Making your own bread really is easy
Sourdough is particularly popular and I do love the taste especially when toasted. However sourdough does involve a certain amount of work. looking after the starter is a bit like having a pet.
However if you just want to get started then the ingredients are really easy and that's the point. Good bread shouldn't be full of 'stuff' to keep it fresh and the other main component is involves no effort, because it is time. Modern industrial bread techniques are able in some cases to make bread from start to finish in an hour.
Sometimes I make bread completely by hand, but usually I use my bread maker. You can either make the whole loaf from scratch as the wholemeal shown above or use the machine to make the dough and then finish the bread in the oven. I will admit the latter tends to give a better crust. The trick to baking in the oven is to put a container of water in the bottom of the oven so the bread steams as it bakes and that gives you the crust you are after.
So how to make bread using a bread maker. I have a Panasonic bread maker which has worked without fail for ten years. So although an investment for me it has paid off. This is my fairly full-proof method.
Toasted for breakfast below was delicious for breakfast.
- 500g flour (I used wholemeal only in the above recipe)
- 325ml of water
- sachet of yeast
- a table spoon of honey (optional but makes the wholemeal only bread rise better)
- handful of sunflower seeds
- I don't use salt but you can use a pinch if you want
So its this easy pour the yeast in the bottom of the bread-maker, add the flour, add the water, add the honey. Select the wholemeal setting and press the button. 5 hrs later you have a loaf of home-made additive free delicious bread.
This is the basic loaf and from here just experiment and have fun.
For more information and ideas check out the website for the campaign for real bread.
