[Food] Bread making Advice

Hillian1 said:

Thing with making bread is, me and my granddaughter do it together, it teaches her about food and also what yeast is and she gets to get messy (so do I) it's become a regular thing we do and have started to vary what we make.

She is convinced that we should set up a stall outside and sell it.

Click to expand...

Once we leave the EU and Health and Safety standards and food hygiene laws get scrapped you can !

BensGrandad said:

It was BBC Good Food Easy White Bread recipe

Click to expand...

Oh and there is no mistake in the recipe, but I did bake it for 5 minutes longer than suggested here.

My theory is that because it didnt rise it made it pudding like and as such it needed longer cooking in the middle but the outside browned so it looked like it was cooked. Wife is making hers in the morning so we shall see how it turns out. After reading about it on the net an on here I believe the answer lies in the yeast and it may well have been open too long. So wife is going to use packet Asda Yeast.

BG - never works time and is frustrating. Took me ages to get it right and with bread can be very random.

I still make mistakes, threw some away at the weekend.

Like anything else you eventually get a feel for it.

Keep going my friend



Sent from my LG-K520 using Tapatalk

you knead to get this white go on a roll its the yeast you can do

-4/10 I know

So here I was, baking fresh sweet rolls to go with dinner, and totally thinking about writing something profound and creative about the way yeast causes bread dough to rise could be a metaphor for life. But instead, I was overwhelmed with hunger pangs as the smell of baking bread began to drift throughout the house. So if this post is a little lacking in depth, well, blame it on the bread. Okay, I’ll admit it. I cheat. I’m a big cheatery-cheater-head. I use a bread machine.

I know — shocking. Right about now, all the purists out there are judging me, because surely homemade food should be prepared without relying on modern aids and shortcuts. Well, I don’t care. My trusty bread machine has been faithfully helping my dough to rise since 1997, and I am not ashamed.

Baking Bread

I adore baking bread. Hot, buttery rolls; flaky croissants, and crusty French baguettes. Challah bread beside a bowl of winter stew, and sweet, spicy Finnish Pulla bread with Christmas dinner every year. I can think of no baked item quite as special as fresh, home-baked bread. Now you can talk science all you want, but to me, there is something almost magical about the process, and the way a plain, gooey blob of dough undergoes a metamorphosis, growing, rising, and changing during each step.

Special bread

After I have punched, pushed, and twisted the dough into submission, it at last goes into the oven to bake. And then comes my favorite part — the aroma. That delicious, mouth-watering aroma of fresh bread baking. That amazing fragrance that fills the kitchen and wafts into every corner of your home, until at last, you are so overwhelmed with hunger, that you rush to pull those shining, golden-brown loaves from the oven. In your mad impatience, you tear into the hot crust to expose the soft, white interior. Although it is still steaming, you pop your first bite of fresh bread into your mouth.

You burn your tongue of course. But it is worth it. It is always worth the burn to get that first taste of bread while it is still piping hot and perfect. Just as I am going to do right now.

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

6 cups bread flour

5 eggs

1 cup warm water (43 C degrees)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

Instructions (without bread machine):

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 4 of the eggs and beat well. Mix in oil, sugar, and salt. Beat in flour to make a firm dough. (You may not need at 6 cups). Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (between 5-10 minutes should do it). Place dough in greased bowl and turn once. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place 1 hr. or until double in size.

Punch down dough and turn onto floured surface. Divide into two portions (each will make a loaf). Divide each portion into three. Roll each section into a rope of around 15 in. Place the three ropes side by side and braid, then pinch the ends together to seal and tuck them under the loaf. Places braided loaves on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise 1 hr.

Beat together last egg with 1 Tbsp. cold water. Use pastry brush to paint loaves with egg mixture. Sprinkle on poppy seeds or sesame seeds, if desired. Bake at 175 C for 30-35 minutes. Remove and cool before eating. (Or not).

Albion my Albion said:

So here I was, baking fresh sweet rolls to go with dinner, and totally thinking about writing something profound and creative about the way yeast causes bread dough to rise could be a metaphor for life. But instead, I was overwhelmed with hunger pangs as the smell of baking bread began to drift throughout the house. So if this post is a little lacking in depth, well, blame it on the bread. Okay, I’ll admit it. I cheat. I’m a big cheatery-cheater-head. I use a bread machine.

I know — shocking. Right about now, all the purists out there are judging me, because surely homemade food should be prepared without relying on modern aids and shortcuts. Well, I don’t care. My trusty bread machine has been faithfully helping my dough to rise since 1997, and I am not ashamed.

Baking Bread

I adore baking bread. Hot, buttery rolls; flaky croissants . . . . . . . . .

Click to expand...

You have my admiration for making croissants! Love making bread, no bread making machine but I do use a dough hook on the mixer. I’ve made croissants once, took two days and they were delicious, but never again - just not worth the effort.

What is the general consensus of opinion would I be better mixing it in a bowl by hand or using our Morphy Richards mixer with a dough hook?

BensGrandad said:

What is the general consensus of opinion would I be better mixing it in a bowl by hand or using our Morphy Richards mixer with a dough hook?

Click to expand...

I used to knead the dough by hand but as far as I can tell just as many gluten strands are developed when using a dough hook and the bread rises at least as well.

Creaky said:

You have my admiration for making croissants! Love making bread, no bread making machine but I do use a dough hook on the mixer. I’ve made croissants once, took two days and they were delicious, but never again - just not worth the effort.

Click to expand...

I certainly understand. Baking is my only Christmas themed activity so it's an annual event only.

BensGrandad said:

What is the general consensus of opinion would I be better mixing it in a bowl by hand or using our Morphy Richards mixer with a dough hook?

Click to expand...

Do it by hand BG.

You need to be able to feel the dough, seriously my 6 year old granddaughter does it on her own now after about 5 attempts.

It's all about slow and steady, touch and feel.

The loaf wife made is brilliant but until I make one we do not know if it is the packet yeast she used or the way she did it by hand.

BensGrandad said:

The loaf wife made is brilliant but until I make one we do not know if it is the packet yeast she used or the way she did it by hand.

Click to expand...

Did she prove it in the fridge or just in a warm place?

Hillian1 said:

Did she prove it in the fridge or just in a warm place?

Click to expand...

She left in the kitchen on a work top while the oven was on.

BensGrandad said:

She left in the kitchen on a work top while the oven was on.

Click to expand...

I sit mine on a radiator which is set to low, works every time.