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Making your own bread

fuzz56 picture

Posted by fuzz56 on Thursday 28th January 2010 2:14pm

I guess this kind of counts as going green?! I love using my breadmaker and am looking for new and exciting recipes, does anyone have any top tips or secret ingredients :)?

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Community Manager's picture
Submitted by Community Manager on Thu, 28/01/2010 - 15:46.

Hi Fuzz56

One of the Sideways team was a chef in a former incarnation so I shall see if I cna persuade him to share any secrets. Watch this space...

CM

Matt O Leary's picture
Submitted by Matt O Leary on Thu, 28/01/2010 - 16:44.

Hi Fuzz56. I'm not so sure about breadmakers, having only used them a couple of times: you get good results with decidedly less elbow grease, and they help you save on packaging and so on as well. Because they're so functional it's well worth trying any recipes for spelt flour and/or rye that the breadmaker came with: getting these to work when making bread by hand can be quite frustrating. Caraway seeds are also great to add to any bread which is a bit more textured: anything from half-and-half white and wholemeal upwards, for extra flavour.
If you bread machine has a dough-making function (doing the kneading without cooking the loaf) then you can make white or wholemeal dough, remove it, split it into small lumps and roll them out into small, thin ovals for pitta bread.  Once you've part-baked these in the oven, just wrap them in a clean teatowel as they cool, to keep them soft: make sure you use strong flour to keep the dough elastic once they've been reheated and have puffed up.
Finally, I'd also recommend kneading by hand every now and again: it's very therapeutic! 

Hi Fuzz56. I'm not so sure about breadmakers, having only used them a couple of times: you get good results with decidedly less elbow grease, and they help you save on packaging and so on as well. Because they're so functional it's well worth trying any recipes for spelt flour and/or rye that the breadmaker came with: getting these to work when making bread by hand can be quite frustrating. Caraway seeds are also great to add to any bread which is a bit more textured: anything from half-and-half white and wholemeal upwards, for extra flavour.

If you bread machine has a dough-making function (doing the kneading without cooking the loaf) then you can make white or wholemeal dough, remove it, split it into small lumps and roll them out into small, thin ovals for pitta bread. Once you've part-baked these in the oven, just wrap them in a clean teatowel as they cool, to keep them soft: make sure you use strong flour to keep them supple and easy to open, once they've been reheated and have puffed up.

Finally, I'd also recommend making bread by hand every now and again: it's very therapeutic!

Hunter's picture
Submitted by Hunter on Wed, 03/02/2010 - 11:59.

I had a neighbour who made her own bread by hand nearly every day for her family of five. She had very overdeveloped forearms. I have noticed this effect occasionally with masseuses and facialists too. Not a look the ladies want to go for really. Great tips though for using the breadmaker machine to best effect.

Dickie's picture
Submitted by Dickie on Wed, 03/02/2010 - 12:30.

Do you attribute the overdevelopment of her forearms to an ingredient in the bread?

 

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