everyone given up baking?

[Phil Pascoe]

White flour, fried onions, garlic and poppy seeds. Quite wonderful.

 

[MikeG.]

Blimey no.......but today is a fasting day, so this isn't fair.

I've just popped a banana loaf in the oven, if that counts.

 

[Rorschach]

That sounds good. Onion or garlic and bread always go so well together. A favourite snack of mine is a toasted onion bagel with alioli. Doesn't make you popular though :lol:

 

[Woodchips2]

White flour, fried onions, garlic and poppy seeds. Quite wonderful.

That looks lovely Phil and a nice bit of cheddar cheese would make a perfect sandwich. =D>
Regards Keith

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The gorgonzola went very nicely with it.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Nice

Got back from Mexico yesterday to an empty larder. Made a loaf of white and the kids had wolfed the lot before I even knew it had finished baking!!

 

[thetyreman]

That looks nice!

When I have made bread it's been amazing taste but it only lasts 24 hours before it's hard as a rock

 

[rafezetter]

White flour, fried onions, garlic and poppy seeds. Quite wonderful.

That sounds quite pinapple amazing.

Now I'm going to have to find someone who can bake.

 

[devonwoody]

That looks nice!

When I have made bread it's been amazing taste but it only lasts 24 hours before it's hard as a rock

I get fresh yeast from Sainsbury (bakery) and mine doesn't and 3rd day its lovely thin toast around 2/3mm thick.

 

[MikeG.]

.......When I have made bread it's been amazing taste but it only lasts 24 hours before it's hard as a rock

Sounds like you need more oil in it, and of course, you must store it wrapped in something air-tight. We use old cereal bags.

 

[Steve Maskery]

+1 for more oil or fat.
The fat content is what keeps bread fresh, so very high fat content loaves, like a brioche, for example, will keep for a week, whereas French baguettes, which have little or none, are stale the next day.
I haven't been making bread for over a year now I've lost a stone in weight, but I really miss my bread and weekend cake.
Sigh.

 

[space.dandy]

+1 for more oil or fat.
The fat content is what keeps bread fresh, so very high fat content loaves, like a brioche, for example, will keep for a week, whereas French baguettes, which have little or none, are stale the next day.
I haven't been making bread for over a year now I've lost a stone in weight, but I really miss my bread and weekend cake.
Sigh.

Tell me about it. The wife and I love bread and cheese, but it’s murder on the diet. I’ve lost a stone since February having cut it out and moderated my diet. It’s now special occasion only.

 

[hawkeyefxr]

WOW didn't know there were bakers here
I have been baking my own bread for about 4 years now and we have not had shop bought bread in all that time, my son still insists on the flop cut bread but even he is coming round. The biggest thing with him is he cuts wedges from a 1/4 in to 3/4 in.

Anyway i have a recipe some of you may be interested in, no kneading at all.

3 cups of strong white bread flour
1 1/2 cups of warm water, i use 50/50 boiled and cold to get the warm water. (does not affect the yeast)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast ( i use the dries sachets from Tesco you get two loaves from one sachet)

Put the yeast in a bowl at the bottom then the flour on top, pour in the water and mix with a fork, after a few seconds put in the salt.
Wait till is all comes together and just leave it for 12 hours. ( i do it in the evening and leave it to rise overnight). Dont worry if it is a really floppy dough mix it will work, i promise.
In the morning flour the surface liberally and scrape out the dough, flour the top of the dough and knock it back a bit. Put in a bowl and leave for one hour. ( what i generally do is set the timer for 40 mins, then turn the oven on set to 240c fan assisted over bit higher if not a fan then set the timer to 20 mins) put a lidded casserole dish or cast crock pot in when you turn the oven on.
When the 20mins is up remove the pot your using and drop the dough in sprinkle with what ever put the lid on at then back in the oven for 30 mins. remove the lid after the 30 mins and give a further 5 mins if you like a good crusty top.
Thats it done.
Guaranteed a good light airy bread you will like. If you want a brown or any other mix you will need a LITTLE more water.

This sounds long winded but it's not really . This is the best bread i have ever made. I will post a picture of my next load, should be Sunday.

 

[Paul200]

I'm still baking, but very new to it. Been experimenting with sourdough recently because for some reason I just couldn't get a good rise on my loaves. This is today's effort - much better than anything previous and the only thing I did differently was to shorten the proving time by accident! Result!

That loaf looks good enough to eat phil.p! Any chance of a recipe?

Paul

 

[space.dandy]

WOW didn't know there were bakers here

Birds of a feather. I suspect most people interested in woodwork are probably interested in crafts in general.

Sliced bread has a place, and even when I was baking my own, I still kept some in the freezer.

My best results were using a preferment: mix the cold liquid with the yeast and about 100g of the flour. Cover and leave for a few hours or overnight - the longer you leave it the more acids develop and the better the flavour, to a point. When ready, mix the remaining dry ingredients to form your dough and carry on as normal. First proving will be much quicker because of the preferment.

 

[MikeG.]

.......... The biggest thing with him is he cuts wedges from a 1/4 in to 3/4 in............

Sorry, but that's a flogging offense. Rectilinear, or off to the flogging tree (don't spare the cat o' nine tails). He'll soon learn.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Mine is about 500gms of white flour - in this case Allinson's, 10gms of Allinson's dried yeast (the yellow tin), good slurp of olive oil, a good teaspoon of salt, about an ounce of poppy seeds, a good teaspoon of garlic puree and two medium onions chopped and fried. An optional pinch of citric acid and teaspoon of malt in with 150gms of the flour to start the yeast, usually the evening before. A quich spray of oil and bake as you would a white loaf.
I don't know how much the poppy seeds add, but I've been using them in bialys (which are rather nice, and led to this recipe) and they are good for the appearance if nothing else.
I've tried flours such as Doves Farm and Bacheldre which are unbleached and expensive, but can't really see much gain - if anything they make the crust biscuity.

 

[whiskywill]

My best results were using a preferment: mix the cold liquid with the yeast and about 100g of the flour. Cover and leave for a few hours or overnight - the longer you leave it the more acids develop and the better the flavour, to a point. When ready, mix the remaining dry ingredients to form your dough and carry on as normal. First proving will be much quicker because of the preferment.

That is how I've been making bread for the past year or so with excellent results. By mixing part of the flour with the yeast the evening before, also known as a poolish, the gluten has a chance to develop and the final mixing doesn't require kneading. Just mix until smooth.
This is a typical result.

 

[ScaredyCat]

I've always got better results with French flour. I've also taken to useing a cast iron pot + lid in the oven, get that up to temp and then drop the dough in and put the lid on, put it back in the oven. Gives fantastic results, if a little oddly shaped - but that's my fault. I've also done no-knead dough, just leave it in covered for 24 hours or more - tastes really good.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Quite an interesting article on sourdough in this morning's Rip Off Britain (BBC1)

I couldn't get on with it, I tried my own starter which didn't work, I tried a San Francisco starter (about £5 - the real thing) which did absolutely nothing, and a Bread Matters starter, again about a £5. This worked brilliantly, the rise and the texture were great ............ but it was so sour it was inedible. I refridgerated it for a few weeks and tried it again but it died.