In search of bread worthy of my honey

[Chris B]

I'm totally fed up with the bread available locally. Even the "Best", "Finest" or whatever supermarket brands seem a bit bland. At the back of my mind I'm sure I've had fantastic bread sometime in the past. Maybe on holiday? I'm not sure.
I do remember having some gourmet bread delivered to the office when I worked in London about 20 years ago. £2 a loaf even then but it was worth it. Really dense stuff with a few raisins in I think. But possibly not a good match for the world's best honey?

So can anyone tell me where can I get a decent loaf for my honey? And if I can't buy one where can I get good ingredients to make it myself. I've got a breadmaker but I'm not hugely impressed - maybe just average ingredients?

 

[enrico]

Make your own using real yeast. Tesco give it out free from the baker bit! Dried yeast as you use in the bread maker makes the bread smell and taste yeasty. Use good flour, organic from waitrose, I have just eaten a slice of our freshly made bread with the second best honey in the world"....... Can't beat it!

 

[PBee]

Buttermilk soda bread - easy and quick to make if you have buttermilk on the big island !
Self raising white flour, wheatmeal flour, sunflower seeds, an egg or two, pinch of bread soda, enough buttermilk so that the mix is wettish and into the oven for around 25 minutes.
For the best honey I'm afraid you'll have to head over here to the mainland

 

[MuswellMetro]

I make mine in a breadmaker with Mapleduram watermill ground wholemeal flour, 10% gram flour for protein, butter, milk and yeast...a teaspoon of salt and a squeeze of lemon

for whitebread...i cheat and use waitrose white bread mix

 

[ultreen1]

The best bread is from the Algarve! Baked daily and is only good for the day you buy it!
Don't get me started on the orange blossom honey from here!
Sorry this doesn't help much unless ur in the Algarve!

 

[drstitson]

chris - couple of tips.

1. use breadmaker BUT only for mixing, kneading, first proving. then remove, knock back, shape and reprove in warm room.

2. use either a ferment or sourdough starter rather than bog standard yeast.


or for a quick easy loaf:


Soda Bread

Plain Flour (organic) 180g
Wholemeal Flour (organic) 180g
Salt 1 level teaspoon
Bicarb 1 heaped teaspoon
Light Demerara sugar (organic) 1.25 level teaspoons
Buttermilk 1 pot (285ml) plus 15ml water to rinse out

Preheat oven to 200C (fan). Grease baking parchment and place on enamel plate/baking sheet.

Warning: the less mixing the lighter the loaf!!!!!!

Sift flour, salt and soda into bowl (also tipping in the brown bits of flour) and add sugar
stir in buttermilk (rinse out pot with little water)
dough should be soft and firm, not sticky – add more flour if necessary. Knead in bowl for 30 secs until smooth, shape into a tall ball and place on baking sheet. Slash with sharp blade to give deep cross

Cook for 12 mins then turn and drop temp to 180C for 18-20 mins until base sounds hollow. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 mins.

 

[Chris B]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm getting geared up for a bake day on Saturday. I'll try a few attempts.

 

[Frisbee]

So can anyone tell me where can I get a decent loaf for my honey? And if I can't buy one where can I get good ingredients to make it myself. I've got a breadmaker but I'm not hugely impressed - maybe just average ingredients?

Breadmaking by hand is only slightly more difficult and time consuming than making in a machine.

Good basic bread needs few ingredients....flour, salt, yeast and water (and possibly a little sugar to encourage the yeast)

Use fresh yeast, available these days from supermarkets which have an in bakery.

Modern traditional in UK has used strong white flour, originally imported from Canada/USA, but these days with modern wheats is also grown in this country. Not necessary. Strong flours have a higher gluten content which absorbs more water and produces a higher rise....which looks like a bigger loaf so traders could sell the same amount of dough/loaf for more!
Use a good soft English flour. The flavour will be better and the dough slightly more dense. Use fresh yeast creamed with a little sugar. Use water as the mixer! Adding stuff inhibits the growth of the yeast, so adding fat of any sort does that, also sugar and excess salt and is not necessary. If you really want to you could add a dash of milk or milk powder.
Use 2lbs flour and 1 pint of liquid or thereabouts, knead till smooth, put into a large bowl and cover with greased cling. Leave all day if you want. When you are ready to go again, knock it back and shape into two loaves, cover with the cling again and leave to rise, don't allow it to over rise as the rise still continues in the oven. Bake in a brisk oven. Use quarry tiles on the bottom shelf to give bottom heat if you can (if you have a woodburner or Aga type oven this will be unnecessary)
Getting the liquid in the dough quantity right is critical. Too much liquid and the dough will spread rather than rise. Too little and the yeast will not be able to work. The dough should be kneadable without needing lots of extra flour to keep it off your fingers, but not overly stiff and unyielding.
The longer you can leave the dough to prove the better. Modern breadmaking in bakeries included yeast conditioners and high speed mixing which incorporates air into the dough....almost to the point of not needing yeast for it to rise. But yeast is necessary for flavour, so the longer you can leave it the better. Overnight in the fridge is good too. The dough may smell winey by then but that will go on baking.

