easy bread!

[ged.medland]

Hi folks,
I have been working on a quick recipe for a standard loaf:
1lb bread flour(wholemeal,white or 50/50)
11 oz tepid water
1 sachet of dried yeast or 1 heaped teaspoon of dried yeast
herbs of choice(optional)to taste!
You can add garlic,sun dried tomato,parmesan to taste,a tablespoon of honey to water,the list is nearly endless.
METHOD!
Light oven!
add yeast to flour
add any additions by choice
add 10 oz of tepid water
mix well until dough comes away from edge of bowl
if too dry add remaining 1oz of water.
knead for 5 mins
rest for 5 mins
knead for 5 mins
place in floured,greased loaf tin
place on top of oven
allow to double in size
place in oven
bake for 35 mins on medium setting(oven will already be hot)
remove from oven
rest for 5 mins
turn out onto cooling rack!
enjoy

[Shirley]

My you are an early riser !! And I mean that in terms of your posting at 5.37am and nothing to do with the lovely bread recipe you posted

Here is a good place for me to ask about vitamin c..... my breadmaker suggests adding vitamin c to anything more than 50% wholemeal - does anyone know why??? What will happen if I don't use it?? I know the vit C content will likely be zilch once it's been cooked anyway.

[Millymollymandy]

No idea - I make bread and have read loads of recipes but never heard of that before!

[Wombat]

Vitamin C is an antioxidant and so will help preserve the oils in the wholemeal flour.............................well it SOUNDS good anyway........

Nev

[wulf]

My breadmachine recently died, so I tried the recipe in Nigel Slater's Appetite, which gave me one of the best loaves I've ever tried. I'll have to check the details but I think the ingredients were just bread flour, water, a little salt and some yeast. No sugar or oil (both of which I'm used to from my bread machine recipes).

It seems you can keep it very simple indeed!

Wulf

[Shirley]

I've got that book Wulf (along with his others - I love his style! and his recipes almost always work)

Will give that a go this afternoon.

[wulf]

I adapted it for half the quantity. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on (and definitely agreed about the quality of Nigel Slater's work).

Wulf

[Muddypause]

I'm afraid I'm a breadmaker user, too. There seems to be a lot of science to breadmaking and it's hard to find out some of the reasons for things. I think the vitC will also do much the same job as the salt, in terms of stopping the yeast going too mad - it sort of 'controls' its rate of frothiness somehow. But I could be wrong.

I tend to use a mixture of flours - usually half plain white for lightness, and half something else for flavour and texture - wholemeal, malted, etc (Doves Farm do some lovely barlycorn flour with flax seeds), often adding seeds and dried fruit, too.

I've been experimenting lately by using a lot less salt (and using the low sodium stuff - dunno if it's really any better for you), and so far it hasn't seemed to have any detrimental effect - though you do need some for flavour and to keep the rise consistent. I've also stopped using any sort of fat or oil, and it doesn't seem to harm the outcome.

I've also found out that there are two types of dried yeast - one type you need to add sugar to make it work (eg. Allinsons Dried Active Yeast) and other stuff, (that comes in sachets) you don't.

[The Chili Monster]

Hi all,

Shirlz2005 wrote
Here is a good place for me to ask about vitamin c..... my breadmaker suggests adding vitamin c to anything more than 50% wholemeal - does anyone know why??? What will happen if I don't use it?? I know the vit C content will likely be zilch once it's been cooked anyway.

It "provides dough strength and stability through intermolecular bonding between positively charged wheat gluten proteins and negatively charged colloidal, aquo-metal ion-citrate complexes present in the dough matrix. "

For the full chemistry lesson, visit this research student's website:

http://www.rrkim.com/index.html#action

[ina]

And I thought that the guy who sells the breadmakers has shares in the company that produces vitamin C... Wrong again.

For normal bread I also use just flour, salt, yeast and water. However, for making my version of ciabatta (probably not the genuine Italian stuff, as I use half wholemeal), olive oil is essential! But then it tastes so nice that you don't need anything, or not much, with it... Dangerous stuff. Always seems to disappear the day I make it.

[Goodlife1970]

It just says in my breadmakers instruction book the the Vit C "will improve the rise of a wholemeal loaf" Ive tried it with and without and it does seem to make a better loaf,having said that my home ground flour has a low glueten content due to being ground from organic chicken feed wheat and I have to mix it with a little shop bought stuff in order not to produce a brick! can anyone tell me if its possible to make Granary flour at home? I love the Doves Farm stuff but its working out a bit pricey! (no Im not really a Scrooge just trying to be thrifty!)

[wulf]

Stew's idea about using a "cocktail" of flour is a good way to go if you want to eke out a bag of expensive stuff; I do the same myself. Even if you're making a plain white loaf, you can replace some of the strong white breadflour with (substantially cheaper) plain flour - just use a little to make up the weight and gradually adjust the proportions to see how much you can get away with.

BTW, I believe that the fat content in a standard loaf is there to retard staling; when you get to fancy recipes, like ciabatta (delicious... but I find the sloppy dough a pain to work with!), it becomes more important for texture and flavour.

Since some of us are confessing to using bread machines and since I'm in the market for one, what types do you have? I had a Russell Hobbs Breadman Pro, which had a massive range of program options but suffered on the reliability front (the timer went ages ago and, after three years, it's dead); my mum has a Panasonic machine and I'm quite tempted to get one of those (slightly fewer programs but excellent bread and, from the reviews I've read and her experience, very reliable).

Wulf

[Muddypause]

Not sure my recommendation will be much use, because the machine is undoubtedly obsolete by now. It must be getting on for ten years old, and it's been on its last legs for about five of them (it no longer holds water, so can't be left on a timer, and the centre spindle drops out - which can be good because it means you can pull it out with the paddle before the final rise, and not have a hole in the bottom of the loaf). I use it at least every other day, often every day.

It was made by Morphy Richards, and has 11 programmes, including one for jam making. IIRC it cost about £80 from Sainsburys. About three weeks ago, Lidl were selling some breadmakers with at least as many features for £19.99. At that price, I suppose reliability hardly matters - if it lasts for more than a year it's a bargain (though I suppose it also exacerbates the problems of rampant consumerism so may cost more in global terms, but that's for another thread).

[Millymollymandy]

I can't wait to buy some English bread flour and see if I get better results. My bread is always very heavy and of cake like consistency. It is still nicer than most of the shop bread round here, but I'd like it to be better!

I often get a problem of the risen loaf sinking in the short time it takes to take off the tea towel covering it and put it in the oven. I can't brush with milk and put seeds on top as it will sink in this time! I don't know why it does it. Any ideas?

[shiney]

I have a Morphy Richards fastbake and swear by it, never at it!

It's my second one. If you have a MR and it conks out, like mine did after constant daily use after 3 years, they will supply another one at a cheaper price (about £25). If we still had the original docs for it, they would have supplied a freebie. Spares are cheap and post free (measuring cups, paddles or the bread pan itself) if you go to their website. If you buy directly the post is free too.