For a biking forum, STW gets its fair share of chat about bread makers. I thought it is about time we start sharing recipies for the ‘perfect’ (machine made) loaf.

At the moment, I use,

300ml water
1 tbsp olive oil
250g strong white flour
250g grain and seed flour
1 1/2tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp milk powder
1tsp yeast

Not suggesting this is the best, so would be great to hear what else is baking tonight!

the ‘perfect’ (machine made) loaf.

FAIL!

Make it properly.

Good timing, cos I’m threatening to have my first attempt at breadmaking this week.

I’ve got the world’s greatest pizza base recipe, if that’s any use to you?

bread? pffft! cake is the only true baking

Pizza sounds good, I’m doing one out of the book.

Captain, I agree that handmade is better and I used to make them by hand. Whichever way you look at it though, handmade does take longer and that discourages me making it as often, since inheriting a machine I’ve had a fresh loaf ready 3 or 4 mornings per week

I agree with CPT. It is very satisfying to knead bread and the process of making bread should never be rushed.
cougar you may make some errors but it is obvious once the dough goes stretchy from kneading stick with it.

Just taken two sourdough loaves out of the oven… it’s hard not to just dive straight in as they are sooo damned tasty. Recipe for those is just flour, water and salt. It’s amazing what those three ingredients can achieve!

Although I think I might be taking this a little too seriously as I’ve just ordered 40kg of flour! 😀

Pizza base.

240ml warm water
450g plain flour
60ml olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2tbsp clear honey
2tbsp yeast sachet of yeast

Mix everything bar the flour in with the water. Add the flour and turn it into dough ball.

Kneed for a few minutes, cover (loosely!) with greased clingfilm, then stick somewhere warm for half an hour to an hour, till it’s risen to twice its size.

Punch it down, then stick it back in the warm for another hour or so to rise again.

You’re now good to go. Tear off a fist-sized lump (if you have big hands, you get big pizzas!) and roll it out. Then top it and bake it as normal.

Cougar… that is bread so you’ll have no trouble making a proper loaf, although that recipe does have a lot of yeast in there.

You’re right actually; I mentally changed it to “one of those sachet things” and didn’t amend my notes. I’ve changed the recipe, thanks.

I’ve just jumped in to making bread. Yesterday I made up a sourdough starter which is currently sitting on top of the microwave and being fed… hopefully be ready to bake some into a loaf soon!

bread? pffft! cake is the only true baking

Nigella’s NY cheesecake I baked yesterday FTW.

Why did the baker have brown fingers?

Because he kneaded a poo!

Sorry, nothing sensible to contribute to this thread – IGMC

I’ve a Victoria sponge in the oven and just tucked into an apple, cinnamon and dried fruit crumble.

Is there anything custard doesn’t improve?

TOP TIP

With my breadmaker ( panasonic) all recipies work well especiallly if at 2hrs 50min on the 4hr bake, at the end of proving you slash the top of the loaf and sprinkle with a dusting of flour

Top tip

Take the dough out of the machine, shape it and bake it in the oven.

It’s then only a simple step to dumping the machine totally.

It’s then only a simple step to dumping the machine totally.

No, the machine rocks – nothing like waking up at 6:15 during the week to the smell of freshly baked bread!

mogrim is spot on, my machine is sitting on timer now, ready to kick in at 2.30am! By the time I wake up tomorrow it will be to the smell of fresh bread blended with smells of night time farts, morning breath, kids nappies etc etc.

I bake bread, I am a masterbaker!

I started HERE no bread makers in this one

I don’t ‘knead’ to be sold on the idea that hand made bread is better, I will not ‘rise’ to the bait. I make bread by hand and in the machine. By hand when I have time or want to get the kids involved, in the machine for regular, overnight bread fresh for the next morning.

I make a bit batch, use some for bread and the rest I use as a pizza base. Much better than shop bought.

I’m sat here eating a fantastic slice of Sour Dough bread that was made in the oven. When it comes out of the oven it looks so perfect and sends me back to drooling in French bakeries. A bread maker never comes close.

Ditch the bread maker and buy Bread Matters . There are breads that don’t even require needing in there. And whilst the heating is still on at home make a sour dough starter you will not regret it, there are simple instructions in the book.

PS sour dough pizza bases are on another level.

I use almost the same recipe for pizza bases as cougar but use either fresh yeast or the stuff you have to activate first.

Well… I think that went well…

Not bad for 1kg of flour, a few grams of yeast, a little salt and some water!

EDIT: I guess I’ll have to work out how to post pics… d’oh! I worked out how to do it!

Here’s a spelt loaf that’s just popped out the oven, had a bit of trouble with the dough but seem to have recovered it!

My sourdough starter is working a treat too 🙂 pics in the morning of a sourdough loaf.

Just go dahyn Tescos they’ve got loads saves mucking about for ages at home.

I love a thread about making bread; it’s always been made by hand for me, at first i was too tight to buy a machine in case i didn’t stick with it then I just enjoyed the kneading process so never bothered.

buns, nans (or best i can do without a tandoor), chapattis, soda bread, pizza base, loaves, white, whole wheat, spelt, mixed seed etc etc. Once you can make a basic dough then it’s all at your fingertips. although the likes of chapattis and soda bread are even easier and quicker.

yum yum!! never have to eat cr@p bread again

Bread always looks so different when you see other peoples. I made a basic dough yesterday with 1kg bread flour, dried yeast, water, salt, sugar and some olive oil. slightly ambitious trying to fit it into one bowl!

Which was divided into two, with one poppy seed normal loaf,

and one parmesan and onion loaf (Lush!)

Does anybody know how to make free form loafs stay taller? It’s risen nicely, with good air bubbles inside and is nice and light, but just not into a loaf shaped object really.

Sourdough update: 2:3 Wholemeal starter to spelt flour. Always seems to rise a lot better for me than using normal yeast (e.g the already cut loaf in the image) And it tastes nicer 🙂

I’d also like to know if there’s a secret to getting loafs to stay upright without using a tin. Mine always end up too flat to make a sandwich with 🙁 !!

Cottage loaves stay taller. Some strategically placed deep scores might help too.

What’s sourdough then? If it’s like yeast that sounds like a huge amount compared to flour!

I’m assuming you’re using a tin as those loaves look lovely and square! What size loaf tin for good sandwich sized bread?

Any oven temp tips? I normally whack it at full, then when the bread goes in turn it down to 200 odd.

What’s sourdough then?

Basically you ‘make’ the yeast yourself, by mixing flour and warm water. It needs keeping warm and ‘feeding’ daily by replacing 50% of it’s volume with more flour and warm water. After about a week you have what is your ‘starter’, living and breathing with yeast which can then be kept in the fridge!

Each time you bake a loaf you mix in more flour and water an leave it out overnight to proof. You then use some of this to bake the loaf, and keep some of it as the starter for next time. So it’s not actually 2:3 yeast to flour, it’s 2:3 yeasty mixture to flour. 🙂

Some bakers have starters which were made hundreds of years ago, as long as you keep feeding it it will live indefinitely!

This bloke explains it better than I can really linky

And yes, mine were made with a tin!