Recipe Review - Basic Bread, Everyday Cooking

[Marilyn]

Recipe Name:  Basic Bread
Book Name:  Everyday Cooking
Tweaking details:
100g buckwheat
310g lukewarm water
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
420g bread flour
20g olive oil
I make two batches, one after the other, for my two bread tins.  Prove the first time wrapped in my Thermomat until doubled in size (takes a while - it's cold in our kitchen!) then into the tins, brush tops with water, and into the cold oven with just the oven light on.  Leave to rise again for maybe half an hour  or basically just until the dough has filled out the bottom of the tin.  Turn oven on to 200C and bake for about 35 minutes I think, or until they sound hollow.
Review:  Warning:  I don't like my bread fluffy.  So if you do, you should ignore my suggestions!  This doesn't make a super tall loaf, but respectable.  I love it.  It makes absolutely superb toast!
Score: (out of 5*) 5

[Marilyn]

Oops, I forgot to say I'm sorry if I should have added this to another thread rather than starting a new one.  I read a few about bread but couldn't decide where to put it!

[achookwoman]

Marilyn,   this looks like a very nice loaf.   Does the Buckwheat give it any particular taste?....   I have been heating my oven to 70 and then turning it off.  I then put the TMX bowl in the oven.   I find that it proves faster and I get a good loaf.

[Marilyn]

achookwoman, I don't know that the buckwheat has a particular taste (that I can identify, anyway) - but the bread doesn't taste like white bread!  I may try your proving method too - thanks.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks for the recipe.  I generally like my bread with some substance and have it mainly as toast.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Marilyn,   this looks like a very nice loaf.   Does the Buckwheat give it any particular taste?.... 

Buckwheat is a tricky flavour to describe.  Kind of earthy. Perhaps a teeny bit like besan flour??  My boys can taste it in things and don't appreciate it at all.

[judydawn]

This is a copy of details Wiz (not) sent to me in regard to the Basic Bread in the EDC and how she changed the recipe to be a winner for her. Thanks for sharing it with us Leni.

"I found that my rolls weren't so hot and my experience has been that the loaves (I don't use a bread tin) are always somewhat heavier than, say, Bakers Delight bread.  They are, however, the tastiest, most satisfying bread and I don't eat shop made bread any more.  I just whip out the TM and off I go.
Here, in case it is of any use to anyone else, are the refinements I have developed along the way.
I use the basic recipe in the Everyday Cookbook, which is just for plain white bread rolls.
I started just using 520g white flour instead of adding the grains, which don't really appeal to me.
Then I started doing this:
420g white flour as per the recipe (I use Laucke because it is local to me) plus
100g of Chia seed.  Sometimes I use the whole seed; sometimes I grind all of it up.  Lately, I have been grinding up about 50g and using the other 50g whole.  Chia seed is somewhat expensive, but it is excellent in nutritional terms and it isn't hard so if any family member has false or sensitive teeth it is easy to eat.
Then I also chuck in a handful of sesame seeds.  I do this because I am too lazy to use an egg for the purpose of making the seeds stick to the outside, but I want the flavour of them.
Then I also chuck in a handful of oat bran.  Coles oat bran is about $1.60 a packet - cheap.  That puts fibre in without buying expensive flour.
I don't increase the water, oil or anything else - it all gets absorbed just fine.  Sometimes I use a tad more dry yeast, but that's accidental really.
I also now do double rising.  At first I just stuck to the recipe, but the loaves are quite small even though they weigh 700g.  I wanted bigger slices (bigger surface area) for sandwiches.  I have improved that a bit by this means - 2mins kneading mixing in the TM, followed by wrapping in my silpat mat for about 40 mins, then banging it about and stretching it and doing that in the mat again.
It doesn't make a huge difference, but it does make a sufficient difference to be worthwhile.
I'm off and running with this one......!

PS to my last message:

I rang Laucke and asked them why olive oil was sometimes added to bread.  The answer was that it helps it to last longer.  As simple as that, it seems."

[FeeBee]

Dear Judy,

Do you you plain white flour with the oat bran added to it, rather than bakers flour? I was wondering about that because baker's flour is quite expensive.

Thanks
Fi

[judydawn]

Sorry FeeBee, the above details are a copy of what one of our members pm'd me and I thought I would share it with the forum.
I only use bakers flour, nothing special goes on with bread in this house I don't find it too expensive if you buy the 5kg bag, it lasts me quite a while. I know Uni uses plain flour and has success with that but I haven't tried it myself.

[achookwoman]

FeeBee,  thought i would stick my nose in here. The most expensive Bakers/Bread flour only cost a little more than $1 to make a loaf or 8 large rolls. An equal sized roll from Bakers Delight will cost 60/65 cents,  Not expensive when you also consider that you know exactly what goes into it.
The EDC recipe is good.  The problem is with the process.  It needs 2 risings and baking in a hot oven.  As wiz(not) has discovered.
You can easily add, (replace) up to 100g of what ever you fancy in the mix.
Hope this helps.

[judydawn]

Thanks bread lady, I was hoping you would come on and answer FeeBee's question.

[achookwoman]

Thanks bread lady, I was hoping you would come on and answer FeeBee's question.

That's OK Judy.  You seem to be doing pretty well without me.

[FeeBee]

Dear Chookwoman & others,

Please tell me, what do you do between the two risings? i.e., you let it rise once, then what do you do next? Do you knead it a bit more or punch it (as I've seen bakers do) and then let it rise again? Do you knead it again before putting it into the oven?

I think this is a crucial part of the process but I'm not sure what to do.

Many thanks
Fee

[judydawn]

Fee Bee, have a look at Chookies easy No Fuss Rolls/loaf recipe here.  It is self explanatory re rising procedures.

[AussieMum2Boys]

I made this today. First time ever making bread and ohmigah... AMAZING!!! the skeptical hubs has been taking slices from it all night. What a fabulously simple recipe!
I did do one tweak. Didnt have baking powder so just added a tsp of bicarb soda.