www.sausagemaking.org

Many moons ago the kids and I used to make bagels, sort of crusty rolls with a hole in the middle
I want to get back in to bread making, specifically a FarmHouse loaf typical of good bakers, a light open texture and a crispy crust.
Can I achieve this without using fresh yeast?

LD

LD

I use dried yeast most of the time and achieve good results, both by hand and with a bread machine. Just recently I have been using bread improver which contains various enzymes that make the yeast really go to work. The results are amazing, best bread I have ever made, and I haven't bought a loaf for about 15 years.

I'll dig out the contact from ebay and post it, I know there was special farmhouse improver in their stock.

HTH

Jen

Here's one

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,194,142 ... 07,00.html


And another

http://www.grouprecipes.com/s/yeastless ... /relevancy

I think that was no fresh yeast John, not no yeast at all A nice selection of recipes though.

LD

You can make bread using a sourdough starter which doesn't use 'manufactured' yeast.

The details are here

I don't like cup measurements and if I was making it would do something like (following the basic method on the web-page above):

Mix:
250g water
250g flour
Loosely cover in a bowl/jar - the air needs to be able to get to it.

Chuck 250g each day and feed with:
125g water
125g flour

Do this for 1 week then use 250gm of above and add:
125g water
125g flour

Mix and leave 4 hours or so then add:
350g flour
150g water
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil

Machine kneed for 5 mins, leave 15, kneed again 5 mins. Leave to rise till twice its original volume (overnight?).
Shape and leave to prove until doubled in size.
Cook 200C (I'd guess about 30-40 mins but until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom). Spray with water 3 times in first 10 mins.

Total in bread:
600g flour
400 water (66% hydration)
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil

You should still have 250gm of the starter left to continue the process.

Phil

So I assume the idea is that once you have the starter up and running you are using the 250g every day to make bread? If you weren't making bread on a particular day would you throw the 250g out, or let it sit where it was?

Dave

Dave

I don't make bread this way myself - I keep meaning to start again. When I did it before I used to put the the starter in the fridge and refresh it a couple of days before use. I think you could leave it out though and chuck/refresh every couple of days or so. The thing I remember is that if you are not careful the bread is too sour.

If it's only the texture you're after - the 'chewiness' that you get in Italian style bread you can do a biga (aka poolish) - this uses a starter made the day before using yeast. I've had a play with this method here.

Purists - please note I don't claim that this is an 'authentic' recipe - it's in the style of!

Phil

Jen, do you use the bread machine to cook or just mix? With 5 in the household I'm thinking of getting a kenwood chef to mix dough as well as sausage.

Phil, I was looking at a biga based focaccia recipe yesterday that sounded worth a try.
I was thinking of using the sponge method, do I need to go that far?

Thanks for the tips, keep 'em coming

LD

I never got on with a bread maker and replaced it with an old Kenwood chef to mix dough and make sausages. I know Jen bought a Kenwood, but I remember whether that was to replace a breadmaker or to work alongside one.

Dave

I use both a bread maker and a Kenwood chef, but mostly the bread maker (Panasonic) for everyday use for baking, as I said, I haven't bought bread for years. I use the bread maker a lot of the time just to knead dough, but if I'm using fresh yeast I use the Kenwood (fresh yeast free from the bakery in Tesco BTW).

The address of the supplier I use for the bread improver is:

www.kitchenfoods.co.uk

I've had to take a bread machine to my house in France because the OH prefers a wholemeal or farmhouse loaf to a bagette for breakfast. It's also been interesting to experiment with French flour, I found an interesting perforated bagette baking tin which cooks three at a time.

Thanks Jen, I'll definitely try some of that, even my best efforts seem a bit cake like.

Dave

lemonD wrote:...Phil, I was looking at a biga based focaccia recipe yesterday that sounded worth a try.
I was thinking of using the sponge method, do I need to go that far?

Thanks for the tips, keep 'em coming
LD

I would, it seems to be what gives the bread that authentic 'chewy' character.

Tips:
Higher % water = more open texture crumb
More fat (milk, butter, lard, oil) = softer crumb
Water (steam) in oven= crusty bread (Only steam in first half of cooking)
Bread made slowly (biga/poolish/spong method) has more flavour
Common mistakes:
Not kneeding for long enough (I do 10 mins by machine - Kenwood Chef). The dough should feel almost 'silky'.
Not leaving to rise long enough - It should be at least doubled in size.
Not leaving to prove long enough.
If the dough collapses while proving - you probably didn't kneed it enough.

Hope this helps

Phil

In Ireland, Odlums, is a supplier of different flours, one of the largest.
This is their website and has some really good recipes for bread along with other stuff.
I use their strong flour for making pizza and bread and their basic yeast recipe is one I use all the time and is really nice and "fluffy" when eating.
Really worth a look.
By the way, Cream Flour is called palin flour in the UK.

http://www.odlums.ie/Recipes/Recipes2.html

Which one do you use Jen?

If you are just starting out bread making, you could do worse than use one of wrightsflour bread mixes. I'm not ashamed to say, I occasionally make a mixed seed bread from one of their mixes. You can usually find them in Tesco.