Ever made bread?

[UglyCasanova]

This is the recipe I made. Very simple white bread. Next time I want to do some kind of honey wheat or something.

Anywho, it turned out really good. The entire kitchen smelled wonderful all night. Very bready. Any of you ever made bread and have recipes? I don't have a bread machine, but I do have one of those big KitchenAid stand mixers with the hook attachment so that came in handy.

 

[Crono]

I've used the bread recipe here (one in Hot Deals, I think it was), as well as other recipes. Only think I don't like about fresh bread is I always eat too much and get heartburn, lol (must be all the CO2). Fresh white or whole wheat with freshly whipped butter is so good. I have a bread maker, but I find oven baking to be less hassle, actually.

 

[OCGuy]

I pinched a loaf this morning.

 

[cheezy321]

Are you talking about Yeast Infections?

 

[nakedfrog]

I've made ciabatta a few times. I remember making bread sometime when I was a kid, too, but those are just fuzzy memories.

 

[Porter21]

Bread machines are very nice to have. We used to have one when I was little and the bread tasted great.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: OCguy
I pinched a loaf this morning.

Hmm....Brown bread is so good.

 

[notposting]

I've been making our bread this summer...we have a bread machine, but I just use it for the dough and then cook in the oven in a regular breadpan. And some French bread too. Pumpernickel and Cinammon Raisin bread is next.

 

[hanoverphist]

i used to make cheese biscuits with bisquick and cheddar. nummy stuffz.

 

[mundane]

I made some baguettes yesterday, they went over well.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
i used to make cheese biscuits with bisquick and cheddar. nummy stuffz.

Worked at Red Lobster for 2 years so my stomach won't allow me to ever eat another cheese biscuit again.

 

[zoiks]

The reason I don't have one is that I'll get fat quick. Carbs.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist
i used to make cheese biscuits with bisquick and cheddar. nummy stuffz.

not bread, biscuit.

i make bread from time to time, more often i make my own pizza dough. made some sunday and it was great.

i like baguettes, brioche and challah as well. focaccia sometimes (which is...basically pizza dough, more or less). stand mixers ftw.

theres a couple things you can do to enhance the flavor. for one, instead of letting it rise in a warm place for an hour...let it sit in the fridge for 4 - 8, *then* portion it out, let it come to room temp again and form it in the loaf and give it an hour to rest and rise. turn the oven on in time to be ready when an hour is up.

or you can do the sponge method. some recipes include this, but if not, you basically mix your wet ingredients,add your yeast and sugar, and 1/3 - 1/2 the flourand mix together. DONT ADD THE SALT NOW. the salt stunts the yeast growth, we add that after the sponge has an hour on the counter or a couple hours in the fridge, and then you add the rest of the flour and knead as instructed.

either of those should produce a but more flavor for your bread, and the extra time needed is well worth it.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: zoiks
The reason I don't have one is that I'll get fat quick. Carbs.

I'd imagine it wouldn't be super difficult to make low-carb bread with soy flour or something.

I use it to make my low-carb/low-cal muffins.

 

[sonambulo]

Yesssssssss. Not so much now because I have a shitty gas oven at my place (great for cooking, not so much for baking) but I used to live near the King Arthur headquarters and learned a lot at their seminars. Good bread is good.

Best advice? Learn to let the dough rise and relax. Rest periods make for such a nice crumb.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: zoiks
The reason I don't have one is that I'll get fat quick. Carbs.

this is why my bread machine got "yard saled". i also have a couple family bread/ roll recipes that are friggin delicious but i havent made them for years.


and i still consider biscuits as bread, just like pizza dough is. i used to make dough for a small pizza place i worked at as a youngin, wish i could remember where i put that recipe.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: zoiks
The reason I don't have one is that I'll get fat quick. Carbs.

I'd imagine it wouldn't be super difficult to make low-carb bread with soy flour or something.

I use it to make my low-carb/low-cal muffins.

ugh, carbs are my biggest setback, too. i dont make bread *too* often, but pretty much any time i bake (bread, cookies, muffins, biscuits, whatever) its when i know ill have people to share it with, and 8 times out of 10 i add a fair part of whole wheat flour in place of the AP if i think the final product will be ok.

ive done the just making bread for me thing...i devour it. fresh bread right out of the oven is *so* good and i find it irresistable

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: hanoverphist

Originally posted by: zoiks
The reason I don't have one is that I'll get fat quick. Carbs.

this is why my bread machine got "yard saled". i also have a couple family bread/ roll recipes that are friggin delicious but i havent made them for years.


and i still consider biscuits as bread, just like pizza dough is. i used to make dough for a small pizza place i worked at as a youngin, wish i could remember where i put that recipe.

pizza dough is so easy

1 Tbl yeast
1 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl salt
1 1/4C water (i get filtered out of the fridge and nuke it for 1 minute)

add these together in your mixing bow ( i use a stand mixer, never used a bread machine)

then I add something like....3 - 3 1/2 C AP flour, or bread flour (usually i do like 1 - 1 1/2C wheat flour and the rest bread or AP). depends, and you need some experience to figure it out, but i add 2C first, start mixing and add more 1/4 - 1/2C at a time until you get a solid, only slightly sticky mass. knead with a dough hook for ~10 minutes.

see directions in my earlier post for what to do after that. you can use it in an hour, but it wont have much flavor and the extra rise time makes a huge difference.

and i luv some biscuits.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Spend the bucks for a decent bread machine.

That way, you can wake up in the morning to fresh bread smells through the house.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Spend the bucks for a decent bread machine.

That way, you can wake up in the morning to fresh bread smells through the house.

Uggg... I hate bread machine bread. When I had an oven I used to make french bread almost every other day. MMMmmmmm...

 

[Pliablemoose]

I haven't bought bread in years, I make my own, it tastes better and it's cheap.

Bread machine FTW... And if you're watching your carbs, just slice it thin or eat less of it.

 

[sonambulo]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Spend the bucks for a decent bread machine.

That way, you can wake up in the morning to fresh bread smells through the house.

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. A bread machine is better than shelf bread or dough in a can but it is a far cry from a fresh loaf made with a good starter sponge and allowed to ferment properly.

A bread machine is a pretty hefty investment for a tool that can only do one job especially in light of the fact that the OP already has a KitchenAid with the dough hook. IMO the KitchenAid is probably the single best tool in a bread baker's arsenal. I just feel that the extra work to make the bread by hand is worth the payoff.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: sonambulo

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
Spend the bucks for a decent bread machine.

That way, you can wake up in the morning to fresh bread smells through the house.

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. A bread machine is better than shelf bread or dough in a can but it is a far cry from a fresh loaf made with a good starter sponge and allowed to ferment properly.

A bread machine is a pretty hefty investment for a tool that can only do one job especially in light of the fact that the OP already has a KitchenAid with the dough hook. IMO the KitchenAid is probably the single best tool in a bread baker's arsenal. I just feel that the extra work to make the bread by hand is worth the payoff.

Yes! I broke down and bought a stand mixer for baking bread. It makes the process much easier and you are not limited by the cookie cutter production of a bread machine.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The key benefit is the fact that you have the fresh bread in the AM. By hand, after being mixed, you have to let is rise and then bake.

Difficult to do that when sleeping.

Our machine is used to make fresh butter also, which then goes on the bread slices