Bread. Do you make your own (any kind)

I make most of our bread (got a loaf on the rise right now) - usually white or wheat sandwich bread, but the occasional round country-style loaf as well.

Bread is dead easy. It's just a few ingredients, and it's one of the first things I learned how to bake, as a teen. It's almost foolproof. Almost.

Slicing - if using a bread knife, you're going to get ragged slices, nothing wrong with that. An electric knife, if you want slices that are cleaner/finer, does the trick. Rechargeable electric knives aren't too expensive, but I use a corded one my in-laws gave me that dates from 1962. Works a treat.

You'll get more accurate slices, I think, if you commit to it, go rather fast, a slice the loaf on its side.

Bakery bread is generally fine, but a small loaf of sandwich bread is $5US, and it's always pre-sliced, which dries it out faster.

Commercial breads, even the expensive ones, are way too gummy for me. The turn into sticky goop at the first bite, and they just don't toast well, and I love my toast!
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TastyReuben said:
I make most of our bread (got a loaf on the rise right now) - usually white or wheat sandwich bread, but the occasional round country-style loaf as well.

Bread is dead easy. It's just a few ingredients, and it's one of the first things I learned how to bake, as a teen. It's almost foolproof. Almost.

Slicing - if using a bread knife, you're going to get ragged slices, nothing wrong with that. An electric knife, if you want slices that are cleaner/finer, does the trick. Rechargeable electric knives aren't too expensive, but I use a corded one my in-laws gave me that dates from 1962. Works a treat.

You'll get more accurate slices, I think, if you commit to it, go rather fast, a slice the loaf on its side.

Bakery bread is generally fine, but a small loaf of sandwich bread is $5US, and it's always pre-sliced, which dries it out faster.

Commercial breads, even the expensive ones, are way too gummy for me. The turn into sticky goop at the first bite, and they just don't toast well, and I love my toast!
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Hey! Great to know you are a baker as well as a cook. You are right. Its dead easy - but many folk think its daunting. Its easier than making and baking pastry I think! How come you learned to bake it as a teen?
 
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^^^ I've always had a natural interest in making food, that about sums it up. Like a lot of people, I started out on mixes and boxed things and moved on from there. I'd watched my mom make bread and, truth be told, she wasn't a very good cook, though she did feed 10 people, and I knew it wasn't that hard.

Bread's in the oven now. I can make this in my sleep: water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt, and oil. That's it.

On the way into the oven:
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TastyReuben said:
^^^ I've always had a natural interest in making food, that about sums it up. Like a lot of people, I started out on mixes and boxed things and moved on from there. I'd watched my mom make bread and, truth be told, she wasn't a very good cook, though she did feed 10 people, and I knew it wasn't that hard.

Bread's in the oven now. I can make this in my sleep: water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt, and oil. That's it.

On the way into the oven:
View attachment 29745
Click to expand...

That's looking good! Beautifully risen.
 
Today's bread, a white buttermilk sandwich loaf. Trying a new recipe.

The flavor is fantastic, but oddly, it's a heavy-but-not-dense loaf. The recipe called for bread flour, which i usually don't use for sandwich bread, so I'll likely try this again with AP flour and see how that works.
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TastyReuben said:
Today's bread, a white buttermilk sandwich loaf. Trying a new recipe.

The flavor is fantastic, but oddly, it's a heavy-but-not-dense loaf. The recipe called for bread flour,
Click to expand...

So you use buttermilk instead of water to mix the dough? Re the flour, I'm surprised you don't normally use bread flour for sandwich bread. I've always thought that bread flour should always be used to make bread loaves because you need a high gluten content in the flour.
 
morning glory said:
So you use buttermilk instead of water to mix the dough? Re the flour, I'm surprised you don't normally use bread flour for sandwich bread. I've always thought that bread flour should always be used to make bread loaves because you need a high gluten content in the flour.
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I've never used bread flour either
 
morning glory said:
So you use buttermilk instead of water to mix the dough?
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Yes. The regular recipe calls for milk and there's a buttermilk variation, which I followed.

You'll see...the recipe is in the cook book you just ordered. :smug:

I use bread flour for some pizza doughs and I'll use it if I'm making more rustic style hearty breads. American sandwich bread is very light and soft (sometimes derisively referred to as marshmallow bread) and bread flour doesn't work as well, and it's also why we use milk here instead of water - makes a softer loaf.

The ultimate test for sandwich bread, for me, is as toast. I love toast, and I'm about to find out this morning if it passes the toast test.
 
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