Does anybody bake their own bread, if so what kind?
Bread.: Does anybody bake their own bread, if... - Healthy Eating
Bread.
67 Replies
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Fran182716Prediabetic
Yes I do when I have time, I use a Jamie Oliver recipe, it's made with wholemeal and rye flours, porridge oats, buttermilk an egg and bicarb ( no yeast or proving or kneading, mixed and baked in just under an hour) Comes out a bit like Irish soda bread and you only need a little it's very solid
in reply to Fran182716
Sounds good, do you use a machine or do it the old fashioned way?
Just mix it all in a bowl by hand with a wooden spoon, dry ingredients first then add the egg and buttermilk takes about 15 mins to weigh and mix, shape it into a round shape about 3cm thick and bake on a floured non stick tray (I put it on some baking parchment to make it easy to take off) its In Jamie Oliver everyday superfood book, some of those recipes look a bit faffy but this ones nice and straightforward.
in reply to Fran182716
Ok, thank you Fran. 
I am quite obsessive about baking my own bread since I retired, it is such a satisfying and rewarding hobby. If you are a beginner I strongly recommend James Morton's book, "Brilliant Bread". He writes very well and the book starts by explaining very basic recipes and how yeast bakery works but then progresses gradually to advanced breads and sourdough bread. I have used it continually for three years and have not bought a loaf since I started.
in reply to wazzockbeak
Thank you for the info. I appreciate it. ☺
I bake all my own bread using organic flour. Any ki d you care to mention except sour dough as I never get it right. I use cooked grains to give chewyness and often put in older style flour as I like the taste. I pretty much make up my own recipe as I am very familiar with the basic techniques and quantities.
I can't eat shop bought now. Too many additives and added sugar.
Dee
in reply to deejames
You decide how much sugar to use?
Tibblington in reply to
Why put sugar in bread. Bread is nothing more than flour, yeast salt and water.
Tibbly
in reply to Tibblington
Good point.
I use malt extract, molasses, or stout.
They give the bread flavour & the sugars feed the yeast.
in reply to BadHare
What are molasses?
in reply to BadHare
What are molasses?
Putting sugar, molasses or stout into the bread creates a fancy bread for high days and holidays not for every day. Molasses is sugar and stout represents sugar; we don't need it nor does the yeast. If you are using ordinary dried yeast then you may need to wake it up with some vitamin C; the rapid or express powdered yeast has vitamin C already in it. By the way the salt is needed to kill the action of the yeast during the cooking process.
in reply to Tibblington
ok, thank you.
I only eat bread on high days & holidays, & only use fresh yeast. I rarely add anything with sugar or salt, unless it has additional nutritional value, as in molasses which is extremely tasty. The stout was used as I was baking a cake with it as a raising agent, & wanted the bread to prove quickly, which worked. It's also good for as a raising agent & flavour in soda bread, which has no yeast.
The heat of the oven kills yeast, which is a living organism, not the salt. If too much salt is used, it will kill the yeast in the same way salt will affect most microbial organisms, & it won't prove. An unrisen loaf is inedible, regardless of whether it's a high day or a miserable Monday. Adding a lot of oil for olive oil bread such as ciabatta, or a sweet bread such as brioche, has a dampening effect on the growth of yeast, hence needing a little more to make it rise into something nice & fluffy.
in reply to BadHare
You do know your stuff lol
Thanks for the information I will try to keep it in mind. Def gonna try baking again.
BadHare in reply to
My first job at 16 was as a baker, though I could bake before I started school.
I did a little microbiology & food science at uni, & find yeasts & food fermentation fascinating.
When you've cracked making your first loaf, try growing kefir. It's incredibly tasty & good for your gut health & nutrients. Like bread yeast, part of the fun is keeping it alive & happy, to keep making more. chriskresser.com/kefir-the-...
in reply to BadHare
So you are an expert, good stuff.
I make a sponge mix of liquid, yeast and honey with enough flour to create a porridge consistency. Leave it overnight then add salt oil and the rest of flour. Another rise in the bowl. Put into tins and 40 min rise then bake .
