Bread

It's been another fantastic day weather wise, to say its only mid-February. It's been 11 or 12 degrees for most of the morning and afternoon and full on sunshine.

It really was lovely and meant we could even sit outside again for a little bit with the radio and a coffee.

The best part is that the engine hasn't needed to go on yet either and the batteries have charged from 81% up to 99% this morning.

Another plus is the stove is just on tickover - just a small handful of coal and all the vents closed off - its been like that now since yesterday and I've not even used a full bucket of coal in nearly two days!

Well, Rob never came yesterday as the job he was doing was running a little later than it was supposed to. He is coming tomorrow though, which is better in a way, as Pawel will also be here then to go through things.

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Breadmaking



My first job this morning was to start making the bread mix that I was talking about yesterday!

It was pretty simple really. I just put the flour mix into a bowl and added around 325ml of warm water ( half boiling and half cold)



I then combined it all and kneaded for about 5 - 10 minutes until it was really pliable and elastic-like:



I covered with cling film and left to rise for about 35mins and it had definitely doubled in size in that time:



Next I simply shaped it into a 'Boule' shape and popped it onto a baking tray



I popped the bowl back over it and left it to rise once again for 50 minutes as directed and again, it was HUGE when I lifted the bowl off!



I cut a cross into the top and then dusted it with some extra flour. Along with the bread on the baking sheet, the instructions recommended that a small bowl of water was put alongside....and off it went into a Gas 8 preheated oven which was then turned to Gas 7 once the bread went in:


Around 35 minutes later, the bread was ready and looked great



Slicing it was going to be the proof in the pudding:




It was fab!! Really light and airy, just how you want home made bread to be and not like sponge! I sometimes have found home made bread to have a funny smell which usually means it's only fit for toasting, but there was none of that with this. I'm convinced this is due to the ascorbic acid.

Anyway, it was perfect for cheese and tomato sandwiches:



I looked at some yeast that I've had in the cupboard for ages and never used and was surprised to see that this particular brand also contained the ascorbic acid in with the yeast.

Therefore, I'm going to give the bread making a go with my own flours and yeast tomorrow if there's time and see how that turns out now I know that the yeast also has the acid in. I'll be expecting a similar result.

The only reason I'm doing this rather than sticking with this packet mix, is that the packet mix was a bit pricey at £1.89 - no different to the price of some of the fresh baked breads off the bakery in Waitrose.

The yeast I have cost about £1.50 for 10 sachets ( from what I remember!) and I can get a malted rye flour for around £1.60 a kilo which would make 2 loaves. This would work out much cheaper and make it more worthwhile to make rather than buy bread.


Comments

  1. Make sure your yeast isn't out of date as it won't work if its too old! Looks great what you have made though. Good Luck. Doug

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good thinking doug! Will check. Hope you're both OK?

    When will you guys be back on the boat?
    Lewis

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hopefully the end of March, all depends if the River Kennet and River Thames finally start to get back to normal, we can't get off the Kennet and Avon Canal otherwise! Plenty happening until then as we have a few more trips planned. All the Best.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello, Oh dear, me again - the lady that used to have the dog parlour and has a passion for narrowboats;-)) I bought the same bread mix a couple of months ago as the packet caught my eye and I fancied making bread, my husband asked my why? As I don't eat bread; but I do eat bread, just not very often and not the pappy stuff. Having read your blog, I shall get the packet out and make some tomorrow. I really, really enjoy all of your blogs, but the cooking ones do inspire me. Thank you!

    Anne

    ReplyDelete
  5. What make/brand of oven doe you have aboard? We have a tiny little boat oven and I cannot make bread from scratch to save my soul. :( It makes me sad as I used to make lovely artisan loaves back in my house every week. I really miss it! Your efforts were well worth it--lovely bread indeed!
    Jaq

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Anne - yes I remember you and it's good to hear from you again. I'm really glad you like that blog and thanks for the positive comments. Makes it a bit more worthwhile to know someone is at least is enjoying the posts ;)

    Hopefully, you had chance to make the bread today and you'll let me know how it turned out! I'm sure it was amazing, but did you eat any ? (" I don't, but do eat bread" made me laugh!)

    It's a shame we don't know more about you, but keep reading and keep leaving us comments :) Hopefully you'll check back and see this reply

    Take care
    Lewis

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Doug - lucky you! You guys get around so much to different places, we are proper jealous :P

    Are you usually based on the river then? Or is that just how the canal network is down there, where you have to go onto a river first? Not familiar with down south!

    Speak soon, I keep meaning to drop you an email!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Jacqui - we have a stoves vanette gg2200 oven and grill Combi. It's a bit basic with just a piezo ignition but we've never had problems cooking anything in it - I've actually found it better than all my previous ovens (never had gas before always fan electric ovens and always found them to be a bugger to cook in!)

    What have you guys got? This one of ours is slightly smaller than a normal oven but I think it is built for boats too?

    We will make your bread. We only charge £4.89 for an artisan loaf ;)

    ReplyDelete

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