Bread making corner

[retropants]

what a magnificent looking loaf Richard! (wishing I could eat real bread right now!)

I have finally found a GF bread mix kit that is nice. It is made by Bakels (other bread mixes are available!) and it has some seeds in and has a lovely maltey flavour (much like real granary).

I mix it in the bread machine, with a little more water than suggested, leave it to rise in the machine, then clumsily scrape it out into a silicone loaf tin to bake in the oven. Cmes out lovely, very tasty and filling. (odd shape though, due to the clumsy scraping trying not to knock too much of the air out of it!)

[Ricard with an H]

Such good news from you Emma, I have never fiddled with gluten-free. My bread relies on gluten to make it big and airy, at least one of my daughters has an intolerance rather than having celiacs disease though since she was 15 she had a dodgy tummy and never had it diagnosed so the the assumption was gluten intolerance which is a very fashionable intolerance to have.

I had a look-see at silicon baking formers and containers, I'm not happy about what happens at bread baking temperatures so only use clay, stone or steel containers.

Do some research Emma.

[Pawty]

Good looking bread as always ...

Slightly different but I had a go at making pappardelle! It was really good and so easy. Key was the flour (tipo '00') and
Kneading the pasta dough fOr a good while. I have a pasta maker which I love ( absolutely love gadgets like this - perfectly designed and no need for electricity). Maybe I'll have a go at using the gnocchi maker which mr Pawty bought me for Christmas this weekend!

Pawty

[Ricard with an H]

Pasty, I have the pasta machine you have or similar. I also have the tree for hanging but it's gathering dust in the loft and I love fresh pasta.

I'm sure making pasta will be as technique-important as bread making, easy once you know how Eh?
It's taken me years to wade through the BS you read from books and the BS you read on the internet. In between all that BS is good advice but the only way is to do it, make mistakes and try again and again until it's correct.

How many bread baking books have I read that are a complete waste of time for those who want good bread rather just a conveyance for photographic technique.

The best pasta ever is fresh, streets ahead of dried pasta. Shall we have a pasta making corner ?

[Ricard with an H]

My wife always says Hollywood uses too much salt.

The Paul Hollywood book is a fine example of variations on the same thing with very little help to the novice baker. The variations may be a help to those in need of artistry in bread making though we do need to make good bread before we fiddle with added ingredients that can play havoc with the dough as it's fermenting and baking.

[Colin2016]

A good looking loaf ther Richard and better tasting I'm sure.

I like pasta, never thought about making my own though, some thing to look into me thinks.

[Pawty]

Hi,

Yes, easy once you know how - and just 2 ingredients - egg and flour! Mix, knead, chill, roll and ta da! Fresh yummy pasta.

I'll let you know how the gnocchi goes.

Out of intestest, we made pizza a couple of weeks ago. Aldi had a special offer on flour and I couldn't resist trying the Italian pizza flour which turned out to be tipo 00 - the same as pasta flour. Produced a thin crispy yummy base and will definitely be using it again.

Pawty

[Ricard with an H]

Years ago I suspected that a lot of misinformation about flour is delivered by not only bakers who produce books but also by flour millers and flour marketing people. I don't quite see the point though, why would recommending strong flour for pizza (For example) be a good idea when the best flour is low in gluten like 00 flour ? Or even plain flour ?

I have yet to make good pizza dough, mostly because I'm not a massive fan of pizza though that may change if I made a good base rather than a one inch high soggy base.

Pawty, I'm going to buy 00 flour when I next order though I do have lower protein/gluten French flours for breads like ciabatta. Then I'll drag the pasta machine out of the loft and give pasta my best.

It's taken me so-so long to consistently make good bread that I wonder how much pasta will end up on the food composter.

[retropants]

Such good news from you Emma, I have never fiddled with gluten-free. My bread relies on gluten to make it big and airy, at least one of my daughters has an intolerance rather than having celiacs disease though since she was 15 she had a dodgy tummy and never had it diagnosed so the the assumption was gluten intolerance which is a very fashionable intolerance to have.

I had a look-see at silicon baking formers and containers, I'm not happy about what happens at bread baking temperatures so only use clay, stone or steel containers.

Do some research Emma.

Hi Richard,
I shall, thankyou. It was a gift, only used it a couple of times so far.

[robo]

I've never been a lover of pizza it's just a poor cheese on toast but we used to have pizza nights our daughters and husbands , kids and friends used to come around ,I always made masses of pizza dough in the bread maker we had every topping you could think of and every one made their own with any thing they fancied washed down with all things alcoholic we used to throw an old curtain over the table usually so we could write the odds on it with felt tip when the evening games started usually horse racing using a kiddies horse racing game then the dreaded karaoke

[Ricard with an H]

Pizza is poor cheese on toast ?

A better description might be that cheese on toast is a pathetic attempt at pizza, if pizza is made correctly in an artisan way then pizza shines way above our pathetic cheese on toast.

I only occasionally manage to taste what I consider is an effort to replicate one of Italys regional variations of pizza. If you talk about pizza quality you have to first consider pizza origins and the variety of regional specialties in Italy rather than our efforts.

[robo]

I've tried pizza in Italy ,I was not that impressed

[Ricard with an H]

What I was trying to illustrate is that regional differences in Italy are known to be as different as chalk and cheese. I have never been to Italy but I have studied Italian breads.

Pizza, like flatbreads around the world would have been made using fermented dough rather than the yeast doughs often used for convenience. A fermented flatbread (sourdough) is quite different to a yeast dough just for starters. Pizza was likely to have been peasant food rather than pleasant food.

As I already mentioned, I rarely eat pizza though always have one made with fermented dough and made by small mobile artisans often at craft fares.

I'm not keen on craft fairs either.

I once made flatbreads under the guidance of an artisan baker who now produces small batches for Waitrose. The flours used were Khorosan and spelt (I think) Those flours are from heritage wheats our modern wheats have been engineered from. The flatbreads were baked on a stone or fried on an iron pan, they were fabulous but difficult to replicate because the flours are not easy to work with and why we ended up with the Chorleywood baking process that gave us square white bread though during the last ten years artisan bakers have pulled away from that.

The last pizza I had was at a local summer fair called, "Wild food" or something along those lines, a lot of street food and the very best pizza I had since the last artisan pizza. Fermented dough, a few lovely toppings, tiny amount of cheese and moorish. The pizza base was probably only 5mm thick.

[Pawty]

Hi,

Thin base is the way to go. Toppings - that's a whole different topic. But personally, I think the key is keeping it simple. Not too many ingredients. But, having the lotty, makes us have to be creative. Tomatoes are a must, and nothing beats a sauce made from those off the lotty with fresh herbs (and chillies occasionally ). Then some favourites include, courgette, purple sprouting and beetroot has been known. Maybe we should have the ultimate lotty pizza challenge.

Pawty

Pawty

[PLUMPUDDING]

I can just imagine the baking smells coming from your kitchen Richard. You've reminded me of a delicious filled flat bread we had in a park in Turkey.