Frisbee

 

[Teemore]

Come across here and get yourself a proper Soda Farl or a Wheaten Farl, fresh baked and get the honey onto it before it cools - nothing nicer! (Except maybe a bacon soda....i.e. 'sandwich' made from a Soda Farl and several rashers of bacon cooked the way you like it yum) I am suddenly feeling peckish......

As a small child, my cousins and i used to devour the fresh Weaten and Soda Farls my grandmother made every Saturday morning.... warm, just off the griddle, with proper butter and if you were lucky, some home made jam. Great feeding and great memories. She used to make a second batch later in the day once we were all fed and away home!

PS: Here we eat enough bread made using baking soda as the leavening agent to differentiate between types. Soda Bread is made from white flour only and Wheaten Bread is the one made from wholemeal flour! Some areas will refer to Brown and White Soda Breads.

 

[Poly Hive]

FWIW

Our bread maker is a Panasonic and it makes on average some 20 loaves a week.

One of our unique selling points is the bread.. and honey of course.

We use Tesco Strong Brown flour, 400 gms, one Vitamin C tablet, Tesco yeast, one sachet, one table spoon of milk powder, one table spoon of sugar, and a 12gms or so of marge and 300mls of water, and the results are excellent.

PH

 

[alanf]

We use Tesco Strong Brown flour, 400 gms, one Vitamin C tablet, Tesco yeast, one sachet, one table spoon of milk powder, one table spoon of sugar, and a 12gms or so of marge and 300mls of water, and the results are excellent.

No added salt?

 

[ma1308]

No home honey to try on any bread but we do make our own bread in a bread maker, Cinnamon & Raisin, Pumpkin and Poppy Seed, Italian Herb and a Plain White just to name a few. I would like just enough Honey to fill a few jars next year but if I only get enough to go on a slice of toast I would be happy.

 

[Headnavigator]

We have recently bought a book called 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' available on Ama#on. It is the scientific outcome of collaboration between a chemist and a pastry-chef. The bread is certainly different, effort-free and uses ordinary plain flour and packet dried yeast. You may also need a pizza stone to bake it on for optimum results, and a pizza peel to slide it onto the hot stone in the oven. Obviously you won't get an English 'loaf-shaped' loaf, but the results are delicious and well worthy of good butter and honey. More like a cross between the best crusty French bread and ciabatta, if you can imagine that. The book has many variants I haven't tried yet, boredom hasn't set in.
I'd recommend it.

 

[dpearce4]

try this recipe i have used it for years its wonderful.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-food/walnut-and-raisin-bread.html

or if you want to make a real sourdough bread it will take time but the recipe is here.

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/river-cottage-sourdough/

it takes a while but boy its worth it. my starter lives in the fridge and i take out 1 cup each week on a friday to make the bread then and half a cup of flour and half a cup of water to replace what i have taken then it goes back in the fridge.

 

[Poly Hive]

There is salt in the recipe but we have never added it.

PH

 

[PBee]

Modern breadmaking in bakeries included yeast conditioners and high speed mixing which incorporates air into the dough....almost to the point of not needing yeast for it to rise. Frisbee

And incorporates fats to stop it immediately collapsing. I think the fat lines the inside of the air bubbles giving mechanical support. Also lots of other bits and bobs - which is why after 5 days your bog standard loaf is still soft whilst your home made baguette can be used for self defence.

 

[Jimmy]

Chris

No Polish shops near you? They have the best sliced bread IMHO with the 'three flours' by the JCK bakery a particular favourite. Waitrose in Droitwich too far or no good?

Although this year I have been on a bread making binge inspired by Dan Lepard's minimal/no knead approach. A pullman loaf tin was also a key investment.

 

[Jimmy]

I like the idea of salt free but the bread seems to taste better with it. I find bread with no salt needs a savoury spread, whether it's salted butter or marmite, otherwise it's too bland.
There is an interesting article here http://www.rsc.org/images/BreadChemistry_tcm18-163980.pdf from the Royal Society of Chemistry about breadmaking that explains the role of salt (and other additives and methods).

300mls water to 400g (=75%)flour is quite a wet mix. I find just above 60% gives an easy to work dough, up to 70% is OK but increasingly sticky.

 

[fatshark]

I'm with DrS on this one ... prepare a sourdough dough in the breadmaker and then shape it by hand and cook it in a hot oven. If you want to be able to toast slices then use one of those silicone bread 'tins'. And, for perfect toast I'd recommend using a sourdough loaf that is at least 24 hours old. I prepare a loaf early Saturday for lunch and then use the remainder for Sunday and Monday mornings.

 

[Bungalow]

I invested in a Kenwood with a dough hook. Fabulous!

Get some good books and experiment!

I just love the whole process. But the best bit is the slathering of fresh honeycomb on a a crust

Let us know how you get on.