stuff or a normal white loaf. Better than a lot of artisan baked stuff, according to hendo. The long fermentation means the flavour is developed. The covered pot means you get intense heat and a great crust. The crumb is slightly shiny and holy, and the bread is nicely chewy. It is good bread.

 

[Chz]

A tip for sourdough starters is that using rye flour makes them a *LOT* less needy. Plus a bit of rye in your bread tastes nice. It's incredibly hard to kill a rye starter - I know wheat starters aren't exactly easy to kill off, but rye's near Superman status.