Home bread baking

Anyone can recommend TRIED recipe to baked bread?
I have baked bread once but it wasn't as good as it could I felt.

Thanks

Replies

  • misswager
    misswager Posts: 67 Member
    Dead easy and tasty, Irish soda bread

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishsodabread_67445
  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
    Personally - I believe the key to perfectly baked bread is to use the grain itself - pulverize it at home into a powder and use it from there.

    No chemicals, no preservatives, bleaches, etc.

    There is a restaurant in Connecticut (If I remember correctly) that pulverizes their own whole wheat to make their pancakes.. and its made in several batches daily to keep it ultimately fresh and full of vitamins/minerals naturally occuring.
  • Sadedoes
    Sadedoes Posts: 31 Member
    600 gr flour (I use either a mix 50/50 white & dark multicereal, or a light multicereal)
    350-370 ml water (this varies depending on the moisture content of the flour)
    10 gr olive oil
    10 gr salt (~2 teaspoons)
    20 gr sugar
    7-8 gr dry yeast (~ 1 1/2 tsp)

    Aaand I let the breadmachine do all the work.

    If you want to do it by hand: mix all ingredients and knead for 10-15 minutes, until you have a smooth, non-sticky dough. A good test is the pane test, you should be able to stretch dough between your fingers until you can see through before it breaks. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic film and let rise until double in a warm spot (approx 1hour). Punch down and knead a couple of minutes. Shape into a loaf, cover again and let rise until doubled (45-60 mins usually). Preheat oven to 200C, and put a deep tray on the bottom rack. Put bread in oven and fill bottom tray with (nearly) boiling water. Lower temperature to 180 and bake for 40ish minutes. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when taped on the bottom.

    Approx 255calories / 100 gr.
  • pikselinka
    pikselinka Posts: 154 Member
    Thanks so much Sadedoes, this sounds very easy, maybe I'll be able to enjoy bread all over again ;)
    I hate not knowing what's in the food I'm eating.
  • Sadedoes
    Sadedoes Posts: 31 Member
    You're welcome.

    Don't be discouraged if your first loaf is not perfect, like with most cooking, it requires a bit of practice. The more bread you bake the better you know if the flour-water ratio is right, and if it's baked long enough.

    The water pan in the oven turns your oven into a steam oven, that helps with a nice crust and also develop nice crumb.

    Another thing that works well is letting the bread do the first rising in the fridge. It's a slower rise, which helps developing flavour.
  • pikselinka
    pikselinka Posts: 154 Member
    I will try my hardest in making this until I get it perfect!
  • rudimae
    rudimae Posts: 107
    I love my bread machine. The loaves are an odd shape, though you can buy ones now that make a "normal" looking loaf. You just toss in the ingredients and have a fresh loaf of bread in 3 hours. Not always as good as doing it all manually, but close enough for me!
  • gabrielled
    gabrielled Posts: 247 Member
    Anyone can recommend TRIED recipe to baked bread?
    I have baked bread once but it wasn't as good as it could I felt.

    Thanks

    Use the Mother Earth News bread recipe. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx Perfect this one, and then move on to pizza dough and the whole grain recipe. It's perfect. OH! and don't overknead this dough.
  • ivikatasha
    ivikatasha Posts: 192 Member
    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-whole-wheat-bread/detail.aspx


    I make this one a lot, and I do it all by hand, no bread machine.
  • wlkumpf
    wlkumpf Posts: 241 Member
    I took the class on "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" You should read about it online if you can. super easy!

    I have been told not to add more then 1/2 wheat flour or you won't have a good raise. Use fresh or not outdated yeast because it is a living organism and will die. Use slightly warmer then room tempurate water to get your yeast active. Too hot will kill it, so better too cold than too hot. It just takes longer with cold.

    I would aim to make a decent light wheat or even a white and then change it from there. That way you can figure out what went wrong.
  • pikselinka
    pikselinka Posts: 154 Member
    I don't own bread maker, and see no point in getting it ... maybe in far future who knows.

    I'll read through "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day".

    ivikatasha the honey in bread ingredients sounds amazingly good.
  • gabrielled
    gabrielled Posts: 247 Member
    I don't own bread maker, and see no point in getting it ... maybe in far future who knows.

    I'll read through "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day".

    ivikatasha the honey in bread ingredients sounds amazingly good.

    The artisan bread class is the same one for the link from Mother Earth News. It's annoying, and in several pages, but it's worth taking the time to page through all the info. I come from a baking family, and I'm the "Pie Person" of my generation. Usually not a week goes by that I bake a loaf of bread (or two) and make homemade pizza dough. My mother LOVES the seed bread, and is the baker who started it all for our family.