Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

[PanBiker]

Looks good Kev, I will give that one try, thanks for posting the recipe.

[Big Kev]

Looks good Kev, I will give that one try, thanks for posting the recipe.

No worries Ian. The only tips are when adding yeast and salt, to the flour, mix them in separately either side of the bowl first so you don't upset the yeast. Also make the dough very slack, it almost poured from the bowl to the tray.

ps - I've added some extra bits to the recipe about oil and water on top.

[PanBiker]

Thanks Kev, I always separate my yeast from salt if the mix requires it. My Chia and Sunflower seed loaves that I make has quite a bit of oil in. The moisture content is also water, butter and milk plus the Chia which goes in the water first so that it swells.

[PanBiker]

Having a go a the focaccia recipe that Kev put up, just waiting for the first rise.

[Big Kev]

Having a go a the focaccia recipe that Kev put up, just waiting for the first rise.

How did it go Ian?

[PanBiker]

Fine thanks Kev although my deep tray wasn't quite big enough. A bit of overhang after the second rise. I should have split it into two. Nice bit of crust though. Same as you some for imminent consumption and the rest in the freezer.

[Big Kev]

Excellent

[Big Kev]

Thawed out a couple of focacia squares yesterday to have with coffee, they taste as good and are still as soft but the crust is no longer crusty. I did consider putting them in the oven but decided it was a waste of electricity.

[Stanley]

I wish I could join you but bread has an immediate effect on me these days.....

[PanBiker]

Looped back to bog standard milk loaf which will see us over weekend. Done the mixing and the kneading, it's just proving now in the bowl.

Another bread and cake related matter. My sourdough starter can't really be described as that. It has hardly started! I have tried to get it going with every trick in the book and have now made an executive decision. It has been halved and fed for the last time. It either does it's stuff properly or it is curtains and will be considered a fail.

I don't think the weather over the last couple of weeks has helped, yo yo temperatures and the like.

[Stanley]

Going on my experience of starters for cheese, consider whether you are being too clean. Ill treat it a bit....

[PanBiker]

I have kept in the Kilner and also tried it open in a jug and bowl and tried different flours, Grapes and also Apple as the sugar content for the yeast. I have followed all the recommendations from Sourdough guru's and the like

It shows a bit of activity after feeding and then goes flat. Smells OK but not enough activity for a proper rise. Same pattern now since I fed it, I reckon it's down to temperature and it's a non starter. Just looked back and its just over a month since I set it off, it should be crawling over the worktop by now.

Start again when it's definitely a bit warmer.

This is a previous effort:

[Tripps]

I've never eaten sourdough bread - does it taste different / better than ordinary bread? It seems a lot more expensive.

It's mentioned a lot in the media - sounds almost like a cult. A bit like Avocados.

Speaking of which, I belatedly bought a tray of four them for the first time from Aldi recently, and let them get ripe for a while - then peeled and removed the strone with no trouble at all. Quite disappointing really as I'd seen various ' hacks' to get it out. Then I ate it- or most of it.

Then I put the other three in the bin - and edible food going in the bin doesn't happen often in this house -trust me.

It's probably me - perhaps I should have had them on toasted sourdough bread - that would be really 'on trend'.

[PanBiker]

It is the natural way of making bread really. Yes it is a different taste and is better for you. Even less crap in a sourdough loaf. Lends itself to lots of variant and older recipes.

It always amazes me how many ingredients are in commercially produced offerings. Most of which will not pass the basic test, hollow when tapped on the bottom. Most is produced using the Chorleywood process which is industrial chemistry in the pursuit of an everlasting product fit for the supermarket model, most ingredients are preservatives rather than adding to the nutritional value of the food.

I commented earlier that our local "artisan" bakers output now has all the ingredients listed. About four times as many as any hand baked equivalent. There is an alternative bloke that comes over from Skipton and has stall when the market is on in the Town Square. His bread is excellent, most using natural starters.

[Stanley]

Ian, even before getting the hard word from Hassan on carbs I was not going in the 'Artisan Bakers'. For the simple reason the bread was incredibly expensive!
One interesting thing about my new concentration on low carbs is that my weekly shop is much cheaper. As a general rule, the things that have gone up most are the high carb ones.
David, I learned about avocados while staying in a house with an Avocado Tree in the back yard.



Free Avocados on tap and a banana tree in the next door's garden..... Where else but California.

[PanBiker]

I was not going in the 'Artisan Bakers'. For the simple reason the bread was incredibly expensive!

Aye, I think a Chia loaf, (which has now shrunk in size) is £1.75 or something daft like that!

[PanBiker]

I have made the executive decision and dumped my starter. It never got going despite all efforts to save it. I reckon it's not warm enough yet, ideally it needs a steady 24 - 25 degrees not the yo yo temperatures we have been getting. Kilner is steeping in the sink.

I'm rising a bog standard bloomer at the moment.

I am having Fajitas for tea and am short of wraps. I could make some but I would end up with far too many that ideally need eating on the day of production. I will nip round to the Coop and get a use and reseal bag of wholemeal wraps. The commercial ones are rolled a lot thinner than I could get them and the remainder will freeze OK.

[PanBiker]

Nice and rustic and a good bit of crust, strong white and part wholemeal.

[Tripps]

That looks great. I don't see how it could be bettered. Peak baking.

Just been to Aldi with bread in mind. They had a sourdough rye loaf - tempted, just for novelty value, but resisted. Looked powerful stuff - but too much like German black bread. Settled for a sliced wholemeal for 69p which will last me the week. Also a pack of wholemeal wraps for 85p. They're very versatile, and keep for ages just in the fridge.

Would you believe it -they sell Chia seeds. Described a The Wonder Food.

Points to note - they had no lettuce of any variety, and cheese is good value - a huge chunk of Cheddar 900g for £3.90.

[Stanley]

"they had no lettuce of any variety"
A little warning cloud on the horizon?

[PanBiker]

They have also been without strong flour as well. Noticed in more than one Supermarche U. Oh, lets think about that. I think most of the wheat comes from the Ukraine. All while Boris waxes lyrical about how we are fully self sufficient in agricultural production here in the UK. He was on another tractor yesterday with high vis to boot so that's all right.

[Big Kev]

I found strong bread flour, for my focacia, in Sainsbury's. I've found that Aldi seem to operate a 'just in time' process for deliveries. The lad refreshing the milk shelves, with 2 pint containers, said to come back after 4pm if I wanted 4 pint containers as they due on the next delivery.

[PanBiker]

I found strong bread flour, for my focacia, in Sainsbury's.

Yes, so did I.

Sorry to be a pedant but the correct spelling is Focaccia Kev.

[Big Kev]

I found strong bread flour, for my focacia, in Sainsbury's.

Yes, so did I.

Sorry to be a pedant but the correct spelling is Focaccia Kev.

Autocorrect on my phone, I spelled it wrong once and it chooses that one all on it's own.

[PanBiker]

Today's creation.. I used a mixture of strong white and wholemeal flour and chucked some Chia seeds in the liquid content before mixing.