Bread advice

The trouble with making really nice bread is that some poor soul has to eat it and at the moment the house is too cold to keep the butter soft even out of the fridge and in the dish. With our "new" breadmaker we seem to be eating much more bread because it is so nice.

Imperfect I know what you mean about a good feeling when a good loaf works.
I get a similar feeling when making jam and chutney, or batch cooking for the freezer.

They worked! Amazing! Sorry no photo as proof - but they did - light and fluffy and actually ... hot cross-bun like! Ridiculously pleased!

I think I worked out two things I did wrong last week and adjusted them - prepared the yeast at a warmer temperature and also was gentler with knocking back.

I have put my oven to the lowest setting and then tweaked the dial up a millimetre - very imprecise, but who knows! The proof will be there - or not, as the case may be! I have used the BBC Good Food basic recipe - says to leave for just 55 mins - I think this must be because there is quite a lot of yeast in it - double what I used for making cheesy rolls last week. (Such a novice I haven't a clue!)

Ah, I do love bread making! The kneading exercise makes me feel everso slightly virtuous and well warmed up and then there is time to do other things inbetween the phases ...

Kitchen did look like a bomb had gone off in it tho ...

No advice, just follow a good recipe. They probably won't rise as much as plain bread. Fruit bread with marzipan sounds like stollen - I made that once and it didn't rise at all, but tasted good.
I've kept yeast for a week or so in the fridge in the past, it can develop a brown crust on the outside, so cut that off.
Freezing yeast didn't work for me - it melted when defrosted.

Looking at the instructions on mine proving outside the breadmaker needs a temp of about 40decC .
I wonder how easy to do that would be this weather and I am not sure my oven could keep the temp down to just 40C.

I am going to try proving it in the top oven leaving the bottom oven on.
experimentation needed. (Or kneaded even)

Here we go again .

Attempting hot cross buns with a twist today - going to substitute some fruit weight with little bits of marzipan. Hope last week's fresh yeast hasn't died - MIL said it can keep for up to 10 days ... meant to freeze it, but forgot.

Top tips for hot cross bunnies anyone?

I used the extra strong Allinson for the one I started in the breadmaker but baked in the oven. It did give good results (apart from the burnt crust.

However, gluten free doesn't give great results for that reason.

If you want lighter more spongy bread I would recommend using 'extra strong' flours, rather than the normal 'strong'. They cost more but really do have more rise in them, something to do with the gluten content I think. I use Allinson and Tesco brands, both good. I sometimes add a proportion of extra strong white flour when making wholemeal loaves, which prevents them from being too heavy.

Nelliemoser I have an old Morphy Richards breadmaker.
Baked in the oven after kneading in the breadmaker resulted in a loaf which seemed to last longer as well.

Now I just need a recipe for a nice gluten free loaf; they are all below par whether bought or made at home in the breadmaker or oven.

My husband and elder daughter have been making sourdough using a starter but no yeast. It is delicious - we've had rye flour, spelt and wholemeal added to it, as well as egg to make a challah. There is only one problem - we are eating too much bread! It is okay for DD who has a family - there are only two of us!

If you put the fruit in too soon during kneading it gets chopped up.

As a young mum, still at home with the children, I made all my own bread. I 'invented' my own granary loaves by adding cracked wheat and a tablespoonful of malt. Great with strong cheddar, which a supermarket in Nottingham's Victoria Centre used as a 'loss leader'.

You do well to make your own bread Bijou. I think you're older than most of us.
What do you mean by putting the fruit in after 20 minutes? Is that during the first rise? Or is the machine still kneading?

I have always made my own bread but not being able to stand now have a small Lakeland bread maker. Years ago I used to buy a pound of fresh yeast, divide it into one ounce pieces and freeze it. Slow second rising is best. I now make dough and make either six rolls or two small loaves. Only have a mini oven so to save the tops getting too crisp after a few minutes put a sheet of foil over the top. Lately have been making mixed fruit loaves. Don't put the fruit in until after twenty minutes. Sometimes make up the amount of water with an egg as advised by the instruction book.

I think you can get citric acid (Vit.C) from Boots.
The white flour I use has it added, which is probably why my white loaves rise so well.

Oh, why do I always think of putting the bread maker on when it's just too late for lunchtime, even on the rapid prog?! (I know I should set it at bedtime )

Thanks for that tip MTD, I will try that. Yesterday's offerings can't have gone down too badly - himself made up several rolls to take to work today'

Nelliemoser where do you get your vitamin C from please?

Before I got my bread maker I would put boiling water in my slow cooker then set it to low and put a baking tray over it. Covered dough with damp T Towel and left to rise

I usually prepare the dough in the breadmaker then take it out, let it rise for about 20 mins then bake in the oven. Wrights breadmix (I know it's cheating) is great. DH loves the sundried tomato and parmesan also the ciabatta. If using the breadmaker recipe to put all ingredients in the night before and set the timer for fresh bread in the morning it is handy to make up little packets of the dried ingredients so you don't have to weigh them each time.

Jalima Which brand of bread maker do you have.? A friend of mine brought some tomato focaccia bread from her Panasonic breadmaker to our our groups Christmas meal.

I was so impressed by the texture of that bread I bought a pre owned Panasonic bread machine on Ebay to convince myself that it was that much better.
The Vitamin C added really makes a difference to the rise.

I put the small oven on very low (50C) then turned it off and put the bread in there to prove with the door slightly ajar. When the main oven went on to heat up, the heat from that rose up to the small oven and the dough rose well.

The bread from the breadmaker has been very 'tight', so I took it out before the second rise and then baked it in the main oven.
The trouble is that our oven is very hot indeed and the top crust is burnt very dark. However, it has risen twice as much as in the breadmaker.

Mine's a Panasonic Nelliem. The best I think. I like the quick recipe too. Takes 1hr 55 mins.

A small amount of rye flour makes a different flavour - about 100 - 150g for instance, or up to half-and-half rye with the white or wholemeal. Any more than that makes a rather heavy dough which the beaters in a breadmaker struggle with. I have added granary flour too, for a change.