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

Soda bread is lovely, super easy and prepped and baked in less than 45 mins.

I love my bread maker...I have a Breville Custom Pro. It makes incredible bread. Just pop all of the ingredients in and press a couple of buttons, a few hours later we have an incredible loaf with no preservatives etc. Great for my toddler as I cut the amount of salt/sugar. Whilst you can make them without, I reckon the lazy side of me wouldn't bother and we would end up with shop bought. This way, we have 2 fresh loaves a week!

We are making more bread too. If your oven temperature can be set as low as 40 degrees you can use it to speed up the proving. I turn it on as I mix the bread, then switch it off as the bread goes in to prove. If I am being lazy I just do a recipe where it proves in the tin so I can then set the oven on timer!

I used to regularly before dc, but since we found out he is allergic to wheat, not much. I still make simple naan bread or Chinese buns, but not normal bread. I can't make decent bread with gluten free/wheat free bread.
Anyone have tips for making nice bread without wheat flour?

I have switched to sourdough because there is no kneading and it is not particularly time sensitive. Plan on starting the day before you make it. Mix ingredients in a bowl. (I use a mixture of rye, wholemeal and white bread flour and a tablespoon of psyllium). Leave to stand for two hours. Fold the sides into the centre and leave for another 4-5 hours. It does not seem to care if you leave it a couple of hours longer. Fold sides into centre again and leave in fridge overnight. I put it in a baneton so you get the nice lines but that is purely vanity :)

Bake in the oven in the morning 20 minus at 230 degrees covered (I use a saucepan which happens to be roughly the right size as the cover but you can bake it in a rash over a tray filled with water too) followed by 20 minutes at 200. Perfect bread every time and no sugar at all. Very very popular with my gang.

I got all my info from this Youtube video and my starter from Amazon :)

Soda bread is very quick and easy. Sourdough likewise, once you have the starter. We often make three loaves of any sort of bread while baking and freeze a couple, to save time.

We used to have a breadmaker but when it died we didn't replace it and don't miss it. Do you have an electric hand mixer? They often come with dough hook attachments in the box, and save kneading the bread by hand if you want to save more time.

Another household with a Panasonic, been using it at ten years. Two hungry teenagers, at least four loaves a week.

We also use it to make dough, burger buns, focaccia, pizza, pita etc. Naan are family favourite, replace yoghurt with coconut milk for vegan option, cook on the hob in a covered frying pan to maintain humidity.

We make our bread. We developed a sourdough starter in the last lockdown when yeast wasn't available but you get great results with powdered yeast too.
We have a basic bread machine which was about £70 10 years ago but must have earned its crust (ha!) multiple times over by now.

The great thing with a machine is that you can chuck the ingredients in after dinner when you are clearing up, and then you'll have a lovely loaf of bread cooked before you go to bed and fresh for the morning.

I prove dough on the yogurt setting of my Instant pot.
I haven't used it yet, but I got this sourdough starter from Lakeland.www.lakeland.co.uk/62532/Mad-Millie-Sourdough-Culture-Sachets---Pack-of-3

Oh definitely get a bread machine with your busy job and toddler. I'd be scared of forgetting to take it out the oven and leaving for work! Imagine realising in the middle of a shift! At least with the machine it's all hands-free and turns itself off!

I use this recipe. Perfect every time.

www.delicious.com.au/recipes/no-knead-bread/3ac490ea-88ed-4436-8f6e-cd461104a3c3

@palmstar that looks too good to be true?! I was thinking about trying a sourdough after reading this thread, but I might give that a go tonight first. It says plain flour - do use normal plain flour or strong white? Thanks

I’m going to try this soda bread
No yeast looks easy
www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/clodagh-mckennas-lockdown-soda-bread

@Custardslice3
I use plain flour.
Honestly, it's great every time. And so easy. Just do exactly what it says.

@Custardslice3
Here's this mornings loaf.

@palmstar I'm still working through the 16kg bag of plain flour that I bought in the first lockdown, so that's perfect I've just mixed it up so will see how it goes tomorrow!

@palmstar

This is delicious - thank you! It was super easy. I'm not sure I did it quite right - it was a bit sloppy when I turned it out for the last 1.5 hrs and wouldn't really hold a ball shape at all, but it baked up okay. I don't know if that means it was over proved or under proved? Wouldn't pass a bake off test as it's a bit doughy right in the middle, but the crust is really chewy and yummy. Not sure there'll be much left by the end of the day!!

Panasonic breadmaker worth every penny.
Sourdough has been my lockdown project, it doesn't really rise so you can't fail it. DH thinks it helps his IBS so we have sourdough mostly now. It's a bit like Dwarf Battle Bread though.

www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish
Helpful if you can bear the chirpiness.

@Custardslice3
Looks good to me! Just cook it for another 5 or so minutes if you feel it was doughy.
Enjoy!

DH makes soda bread, easy and delicious.

I'm going to try bagels using this recipe www.sophisticatedgourmet.com/2009/10/new-york-style-bagel-recipe/

With the "no-knead bread" recipe posted further down. It says Place a cast iron pot, without the lid, in the oven to preheat for 40 minutes. I don't have a cast iron pot and do I really need to heat something in the oven for 40 minutes??

@SoupDragon I used a massive pan that I would do a casserole in - I don't think it's cast iron. I think the key thing is that it has a lid. Given that the ingredients aren't expensive and there's not a lot of effort/time involved, I'd try it in what ever you have and see if it works! I did heat the pot for a while because I was in a zoom meeting so was just dashing into the kitchen when I could, but I'm going to try just leaving it to heat for a few minutes next time. I can't get over how delicious it was for something so simple, and compared with the complicated instructions for sourdough that I'd been reading. We had grilled cheese sandwiches with it for lunch yesterday and they were just as good as ones I paid a small fortune for in a cafe recently

Thanks. I didn't think the pot material would make much difference.

I'm already annoyed with the amount of effort it has involved compared to my breadmaker 😂😂

I just recently got my panasonic back out of the loft.
Really enjoying it this time.
Using what it calls the 'sandwich' setting, and not using the timer.