I usually make a loaf a week. Started out using a bread machine and now tend to use the machine to mix and rise the dough then tip it into a nice bread tin, rise again and bake in oven. I use a variety of flours in different proportions such as 3 white to 1 Rye or spelt and pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds. But all my breads seem to taste the same and have the same consistency. They are nice but I’m a bit bored and would like some ideas for a really nice loaf that’s different please.

https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Bakers-Apprentice-Mastering-Extraordinary/dp/1580082688
Great book and great recipes for really good bread – warning time patience and strong arms required

I can’t help with traditional bread recipes but I make a couple of loaves of Soda Bread each week, you could try that for something a little different.

Have you tried adding bacon? Bacon improves the flavour of anything..

I think I might have suggested this before.. but track down some Beremeal. Use it to replace about 1/6th of the flour in an ordinary white loaf – gives bread a lovely full, savoury, slightly nutty flavour.

But all my breads seem to taste the same

It’s bread…If you want something to taste nice, make something that goes on top of a slice of it…

Try 08000223394

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dough-Richard-Bertinet/dp/1856267628

This is a great book too, there’s far more to dough than bread!

Knead it by hand and then you can feel when it reaches the type of bread you want

Everything else is basically different flours and/or ingredients

Have you tried sourdough? It’s on my to-do list!

You could try a different yeast.

Try putting a few tablespoons of olive oil into the mix. Also, adding chopped olives and sundried tomatoes into a regular white loaf can be lush. The amount you knead makes a difference as well. If you don’t knead enough and the dough will collapse under its own weight and give a denser texture. It’s a bit of an art knowing when the dough is perfect to leave to prove.

The amount you knead makes a difference as well. If you don’t knead enough and the dough will collapse under its own weight and give a denser texture. It’s a bit of an art knowing when the dough is perfect to leave to prove.

the best bit about the book I linked to is the way it describes the feel and texture of the dough, not time or specific ingredients, a great resource for bread, I’ve found in different countries things like water/flour ratio’s vary a lot

+1 for sourdough. You need to use the starter regularly (which would seem to suit you) or a least feed it regularly.

Also with bread, flavour = time. The slower and longer the prove the more complex the flavours. You could try a slow prove in the fridge. This works better with smaller amounts of dough, but still doable with a loaf amount. The reason smaller is easier is that after a prove in the fridge you need to get the dough back to room temp before baking.

They might have passed away, that Liverpool comedy was from the 1980s. 😉

My suggestions would be;

* Sourdough
* Longer ferment doughs [sponge]
* Bread from “old dough” [pâte fermentée]
* Focaccia
* Spelt flour
* Kamut flour
* Soda bread
* Higher hydration doughs

NP

Tartine bread

Buy this book. Read it. Realise sourdough easy to make and a starter is easy to keep (I’m lazy and erratic with feeding mine and it’s still alive 5 years later). You’ll make better bread than you imagined you could.

Along with the Richard Bertinet book linked to above, another excellent book is Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley.

We currently use a variant of his overnight method, where we mix everything up and knead it the night before, and then leave it to do its initial rise in the fridge overnight, before knocking back and proving the next morning.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dough-Richard-Bertinet/dp/1856267628

This is a great book too, there’s far more to dough than bread!

+1

Try baking in a cloche or on a pizza stone rather than a tin. Texture and crust seem much better this way. As others have said flavour is about time and good flour.

Some of the best flavour bread we (as in the wife) made involved putting all of the yeast, salt and water with half of the flour overnight in the fridge as a batter. In the morning add the remaining flour and do the kneading and final prove. Tasted really good. I think that may have been in Hugh Fearnly-Sillyname’s bread book. I may also have remembered the bits after the batter stage incorrectly as I was riding my bike when that happened……

What fat, salt, sugar and yeast do you use?

I bake 3-4 times a week on average. I don’t get bored by varying white to granary ratio. I’m thinking about adding some ground flaxseed to see what that does.

If I want to change flavour more I may use butter instead of my usual favourite olive oil.

Sometimes for a complete change, I do a savoury bread very similar to this – http://devour-blog.com/2014/04/25/prosciutto-cheese-bread/

Let it rise in the fridge overnight. Slowing down the proving helps the flavour

Where do people get malt flakes from? I really like the malted loaves from local supermarket and want to bake similar. Some flour has it mixed in but I’d like to be able to do my own.

As above, so much to try. I would endorse giving hand kneeding and soda bread a try. Mrs B just made a loaf with nuts in, always a winner. Plenty of different seed springlings you can use. OP you might try different yeasts foo as they impart flavours. You might experiment with making rolls and loaves without a tin too.

Thanks for the replies. I would like to try soda bread for a quick result and Sour dough when I’ve got time to get my head round it. Will defo try a slower proof. I use instant yeast, honey and cold pressed rape oil usually but have bought a jar of malt to try instead of honey

how critical is the amount of yeast you use ,I have just started making bread and the recipe I used last night stated half a teaspoon which compared to other recipies seems not a lot , 400gm of flour in the mix, any way I put a bit more in ,and it seems to be ok

As others have said – the longer the rise the more flavour. Some of the best breads are just flour, water salt and a touch of yeast.

Honey, sugar, malt and huge amounts of yeast (anything more than a 1/4 tsp of grains disolved in water) all cause the bread to over rise before the flavour develops. Cold rising conditions retard it and return the balance towards flavour, but it is as easy to use less yeast and no sugar. Alternatively save a pinch of dough from your next loaf and then add it to water to make a batter, which is used instead of the new yeast

To change the texture have a play with the fat content (egg yolk, butter, oil, mmilk & cream)- more fat gives a closer & softer crumb. The more fat you have the more yeast you will need to give the same length rise.

Or if you are doing a long slow / sour dough / sponge rise – then don’t knock it back for a second rise. Make the dough more liquid – using autolayse techniques (mix to incorporate, leave for 40 minutes then knead for 30 seconds only every half hour for 3 hours) & tension-ing / shaping to get the loaf to keep it’s shape. This gives the larger holes seen in some breads. Cook the bread as hot as you can – otherwise you will break your teeth on the crust.

Flour is the other obvious change – even changing out bread flour for white cake flour will change the texture & flavour. Or try T55 or 00 flours – both have a higher ash content than bread flour and respond to autolayse better than the reaaly high gluten flours.

That’s useful info I will try less yeast and less honey. Feel like I need to retire to properly get into this bread making business!

Favourite is simple, pumpkin seed and cranberries

Shipton Mill for Malt flakes thecaptain. Their malted flour with added seeds is great stuff.

OP could try the weekend baker site for sourdough and other recipes for loaves.

You need less yeast if you use modern fast-acting yeasts because they disperse better than traditional bakers yeast.
All I would add to excellent ideas above is potato bread, basically bread made with equal mashed up cooked potato to flour. It is a little tricky to knead and it makes a good moist white loaf. Nice with a bit of rosemary in it.