Can anyone make bread?

[Zeltronica]

I suck at bread.

I bought this book called 'the bread bible' this lady also wrote the 'cake bible' which have pretty good recipes in them, so I assume it's just me??

I have tried to make ciabatta, focaccia, plain white bread, rye bread, sour dough by making a starter.. it always always comes out too heavy, gluggy and nothing like bread in shops.

So how do I make bread lighter?

I have also tried adding vital wheat gluten, using anchor brand bread flour which is higher protein/higher gluten and supposed to make a lighter bread.. it makes an amazing pizza dough, but can't seem to make good bread for sandwhiches/toast.

Anyone have a good recipe? or tips?
I'm quietly obsessing that I can't cook something.

Oh I don't have a breadmaker, I knead by hand.

[chellegoth]

I have a bread maker and a bread pan. i have made a few loaves, some have worked, some haven't. I find the hard part is the yeast. If the liquid you are adding is not the right temperature, it can affect the quality. Mine isn't light and fluffy like the bread in shops either but they have industrial mixers which is the real difference. Making it by hand is always going to be heavier.

[jag5000]

I'm a bit obsessed by making great bread too :o I've got it ok I think, but still not amazing! I make a mean scroll/pinwheel tho :D

silly question, but you are letting it rise for long enough yeah? like after the first knead and after shaping too? So yeah.. sorry.. no real tips, but I share your pain! :crying:

(btw.. I SUCK at sourdough! I wish I could make it!)

[Zeltronica]

I guess thats a good point.

this lady has pictures of bread and she's a purist and only kneads by hand or uses a kitchenaid to knead really wet doughs like ciabatta so I figure I'm just not kneading enough. to be honest I don't even know if I'm kneading properly..

I just want to make the breads I eat myself so I know what's going in it. Oh to be able to make dark rye bread, olive sourdough and raisin toast..

I have started another sourdough starter, it's yeast free - just flour, water and salt and you grow 'wild yeast' and use the sourdough starter as the yeast in the bread dough.

I figure I didn't do it right in the past as I was too busy and you need to 'feed it' water and flour every 24 hours for the first few weeks until it's established and then apparently you keep it in the fridge and just 'feed' it once a fortnight.

I was talking to a lady that makes the best sourdough in balmain, she has used the same starter in her bread for 10 years, refreshing once a week.. amazing.

[jag5000]

OMG.. the best sourdoughs are I have ever had always use a really old starter. I remember having some sourdough in San Francisco make using a starter over 100 years old.. sooo good!

I've always used something like a few grapes in my starter (just for the first day or 2) to collect the wild yeasts.

[JohnC]

I got pretty good at bread when I was at uni, but by doing a lot of it. I ended up doing 4-loaf batches twice a week, but it was a large student household :)

Bread is like pastry, you only get good at it by doing it. My advice would be use a simple loaf recipe and as you make loaves try to get a feeling for the dough and how it affects the final result.

Adding gluten, correct temperature, punching down twice and learning to enjoy the pleasures of kneading were all things that worked for me.

Once you can consistently produce a pleasing loaf, branch out into the more exotic :chef:

[Nex]

I find if I'm doing loaves by hand I tend to be too lazy to knead for long enough. Also they warmth of the dough during the rising stages is crucial to getting a light loaf.

I found I had to put a timer on to make sure I got enough kneading in.

As the weather cools down try using warm water and maybe prove your bread in the oven turned ultra low with the door ajar.

The other alternative is to buy a breadmachine to do the kneading and proving, then hand shape and cook in the oven.

[Zeltronica]

Hm I think you're right.. it's just too cold for the amount of yeast I'm using. I have found some awesome recipes like one for stickybuns that you can proof in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning that came out amazing! Apparently, you can use this for any loaf of bread just leave in the fridge for 12 hours or more.. am going to try that..

Anyway a lot of artisan bread makers say bread is a scientific formula not a recipe and best results come from really getting your ratio's right, rather than just using cups etc. Also apparently and this is the biggest factor - flour in australia is not the same as commercial flour in that they heat treat it/ other other treatments that flour you buy from the supermarket does not have.. and most of the supermarkets have too low a protein to develope a good gluten structure which comes from a high protein (11 - 13%) as aposed to the normal flour which is around %

The sourdough, although not quite established (5 day old refreshed 3 times) I've been using the remainder (you take half out and either throw it away or use it for a loaf, and add more flour and water and salt to the rest and leave it out)

I am still weirded out by not using any yeast
, but I think as sourdough is not soft and fluffy wonderwhite style, the hand kneading is working, anyway I put olives through the last and it was so delicious, it's starting to develop an awesome sour taste.

Oh and I'm thinking with getting a ciabatta right it will just be practise john, although it feels somewhat zen like, putting all of this effort to achieve essentially what is 'empty space' i.e the holes in a ciabatta.

ok just basically wrote an essay on my findings on bread...hah..