Bread advice

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)

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

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.

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.

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.