Bread Recipes And Bread Stuff

fantootie

Please can anyone post good yeast bread recipes , and any tips they might have.
I have baked my own bread for about a year and am really only a bread virgin.
Has anyone had success with sourdough starters you have made your self?:)
Recipe to start things off 500g bread flour 325ml buttermilk 7g fast yeast 1tsp salt 2tsp sugar 2 tsp bread enhancer 2tbl smash /potato flakes. double rise then bake at 200 for 30 to 35 Min's or till sounds hollow when taped on arse.

EileenG

My children just baked this.

10g fresh yeast (available from Polish shops)
teaspoon honey.
Cup hot water.
about 2 cups of strong white flour
2 tbs cocoa powder
2 packets sweetener.

Make as usual, (double rise) bake about 20 minutes.

Lady Lainy

the prepacks of bread mixture can be really good too. tho i always add extra into them to give them my own twist. I think odlems do a cinemon one. not only is it tasty but the house smells great too. I add extra rasins or cherries to it just to give it a sweet bite.
I figer a nice tastey sweet bread has to be better for me than a bag of chocloate from lidl.

When i move into my own place i plan on making my own breads. save money. healthy snacks. and well as a passtime as i wont be too flush for cash. plus make nice presents too. Pair it with some candles, organic goodies from a health shop and nicely wrapped loaf of home made bread in a basket.

If i come accross some good recipes i'll be sure to post them

Does anyone use breadmakers? are they worth it?

EileenG

I had one a few years ago, and I must say, the smell of baking bread is the best alarm clock in the world. But you have to use the amounts specified, and I ended up eating far too much bread and getting really fat.

fantootie

Thats intresting about fresh yeast from polish shops , will try your recipie sounds good.
I have started a sourdough starter will post results when I bake bread.

The Hill Billy

Have you read this thread in Cooking & Recipes?

Minder

I made a sourdough starter successfully last summer. But I couldn't keep it going. It really needs to be used and replenished regularly to keep it healthy. I found that it started to separate and grey if it wasn't used each week. The quality of the bread was fair but my modern fan assisted convection oven doesn't produce the best loaf. I am considering building a brick oven in the garden and will revive the starter if it is a success.

A suggestion from Fergus Henderson (Nose to Tail Eating) is to make extra dough for a loaf, the leftover dough is kept and added to the next batch of fresh dough - then some of that is kept and so on. It works very well, with the old dough adding a fuller flavour to the bread. It is not as complicated as a sourdough starter.

rockbeer

re sourdough: if you leave your starter at room temperature it really needs feeding every day. Any less and although it might seem OK, there will be a change in the bacterial make-up over time caused by food deprivation. It will get progressively more slack and useless. If you keep it in the fridge it should last much longer between feedings - at least a month - but it will get less and less lively the longer you leave it. To liven it up ready for baking, just throw half away the day before you bake and feed it, then leave it out of the fridge overnight. It should wake up and get lively, unless it's really been a long time in which case just do the discard-and-feed routine twice.

Separation and even greying are no problem - this isn't a sign it's bad, just a bit dormant. You can pour off the thin liquid on top or stir it back in, it makes no difference. Feeding should restore it to health.

I've been keeping my starter for nearly two years now and have never found it at all complicated. Feed it every so often and it's happy. Bit like keeping a cat really.

fantootie

I am Trying this starter I should bake first bread tomorrow if it rises , will post results.

• Starter (first time):
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
• 3 level Tablespoons instant potato flakes
• .
• Starter Feeder (subsequent times):
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons potato flakes

PREPARATION:

First Time Starter Directions:
Mix water, sugar, yeast, and potato flakes. Let ferment on counter for two days.
Then feed with starter feeder (below). If you get starter from someone else, you can omit this step.

Starter Feeder:
Combine water, sugar, and potato flakes. Add to starter. Let stand on counter top eight hours. Refrigerate 3 to 5 days, then make bread.

After using 1 cup of the starter for dough, pour one cup back into container and refrigerate. Discard any other starter. Store starter in the fridge. feed every 3 to 5 days:)

Minder

rockbeer wrote: »

I've been keeping my starter for nearly two years now and have never found it at all complicated. Feed it every so often and it's happy. Bit like keeping a cat really.

