home made bread

Is your flour in date ?
Use strong flour

You need to knead it well to relax the gluten and I always leave the dough near somewhere warm.

Yes, I think it is the warmth that makes a difference and I only ever use ordinary plain flour as I forget to buy the strong.

Ingredients: 3 cups bread flour, 1 1/2 cups of water (approx) a teasp. salt and 10g dried yeast. Method: By hand stir flour and salt, add yeast mix and stir, add water 115 F temp and stir well until all the flour is incorporated, this makes a sticky dough (not too wet!). I then leave mine, covered with a tea towel, to rise under an angle poise lamp until well risen. (about 3-4 hours) You can spray with Olive oil to keep the dough from drying. Pre-heat a Dutch oven (DO) with lid on, to 450F and then leave the DO (with lid on) for a further 30th minutes to get really hot. Turn bread into centre of bowl 4 times only (this is the only kneading you need to do) Split into rounds, place on parchment paper and put in DO. Bake for 30 mins with lid on then take lid off and leave in for a further 15 mins. Never had a failure with this recipe. If you want just a loaf, then just drop dough into DO.

So, excuse my complete ignorance, but what is a “Dutch Oven”?

I shall show my ignorance also by asking what is 'strong flour'?
Thanks!

Llamas99

I shall show my ignorance also by asking what is 'strong flour'?
Thanks!

Strong flour has a lot of gluten in it, the stuff which make the skin of the tiny air bubbles that the yeast makes, and holds them together. The more gluten in the flour, the better it is at this, and the airier the bread is.

Strong Flour is clearly labelled in the shops, usually a Strong Flour for Breadmaking. It comes as either white or wholemeal flour.

A Dutch oven is what we would call a casserole dish. They are usually made from cast iron, Le creuse for example.

Le creuset

I make standard bread and sourdough by hand, I’ve been doing it for years but can still have the odd failure.

It can take a while to get it right, use good bread flour, dried yeast is fine, you can always use a little sugar to help activate the yeast.

Look at kneading techniques on line and see if that helps.

Stick at it, nothing beats a freshly baked loaf.

Stick at it, nothing beats a freshly baked loaf.
Oh I agree, except I pay a small fortune ( every so often) to the local French sour dough baker 1/2 a mile from my home who makes the most divine bread daily. He's also won a medal in a national croissant baking contest. At £3 each, although huge, they are an occasional treat

I have made bread before ,but I find it tedious to make .
A breadmaker would be useful .
Strong flour is essential.
And so is a lot of kneading .

I have made nans and chapatti many times.
Having written that nans can be fiddly make .but freeze well.
The taste of home made Indian bread is far superior to any product bought in the shops.
A warmed up nan is a wonderful breakfast served with honey or with eggs and not only to dip into curry .

coral2

whats wrong my bead comes out like cricket balls when I make bread rolls I have bought new yeast and left it to rise . i also have a bread maker which makes dough for me , didnt help.

As you have a bread maker, making a decent loaf is easy. It takes about 5 minutes to load the ingredients, then press the button for the correct loaf, leave for either 3 or 5 hours and job done.

Once you have opened a pack of yeast keep it in the freezer

MiniMoon

A Dutch oven is what we would call a casserole dish. They are usually made from cast iron, Le creuse for example.

Thank you

Rosie51

^Stick at it, nothing beats a freshly baked loaf.^
Oh I agree, except I pay a small fortune ( every so often) to the local French sour dough baker 1/2 a mile from my home who makes the most divine bread daily. He's also won a medal in a national croissant baking contest. At £3 each, although huge, they are an occasional treat

Ooh that sounds delicious!

I make bread in a Panasonic machine about three times a week and have done so for years. I have found that the strong flour I use varies in quality year by year. This year it is making loaves that do not rise much, so the loaf is heavier and denser. I now add half a desert spoon of Gluten that I bought on line and mix it in with a spoon. This has totally fixed the problem. One bag of gluten lasts for years and despite being past its use-by date is still working well. Well worth a try. {Posted by Kevin, DH of Sieska}

I am off to look up gluten as I have already thrown out a bag of flour because it just made bricks.

Sieska

I make bread in a Panasonic machine about three times a week and have done so for years. I have found that the strong flour I use varies in quality year by year. This year it is making loaves that do not rise much, so the loaf is heavier and denser. I now add half a desert spoon of Gluten that I bought on line and mix it in with a spoon. This has totally fixed the problem. One bag of gluten lasts for years and despite being past its use-by date is still working well. Well worth a try. {Posted by Kevin, DH of Sieska}

I got rid of my Panasonic bread machine some years ago when I had loaf after loaf that didn't rise enough, or rose very unevenly. Wish I'd known about gluten, that would have been worth a try.

Kneading strengthens the gluten, just buy quality flour and knead well.

If making brown/wholemeal always use 20% white flour to make a lighter loaf.

Yes a Dutch oven is a very heavy cast iron casserole with lid such as Le Creuset.

I came across a recipe for rolls made in an air fryer. I have not tried it yet (at the time of writing, can't find the recipe either!). I am sure that Google will have the info. It sounded so much of a doddle that even I would try it!

Easy Bread, I make 2-4 times a week.

5 g sugar
10 g yeast
240 ml hot water --- mix, allow 10 minutes

500g flour
5g salt --- mix, allow to double, about 1 hour, covered

Form, let it double, bake at 200, 15-30 minutes by size of loaves.