Kitchen Garden Forum

Being somewhat old fashioned I still make my bread by hand. I bake four loaves on a Sunday morning having prepared the dough last thing Saturday night and placing in the dough bin and let it rise overnight and knock it back first job Sunday morning and tinning up and allowing to rise when I am preparing the lunch vegetables. The risen dough is soon ready and that is cooked before the meat goes into the oven. I use one loaf that day and freeze the rest. The loaves seem to come to no harm being frozen. When I had seven mouths to feed that was my requirement every other day. I use a 50/50 mix half wholemeal and half strong white which is exactly as I like it and this seems to rise better than an all wholemeal flour loaf. Occasionally I reduce the strong white and add some bran to the same weight.
I couldn't even contemplate using a bread machine.
JB.

alan refail. tried again, same mix but all by hand, superb. Rather think the bread making machine is going to get the order of the boot.

Shallot Man wrote:alan refail. tried again, same mix but all by hand, superb. Rather think the bread making machine is going to get the order of the boot.

JB man of taste as always.
Can Shallot Woman trace previous owner through WI?

Geoff. WI jumble sale.

I guessed that but the person who runs the stall often has a good idea.

Geoff. It would seem it was left in a cardboard box outside the WI on the morning of the jumble.

Sounds like you'll have to wait for the next one to return it!

Sorry to hear of your troubles Shallotman.
We bought a Panasonic breadmaker several years ago and after experimenting with the many programmes found one that always produced a reliable & enjoyable loaf (some of the others didn't).

Although I rarely use it to bake bread nowadays, I still often use the "dough" setting to mix & start off a loaf before proving & baking. However that may now change after reading some of Dan Leppard's books. He reckons that minimal "handling" can improve some breads and our "Dough" setting has quite a lot of whizzing during it's 45mins duration.

Mind you, we're also trying sourdough recipes and they are a challenge of an altogether different magnitude

My OH (Lyndon) makes our bread and prefers to do so by hand. When I did it, I used a Panasonic machine which I found excellent. It usually comes up trumps in quality checks, such as Good Housekeeping.

I think we still have the machine if anyone wants it!

Geoff wrote:Apologies, I hadn't thought of the energy bit. We use an expensive and very un-green solid fuel Aga so the marginal cost of cooking a batch of bread is negligible.

Even with electric, it isn't that bad!!!

Until recently, I was making all my own bread by hand. Like your wife, I used cheap bread flour - never payed more than 60p a packet. I used the whole packet at one go and made four small loaves out of it, freezing what we didn't need immediately.
Even when I made large loaves instead of small ones, I only had them in the oven for just over twenty minutes. A couple of years ago, I actually took meter readings before and after to get an idea how much power was used - I can't remember the exact figure, but it was very very low. I would take some convincing that a breadmaker uses less. I know that it is a lot smaller, but even so ... .

Going even further back, I did use a breadmaker for a couple of years. It took some getting used to, and some of the recipes that came with it were completely useless - the basic bread one produced bricks! Nevertheless, once I overcame that problem, it produced some nice bread. However, by the time the guarantee ran out, I had had three replacement pans, as the seals around the paddles kept perishing. It went in the bin once it was out of guarantee!

I was lucky enough to work at home and be able to fit in the bread-making around my work. Now I have another job and can't do it any more. Maybe its time for me to get another breadmaker now!!!

No end of people are put off breadmakers thinking they all perform the same. many are rubbish and most people who love their breadmakers use a Panasonic

Would love to go back to baking bread, but the cost is too great. I can get a brown loaf, large, from LIDL or Dunne's for 75 cents...White for 65. Basic groceries like flour are costly in Ireland.

Geoff wrote:Don't understand this use of machines and mixes. My wife just buys flour at less than 80p kilo not a premix at say £1.90 kilo and bakes it in the oven.

oh I love the just buys the flour and bakes it in the oven ? what about all the stuff she does in between Geoff

We use a breadmaker that came from tesco for £27.00 (own brand) we had to reduce the water in their instructions. also you have to make sure if using a measuring jug that your eye is level with line - not looking down - as that distorts. how the breadmix is stored is also crucial, an airtight tin is ideal, finally freshness of flour/ breadmix is vital.