Bread bread bread

We make all our own bread and bread products.  We have done for about 6 months now, only resorting to shop bought in emergency situations (like when I get signed up as an impromptu birth partner).  A new friend asked me today how I organise myself enough to bake our own bread.  So I thought I would share my (somewhat variable) routine.

I bake when I need to.  Depending on factors such as whether we've had visitors or whether we're in a toast or cereal for breakfast faze, this varies from every second day to a couple of times a week.  I choose to bake a good quantity and freeze some as it saves time and electricity.

On baking days,  I start my bread in the morning, usually after a cuppa and breaky.  I start my bread in the bread maker, throwing in all of the following ingredients in order:

• 600ml warm water (leftover in the kettle)
• 2 flat dessertspoons dry yeast (i buy big containers and keep them in the freezer)
• 4 heaped dessertspoons sugar
• 4 rounded dessertspoons milk powder
• 2 flat dessertspoons bread improver
• 2 flat dessertspoons of salt
• 4 dessertspoons of vegetable oil
• And a 1kg bag of plain flour.

All the basic ingredients (which I keep a good supply of always) go into my (thrifted - yay!) breadmaker.

Now before I go on, I want to defend explain some if my choices.  The big one is the plain flour.  No, I don't use bread flour.  I have tried it, and the bread I made using it was, at best, as good as my plain flour loaves.  We found it didn't last as long, and it ended up more expensive.  Go for it with your '00' or strong or bread flour if you like, I choose good old plain flour.  I also choose to use bread improver.  I've tried without and found it makes a profound and worthwhile improvement (that would be why they call it 'improver' I guess).  The only trouble is that the bread improver I like is (as far as I'm aware) only available at the supermarket I don't shop at, so requires the odd special trip and the yeast I like is only available at the other supermarket - why?  just to annoy me I think.  The oil - I used to follow Rhonda's recipe which called for butter or margarine. I find that unless really soft the butter doesn't mix in well, and I no longer buy margarine, so I use a simple vegetable oil - olive oil if I'm feeling fancy.  Use my recipe if you like, or follow your own, but mine is much loved by my family and highly praised by outsiders, so I'm sticking to it.

Ok, back to the bread.  I switch the breadmaker to the dough cycle, press start, help it with the initial stir (i cook twice as much as the breadmaker is expected to and if I don't help here, it doesn't work) and then go do something else for an hour.

When I come back, the breadmaker is still working.  I use this time to make a cake batter or some biscuit dough and put it/them in/on appropriate trays.

The breadmaker then chimes to tell me its done.  I turn  on the oven to 180c before I get the dough out.  The dough is usually quite wet, so I add enough extra flour as I knead it for a good 5min to make the dough a good consistency. 

A big blob of dough, straight out of the bread maker.

By this time, the oven is hot, so I pop in the biccies or cake (these don't make the bread better by the way, but the routine works and saves oven running power).  I cut the kneaded dough in half and prepare it as needed. 

2 balls of well kneaded dough - you know it is ready when a finger indent 'bounces' back quickly.

• It can be rolled in some flour and baked in good tins to make lovely, square, white sandwich loaves.  It can have a multigrain mix kneaded in well and then shaped to make multigrain bread. 
• It can have a couple of dessertspoons of brown sugar, a tsp or two of cinnamon and about 1/2 cup of soaked dried fruit kneaded in to make a spicy fruit loaf. 
• It can be shaped into rolls - round, knot or long (I get 12 from half of the dough) and then sprinkled with sesame seeds or flour. 
• It can make a freeform vienna or cob style loaf, slashed with scissors and brushed with egg white to give a crusty top. 
• It can be used for pizza bases.
• Or it can form something more creative such as cheese and bacon scrolls or a cheese and chives pullapart. 
• The options are pretty endless - use your imagination.

Once the shaping is done and the bread is in/on lightly floured trays, I put the trays into the grill compartment of my stove, which is deliciously warm from the oven.

I check the biccies/ cake and make a cuppa, the bread needs to rise for about half an hour.
After about 25min, the oven is cranked up to 220c.  Once it reaches temperature, in goes the bread.  After 10min, I turn the oven down to 180c again and turn the trays.  The bread will cook in 20-35min total, depending on its shape.

Then I'm done! The bread cools on racks and is then tasted (of course!) and stored in the bread box or freezer.  By starting early in the morning, it is ready for lunch - hot and delicious.

Not bad for a couple of hours work - 12 rolls, a delicious cheese and chive pullapart, 12 choc chip muffins and a batch of Currant Spice biscuits.  YUM!

I always wanted to bake bread, but until this year, never had a lot of luck with it.  This recipe is my adaption of other recipes/procedures, and it works really well for me.  It produces yummy bread, but also really practical bread they keeps well, cuts easily for toast or sandwiches and makes great rolls for lunch.  Best yet, my kids occasionally get a piece of shop bread somewhere else and then tell me my bread is sooooo much better. :D

Do you bake bread? Just sometimes or all the time? Tell me about your routine, or let me know if you try mine out.  And one day soon, I will share the other bread recipes I use for soft flour tortillas and naan.  mmmmm..... time for lunch I think :)