Bread advice

I don't usually have problems with my hand-made bread, but you do have to knead for the whole time recommended in a standard recipe. Paul Hollywood proves his dough at room temperature, which takes more time but the bread keeps longer.

You might be interested in trying the no-knead method. The dough can be made in a large batch , refrigerated, then a portion baked as needed. I found the bread was not quite so crusty, so may suit you. I bought this book some time ago, probably on Amazon, there were several to choose from.

The way to avoid a hard crust is to liberally brush the whole loaf - top, sides and bottom, with cold milk as soon as it comes out of the oven . This gives the loaf a lovely soft crust.

Thank you both. I always knead for the recommended time - and then some and am quite heavy handed so I think that part is ok. Yesterday I put the oven on to the lowest temperature for the first rise and then told myself I had been rather clever because I balanced the prepared baking tray on top of a tureen of newly made soup for the second ...

Poor H, he nearly cracked a tooth!!! First time I have tried to make bread for him and I have a bit of time on my hands lately so I want to play ... I will try the milk tip next time.

If my bread turns out a little too hard on the outside I immediately cover it with a damp tea towel.

I used to do that in my pre-bread maker days. Several tea towels. Never necessary with a bread maker.

Warm place used to be on top of our old boiler. No good since we had a more efficient one installed. Airing cupboard? Sunny windowsill? Very low oven with door open? Actually, slow rising is really the best. Our local baker used to let it rise overnight. Some even advocate the fridge, but I used to find it still need a couple of hours out in the warm.

Thank God for bread makers. And the Co-op. (who do excellent uncut bread)

You could try putting it in very hot oven to start with, then turning it down once it has risen, to finish baking.

Make sure your dough is soft enough. Quarter pint water to every 8 ozs flour. (If I remember rightly)

I've been baking bread for years and still have the occasional failure.
There are so many things to take into account, it's all trial and error.
Personally, I think the most important thing is the type of flour you use.
What kind do you use, Imperfect?
I make white with a french brioche flour (contains additives) which comes out light and fluffy.
Brown with Dove's Farm wholemeal, it comes out dense and heavy.
I have a machine with a dough hook for kneading, the rest by hand.
My recipe:
1kg flour
3pkts dried yeast (8g each)
2 level tbsp sugar
1 " tbsp salt
4 " tbsp oil
1 pint warm water ( approx.)
Rise the yeast first with half the sugar and half the water
Then add oil, some of the rest of the water and dry ingredients, knead for 5 min. You might need to add more water.
The put the dough to rise - you know the rest, it makes 3 loaves.

As Jings says make sure the dough is soft enough (but not too wet.)
Dry dough makes hard bread.

I use the breadmaker to make the dough, then shape it, let it have a second rise and then bake it in the oven - the crust is too leathery for me when it is done completely in the breadmaker, because it doesn't start really hot, it heats up with the dough already in there.

I fill the sink with hot water, lay an oven shelf over the top, and put the bread on that to rise, with a towel draped over the whole thing. The rising heat warms the dough. It does mean you can't use the sink for a while!

I use a similar method.

Thanks all - I will persevere. In the past I have used strong white / brown flour. I will give up on an all in one mix and have anther go next week with a dried yeast method.

Occasional failure would be lovely - just what we call a reverse miracle in this household every time ... bread = stones .

Update .
Having another go today. This time trying to make cheese and onion bread rolls (x12) with fresh yeast that was given away free by Tesco bakery. When I phoned my lovely MIL to ask how you store fresh yeast she said Morrisons have got x6 cheesy rolls on sale at less than £1. So far, what with special flour, a tin of mustard power, quite a lot of mature cheddar and onion and milk needed, I reckon I have used about £4 worth of ingredients ... they had better be good!!!

Good luck Imperfect.
My husband has tried making bread and his turns out like stones too. Like you he's very heavy-handed and I think perhaps you can overdo the kneading.

You can't beat fresh yeast. Rolls will be lovely.

Store yeast in poly bag in fridge. I'm pretty sure you can freeze it too.

Here's a video of one method of kneading and folding:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVewUbE2YOM

Thank you both. I forgot to ask MIL if /I could freeze it - the baker was very generous, I only needed 15g and he gave me about 200g. If they do turn out well I will make some again for the weekend. Nearly time to check the rise - not daring to open the oven door until the full 2 hours are up!

Tesco are very good with the giving yeast away. I used to get mine from there. It does prove that they really do make their dough on the premises, not just ship in pre-prepared stuff.

Well then ... the GOOD news is they are not stones ... they taste light and lovely ... Erm, the bad news is they are quite flat really - only about 2cm thick / 9cm diameters!!!!! Ah well ... a definite improvement and I will make them into higher domes next time. Current batch 'artistically arranged' in a basket for maximum height effect!

Well done

Thank you ... they really are rather flat ...

Pleased your latest offering is an improvement, you will soon be like a professional!
Fresh yeast gives great results, but needs a teaspoon of sugar to get it going. At school we used to cream the two together, which gives a pouring consistency to add to the other liquid. None of this leaving to form a 'sponge' etc.
Just a little tip. I use disposable shower caps to cover the bowl of proving dough. If in a hurry I put near a radiator, otherwise room temperature is fine.

They're probably flatter because of the onion and cheese in them.
When I make fruit buns they never rise as high as plain bread buns, because of the weight of the fruit.

Well done Imperfect! OK, so they're a bit flat, but they taste lovely, and that's a huge step in the right direction . Next time, why not try making the rolls into mini cottage loaves: one big blob of dough and one small blob - roll each into a ball, place small one on top of big one and poke your finger down through them to join them together (or be all hygienic and poke the handle of a wooden spoon through them). You might find they keep a better shape that way.