Except it doesn't curl up in your lap in the evening while you watch the gogglebox.

But seriously, do you always feed it the same flour? I've read varying accounts of how starters react when fed different flours. Also I believe the methods recommended in many books to start a starter are unnecessary, (those that recommend using wild or organic fruits to get the yeast cultures). There are millions of yeast cells already in the flour. The starter doesn't need organic rhubarb to activate. Flour and water, and maybe a bit of sugar to activate the yeast - after a couple of days the mixture will be bubbling away.

Also I have seen pictures of starters mixed in kilner jars - fine as long as the lid is not closed, otherwise you have a potential bomb.

noby

Minder wrote: »

But seriously, do you always feed it the same flour? I've read varying accounts of how starters react when fed different flours. Also I believe the methods recommended in many books to start a starter are unnecessary, (those that recommend using wild or organic fruits to get the yeast cultures). There are millions of yeast cells already in the flour.

Minder, I made mine with just flour and water. I did buy some organic flour at the start, but that was probably unnecessary.

rockbeer

I always feed my starter strong bread flour, I used to use organic but it got too expensive. I've heard people say to feed wholemeal flour to a starter you intend to use for wholemeal bread. Not sure if this is supposed to make better bread, or is just to avoid putting too much white flour into your wholemeal loaf.

I made my first starter with flour, water and live natural yoghurt. I've heard sugar is a bad idea but can't remember why now. But these days I use the fantastic starter I got for a couple of dollars from these nice people. Makes bread as good as any you can buy in Ireland.

A final tip: try baking your bread under a big ceramic or earthenware bowl (make sure it's heatproof) in the oven - I put my loaf on a hot terracotta tile (a pizza stone would be good either), cover with the bowl and bake at gas 7 for 30 - 40 minutes. Then take the bowl off to finish baking at no 6. You won't believe the crust.

noby

Yep, I use strong flour now.
I bake it in a hot oven, with a pizza stone on the bottom tray. I must try your tip - looks interesting.

fantootie

fantootie wrote: »

I am Trying this starter I should bake first bread tomorrow if it rises , will post results.

• Starter (first time):
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
• 3 level Tablespoons instant potato flakes
• .
• Starter Feeder (subsequent times):
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 Tablespoons potato flakes

PREPARATION:

First Time Starter Directions:
Mix water, sugar, yeast, and potato flakes. Let ferment on counter for two days.
Then feed with starter feeder (below). If you get starter from someone else, you can omit this step.

Starter Feeder:
Combine water, sugar, and potato flakes. Add to starter. Let stand on counter top eight hours. Refrigerate 3 to 5 days, then make bread.

After using 1 cup of the starter for dough, pour one cup back into container and refrigerate. Discard any other starter. Store starter in the fridge. feed every 3 to 5 days:)

Made bread with this starter , very slow rise 12 hours first rise and 10 for the second rise quite a sweet taste .
I will keep the starter going it should improve with age

rockbeer

You would expect a slow rise with sourdough, 12 hours is normal, but ten hours for a second rise isn't what I'd be expecting. My starter normally takes 8 - 12 hours for the first rise and only 1 - 2 for the second.

Hardly surprising it tastes sweet - your starter contains cultivated yeast and sugar. And all that starch for food - why not feed it flour? That's what it will need to eat when you make bread with it...

In fact, your starter recipe is quite strange when you think about it... I mean, what kind of a starter uses packaged yeast, anyway? Surely that defeats the whole object as essentially what you have is a living culture of the same yeast you can just use from a packet. I just don't see any advantage in that. Probably a disadvantage in fact. It's probably weaker than from the packet, as that kind of yeast isn't adapted for ongoing survival.

I highly recommend you get yourself a proper starter. Not trying to be critical, just helpful, but I genuinely doubt yours will improve with age.

Minder

I would agree with Rockbeer to some extent. Making bread with a starter that is days old will produce a different result to making it with a mature starter. As for using packet dried yeast - There are millions of yeast spores in milled flour, so when you add flour to your starter, you are introducing more yeast. If you use the same flour brand all the time, it will produce a mature starter after a couple of weeks.