Does anyone else regularly (often) bake or even think about bread any more?
 

I bake bread almost every day .... and have no one to talk to.

It may be baguettes or bagels or flat breads for my kebabs - but life without freshly made daily bread would be terrible. I need my kneading.

No one else here seems to obsess about bread .. so I'm not expecting much response or any longevity to this thread so invite also just enthusiastic eaters as well as bakers of bread in the forlorn hope of some bready debate. Let us pity the poor pitta.

Anyone? :)

Yup. Use the bread machine to make french, rye, and a parmesan-herb of my own design. Got to make it every few days, though, because new bread goes stale fast.
Can't do the kneading myself, so I'm restricted to mundane bread in the breadmaker.

anyone have a fancy breadmaker? planning to research it at some point.

one of the things im interested in is actually french toast

Lovely to talk to another dough person!

What machine do you have?

i use my bread machine for a pseudo cholla/brioche loaf and for an odd French bread that is good for sandwiches.

Actually you aren't restricted to mundane bread if the kneading is a prob. Are you aware that the most wonderful genuine baguettes - better than anything you have in France would be really easy for you?

All basic prep could be in your machine but with the only slight inconvenience of a poolish mix the previous day to give that French bread flavour and some easy envelope folds after the bread machine prep to get the texture? I wouldn't have thought some envelope folds would be a problem. If you're interested happy to give some specifics.

I love rye bread particularly for smoke salmon and salt beef.

I am about to put some baguettes into the oven .....

The very best so far seems to be the Panasonics. I've had several and they are great.

If you end up with that I have a recipe I specifically developed for the panny which is a perfect base for French toast.

I've got a Panasonic machine. Use it two or three times a week - nothing fancy just standard wholemeal loaves normally.

Very open to suggestions - and I'd like to hear your baguette technique :-)


Adey


PS - any one else following Paul Hollywood's Bread TV series (on UK BBC and (I assume) BBC iPlayer)?

Paul is of course my hero. I thought I was the only bloke making bread until he came on the box.

I'll summarise baguettes for a couple of smallish baguettes. Double or triple etc for more. I do this pretty much daily. We're ending up with a mix at roughly 75% hydration ie wet for crispy crust.


1. make a poolish the day before. Mix 100 gms of hard flour (I use very hard Canadian) with 100 gms of water with around 7 gms of instant yeast in a jug with a fork and cover with one of those hair hats stolen from a hotel that are perfect for bread makers! This takes 10 seconds! Leave overnight to bubble away. It'll die down by the morning.

2. put around 8 gms of salt into the bottom of a bowl followed by 100gms of flour and 50gms of water and the poolish. This is th75% hydration we're mixing to. Mix in a mixer or bread machine for around 5minutes or so - no more. Cover and leave until it doubles.

3. When it has doubled decant the wet mix onto a floured board. Do not let it anywhere near oil as this will remove crunch. Envelope fold around 8 times or so. This is sort of stretching it out and then folding back like an envelope then turning it around and doing it the other way. I then throw some flour into an oblong plastic box with a lid and throw it in for half an hour or so or more ... Then I decant out again and envelope fold a couple of times and put it back in the box for another half hour ish I repeat a few times stretching it long and folding.

4. I use baguette tins and shape them and drop them in. i put the oven on high ish arond 220 and I put in a steak griddle in the bottom of the open to heat up although any tin will do. I let the bread rise - although some times I put it in a very cool fan oven at 50 or so to accelerate the final rise. I lame (cut) the top lengthways to improve the crumb.


When the loaves have risen I spray the tops with water and spray the inside of the oven with water. I put the bread in and put half a cup of water on the now hot griddle for the steam and very quickly put the bread in for 5 minutes and slam the door shut trapping the steam. After 5 I take the bread out and let the steam evaporate out. I then let the bread sit outside the oven whilst the oven dries a little and set the oven a bit higher say 240 ish. The bread bakes and finishes for a further 20 or so minutes.

The bread will be slightly but not overly sour dough'ish (the French use sour dough to make poolish) and crispy.

Although I've used a lot of words I've tried to explain what is in fact really simple and takes not much effort.

Sorry about the typing but I'm ipading.

