Who makes their own bread?

[Grumpetvoluntary]

I'm fed up of buying supermarket bread in plastic packaging. It is so packed with sugar that it never seems to go off which unnerves me!

I want to start making my own bread but don't have a huge amount of time to spend on it (I have a boisterous 2 year old and am frontline nhs and will be spending a lot of the next few months working overtime delivering COVID vaccines). Please tell me how you make yours and does it require a fancy machine?

I know this sounds trivial given current circumstances but I really am determined to be less reliant on pre-made Frankenstein products and there is no bakers nearby (we have just moved to a rural village)

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MNHQ

I don't have a machine.

If you aren’t confident about bread making then start with soda bread. No kneading, no yeast, but you end up with a really delicious loaf that will give you confidence that you can make yeast breads.

Don’t worry if the recipe calls for buttermilk. Just use ordinary milk with half a squeezed lemon in. Or take a few tablespoons of milk out of the quantity and replace with a couple of tablespoons of live yogurt.

Irish Soda Bread for me too. Less than 45 minutes from thinking "I might make a soda bread" to having a lovely warm loaf on the table.

We've had a machine for over 15y and it's still going strong. We go for months making our own then go back to bath sponge bread from the supermarket then go back to the machine for a few more weeks. I think the only thing I prefer bought bread for is the sandwich toaster* as the machine bread doesn't fit and the cheese filling escapes. I can't recommend home-made bread enough.

Since lockdown 1, we've learned a few new things. We've not been able to get the Viennese Kaiser poppy seed rolls we liked from Tesco as they stopped selling them, so we learned to make them (thank you YouTube) and now every Friday night out comes the stand mixer and we make a batch which lasts the weekend. A colleague's 3D printer made me some stamps for the pattern in between making PPE visors!

At Christmas we also learned how to make "quick" panettone. Not the authentic 3-day method but with a hungry teenager, good enough.

*reminds me of the 1001 uses for a sandwich toaster thread!

Panasonic bread machine is great (others are shit). I’ve been making bread for six years in mine. Doesn’t take a tic

Regular bread maker - use a stand mixer to knead. Get my flour from Shipton Mill - some great products. Especially like their course Irish Soda bread flour - lovely texture

Thank you for so many replies! I didn't realise there was such a homemade bread revolution going on behind closed doors!

Can't wait to try these recipes/methods out!

Cannot understand anyone saying ‘you don’t need a bread maker’.
Like a lot of parents I’m super time-poor. I know there are lots of food, lifestyle choices that are less than ideal for our bodies and the environment but I tend to be selective about what I can realistically do.
Making homemade break is an easy easy win for me. Shop bought bread, aside from the packaging, is full of tonnes of crap and preservatives. I bought a bread machine and make a delicious loaf with 3.5mins of effort.

I have a Panasonic. I did try quite a few flours but settled on using a combination of an organic white one and a seeded one from Sainsbury’s. It’s just a few more things (salt, yeast, water, some nice seeds etc) which takes 2 mins to dump in the machine and the next morning we wake to the delicious smell of homemade bread. And ir really is a good loaf. Sometimes on the way back from being away we stop at Gails or a nearby bakery and I can honestly say all my kids prefer our homemade version (except from when we buy a warm, delicious white baguette that they pile with butter!).

We also make brilliant pizza dough in it.
Like I said, for us it’s an easy win.

Had our Panasonic bread maker since youngest was born 7 years ago. Takes 3 mins to make, 2 hours later loaf done. Perfect for lockdown, healthier, cheaper than bread, fresh, smells great, loads of different settings which I still haven’t used because we all just like regular bread or seeded batch

I don't make bread any more ... because DH does.
We have a Panasonic bread maker, it's good.
He's had a brief sourdough phase but usually makes wholemeal and oatbran pittas, which are quite quick and freeze well. And also really thin and crispy wholemeal pizza.

I've just treated myself to Elizabeth David's Bread and Yeast Cooking (or Cookery). It's inspiring!

Oooh can any of you experienced bread bakers help me please? I found a recipe on an old MN thread and my first few loaves were pretty good. The last two have been a disaster but I haven’t changed anything. I knead it for 9 mins with dough hook, leave to rise by aga for 2 hours, knock back, a quick knead and fold per Bake with Jack videos, shape, give another 45 mins prove and bake for 25 mins. The last two have either collapsed after the second rise or just not held the second rise well and the crust has been soft.

Am trying again tomorrow but not sure what to do differently if anyone can help please.

Have had a bread machine for some years, but nowadays usually make the Grant loaf - very quick and easy, Google it.

I don't have a machine either and I love making bread, it's a rather meditative thing. If you fancy doing it by hand:

I usually do 600g strong flour, 8g fast-acting dried yeast, 1.5 tsp salt. Mix it to a not-too-wet dough with about 350ml lukewarm water (you might need a bit more or a bit less).
Lightly flour your board and turn it out. Knead it for 30 seconds ONLY. Then leave it, covered up with a tea-towel, for 10 minutes or so. Come back and knead for another 30 seconds, then another 10 min rest. By now it should be silky and starting to feel springy. I usually give it another 30 second/10 minute cycle. Then knead it quickly once more, put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour.
It should have doubled in size by then. Turn it out, punch it down and shape into the form you want - put it in a tin or leave it freestyle on your baking tray. Cover again with a tea-towel and give it 30 mins or so to puff back up a bit.
Then put in the oven at 200 degrees and bake for around 30 mins. It should have a nice hollow ring when you tap the underneath of the loaf.

