Bread making machines - Do you have one and do you use it regularly

[SpuffMonkey]

Use mine 3 or 4 times a week - trusty Panasonic - can't eat supermarket bread anymore and there are no decent bakeries round here. My basic recipe is

 

500g bread flour (usually white)

1 tsp dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 glug of oil

300 ml water

 

In my experience - most problems of bread dipping or failing to rise are to do with hydration - pick your flour (I use Lidl's - 75p for 1.5kg) and keep fiddling around with the water amount until you get the desired effect.

 

I like the Spicy Fruit bread out of the Panasonic book - toasted and heavily buttered! Yum! It makes a cracking bread & butter pudding too!

 

Been making Marmalade today though with the last of the Seville oranges

[SpuffMonkey]

Oh - and if you fancy homemade bread, but like me are on the lazy side of kneading - I found this works well

 

No Knead Crusty Bread

 

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour (375g)

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon Instant or Rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 cups water (350ml)

 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.

 

Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.

 

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours. Overnight works great.

 

Heat oven to 450 degrees (Mk 8).

 

When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.

 

Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough.

 

Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.

 

After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.

 

Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

[corieltauvi]

We bought a Lekue silicone bread maker recently. Much less hassle than a bread maker - mainly because it's really easy to clean.