Now try it and report back with photographs.

I've been making much more bread these days now that I have a bread machine to do the kneading for me, as I'm rather wimpy (and impatient). I use it for variations of the very soft and fluffy breads, and yesterday for hot cross buns. For a reliably crusty boule I do the no-knead Le Creuset version that's been really popular since the mid-aughts, although we have an amazing bread maker in Honolulu now so I don't bother so much with it.

There's nothing wrong with bread machines. :)

I try to make all the bread I eat. Sometimes I forget and have to resort to store bought disappointment.

I get two batches of Jim Lahey (google it!) no knead bread going. I stagger the start of the second rise so that I can bake one after the other. Someday I might get a second pot to let me make more, efficiently. I prefer a softer lighter crust than Lahey so I don't take the lid off at all. I add a little more salt than what he calls for. One gets eaten and other gets frozen. It is good for two days, or more if toasted.

I've converted at least two others to doing this. It is truly fantastic no knead no work bread.

I bake most of the bread we eat. Use the kitchenaid to mix and knead it, shape and form by hand.In the winter we'll let the dough rise by the fireplace.

May go a couple of weeks and not go near it, then do four batched the next time.

More people make bread than I thought! ^

I make a nice brown Irish soda bread 3 times a week. A nice slathering(if that is a word) of Kerrygold butter and a mug of tea. Heaven:)

The most trouble I want to go to is removing the kneading blade spatula before the dough starts to rise (hate the big hole in the bottom left by the machine).
But I might have to try the baguettes or the no-knead bread mix...:)

Does the dough hook on a "kitchen aid" not work for you? I know it's not perfect, but it seemed to substitute fine when I broke my thumb/tore my shoulder and couldn't knead for a few weeks.

Edit: this may be irrelevant, as I didn't see your last post prior to posting, sorry.

Real Bread
 

Great to see this thread! I have taken a few courses from Bread Beckers in GA http://www.breadbeckers.com/. It's my passion. Amazing. They are focused on going back to Biblical grains and milling one's own grains. I have a WonderMill and have been making breads for the past month with freshly ground hard white/red wheat, buckwheat, millet, rye, etc. You can take video classes if you don't live close by. My best friend and I did a taste test. Freshly ground really does taste better.

Bread machine
 

Yes. Newest version of the Zojirushi is best. I have an old Zo, but new one browns better on top of bread loaf due to heating coils. It continuously gets best reviews for quality and longevity. http://www.breadbeckers.com/ recommend it as well. Mine has never let me down.

I'm curious to know what ingredient amounts you use. The recipes I've tried for soda bread produce loaves about 8 inches across, too much for one person to enjoy over 1 or 2 days at most, and it doesn't keep. I'm looking for a recipe with ingredient amounts for a small loaf (maybe 5 inches across) that I could make routinely without making too much and having it go to waste.

Many thanks for the detaied instructions - I have to give it a jolly good go.... as soon as I'm back at home.

Standby for photos :)


Adey

I've tried. And failed. I consider myself a well above average home chef, but just can't grasp working with dough.

I had given up on bread as well until the no-knead recipes became well known (such as the Jim Lahey one I mentioned upthread.)

Thanks op for this thread and thanks for the recipe as well. I'll give it a go sometime.

Interesting. I'll have to try this too. It sounds simple enough.

I purchased a Panasonic SD-YD250 while in the US a few months back. It's a very good machine that does a good job at making breads I like. It's slow though - most breads seem to take at least 4h if not 5h so you do need to get your timing right. You can put the machine on timer mode if you want, but I prefer not to as some of my recipes use milk instead of water and I'd rather not leave the mixture sitting in the machine for too long.

I much prefer making my own bread as I know what's going in there and I can add / delete things to suit my own tastes.

I went through a breadmaking phase a couple years ago - to rave reviews. But it's just too much of a hassle since I don't have a KitchenAid or a bread maker. Plus, bread does not assist me in fitting into my skinny jeans.

Perhaps I'll have to start again.

uk1 - do you spend all day cooking every day? It sure seems like it!

You can try powdered milk, put it on top so it doesn't get to the water until the machine kicks in. No chance of it going sour on you, and you may not be able to tell the difference in the finished product.

