Baking Bread

jcb33 said:
Fresh made bread generaly does come out rock hard, at least the crust does....
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No it doesn't.


Sounds like you are not letting it rise and not kneading it enough

You have to make the dough and kneed it till elastic. Then leave it to double in height.
Knock it back, put in baking tin or make you rolls. Let it double in height again then bake it.
Also you need good qaulity flour, don't get tesco value stuff. needs ot be good strong flour.
 
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Or to be lazy the Panasonic bread machine is the only machine that makes a decent loaf every time.

Or doing it manually, check to see if you oven has a bread program, it offers a great rising atmosphere.
 
yup. just ask at your local bakery counter for some fresh yeast, they should give you some and it freezes really well. Don't forget that you need less fresh yeast than dried for any recipes.

I can personally recommend Waitrose Candian strong flour for bread, especially if you want to make brown / wholemeal / rye as it is a good one to blend these other flours with.
 
Oh right, i got strong flour

The yeast i just got from a fridge in blocks from a supermarket.

The kneading process was where i thought i failed tbh, not enough it seems. I did get a better result by covering it up half way through cooking... but not that better tbh, still a bit stodgy.

I mixed the yeast and sugar in warm water before adding to the flour? is that a good idea or wrong?

Also im not convinced by the way i left it to double in size, do i need a warm place? or is room temp ok? I left it for about an hour before cooking.
 
lemonkettaz said:
I mixed the yeast and sugar in warm water before adding to the flour? is that a good idea or wrong?.
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This is good. It gets the yeast multiplying and ready to make CO2.

lemonkettaz said:
Also im not convinced by the way i left it to double in size, do i need a warm place? or is room temp ok? I left it for about an hour before cooking
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It needs to be warm, closer to 37C the better.

Burnsy
 
I read a book called Dough and it says in there not to make the loaves too big or it won't cook properly in the middle without cremating the outside.
 
Got a bread maker in lidl for €20. Does the job great. Bifinett is the make, only comes with 2 half loaf things but you can get a full sized one if you want to. Half a loaf works great for myself and the gf, generally the bread has started to go stale by the next day anyway.
 
Sanguinnus said:
I wouldn't mind buying a bread making machine, anyone have any experience with these?
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The only brand to buy is Panasonic, the rest are complete junk.

The Panasonic models do a good job at making a loaf that is similar to hand baked.
 
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