The Bread and Baking Thread

😂😂😂 I’m doing some strange things lately give it another week. I’m gonna make my own pakora later I’ve got an Indian pal and his wife gave me her granny’s secret centuries old recipes so I’ll post it here later with some photos. that’s the secret fecket as soon as she told me🤪
 
Colinsmiff said:
Flour of any type is as rare as rocking horse s... at our local supermarkets. I have baked my own bread for years but suddenly everybody wants to do it and flour and yeast are hard to come by.
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Hi Colin and welcome to the bread-making thread. The local supermarkets hereabouts (Hertfordshire) are a bit hit and miss but I've seen more stock on the shelves recently. I also saw a lot more stock in the ethnic shops around Luton, some in very large bags. Could that be the case in your area? Do you have any millers in your area? We have a mill at Redbournbury but it's not cheap, even in non-pandemic times. I'm told that some bakers are rebagging flour for sale along side their own bread, though I don't visit bakers anymore so don't have first hand experience.
Finally, what type of bread do you bake? If you've been making bread for some time I may need to get your advice!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Finally had a go today at Susies Soda Bread. I have made bread before in the bread maker but this is my first hand job.
I used Susies recipe thinking that looks simple enough - can't bugger that up.
went for plain flour and Self raising flour mix and cobs rather than a loaf.
I think the kindest words are 'rustic looking'. I have followed Colin's lead and taken the photo's in a garden setting.
IMG_5570.jpeg

Now the result is a rather tough skin with a rubbery chewy inner, no after taste in fact not much taste at all. Although fresh warm bread is always welcome.

Can anyone advise what may have gone a bit wrong ?
.IMG_5571.jpeg

Paul.
 
paulhelenwilko said:
Finally had a go today at Susies Soda Bread. I have made bread before in the bread maker but this is my first hand job.
I used Susies recipe thinking that looks simple enough - can't bugger that up.
went for plain flour and Self raising flour mix and cobs rather than a loaf.
I think the kindest words are 'rustic looking'. I have followed Colin's lead and taken the photo's in a garden setting.
View attachment 53963

Now the result is a rather tough skin with a rubbery chewy inner, no after taste in fact not much taste at all. Although fresh warm bread is always welcome.

Can anyone advise what may have gone a bit wrong ?
.View attachment 53964

Paul.
Click to expand...

Susie says it’s very important to be precise with the buttermilk. Also let it rest for at least half an hour before cutting it. I can vouch that it’s yummy when it works.
 
Been a novice. It sounds like my first effort. And when I looked on line. It says about taking to long from bicarbonate of soda and mixing it to been put in the oven. Second time I was like a mad man leaving the bicarbonate of soda to the end and then getting that mixed into baking trays and into the oven. And I see nobody mentions all the washing and clearing up to do. And I'm sure someone is throwing the flour about but I haven't caught them yet. Ah well no baking today as striping wallpaper today.
 
Ah the buttermilk, the recipe says 270ml and the pot was 285ml so I poured it all in except for a little bit. So perhaps I need to be more careful. I was also a little tight with the salt. I'm trying to keep salt consumption to a minimum.

Paul
 
paulhelenwilko said:
Ah the buttermilk, the recipe says 270ml and the pot was 285ml so I poured it all in except for a little bit. So perhaps I need to be more careful. I was also a little tight with the salt. I'm trying to keep salt consumption to a minimum.

Paul
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Apparently that is probably the reason for failure. 270ml is crucial, and the salt is very important for flavour. Hope you give it another try.
 
Silver sprinter said:
Been a novice. It sounds like my first effort. And when I looked on line. It says about taking to long from bicarbonate of soda and mixing it to been put in the oven. Second time I was like a mad man leaving the bicarbonate of soda to the end and then getting that mixed into baking trays and into the oven. And I see nobody mentions all the washing and clearing up to do. And I'm sure someone is throwing the flour about but I haven't caught them yet. Ah well no baking today as striping wallpaper today.
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For what it's worth, Gerry, this is what I do to minimise debris around the kitchen and to get the soda bread ingredients from mixing to oven as quickly as possible:

1. All the dry ingredients (except the dried fruit and nuts, if used) get weighed or measured directly into a large plastic bowl and are thoroughly mixed together, principally to distribute the salt and bicarbonate of soda as evenly as possible.
2. The fruit and nuts are then added and mixed with the other dry ingredients.
3. The milk (non-dairy in my case) and the acid (currently white wine vinegar for me) get measured into a graduated small plastic jug and mixed together.
4. The 'milk' and acid mixture is then poured into the large plastic bowl containing all the dry ingredients and everything is mixed together with a table spoon until the ingredients look to be evenly distributed. This usually takes about 30 seconds to perhaps one minute maximum.
5. The mixture is spooned into a loaf tin pre-lined with non-stick baking paper and gently pressed down with the back of the spoon to roughly fill the corners of the tin. I roughen the surface of the mixture so that I get some crunchy brown bits on top of the loaf after baking.
6. Baking time!

