The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello from Leicester, United Kingdom

Pretzel's picture
Pretzel

Hello from Leicester, United Kingdom

Hello all. I've always wanted to be able to make specialist and creative bread. Over the many decades of my life, I've never really got around to it. I used to be a member of Dan Lepard's forum, but it seems to be gone now.

My home bread-making seems to have stretched only to using my Panasonic Breadmaker to make about two recipes, the standard 5-seeded bread, and a vegan-ised version of the fruited loaf. I also dump the Sainsbury's (uk supermarket) sundried tomato and herb bread mix into the Panasonic and hit the button, and greatly enjoy the result.

Out of a certain amount of frustration, I've just dumped the following ingredients into my breadmaker and hit the 'dough' settings. Mostly white flour, a proportion of rye flour (because I had some), standard amounts of olive oil, salt, and sugar, herbs, 100g onions, two tablespoons tomato puree, two crushed garlic gloves. Who knows what it's going to turn out like, but I just decided I wanted to do something, erm, different.

My plan is to make them into roll shapes, wet the tops, add mixed seeds, rise again, and bake with water in the oven.

Anyone got any quick advice for me, to prevent potential ignorance driven bready disaster? :)

tabasco's picture
tabasco

So happy to have you posting here, Pretzel! 

I (for one) always like to hear from others who are trying new ideas with their bread machines.  

And may I suggest you inquire on the Bread Machine Forum here on TFL for some ideas, too, and troubleshooting if you might want/need it.

As for other guidance, if you don't already have one, you might want to look on Amazon for a (used) cookbook specializing in bread machine recipes--I found a very nice one published in London for just a couple of pence and it had lots of good ideas for creative breads.  Once you get going, though, you'll no doubt be able to adapt almost any recipe you find in the popular bread books to machine making.  And then, who knows, maybe even hand kneading, or no-knead, or the  flap and fold, or whatever will catch your fancy?

There are several really excellent bakers who post here from the British Isles and you may find some excellent advice from them.

Please let us know how your latest creation comes out.   Cheers,  J.

 

Pretzel's picture
Pretzel

Thanks for the welcome. Unfortunately my bread didn't turn out too well. I couldn't make rolls as it turned out my dough was too liquid. And once cooked, it tastes a little like ... bread textured soup. I think I overdid the flavours.

I'm hoping to make pita bread next. That would be a really convenient thing to be able to cook.