It doesn't actually take that long because you're not kneading it for hours. And it makes delicious bread. Could you give a bit of the dough to your 2-year-old to 'help' with the baking?

I used to use a bread maker but now just a cast iron pot in the oven. Gives a better result and no hole left in the bottom of the loaf. I make sourdough but if you don’t want to faff about making a starter, thescandicook on Instagram has a great white bread recipe.

I always thought the longevity of supermarket bread was down to the Chorleywood process, not the sugar, but i might be mistaken.

Bread doesn’t need any sugar btw, tastes fine with none. A lot of people don’t add any fat either, but i find a bit of olive oil keeps it moist and fresh tasting. Matter of personal taste. If your recipe suddenly stops working then get new flour or yeast, as they can both go off with no visible change. I have a panasonic breadmaker which is brill because i’m lazy, but sometimes make by hand as well. My standard recipe is:

1 tsp yeast
500g strong flour (i usually use half and half white and wholemeal)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
350ml water

I have also just made panettone which was lovely (although not the same as proper stuff).

You definitely need a machine. Kneeding by hand and leaving it to rise is all very well if you don't have a toddler and a frontline NHS job... but you do!

Panasonic is best. I reckon mine has paid for itself over the past couple of years. The best thing is the timer which is very useful if you want fresh bread for breakfast

Another (very recent) convert to the Panasonic breadmaker. We had an inferior brand ages ago and the bread was pretty naff - we were fiddling about with all sorts of weird extra ingredients which seemed to defeat the point of home-made bread. I can make bread the ‘old school’ way (did a course years ago) but it’s time-consuming and I can’t guarantee the exact temperature etc to prove the dough. So far we’ve enjoyed a white loaf and I’m admiring a freshly baked wholemeal one. Yep, there’s a small split in the base of the loaf due to the blade, but it’s not a huge issue.

I make porridge bread, it's really easy and tasty.

@Onestep2021

Cannot understand anyone saying ‘you don’t need a bread maker’. Like a lot of parents I’m super time-poor. I know there are lots of food, lifestyle choices that are less than ideal for our bodies and the environment but I tend to be selective about what I can realistically do. Making homemade break is an easy easy win for me. Shop bought bread, aside from the packaging, is full of tonnes of crap and preservatives. I bought a bread machine and make a delicious loaf with 3.5mins of effort.

I have a Panasonic. I did try quite a few flours but settled on using a combination of an organic white one and a seeded one from Sainsbury’s. It’s just a few more things (salt, yeast, water, some nice seeds etc) which takes 2 mins to dump in the machine and the next morning we wake to the delicious smell of homemade bread. And ir really is a good loaf. Sometimes on the way back from being away we stop at Gails or a nearby bakery and I can honestly say all my kids prefer our homemade version (except from when we buy a warm, delicious white baguette that they pile with butter!).

We also make brilliant pizza dough in it.
Like I said, for us it’s an easy win.

You can't understand it, really? Or do you think there's an element of competitive busy-ness here?

There are all sorts of things that I don't have time for. We're all different. But kneading dough takes less than ten minutes. I think people build it up in their minds as this hugely time-consuming thing, but it isn't. It's much quicker and less messy than making a cake.

I think the timer function on a bread machine would be wonderful, and that I'd appreciate. But I think if someone is new to bread making, trying by hand a few times is really worthwhile - at worst, you decide home-made bread is delicious and you'll shell out on a machine because you love the idea, and at best, you realise it's easy and you save money and counter space!

One useful thing to know - you can leave the dough to prove in the fridge overnight, too.

I started at the end of last year. Not lockdown, just that DS2 wanted to do a home made burger, including home made brioche buns, so I thought I'd like to try home made bread. I used this recipe: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/brown-loaf and it turned out brilliantly. I use a stand mixer to make the dough.

I now do so every week or so, alternating brown and white (although I use about 1/3 white flour for the brown loaf). The results taste wonderful and I find looking at the loaf gives me immense pleasure .

And that reminds me, I need to do some work in between making some bread this morning I need to make some bread this morning in between working.

I use a bread maker to make the dough, then I use the oven to finish it off.

One useful thing to know - you can leave the dough to prove in the fridge overnight, too

I often do this, as well. In fact I'll be doing it tonight because I'm working this week and I know we need some more bread but I won't have much time. By tomorrow morning it'll be risen and can just sit for half an hour then go into the oven - very quick.

I find bread making a soothing and tactile thing and a satisfying process in itself, so I wouldn't want a machine, but ultimately it's a matter of choice.

I make mine by hand every other day...it's really easy when you get in a habit. And super satisfying.

I don't need a breadmaker. I use a stand mixer and the hands on time is very short.