Bread Making

[wheels]

I thought it interesting to read, but concluded it won't sway me from letting improvers help me make bread I am happy with.

Dave

Dave
You've hit the nail on the head; "...help me make bread I am happy with". That's what it's all about - making what we're happy with, not what someone else tells us we must do.

For some, that will be with improvers, for others, without.

There's not right or wrong way - just the way that suits you and your families needs.

Phil

[Oddley]

Dave
You've hit the nail on the head; "...help me make bread I am happy with". That's what it's all about - making what we're happy with, not what someone else tells us we must do.

For some, that will be with improvers, for others, without.

There's not right or wrong way - just the way that suits you and your families needs.

I agree entirely. I don't really care how you make your bread, I don't have to eat it. As I'm sure you don't care how I make mine.

But as you so rightly say, we should all be able to voice our opinion.

[Gordon]

I think not only voicing an opinion is vita but keeping an open mind is equally important, without an open mind we, none of us, would progress.

This web site is a wonderful exchange of ideas on all manner of subjects it seems to attract people from all over the world that have a like mind. We all have the 'experimental spirit', and I also think we put the 'mental' in experimental, demonstrating we have open minds we should not discount another way of doing things. The article on the BBC website was, I think, an attempt to demystify bread making, so as to encouraging more people to try bread making and as such I think it's a very good effort. Some may not agree with the methods in the article but remember we are all experimenting and it is worth listening to everyone and reading everything, it's not compulsory to do what we read or hear, it's just interesting.

[johnfb]

I have swithced from my old recipe completly over to Wheels' recipe for bread rolls and bread. It's perfect for my needs...tempted to type kneads there

I am going to try improvers soon but I think wheels' recipe is really good and the improvers have a lot to make up.
However if they work..then happy days...I am willing to change and try new things.

[saucisson]

Group Hug

Dave

[Gordon]

Hug

[wheels]

John
Thanks for the kind words.

I've not used improvers (yet!) as we are happy with the bread as it is.

One of their major advantages of improvers, though, has got to be the time they save. This enables people who would otherwise not have the time to bake their own bread.

I started out making my own bread a number of years ago. People told me it was good, but I felt it was only 'good' as compared to the leaden home-made bread they had made. Like Oddley, my aim was to get bread that compared with commercial, 'pre-chorleywood process' bread.

I believe, and am told, that I have achieved this; the fact that I don't use improvers is fairly irrelevant. My next aim is to make bread with the minimum amount of additives possible but it may be a while before I get around to this 'cos Dad's still in ITU (he's improving nicely though ) so my sour-dough (Yuk ) experiment has been put on hold.

Perhaps we should all hold hands and sing, "...I did it my way".

Phil

[johnfb]

If I can just manage to mix your plain breakfast sausage blend in with the bread recipe I will be a happy man.....

[Kitchen Foods]

Hi all,
I've just had a read of the BBC breadmaking link, it would be interesting to see what loaf you get following the guidelines, maybe something similar to the actual loaf that was used to feed the 5000!!!
I agree with the comments on here that if your happy with your bread why change, improvers were only invented relatively recently there great for ease of use but if you really want to make yeast starters etc etc and want to go down the completley natural route, thats not a problem.
Most of my first time customers are those who bought a breadmaker and were not very happy with the bread that came out of it, thats why I always give out a foolproofish recipe and state a sachet of yeast etc to make it easy for the beginneers amongst us
If anyone on here would like me to post a free small sample of any of my improvers/concentrates to make a comparison or just to try please email me with an address and I'll be happy to post one or two, I only send very small samples as the post office is costing me more and more nowadays!!!

Cheers
Emma x

[Oddley]

Hi Kitchen Foods,
I will PM you to send me some free samples, as I make a lot of the products you supply improvers for. As you may have noticed I'm well impressed with improvers. So if I like them will buy them.

[jenny_haddow]

As you all know I have been using improvers for the past year, but always set the bread machine to cook a full 4 hour cycle. I never realised there was a time saving element with using bread improvers if you wanted it.

Yesterday I was pushed for time and set my machine on 'rapid' for the first time. The result was as good a loaf as a 4 hour bake, although I made up a mix for a small loaf instead of the usual large one.

[Topdog]

I have been baking my own bread for many years now without the use of improvers, I have tried most methods of making dough even using the "No Knead" method (clip on youtube) always with better than good results and heaps of praise which is always nice, but I am always looking to improve pun not intended, so how or where can I obtain this product where I live in France?
Mike

[jenny_haddow]

Mike,

I'm coming over next week. PM me and I'll post you some to try. I always take some with me.

Jen

[Topdog]

Hi Jen,
I sent you a pm hope you got it as it seems like it didn't send from here?
Mike

[saucisson]

When you send a message it goes and sits in your outbox. Only when the other person picks it up, does it move to your sent box, so it should either be in your outbox, awaiting pick up, or in your sent box, because Jen has logged on and got it. If it is in neither box, then there was an error and you need to do it again.

Dave