How do you make your own bread? Had a bit of a disaster.

[winnybella]

Yesterday I bought a bag of bread flour and some instant yeast. I decided to make bread today. First I think I added to much flour, dough was way too thick, so chucked it and started again. It seemed to be too liquid and sooo sticky! I make my own shortbread, tart bases etc so was a bit non-plussed.

I think that maybe I added too little flour (haven't got measuring cup and forgot to use a tablespoon to measure)?

The recipe on the back of flour bag said to mix all together, leave for 30 minutes, then form a ball, leave for further 40 minutes and bake with a ramekin with water.

It didn't say anything about kneading, I did a bit during second stage, but it was so sticky, even though I kept on adding flour.

The dough, when placed on the baking tray, spilled in all directions.

Forgot to put ramekin with water. Bread tastes ok, but is really flat.

Also on the flour it said to mix flour with salt, then add yeast, then water. On the yeast packet it said that yeast can't come in contact with salt or liquids- so should the yeast be mixed with the flour before adding water?

Sorry, bit long, just tell me where did I go wrong?

Oh, and also, if you have yeast, can't you use regular flour to make white bread/buns etc?

.

This is the recipe and method I use:

500g bread flour
1 x sachet dried yeast.
350ml (approx) tepid water, (i dont usually use it all there is about 2 tbsps left, I have learnt to judge to texture of the dough)
1tsp salt.

Mix together salt and flour add the yeast then the water, dough should come together and not feel wet.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, try not to use too much flour as it makes the dough tough to work with and doesnt rise as well. should take about 10mins of kneeding to get a elasticy feel to the dough.

Grease a bowl (i use olive oil) and put the dough in and cover with cling film/ damp tea cloth, and leave to rise.

Once its doubled in size knock it back and kneed lightly, shape and leave to prove (takes about 30 mins)

Gas mark 7
Bake in the oven for ?? minutes (i forget to time) I usually judge the colour then check for the hollow sound possibly 15mins for bread rolls, and about 20mins for a loaf

When you take them out of the oven, place them onto a wire rack and cover with a clean dry tea towel (this keeps the moisture in but allows them to cool and they stay soft

Hope that helps

was meant to add not sure about using regular flour. That recipe above I use for bread rolls and loaves.

you needn't have chucked it and started again - you can add more flour or water at any stage.

my guess is that you didn't knead for long enough after mixing. The kneading makes the gluten form long strands (or something!) that give the bread its structure.

I'm not sure why the instructions didn't say anything about kneading - that seems quite important to me! The kneading after the first rise is not really kneading, it's just knocking the air out and shaping.

for instant yeast I would just bung it all in together rather than mix the yeast in first - if the yeast hits salt before you start it could stop it before it gets going, but if it all goes in at once it is ok.

the ramekin with water won't have made much difference.

normal plain flour rather than strong (bread) flour doesn't have enough gluten in to give you the structure round the air bubbles that bread has.

Thanks all

Ok, so kneading after mixing is a must- how weird that the recipe didn't mention it

It came out ok, not amazing, though.

So mine was so sticky because I put not enough flour in, do you think? What should the consistency be after mixing it all together?

some types of bread are sloppier than others - eg ciabatta is a very wet dough and consequently has an open texture with big holes; I can't work out how to describe how wet it should be for normal bread but probably you should measure the ingredients properly until you've got a feel for it. Xmasfairy7cakes' recipe sounds good to me for white flour (330-350ml water to 500g flour); wholemeal soaks up a bit more water so I use 360ml when I make 50% wholemeal bread.

Hmm, it was 'pain de maison', flour had some brown speckles, not wholemeal, but not white, either.

Ok, will give it a try tomorrow.Thanks!

With Xmasfairy. You must kneed.

I use 15g sugar dissolved in half a pint of slightly hotter than warm water. Then add in 11g of dry yeast and leave til it's good and frothy.

Then I put 500g of bread flour in a large mixing bowl (sometimes 300g white and 200g wholewheat or granary) and warm this in the microwave for 35 seconds. Then add 10g of salt around the edge of the bowl, make a well in the centre and add most of the water. Bring it together with a fork then in with the hands to see what the texture is like. At this point you can add a bit more of the yeasty water if you need it. You are looking for it to be just a little tacky, not totally sticky.

Plop this out onto your suface/table or whatever and kneed for a good 10 minutes. As you work the dough it should become less sticky and smoother. With the dough in a lump, hold onto one end and use the heal of your palm to push the rest of the dough away from you. Bring it back together, turn it around a bit, then do the same. After 10 mins it should be nice and smooth and your arms should be nice and toned!

Leave it in a fresh bowl, cover and keep somewhere warmish (but not hot) for an hour. It should double in size.

Give it a punch, get it out of the bowl (you may need a spatula as it will have caught at the sides a bit). Kneed it again a little more gently for a minute or two, form into your chosen shape or put into a loaf tin and leave to proove for 30 mins.

Bake in a hot oven for 15 to 20 mins. You might have to turn it round halfway to get an even colour. Should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Keep trying though - it's so worth it. After you make your own, shop bought is horrid!

Kneading not always necessary, or at least you don't always have to knead a lot.

NYT no-knead bread - no knead.

Dan Lepard's method - 10 kneads or so a few times. With this method I find you can cope with quite wet dough.