Great food
Dee
in reply to deejames
Excellent, thank you.
I now have a craving for a thick slice of fresh brown bread with French butter & a drizzle Greek honey.
in reply to BadHare
Sounds really nice, go have it then 
This is interesting. There is something called a 'preferment' which sounds a bit like this. I don't know too much about it...it's a kind of halfway to making sour dough but not quite the full monty!
The slower the yeast rises, the better quality the bread. Sourdough is healthier as the wild yeasts destroy whatever is in wheat that reduces iron absorption. I'll look up "preferment" & see if that's similar.
Lots of information on Google, it seems like Dee's honey method.
My friend's gran used to make a delicious yeast based "friendship" cake, a bit like a pineapple pandoro. It took several days for the cake batter to rise, before before being split into three. One part to bake, one to start the next cake, & one to give away.
Honey helps the yeast to work
It does, but it looses it's health benefits when heated.
in reply to BadHare
That is good to know.
Honey is sugar! If your yeast is lazy use vitamin C to wake it up. Eat honey as a treat don't put it in your bread.
I like honey in my bread. It tastes great
When in Devon, I bought some Dartmoor Heather Honey "made" by someone who kept his hives on the moors. I used that honey with a yeast starter. The honey was so strong that I could taste it in the bread and think that I was walking on the moors.
deejames in reply to
I use about 2tsp of honey for 2 loaves. Sometimes malt. Never sugar. Nearly all supermarket bread has sugar added.
Dee
Malt is sugar too. Tibbly
Supermarket bread also has enzymes and preservatives.
Not sure what you mean by supermarket bread having enzymes. Enzymes our naturally. In the digestive system for instance. Why woukd supermarkets add them to bread ?
Dee
It is part of the modern bread manufacturing process. It is known as the Chorleywood method. It reduces costs and the process makes a fluffier bread that lasts linger.
Enzymes, preservatives and emulsifiers are added to the flour before baking. See wddty.com/magazine/2015/sep....
Enzymes do not need to be declared as an ingredient on bread.
Glad I make my own then. Thanks for that information
So do I with organic stoneground wholegrain spelt flour. IMHO, spelt tastes better than wheat wholemeal.
I get motivated to bake bread when I need another loaf just by thinking how appalling supermarket bread is.
I do. A basic 'rustic' loaf. You can add grains as you wish. This is what I do...
1 1/2 cup warm water (110o) add in a large bowl with:
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
Stir together, then add flour:
2 1/2 to 3 cups (I use unbleached organic and sometimes add 1/2 cup irish oats)
and 1 tsp. salt
Use dough hooks or by hand, mix till it comes together, then turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead by hand until it comes to a smooth (not too tight) ball, a few minutes.
Place in a smaller oiled bowl, cover with plastic, place in warm place (I put in my off oven)
for a half hour or so.
Knead again, let rise again, 1/2 hour or so.
Pat down, and shape in long loaf, or cut in pieces and make rolls.
In a 375o oven, bake 30 - 35 minutes. Rolls could be 20 - 25 minutes.
Take out and put on a rack so the bottom dries as well. Enjoy.
We have baked all of our bread for the last 25 years and NEVER buy any. It is always 100% wholemeal and organic as it contains all the vitamins and minerals of the wheat; it is not special bread flour. We go that extra mile because we bought, at great expense 25 years ago, an electric stone mill so our flour is only about ten minutes old when we make the bread. Bread is nothing more than flour, yeast, salt and water; for every day, you don't need anything else. We use a recipe that you can find at: healthscams.org.uk/bake-you... We have a Kenwood Chef with a dough hook but you can equally well mix it by hand. No leaving to rise a second time so you have two handsome loaves fresh from the oven in just a little over an hour from start to finish.
I find bread making very theraputic, try it. Tibbly
in reply to Tibblington
I used to do it years ago and want to get back to it again.
