Bread making

[Big Shed]

Since retiring and moving to the country I have taken a liking to making bread.

I have a Remington bread maker and use it every other day to make different bread. Some I make completely in the bread machine, using Laucke White or Wholemeal bread mix, others I use the bread machine only as a doughmaker, then finishing off by hand.

I have a good collection of bread recipe books and have made a wide variety of breads such as:

Cornmeal bread

Buttermilk bread (yummy!)

Tomatoe bread, made with sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs, great with Minestrone soup!

Focacia, a variety of different focacias, used with different fillings in our sandwich press.

For the focacias, the ingredients are put in the bread machine and put on the dough cycle. After the first rise, the dough is taken out, knocked back and left to rise again at room temperature, then rolled out on a baking tray, dents put in and olive oil brushed on and sea salt put on, as well as Italian herbs and sometimes onions.

Bake, let cool, put filling in (avocado and chicken is good, and put in the sandwich press.

Life's good:2tsup:

After a lunch like that with a suitable red, it is sometimes hard to get back to the shed:rolleyes:

It is very rare that we buy bread and when we do, when we travel for instance, we can't wait to get back to our home made bread.

I am not much of a cook, but cook most Fridays, mainly seafood, or a Hokkien noodles based dish.

[Gingermick]

I have a bread machine but no scales and my guesstimates only work every third attempt. :doh: I should do something about it, like put it on shopping list so SWMBO can get it.

[Big Shed]

I have a bread machine but no scales and my guesstimates only work every third attempt. :doh: I should do something about it, like put it on shopping list so SWMBO can get it.

Hi Mick, I've got a $25 digital set of scales from Harris Scarfe (Soehnle), best thing since sliced bread:D

Honestly wouldn't be without it, but that is probably my background, have been an industrial chemist most of my working life (surface coatings industry), so weighing out all the ingredients (I don't anything by volume) is like being back in the lab:2tsup:

The pay off comes in repeatability.

BTW I use my delayed time function for breads finished off in the machine, I put everything in the machine about 10pm, set the delay timer, and in the morning about 7:30 or so we wake up to the beautiful smell of freshly baked bread.:)

[Grunt]

You should try and get Termite's Sour Dough recipe. World famous apparently.


Chris

[Big Shed]

You should try and get Termite's Sour Dough recipe. World famous apparently.


Chris

Do the termites put the holes in it?:D

[Jigsaw]

I made some bread years ago, all by hand and then later with the use of a bread machine. It was good but I went a bit stale on the passion and I was eating toooo much of it.

There is a bread shop in Heidelberg that I used to go to get breadmaking flour etc. They also had free lessons on making doughnuts, coffee scrolls etc. Bloody nice. Their link is http://www.margandmarees.com.au/ . I have not been there few a few years but was thinking of them the other day, I should go back and get started on the bread again.

Jigsaw

[Doughboy]

Sorry I dont want to hijack your thread but here is an easy bread mix

Bread Mix

700g Plain Flour
2 Tblsp Dried Yeast
2 Tblsp Honey
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tblsp Olive Oil
375 ml Tepid Water

Place all but water in bowl and mix thoroughly. Add water until a smooth dough is made. Rest in a warm place 45 minutes or till doubled in size. Knock back and knead for five minutes.

You can cut this into 150 g lots for single serves or make into a couple of loaves or even a flat foccacia style bread.

Cook 15 to 20 minutes.

Variations can be made using........

Sweet onions
Seeded Mustard
Garlic and Parmesan
Anchovy
Olive

ETC ETC

[Andy Mac]

I'm with you guys, love homemade bread and even made it by hand once. The kids aren't into the heavier loaves though, or thick slices, so we don't make it nearly as much. We've had a Panasonic breadmaker for years, wore out the paddle shaft bearing from too much work, but I replaced it and the thing keeps going. We use it mostly for dough, mainly pizza base and foccaccia, but I've also used it for piroski (meat-filled rolls).
I use volume measuring, not weight, but it did take some experimenting to get a repeatable mix. My tip is extra yeast, and get the water exact.

Cheers