Bread makers and my own bread making

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Some while back I bought a Bread Maker, aka Bread Machine, at Lidl, a German discount store in Britain, for less than £30 (I know, very cheap indeed even when translated into US$ reading about $45) and it has been in regular use ever since making about two loaves a week. And this is at least for a year now, if not longer even.

In fact, I had been so taken with that particular kind of bread machine that, when Lidl had them again a couple of months later, I actually bought another one, as a back-up, so to speak.

As I like to use rather heavy flours in the baking, such as wholemeal, multi-grain, and rye, the baking of bread in the machine, while having otherwise good results always led to caved-in tops of the loaves. This is due to the fact that in the machine there is no heat applied to the tops.

I was not all that keen on that – well, now, after all this time – and have now (no! Stop fretting! I have not stopped using the bread machine) changed my use of the bread machine.

Now I use the machine to do the heavy work of kneading, thus saving me time, and the proving, and when if has finished, after an hour and a half, with all the kneading a rising cycles, I transfer the dough into a heavy bread pan, let it sit for another 30 minutes or so to rise again, and then bake it in the oven for about an hour and a quarter

Result: No more caved-in tops; just great (tasting) bread.

The reason for the caved-in tops is that my bread maker has a long tin, horizontally, unlike many other machines that have their tins, sort of, vertically set into the machine. This means that in the case of my bread maker is that the bread does not get heat from the top, as said, and hence the tops fall in in the middle.

Well, problem solved. Though, I have to say, it is a little more work.

© 2012

Swap wholewheat bread for white bread

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The year 2010 was the first year that Americans have spent more on wholewheat bread than they have on processed white bread. About time too. I have no records of how things are in Britain but the Real Bread Campaign, as far as I know, is rather busy.

If anything to go by watching the bread isles of the supermarkets and people's shopping carts the great majority of bread is still white sponge garbage that, for some unknown reason, is referred to as bread.

On the other hand, the sales of bread flour is going rather well, from what I have seen, and thus one could surmise that home baking of real bread is going on in many homes.

Get on this bandwagon to reap the benefits of more fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Just make sure that any “wholegrain” product has “wholewheat flour” listed as its first ingredient and, as always, be mindful of added sugars and preservatives in the ingredients list. Also, beware of flour enhancers, thus named, in store bought wholewheat bread. Flour enhancer is an additive to make it last longer, etc. You don't need it, especially not when you make your own.

One fun way to add more whole wheat to your diet – and save some cash – is by making your own bread at home.

If you don't want to spend time kneading the dough, and al that, get a bread makers, a bread machine. The bread it nearly as good as oven baked and it also does last at least a week when being used; not that it will ever last that long.

Many years ago I used to make bread at home the old-fashioned way by kneading the dough by hand, letting it rise, kneading it again, etc., and, because of lack of time, I went to buying, though still wholemeal and wholegrain bread from bakeries and from the bakery sections in supermarkets.

The I decided, because it was rather cheap, to get a bread maker, a bread machine, from Lidl here in the UK when they had it on offer for less than the equivalent of $45 and it was a big tin machine. As far as I am concerned this was the best investment I have ever made, or at least one of the best.

The machine is in use at least twice during the week with me and the bread, after a little trial and error, is great and I would dread to have to go back to store-bought bread, even if it were wholegrain or multi-grain bread.

Once you try it, you too will never want to go back to store-bought breads – and your whole house will smell delicious during the process, and not just when the baking happens.

Go on, make the switch to real bread, you won't regret it.

© 2011