I also went through first period by an extended absence from bread making. But now it has all fallen into place and it is so so easy and takes no time or inconvenience. The most complicated bread I make are bagels as I missed the bagels of my youth and realised the only way is to make them . But that is well worth the effort.

Oddly I had the same yearnings for real baguettes hence my experiments there. When written it sounds complicated but in total elapsed time ie not waiting time I guess baguettes take around 20 minutes at most per day.

Yes, I suppose I spend a lot of time cooking but I use to always think of it as productive thinking time as well when working. All my best business and business ideas seems to be over preparing or eating lunch.

I got this recipe a few years ago off the TV, I think it is a Darina Allen( brilliant Irish Chef / teacher) recipe.

560g/1¼ lbs Brown wholemeal flour
560g/1¼ lbs plain white flour
2 rounded tsps of salt
2 rounded tsps of bread soda(bicarbonate of soda)
750-900ml /1¼-1½ pints of sour milk or buttermilk.

You should be able to shape this into a 6 inch round shape.
You won't have any problems with leftovers.:D
Enjoy !!

Thank you!

I use a 1996-vintage Breadman that won't die, so no, but I've been looking at the fancy dual-paddle Zojirushis, and I expect one of these days I'll get one... when the Breadman goes if not sooner.

I'm too lazy to do anything that doesn't bake in the machine, but it's still way better than anything that comes in a plastic bag, and it's more convenient than running by a bakery.

I found a set of directions that had me do a starter (I guess like the poolish?) the night before running on the dough cycle, very wet - makes quite a difference in the flavor.

My husband is a superb bread maker. He scorns a bread machine, but does have a Kitchenaid then kneads it by hand. Many years ago, he took an adult ed class from a woman who was a cancer researcher. She made bread to relax. She taught the class 6 or 7 recipes a night for a multi week course. It included traditional breaks, pita, English muffins, crackers, and more. It gave him great confidence. He will tackle any bread recipe now. I particularly like his sundried tomato/olive bread, his grandmother's potato water biscuits, and his Italian walnut raisin bread. I really really like his English muffins but that's the one recipe he won't made. It simply takes too long and is too fiddly.

Regarding the second part of your query...all of the time. If I`m near olive oil, there`s no telling how much bread I can eat.

Every other day
 

Here at Yanuiseaview,Rawai ,Phuket, I bake a Banana and Cashew Bread or a Bara Brith ( Welsh tea bread). fruit soaked over night in tea ;)n Rum.. All in a little bread machine

I have eaten a Bosnian flat bread today. It was wonderful. It was like a ciabatta but softer. Clearly fairly mature starter was used but it wasn't sour. I couldn't get any sense out of the people making it, only that they used milk. I guess it's going to obsess me now.

Now there is a great there's-no-accounting-for-taste debate which will never be settled: butter vs. olive oil?

Butter.

There, settled it for you!

I had some lebinja a few days ago and it was wonderful. I'm going to make some and master it. And when those people at Britannia eventually repair my lava bbq I'll have some sheftalia and kebabs to go with it.

Another Jim Lahey/Mark Bittman no-kneader here. Once you get a feel for how wet your dough should be, it's pretty easy. It lasts pretty well and makes excellent toast once it starts getting older. We very rarely buy bread anymore.

I also do variations on the basic recipe like rosemary olive, whole wheat walnut, and rye (although I never can get this to rise as well).

There, fixed it for you! :D

...and never the twain shall meet. :D

Far too much faffing about for the quantity we eat so our bread machine is collecting dust I'm afraid to say. Plus we have a Panaderia about 50 feet away if we want fresh bread and there's always the supermarket. :eek:

Although.....having recently downloaded and watched the Hairy Bikers Bakeation I fancy having a go at some of their recipes using my wood burning oven.

my wife wanted one of these:
Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme 2-Pound-Loaf Breadmaker

it is completely automatic. takes 2.5-3hrs. throw in ingredients, and take out a loaf. many flours are available from king arthur flour.

it also makes pizza dough. biggest complaints are it takes up counter space, and bread is not caloric free. hundreds(thousands?) of recipes out there.