[bloomer]

Baking Bread...


Have been baking bread recently the traditional way i.e. hand mixing and oven no bread maker...


I have mastered the basic white although tends to be quite crusty although rolls seem to solve that as they cook for a shorter time and come up lovely.


Brown is a bit trickier flour seems to make it just a bit heavier but i'll keep experimenting.


So what i now need are suggestions of things to make and if anyone can suggest how to keep a 2lb loaf in its tin from going very crusty i'd be grateful...

[doganjo]

Hmm - is it not something to do with keeping the crust damp in the early cooking stages?  Maybe oil it before baking?  And keeping the proving bred covered with a damp tea towel?

[darkbrowneggs]

Baking Bread...


Have been baking bread recently the traditional way i.e. hand mixing and oven no bread maker...


I have mastered the basic white although tends to be quite crusty although rolls seem to solve that as they cook for a shorter time and come up lovely.


Brown is a bit trickier flour seems to make it just a bit heavier but i'll keep experimenting.


So what i now need are suggestions of things to make and if anyone can suggest how to keep a 2lb loaf in its tin from going very crusty i'd be grateful...

Many years of bread making resulted in
Mixing flours - a proportion of white to brown, or white to malted and seeded mix.  Try half and half at first then adjust to your taste. 
Cut down the amount of yeast and salt as it is not needed. 
Use half milk to half hot water to work the yeast.
Use olive oil or lard in the mix
Always keep covered whilst proving.
Glaze with milk if you want a shine - you can use milk and egg if you want a yellow glaze on white bread. 
Reduce temperature of oven part way through cooking.
Tap the bottom of the loaf to check if cooked.  Cooked bread sounds hollow. 
When cooked knock loaves from tin (if used) then wrap lightly in teatowel if you prefer it not too crusty.
Slice as soon as it is cold and put slices in polythene bag and freeze for later use.  Slice one end med thick, and one end thin.
 
 
Best bread is made on a Biodynamic "Warmth" day.   
 
 

[Hermit]

I have made all my own bread for years. It becomes seond nature and part of the routine so well done you. I follow the BeRo method of keeping bread with a soft crust by coating with a dusting of flour throughout proving and baking. Water for a hard crust and egg glaze for a shiney crusty. Good luck.

[Anke]

When I make sourdough bread I put a medium sized bowl with hot water in the bottom of the oven. Also always dust flour on top of bread.
Also on yeasted bread I use milk, rather than water and butter. First 15 minutes at quite high temperature, then down to 180 for the rest of the one hour baking time.
We put in a lot of different seed mixtures - linseed, pumpkin, sunflower etc. all very good.
For a nice breakfast loaf we make raisin bread.

[Chris H]

Used to make bread for Farmers markets, I agree that flour on the top stops a hard crust. Types to try:
Breakfast bread with added bran, dates, sultanas and use apple juice instead of water.
Garlic and thyme
Sweet Cicily and apple
Beetroot (great colour for kids)
for something posh, don't use a tin but flatten dough on baking tray and stud with olives and sliced toms, drizzle over olive oil
Now i'm hungry

[Lesley Silvester]

When the children were small, I always made bread the old fashioned way.  I would spend a day a month making dozens of loaves and rolls for the freezer.  Not that it all got as far as the freezer or even got the chance to cool down.   

[Ina]

I love baking bread, but I've more or less given up doing it. It's no good for my health, and I'd eat too much of it if I did bake my own. Might buy a roll or so once on a while.

[bloomer]

I love baking bread, but I've more or less given up doing it. It's no good for my health, and I'd eat too much of it if I did bake my own. Might buy a roll or so once on a while.

i am realising the baking could be hazardous to my waist line, the fresh bread is very moreish, and obviously i have to have the first bit of every batch for quality control purposes.


today we have a nice mixed brown/white tin loaf with a slightly softer crust!!!

[Mammyshaz]

Bread making is my new discovery after the boys were bored in the holidays. We made all shapes and textures. Very addicted to it now 

I'd made it a few times before but it didn't seem to come out soft and 'breadlike' . I followed a recipe which advised covering it and I think this is where I had gone wrong in the past. The recently made bread has been just lovely.

Love the idea of pumpkin seeds. We collected loads last year from the crop and have pumpkins growing again this year. Think the boys can collect the seeds and make pumpkinseed bread come winter 

[Lesley Silvester]

Pumpkin seed bread =  .  I've also used sunflower seeds or sesame seeds but one of my favourites is poppy seeds.

[doganjo]

Can you just use the ordinary poppy seeds from the garden?  I have loads of them.