The complete idiots guide to bread making for dummies

[mamos]

Hi all

I need a fool proof bread making method and i need it now before I shoot myself or worse, give up trying to bake bread.

How can something so simple be so bloody difficult?

mamos

[crowsashes]

lol, i have good days with it and bad days but there mostly bad days at the moment.

what are you using for starters, a shop brought mix designed for hand and bread machine baking or separate ingredients? and what type of flour?

ive had a lot better luck mixing bread flour with everyday flour usually wholemeal stuff as if i use it on its own i just fail, and i end up supplying everyone with hockey puck style baps! im ok with pizza dough.

i tend to find i dont knead it enough or dont let it rise for long enough but i always end up with better bread in the summer ( probably because i let it rise in tins on the back doorstep!)

[mamos]

I'm using Allinson Very strong white bread flower and Allinson dried active yeast

mamos

[crowsashes]

the strong bread flour could be the problem, i found that with strong wholemeal the dough was very difficult to knead and didnt rise to well so i added a 50-50 ish misx of wholemeal and general purpose flour and got better results
( i like my whole meal and granary loaves and found that doing this can help), you could try and substitute half of the flour your using with half general purpose flour .

my neighbour suggested it to me when i mention what i was using. ( was similar stuff to you )

other than that im really not sure what else to try as im still trying myself to get a 100% success rate ( hard i know)

im thinking for my next batch of just using regular/general purpose stuff in place of bread flour as i want to make a few poppy seed rolls. fingers cross theyll work

and good luck with the bread making and im sure someone else might have some other suggestions too.

[Milims]

I'm using Allinson Very strong white bread flower and Allinson dried active yeast

mamos

I've found Allinson flour to be a bit hitty missy - sometimes it's good sometimes it's rubbish!
We use this recipe:
16 oz bread flour
10 floz tepid water
1 level tsp salt
2 level table spoons milk powder
2 level tablespoons oil (we use olive)
1 1/2 level tsp dried yeast
You must use accurate measurements
We just shove it in the bread maker and set it away. You can also do it by hand - the dough is very sticky at first but you work it and it becomes elastic and lovely!
Good luck

[wulf]

You can see a ten minute instructional video I filmed last year on YouTube, which may be useful. You can also find that in the big bread thread on this site, which is definitely worth reading through.

Wulf

[Carltonian Man]

Our electric fan oven struggled to produce a good loaf despite the recommended tray of water in the bottom of the oven etc so we bought a bread maker and have never looked back.

[wulf]

I've found electric fan ovens work really well. Perhaps there was something about either the temperature or readiness of the dough? That said, a bread maker is unlikely to burn your bread - I've had one or two rather well done results when I lost track of the time:



Wulf

[mamos]

Thanks Wulf

Great video (need to turn the sound track down as i couldn't hear what you were saying but I will give it a go and let you know how I got on

mamos

[grahamhobbs]

Bread making is simple, people have been doing it for centuries out of 4 simple ingredients flour, water, yeast and salt (anything else is an unnecessary complication at this stage). But although simple it is still an art, it requires some skill and thus there is no completely foolproof method.
However the skills can be quickly developed, given understanding and a bit of practice.
Probably the most difficult bit for a novice is knowing how to knead properly and whether the dough has been kneaded enough. A bit later I will give you a 'foolproof' tip to overcome these problems.
Let's return to the mixture, the 'standard' mixture is flour, 67% (2/3) water, 2% yeast (approx. 1% if dried), 2% salt (where the percentages are the percentage weights compared with the weight of flour eg if the flour weighs 1000g, you need 670g of water).
You can vary these percentages, ciabbatta bread is made with more like 75% water, salt is often reduced to 1.75% in these health concious days, and yeast can be reduced to a 1/10th of this amount for a long fermentation. But the above is the standard and was laid down in law for french bakers.
What flour should you use, strong flour (or bread making flour) will give you the lightest bread, plain flour has more taste but will make a heavier loaf, as will wholemeal. Rye will give a heavy, wet loaf and needs very specific methods. As you become more experienced you can add these other flours.
Now the simplest method is that you mix these ingredients, knead the dough, let the dough rise and bake it. Being the easiest it will not give the tastiest bread possible and it won't be as light as commercial bread but it should be good and wholesome.
Now my tip for overcoming the problems of kneading. Mix the flour and water, but not the yeast or salt, and leave for a few hours in a sealed container (tuppaware) or bowl put into a plastic bag. Then add the yeast and salt (dried yeast needs to be dissolved in a few gramms of water) and mixed well into the dough using a simple kneading with the palm of your hand, folding the dough over itself and turning thro' 90deg. This can be done in the bowl or on the worktop. When the dough is well mixed, take a piece of the dough and stretch it away from the rest of the dough but don't tear it from it, fold this back over the dough, repaeat first one way then the opposite, turn through 90deg and repeat. Very quickly you will find that the dough is becoming stronger and it is becoming more difficult. The gluten has been developed, the dough has been 'kneaded' enough, and almost without kneading at all.
Now you can divide the dough, shape it and let is rise. The easist way is to put the dough in baking tins, only half fill the tins (the tins should have the insides lightly oiled first), put in a polythene bag and the dough left to rise. When putting the dough into the tins you can shape the dough by folding the sides of the dough under, thereby stretching the top surface. this will give a nice rounded top to the loaf.
Depending on the temperature and the amount of yeast used the bread will ferment and rise in an hour or two or more. When the dough has reached almost to the top of the tin it is ready to bake (don't leave it to rise higher).
Baking, put the loaves into a hot oven (pre-heated for 15mins on the maximum temp), leave at this temperature for between 5 and 10mins, lower the temp to around 230deg for another approx 20 to 25 mins. These timings can only be detirmined through experiment and practice as they are dependent on your oven (preferably don't use a fan assisted oven). The bread is done when you can tap the bottom of the loaf and it sounds hollow and kind of vibrates like a drum. You might have difficulty getting the bread out of the tins, if the bread is done and they are left for a couple of minutes, then the loaves should come out easily.
With a bit of practice and paying attention to the timings in the oven you should quickly master turning out a decent loaf. It will not be the tastiest bread you could make, but you will have mastered the basic skills.
To further improve the flavour of the bread, the main additional ingredient necessary is simply time, time for developing the flavour of the dough through longer fermentation, and there are various techniques for doing this.
Hope you stick at it and make some delicious home-made bread.

[snapdragon]

probably an old fashioned way, but after mixing and kneading I let it prove in the bowl with a cloth on top until doubled in size(ish), then I knock it back divide and knead it to fit tins or on trays, cover one of the tins with the cloth and second prove to the top of the tin or doubled/ then bake. cover the others with a cloth or plastic and put in the fridge to prove overnight. Then either bake them next day or freeze for later.

[grahamhobbs]

Snapdragon is correct, a development on the simple single rise method (I described previously), letting the dough rise once. 'Knocking back' and letting it rise a 2nd time is the most usual method of lengthening the fermentation, improving the taste and structure of the bread.

[mamos]

Thanks guys

I was going to give it a go tonight but I was later home and then people turned up so by the time they had gone and we had dinner it is too late to give it a go but I will try again tomorrow

mamos

[wulf]

If you haven't got bread tins, I'd highly recommend the silicon versions. No greasing required and the bread comes out perfectly every time.

Wulf

ps. my standard proportions are 100:70:2:2 of flour, water, yeast and salt. In other words, pretty much what graham said but a round figure for the water.