Tuesday 24 January 2017

Recipe: home made bread

I've made bread.  Each gorgeous loaf costs me 10p because I am lucky enough to have a friend who can get me excellent quality strong flour greatly reduced.  Aldi/Lidl do great bread flour for 75p so your loaf will still be well under 20p.

So this week, I am using up odds and ends so my loaves are white, wholemeal and granary, all in one!  One is in the bread bin and the other has been sliced (10 slices, more or less, so 1p per slice) and frozen.  I might actually do the same with the one in the bread bin too.

Here's the recipe which can easily be doubled or more.  It makes one delicious, quality, frugal loaf 1lb loaf

Ingredients
250g strong flour, or mix your flours.  Granary and wholemeal is lovely
half tsp each of dried yeast (the breadmaker kind), salt and sugar
a sploosh of veg oil
water - if the loaf is white it is 63% water, going up to 70% for a wholemeal.

Method
Bung everything together, mix it all well, then tip it out and knead it for 10 mins or so.  Or cheat and use a food processor of some kind.  I do!

Leave in an oiled bowl, covered, until double in size.

Knock the dough back, shape and place in your loaf tin (or it can be free form).  Cover and allow to rise again until double in size (not necessarily double height though).
Preheat the oven as high as it will go.  Put the loaf in and turn the head down to 180 fan.
Bake for about half an hour.  It is done when it sounds hollow if you tap the bottom.
Cool on a rack and then bag up.


4 comments:

  1. DH and I think that "Bung everything together" is a brilliant technical term and so clear as to method.

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  2. LOL - oh, yes, I'm such a technical cook! < chuckles >
    J x

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  3. It would be good to practice the 'no sugar and salt added' habit. The trouble with bought food is that it contains both sugar and salt. There are healthier substitutes.

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  4. I could cut the sugar but not the salt but both have a purpose in bread making in that they are part of the chemical reaction. Also, half a tsp of each in a loaf is virtually nothing per slice and, probably a lot less than in a commercial loaf.
    Most importantly, unsalted bread is not nice! Tasteless and insipid IMHO, of course :-)
    J x

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