Thank you for the reply it has definitely inspired me. ☺
Hi Jimtom,
There is a recipe here that looks delicious and healthy as well, I've not tried it yet, but it is for Brown Soda Bread, and was kindly posted originally by derrygeel (can't seem to tag derrygeel though - not sure why).
healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...
Zest
in reply to Zest
I love soda bread so I'll Def have a look, thank you Zest ☺
Half French rye flour & half Italian 00 flour, with lots of EV olive oil & Himalayan salt. The rye make it tasty, & the 00 keeps the texture light. Use extra yeast, as the oil & salt can slow down the yeast & make it hard to prove. I also bake it with fresh rosemary sprigs, which go pleasantly crispy, or halved cherry tomatoes, & grind a little more Himalayan salt on top before it goes in the oven.
Try using a little stout (20-30mls) or a spoon of malt extract or blackstrap molasses to activate your yeast & give the bread flavour. I think they also add B vitamins, & the molasses is high in iron. Other things to try adding are ascorbic acid powder (vit C) which speeds up the proving process if you're in a hurry.
A nice pizza base can be made with brown flour, rolled out with wheatgerm. Once risen, bake it for 5 minutes in a very hot oven, then add the sauce, cheese, & herbs, & bake again till cooked.
If you have any issues with anaemia, go for a sourdough as unlike "normal" bread which hinders iron absorption, the wild yeasts helps increase it.
in reply to BadHare
Excellent thank you very much.
That sounds interesting and tasty Leverette but would you go to all that trouble for your daily bread? Himalayan salt is good as it contains other minerals and dissolves easily. I use it sometimes.
Tibbly
I eat bread rarely, so want something good for the occasions I do, & there's probably only a few minutes difference between good & delicious. Why make something less so? Baking bread is meditative as patience & care is needed to do it properly!
in reply to BadHare
I don't eat it often either but I want it to be good when I do, want to make my own and choose what goes into it if I can.
Hi,
I started to bake my own bread after getting diagnosed.
I use spelt flour, spelt malt (make my own, it's very easy), yeast, salt and water. I experiment with adding things like flax seeds, garlic flakes, onion salt etc. We love the taste and that's not wheat. Not much kneading, set it up in the morning and eat it at night.
If you're interested in the recipes, let me know. Monika
in reply to Akino
I would be interested in some recipes thank you ☺
Akino in reply to
Spelt bread
2 cups spelt flour
1/3 cup spelt malt flour
2tsp salt (you can use less)
2 Fleischmann's Traditional active dry yeast (8 g each), or only one works both ways
1 1/2 cup (360 ml) warm water
mix it all together, cover and let sit for 5 hours somewhere warm
knead it a bit, not much, put it in your baking pan and let sit for another 2 hours (use some rye flour for dusting)
preheat oven to 390 (200 Celsius) and let it bake for 45-50 minutes, I use convection oven and take it out when I think it looks ready
It's not rising much, but the texture is airy and dense at the same time.
Spelt malt
Buy some spelt seed, put it on water over night, in the dark
drain it, keep it moist, not wet put it in the dark, redo this until you see little white sprouts are forming. It can take 3-4 days.
Put the sprouts on a baking sheet and dehydrate in you oven with low temperature till dry, grind it to powder.
Experiment with caraway, cumin, onion, garlic and the likes. Mix it under before you finish the dough.
Hope you'll succeed and like it, Monika
There is this great book one can order. The title is: The Rye Baker by Stanley Gibsberg. It has tons of background information and even more delicious recipes with rye flour, savory and sweet a from all over Europe. I just got it myself and want to try some of the recipes next. Have all a good day, Monika
Hi Hidden - just to say that I've not forgotten about our 'bake-off' plans - and I've been getting ingredients together to bake some bread - and hope to do so in the next three days! I'll hope to post a photo when I do it, plus the recipe I've chosen - and I hope to see your bake sometime soon as well - are you still on for doing that?
Zest
in reply to Zest
I have started, I am trying to make trail bread so I will try to send a photo when it is complete ☺
Yes, I'm heading out now to buy some ingredients so I'll let you know when I have baked something ☺
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