BS: This morning's bread baking

Subject: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 06:36 AM

Today's bread bake is a simple wholemeal loaf - Wednesday morning's always a good time for this as Mrs. F. is out singing with her local Rock Choir and I have the kitchen to myself.

So...

3.3lb of stone-ground, wholemeal flour from the Lurgashall watermill, to which I've added 2 level tsp salt, 1oz dried yeast, 2 level tsp caster sugar and 2 oz of butter - mixed well and kneaded for 10 minutes into a dough with 1000ml of warm water.

It's just rising in the airing cupboard for around 40 minutes as I write this. When it comes back down into the kitchen, 5 minutes more kneading will get done, and then I'm going to cut it into loaf sizes and put them into greased bread tins to prove for 20 minutes. Half an hour or so in the middle of the oven at 250 should get me some nice loaves.

I'm tempted to mark each one with a big "M" for Mudcat!

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 07:33 AM

Making soda bread here.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Silas
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 07:53 AM

Hi Will
Don't you find that using 100% wholemeal makes the bread a little 'heavy' - I normally mix it with about 30% white.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 07:56 AM

Depends on the flour. I've used wholemeal flour from the windmill where I work once a month - and that's very heavy indeed - needs cutting. I haven't used this particular flour before but Dick, the Lurgashall miller, recommended I try it as per the Lurgashall recipe book - i.e. uncut. It's nearly done as I write this, so I'll report back!

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Crowhugger
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 08:23 AM

Pancakes are under way here, basically quick bread with a little extra liquid. Today they're my usual version: Whole grain wheat flour, whole grain oat flour, a bit of brown rice and soy flour, and a touch of unbleached white flour into which I blend the salt and baking powder before whisking it into the whole (my alternative to sifting, seems to work very well). Sometimes ground flax seed too.

Mmm, getting hungrier by the second. The griddle's hot so I'm gonna go ladle the batter now!

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 08:28 AM

Mmm... quite cakey in texture... but good. Might cut it next time with some plain white. We'll see.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: artbrooks
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 10:57 AM

Herself made scones this morning. I thought they were pretty good, but she threw away all but the 2 I grabbed. She said that it had been too long since I had had fresh-baked anything, but that she thought they tasted a lot like dog biscuit.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 10:58 AM

Bread's cooled down - nice texture and very tasty. Next week it may well be cheesy rolls...

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: open mike
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 01:05 PM

what's an airing cupboard?

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 02:21 PM

Sorry - English colloquialism...

In many houses in the UK, the closet that contains the water heating boiler often contains a wooden rack in which clothes which have just been washed and dried (or part-dried) can be 'aired' - i.e. left by the warm boiler to dry completely.

So, it's a closet which is warm and dry - a great place for allowing bread dough to rise!

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 02:28 PM

I just treated us to a new mixer, as the old hand held one burned out. It wasn't really robust enought for 'hooking' dough. So I bought a big one with it's own bowl, and stand. Makes life easier for those with arthritic hands.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 02:32 PM

Sorry to hear about the arthritis, John - my hands are a little achey sometimes after a good night's gig, but still OK for a good workout on the dough.

Have you tried these new-fangled breadmaker thingies?

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: gnu
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 02:44 PM

I baked ONE loaf in a new-fangled breadmaker thingy... it's in the next yard sale. I could smell and taste the non-stick coating. That may well "go away" after usage but I will never forget it. Reeeeal easy tho. Good for arthric hands. I'd say you should get one as they are cheap. Try it out for a while. If ya don't like it, put it in the garage sale.

I posted a funny story here about the one tiime that I used mine. The gist of it is, put it on some of that soft plastic non-skid matting before it works it's way off the counter when it's mixing.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Sooz
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 03:31 PM

Try baking your bread with fresh yeast - it is much quicker and I think gives better results! Tesco in UK will give you some yeast from the bakery if you ask.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 03:35 PM

I usually get it from the baker's across the road - but I didn't have time this morning - so made do with dried...

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Nov 11 - 11:27 PM

I made bread with a mixer for a while, but then a neighbor gave me an unwanted bread machine. After using it, I realized how salty bread from the supermarket is. Now I make almost all our bread in a machine.

When the first one died, I bought another at a thrift store for $5.

Before I had the machine, I would get bread to rise nicely by filling a kettle with hot water and putting the bread and the kettle in the oven.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Will Fly
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 04:45 AM

Mass produced bread in the UK is made by a process called the 'Chorleywood' process - which, basically, alters the composition of basic bread to fit the mass production method. In doing so, it takes away lots of good things and adds in chemicals - the bread produced is basically crap. We're lucky in our village in that we have two reasonable small local bakeries but, even so, nothing beats home-made IMO. In many towns and villages, independent bakeries have ceased to exist.

Compare with France, where almost every town, city and village has its artisan bakery, or even just an ordinary, decent local bakery.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Deckman
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 07:48 AM

Merry morning all ... As we speak I have another loaf of bread about finished in my bread machine, This one is "potato" bread. Not my favorite but "Bride Judy" likes it for sandwiches. I'm hiding here, for the last century, on the N.W. corner of the U.S.A. I've been making my own bread for the last 25 years. I've burned up about 6 bread machines, but I can buy them in pristine condition for around ten bucks at our local thrift stores. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 08:37 AM

Not tried using a bread machine, although I have eaten bread made with one. It came with a big dent in the bottom, something to do with the mixing paddles I believe, but it tasted ok. Thing is, we do all our cooking on a Rayburn stove, and it's just spot on for all baking, so a machine has never appealed.

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: GUEST,Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 10:07 AM

I want nothing to do with a bread machine.

The kneading of the dough provides most of the pleasure of making bread, say I.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 10:19 AM

I grew up eating my mother's homemade bread so when I got to a point in my life where it was convenient I started making it. My Dad called one evening many years ago and asked for the recipe I use for whole wheat, and told me the size loaf he wanted from his new bread machine. I worked out the quantities and sent him the recipe, and a few days later a bread machine arrived!

I used to set the machine up in the evening with the timer set to knead and rise and finish baking in time for morning breakfast. The round loaf shape tends to dry out quicker than the traditional shape, so I now almost exclusively use the machine on the manual setting. Once the bread has finished that cycle I pop it into a greased bread pan and when it finishes rising I bake in the stove oven or (most of the time) the glass countertop convection oven.

I make rolls, pizza dough, all sorts of things that way.

Gnu, give this a try before you consign that machine to the garage sale.

Will, if 100% whole wheat flour is too heavy, use a mix of regular whole wheat flour and the finely ground whole wheat cake flour. I find that results in a better lighter loaf. I did this recently when I made some dinner rolls to freeze to use for sandwiches - they're 100% whole wheat but are the consistency I get from a mix of white and wheat.

Bob, who discovered bread machines first, you or my Dad, or was it a convergent thing? I think I have three of them around here. He used the DAK machines built by Welbuilt.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Deckman
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 10:26 AM

Maggie ... I don't remember who was first, but I'll bet who ever it was called the other within one day. I still remember those wonderful, and simple, loaves of "beer bread" your Dad made. And I also remember that I was the one who got him going on viilli. bob

Subject: RE: BS: This morning's bread baking
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 11 - 10:27 AM

I think you're right, Bob!