The Bread Thread

[teamsaint]

There is a fortune waiting for anybody who can produce tasty gluten free bread.
However, this quest is about as likely to yield good results as the search for good alcohol free wine. Although it does have a bit more point to it.

As to home made pasta...hands up anybody who believes all those stories about Italian women making fresh pasta four times a day........

[kernelbogey]

PACKET MIX

Flour
yeast
water
tiny bit of oil / butter
litte salt

what else ?

(ok sometimes seeds, wild garlic, fresh herbs etc but PACKET MIX ???? Never )

What else - some sweetening for the yeast to thrive on. I think the secret is actually in the first stage ('the batter') and the kneading too. The recipe which I have always followed comes from the Tassajara Bread Book:

http://www.culinate.com/books/collections/all_books/The+Tassajara+Bread+Book/Tassajara+Yeasted+Bread

It looks rather dauntingly labour-intensive at first reading but once you've done it this way a couple of times you won't want to look back....

[MrGongGong]

You really don't need any sugar (I would add a little honey to Rye but more for flavour) and so much bread tastes far too sweet to me
A slow rise overnight works fine .................

[kernelbogey]

You really don't need any sugar....

It's not to sweeten the bread - I believe it improves the action of the yeast.

[MrGongGong]

It's not to sweeten the bread - I believe it improves the action of the yeast.

In my experience only if you are in a rush
I usually make sourdough dough in the evening , leave in a proving basket overnight and bake in the morning
why rush ?

[handsomefortune]

rather than 'half baked' serial apologist.

who's fergus henderson?

imo packet mix is ok for plain white bread, done in baking machine mr gong gong,....it is a short cut to warm fresh bread. but home made bread goes stale so quickly, unless it's all eaten, so typically some gets shown the bin. it's when manufacturers attempt 'fancy' that it tends to end in tears.... and it all goes in the bin. therefore pointless and disheartening for beginners, often enticed by lovely packaging.

bread making does give an idea of just how much preservative we're actually eating without even noticing. (bearing in mind some sliced loaves are still soft after a week)!

though oven baked and raw ingredients is always going to taste better - just more time, therefore the bin option is perhaps more of a disappointment.

though a lot's down to nifty prep - as ever with cooking. 18 hrs + is an awful long time to wait if you just fancy a ciabatta butty & cheese, or two!

on herbs, i never thought that much of oregano till growing some last year ...it's obligingly come back this year, having self seeded. poppy, cumin, etc seeds are tasty, but eg poppy is high in cholesterol apparently. plus my bread maker seems to send seeds into a 'surprise wadge' at the bottom of the loaf - rather than dispersing evenly throughout. oven bake's superior in this sense, and another bonus is that you can coat the entire crust, not just the top.

i can't quite see the point of putting fresh herbs in a loaf, prefer adding them to butter, &/or cheese accompaniment, on a slice of warm bread. i like raw garlic, but appreciate that it's not always best, unless everyone's eaten it, and sometimes it makes me hicough uncontrollably ...about an hour later i'm often ravenously hungry, so may feel obliged to eat an entire loaf, so as to 'tidy up'. consequently personally speaking, garlic's best avoided.

[marthe]

We make our own bread chez m. Handsome Husband makes the daily loaf (or every other day) using a breadmaker and I do the holiday baking the traditional way. Our daily bread is either a plain white loaf or a basic wheat bread. The holiday breads (Christmas, Easter) are traditional sweet breads using a lot of eggs, sugar, spices, and dried fruit. One is my grandmother's recipe for cramique, a Belgian sweet bread flavord with coriander and raisins; the other is a Danish Christmas bread made with cardamom, golden raisins (sultanas) and topped with sliced almonds and sugar. Both doughs are heaven to work with as they're light and stretchy. The loaves are either round or braided. I love the whole process from proofing the yeast and working the dough to taking the finished bread out of the oven to cool on a rack. The smell of baked bread is wonderful.

[Serial_Apologist]

i like raw garlic, but appreciate that it's not always best, unless everyone's eaten it

[amateur51]

We make our own bread chez m. Handsome Husband makes the daily loaf (or every other day) using a breadmaker and I do the holiday baking the traditional way. Our daily bread is either a plain white loaf or a basic wheat bread. The holiday breads (Christmas, Easter) are traditional sweet breads using a lot of eggs, sugar, spices, and dried fruit. One is my grandmother's recipe for cramique, a Belgian sweet bread flavord with coriander and raisins; the other is a Danish Christmas bread made with cardamom, golden raisins (sultanas) and topped with sliced almonds and sugar. Both doughs are heaven to work with as they're light and stretchy. The loaves are either round or braided. I love the whole process from proofing the yeast and working the dough to taking the finished bread out of the oven to cool on a rack. The smell of baked bread is wonderful.

Wow marthe, what a delicious post ... mmmmm

[Serial_Apologist]

Wow marthe, what a delicious post ... mmmmm

Shame it's also a virtual post, eh Ams?

[amateur51]

Shame it's also a virtual post, eh Ams?

Just as well if I'm to stay in these Summer trousers, S_A

[Serial_Apologist]

Just as well if I'm to stay in these Summer trousers, S_A

Mr Buckles still before the select committee then, Ams?

[Ferretfancy]

I make two large wholemeal loves every week or so, by hand, and I really enjoy it. We eat one straight away, while freezing the second one for later, and it tastes great. I'll just add modestly that my cheery and ginger cake is to die for, likewise the currant fruit slice!

[salymap]

I prefer Hovis Wholemeal [not granary], but used to make rather nice Danish Pastries, in all the various shapes and with different additions. Trouble is I've completely forgotten the recipe but sure ithad yeast in it.

Homemade bread is no good for a sandwich IMHO.

[Nick Armstrong]

my cheery and ginger cake is to die for

Is cheery cake like hash brownies? Presumably you add the ginger to mask the taste of the marijuana...?