As you can see, I don't dust with flour and don't put ingredients or the mixture on a work surface.
Washing up? A large plastic bowl, a small graduated jug and a spoon. The baking tin is protected by the baking paper. If you've got a non- stick loaf tin you probably don't need non-stick baking paper.

I hope this helps.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Certainly will, however need to restock the buttermilk and flour which is difficult to get hold of with online deliveries.
Also got to finish the bread I've already baked, this is going down a bit slow !

Paul
 
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Full Member said:
For what it's worth, Gerry, this is what I do to minimise debris around the kitchen and to get the soda bread ingredients from mixing to oven as quickly as possible:

1. All the dry ingredients (except the dried fruit and nuts, if used) get weighed or measured directly into a large plastic bowl and are thoroughly mixed together, principally to distribute the salt and bicarbonate of soda as evenly as possible.
2. The fruit and nuts are then added and mixed with the other dry ingredients.
3. The milk (non-dairy in my case) and the acid (currently white wine vinegar for me) get measured into a graduated small plastic jug and mixed together.
4. The 'milk' and acid mixture is then poured into the large plastic bowl containing all the dry ingredients and everything is mixed together with a table spoon until the ingredients look to be evenly distributed. This usually takes about 30 seconds to perhaps one minute maximum.
5. The mixture is spooned into a loaf tin pre-lined with non-stick baking paper and gently pressed down with the back of the spoon to roughly fill the corners of the tin. I roughen the surface of the mixture so that I get some crunchy brown bits on top of the loaf after baking.
6. Baking time!

As you can see, I don't dust with flour and don't put ingredients or the mixture on a work surface.
Washing up? A large plastic bowl, a small graduated jug and a spoon. The baking tin is protected by the baking paper. If you've got a non- stick loaf tin you probably don't need non-stick baking paper.

I hope this helps.

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
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Thanks Colin much appreciated 👍
 
I thought that today I'd make a start on getting to grips with my date and walnut loaf problem and at the same time attempt a culinary experiment.
I really like the combination of dried fruit in soda bread without any added sugar. So last evening I added 200g of sultanas to 400ml of coconut milk and left the mixture overnight in the 'fridge for the sultanas to absorb some of the water in the coconut milk and plump up. This also concentrated the coconut milk and made it both a lot thicker and stronger flavoured.
This morning I strained off the thickened coconut milk and made it back up to 300ml with more coconut milk from the carton.
I then made a sultana loaf using Jagmanx's basic recipe (post #28) as modified by Greggbear (post #67) with the sultanas replacing the dates and walnuts. I used the mixing method I described in post# 133. The result looks thus:

IMG_20200415_100442.jpg

It's moist and the taste is very much to my liking!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Full Member said:
I thought that today I'd make a start on getting to grips with my date and walnut loaf problem and at the same time attempt a culinary experiment.
I really like the combination of dried fruit in soda bread without any added sugar. So last evening I added 200g of sultanas to 400ml of coconut milk and left the mixture overnight in the 'fridge for the sultanas to absorb some of the water in the coconut milk and plump up. This also concentrated the coconut milk and made it both a lot thicker and stronger flavoured.
This morning I strained off the thickened coconut milk and made it back up to 300ml with more coconut milk from the carton.
I then made a sultana loaf using Jagmanx's basic recipe (post #28) as modified by Greggbear (post #67) with the sultanas replacing the dates and walnuts. I used the mixing method I described in post# 133. The result looks thus:

View attachment 54089

It's moist and the taste is very much to my liking!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Click to expand...
Looks lovely. 😋
 
I've taken the plunge and made a savoury soda loaf:

IMG_20200417_091016.jpg

I've incorporated a tablespoon of dried Italian style herbs and a teaspoon of chipotle chilli flakes in it and also used slightly more coconut milk to make a more moist loaf (360ml of coconut milk instead of 300ml). It suits my taste very well indeed!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Full Member said:
I've taken the plunge and made a savoury soda loaf:

View attachment 54109

I've incorporated a tablespoon of dried Italian style herbs and a teaspoon of chipotle chilli flakes in it and also used slightly more coconut milk to make a more moist loaf (360ml of coconut milk instead of 300ml). It suits my taste very well indeed!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
Click to expand...
Looks good Colin can you taste the coconut milk. As I'm not sure about the taste
 
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