Bread Making

[steelsy]

My dad is really into making his own bread so for father's day I've got him this book


Amazon.co.uk: The Bread Book: The Definitive Guide to Making Bread by Hand or Machine: Sara Lewis: Books


well its arrived today - and it's absolutely brilliant - so thought I would share it with you all!!

[Capsid]

Wouldn't be without my breadmaker! But flour has nearly doubled in price! Maybe I should try and grow my own wheat.

[Flummery]

I tend to make bread recipes up as a go along but my early inspiration was The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread - bought for me by my Dad many, many years ago. It well pre-dates the breadmaker!

[smallblueplanet]

Looks good steelsy, might get a copy for our bread machine!

[JennieAtkinson]

I tend to make bread recipes up as a go along but my early inspiration was The Sunday Times Book of Real Bread - bought for me by my Dad many, many years ago. It well pre-dates the breadmaker!

I;ve got that one Flum too - great book.!

[steelsy]

My dad has fallen in love with the book (oh yes brownie points for me for getting a great present for a change!lol!)

[JILLY JACKSON]

used my new bread machine for the first time yesterday,aaagh!The first one didnt rise, thesecond one rose but the top collapsed.ive checked every thing and the only thing i can see that may not be ok is that it says wholegrain flour and ive used wholemeal flour.They dont give a simple recipe for a1kg loaf of wholemeal bread the only other one they give is a bit fangled,add lemon,uncle tom cobbly an all.

[Hilary B]

A neighbour of mine had trouble with a bread machine, and discovered that too much yeast (and the amount needed is pretty small) will cause the 'collapsing top'. He was just thwe type to keep trying variations on the theme until one works, so try using 2 thirds the amount of yeast, and see how it goes.

[Capsid]

used my new bread machine for the first time yesterday,aaagh!The first one didnt rise, thesecond one rose but the top collapsed.ive checked every thing and the only thing i can see that may not be ok is that it says wholegrain flour and ive used wholemeal flour.They dont give a simple recipe for a1kg loaf of wholemeal bread the only other one they give is a bit fangled,add lemon,uncle tom cobbly an all.

You need to use the stong flour for bread, ordinary flour doesn't have enough gluten in it and the gluten is what helps maintain the shape of the loaf.

[Rhona]

100 great Breads by Paul Hollywood is brill - some really good ideas that aren't hard to adapt to your machine. And yep - too much yeast causes collapse and buy some good strong organic flour.

[Jimmy]

Raising problems

Our bread maker and ready made bread packets sort of rise some of the time.

I have tried for many years to make bread by hand but it always ends up "bullet bread" and never rises properly.
I have tried fresh yeast etc.
Is there some special flour, I have tried all the commertial stuff to no avail.
JimL

[Kristen]

Jimmy, we use our bread maker 4 times a week, or more. I reckon we only have 1 loaf in a hundred that fails, and even then its usable (top a bit sunken). On top of that we do have the occasional human disaster - I forgot to put any water in once, that was interesting! and the occasional two-lots of Sugar / Yeast / etc. mucks things up, but other than that the machine is extremely reliable, and we take very little care when making bread - yes I expect our measuring is reasonable accurate, we use the bog-standard Strong Bread Flower from the supermarket, and we make no effort to get the water to a reasonable temperature or any molly-coddling like that.

Sorry yours isn't working effortlessly, maybe its the brand? (I have a Panasonic SD-253, but I don't know if that is even made any more, its several years old)

[Capsid]

Our bread maker and ready made bread packets sort of rise some of the time.

I have tried for many years to make bread by hand but it always ends up "bullet bread" and never rises properly.
I have tried fresh yeast etc.
Is there some special flour, I have tried all the commertial stuff to no avail.
JimL

What flour have you used? It should be the strong type for breadmaking.

[Jimmy]

OK might try again by hand
JimL

[Capsid]

Don't forget to let the dough prove. For rolls, I use the breadmaker to make the dough then I make little dough balls and put them in a warm place for 90 mins and then bake immediately.