Bread Making

[saucisson]

Unusually for me I'm quite happy to just buy some improver and not deconstruct/reconstruct it (well just yet )

Dave

[johnfb]

I guess I'll have to be nice to her for a couple of days and start the buttering up process.
I think it might be for christmas as my birthday has passed.

What machine do you have...


PS. can you check your mail here Ileft you a PM.

[saucisson]

Phil or me?

[lemonD]

This is exactly the reason I started this thread.
Jen/Oddley you've proved to me that it can be done and if it tastes as good as it looks, I'll be making this seven times a week, I'm not after cheap, I'm after quality.

LD

[wheels]

John

I have an old machine currently an A701 - prior to that I had an A901 which my mother now uses.
The only difference is that some of the attachments aren't interchangeable. Otherwise they seem identical to me.

LD
If your after quality and taste go for bread like a sour dough or one that uses a starter (aka biga or poolish) made a day (or so) before. It will have bags more flavour.
My ciabatta is made that way - but you could adapt the recipe to say 60-65% water (as a ratio of flour) and make a traditional loaf. I'm just not organised enough to do this on a regular basis; it's a bit of a kerfuffle.

Oddley
My post and yours beginning "I'm glad you bought this up. I have been using ascorbic acid powder for some time..." crossed. Whilst most of the improver ingredients are natural (ish). I make my own bread to avoid modern commercial techniques so won't be trying to make my own improver either. I like to keep it simple and find that by using fairly high rates of hydration and fat (oil in my case) I can produce a light crumb with either a 'crusty crust' or a soft one fairly easily. However, I can understand that for people with busy lives the improver must be a great help. The one problem with my way is that the one thing you need is time, and lots of it!

Phil

[johnfb]

Phil or me?

Sorry Dave, that was for Phil

[jenny_haddow]

Looks like there are some great loaves of bread out there. I have some pictures to post when I can find them, but at the moment I have a loaf cooking from flour I ground with the kenwood. I'm not expecting a fantastic rise with this flour, but the flour smelled and tasted good and the wheat was �1.79 for 3kilos. I use 500 grams for a loaf, so that's six loaves from one bag of wheat.
I'll post a picture of it whether its a success or a house brick!

Cheers

Jen

[Oddley]

Hi wheels, this is just a heads up really.

I make soft rolls using 600g Flour, 420ml water, 4 tbsp oil, 1.5 tsp salt and 7g easy blend yeast. For a soft crust I don't spray when cooking and cook at 180C until lightly browned - these are very light in texture and have good keeping qualities.

I make my own bread to avoid modern commercial techniques so won't be trying to make my own improver either. I like to keep it simple and find that by using fairly high rates of hydration and fat (oil in my case) I can produce a light crumb with either a 'crusty crust' or a soft one fairly easily. However, I can understand that for people with busy lives the improver must be a great help. The one problem with my way is that the one thing you need is time, and lots of it!

Allinson Easy bake Yeast 42g

Ingredients
Yeast, Emulsifier: E491, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)

Allinsons

[wheels]

Oddley
I was aware of this but thanks anyway. I know also that some vegans (I'm not one!) have/had issues with 'commercially produced' fresh yeast (a by-product of the brewing industry?) although I can't find any online reference to it, quite the contrary in fact.

It's the very reason I started a sourdough a couple of days ago; well, that and just to experiment - but whether I can be bothered to persevere with it in the long term is another matter.

I guess most people (other than forum members of course) aren't aware that by law certain things have to be added to flour to replace the 'bits' took out during the processing.

From Doves Farmweb-site:

Bread and Flour Regulations 1998

By law flour millers must ensure the following nutrients are present in all wheat flour other than wholemeal flour:

Calcium Carbonate 235-390mg/100g
Iron Minimum 1.65mg/100g
Thiamine 0.24mg/100g
Nicotinic acid 1.6mg/100g

I bet what's put back 'ain't as good' as what's taken out!

I guess I was trying to justify why I don't use improvers without sounding big-headed and saying that I don't because my bread don't need (kneed!) 'em.

Best regards

Phil

[johnfb]

Some bread making videos:


http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-white-bread


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk0fYqi4 ... re=related

John

[Oddley]

I've tried to like sourdough, but I just can't, I've spent weeks carefully tending brews of wild yeast. Yet when I taste what would be a crusty well risen bread, it's a bloody horrible and nasty sour thing, tasting of what I believe uric acid would taste like...

Be proud of your bread, if it's good it's good...

[johnfb]

The name should tell you everything you need to know about sourdough

[wheels]

Oops, I've messed up again - the soft rolls recipe has 300ml/g semi-skimmed milk and 120mg/g water - I've corrected it now.

The other bits - sourdough etc - I'll re-visit in the morning when I'm sober!

[johnfb]

Oops, I've messed up again - the soft rolls recipe has 300ml/g semi-skimmed milk and 120mg/g water - I've corrected it now.

The other bits - sourdough etc - I'll re-visit in the morning when I'm sober!

Nice save, Phil as I am making these tomorrow.
My question is: why not use full fat milk, or is it just your preferance to use semi-skimmed???

[jenny_haddow]

Here's a picture of the loaf I made yesterday from freshly ground wheat. It rose and then sunk a little, but the texture and flavour is good, its also very dark in colour. I made it in the bread machine, so today I shall scrounge some fresh yeast from Tesco's bakery dept and make up the same size loaf in the kenwood.

BTW I freeze fresh yeast and its fine. I was advised to use a little more of the frozen as freezing reduces its effectiveness.