UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion

I know Vanessa, it's SO tempting isn't it?

I got one yesterday. The bread came out great. I am going to make beer bread.

I also have a sodastream that I use regularly.

I got this breadmachine :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-SD-...


I got it from John Lewis for £89.99

Nice one Simon, and the price is very good :)

That was a good price Simon. I'm getting the next one up, the Panasonic SD 2501. The Panasonics seem to be the best machines available.

Which bread did you make first? There are so many to choose from aren't there.

I can't wait till Tuesday. I've bought my flour and yeast this morning, ready for when it comes.

Make a bog standard one first to test it out, then if something goes not quite right, then it won't put you off one of your lovely ones. Not that it won't be nice, but treat it like the first pancake you make.

Making a hot cross bun loaf in the mixer right now, does not seem to be rising as it should, although it could be to do with me using fast action and it being a two part recipe but we shall see in a bit.

Bread tip, using milk instead of water will create a different sort of a loaf but it will keep longer.

As Dave can't have milk, I always used coffee mate instead of milk. Worked perfectly.

Mine is baking a whole meal loaf right now :) then I'm making a spelt loaf (my first) and then I'll pack the machine away and transfer it to the new house :)

Just in case you're worried to try, the Hovis granary mix works well (following the instructions on the packaging) I know they say that you should always follow the recipes that are specific to your machine, but in that case it worked really well :)

And when you store your yeast, make sure it's in a lukewarm place... My kitchen gets really cold in the winter, and it seems to deactivate it for some reason, even if I I use the single use sachets :(

Not too warm though. Whenever our a/c died on the island I'd have to get new yeast.

Lol ! Fussy things !

I really copped out and used a hovis bread mix. My reasoning was the same as Joo that I wanted to know it was possible before I experimented.

I went for the easy loaf too the first time.

Hot cross bun loaf could kindly be described as "stodgy", should be ok sliced really thin and toasted though. The moral of the story is fast action yeast does not work with two stage recipes and I would probably have been better off just doing it all in one. Banana, honey, and sesame seed loaf was much more successful.

I make pizza dough and bread now and then, but I just do it the old fashioned way. I recently blogged about getting sour dough started. If anyone wants the link to it, let me know. I've now made a sour dough recipe twice--it wasn't any harder than yeast, but it takes longer because you have to get the sour dough going!

Maria wrote: "I make pizza dough and bread now and then, but I just do it the old fashioned way. I recently blogged about getting sour dough started. If anyone wants the link to it, let me know. I've now made..."

I'm sure many would love to have a link Maria

http://www.bearmountainbooks.com/home...

I blogged about where I obtained the starter (link is in the post and the starter will cost you the price of TWO whole stamps--well worth it.)

Also since this is a breadmaker thread...I know at least one of the recipes out there was for a breadmaker. I'll see if I can find it. When Carl was alive, he collected a bunch of recipes and tried them. I've only tried two so far and both turned out great.

The bread machine recipe is in this link:

http://carlsfriends.net/OTbrochure.html

I have NOT tried it. But the other two recipes I found on the various links on the site worked very well. The site is run by volunteers and is hard to navigate...

Thanks Maria :D

Learnin Curve wrote: "Thanks Maria :D"

You're welcome. It was really fun to try it out. I'd always put off doing so because getting my hands on a known good starter just seemed like too much work and possibly expensive. This was a great solution!

My grandma used to bake bread, when she was living with us she taught dad how to make it, and it has only been the last few years since he has been ill that we haven't had "grandad's muffins" each week. They were tea cake size but more solid, & we would slice them into several slices to eat.

My own ventures into bread making have been my attempts at the muffins and a wholemeal loaf with oats and honey. Which was surprisingly good.
Since the oven isn't reliable I'm not about to attempt regular bread-making & I'm not convinced that a breadmaker is something that I want.

I use my breadmaker a lot, particularly overnight so that we wake up to freshly baked bread, (note I ALWAYS check our smoke alarms, I think this is really important if you are leaving electrical equipment going whilst you are sleeping) Basically I don't have the patience to knead anything as well as the machine does it. Although if I have particularly bad ingrained dirt after gardening kneading dough is brilliant at cleaning hands...

LC I like the sound of your banana etc loaf, will try it :0)

Rosemary wrote: "I use my breadmaker a lot, particularly overnight so that we wake up to freshly baked bread, (note I ALWAYS check our smoke alarms, I think this is really important if you are leaving electrical eq..."

I don't knead the dough very much in any of my recipes. Less than 5 minutes of kneading. I always thought kneading would be a pain too, but there are a lot of recipes that basically call for mixing the bread, letting it rise and then punching it down. Even the sour dough ones I tried were just a few mixes on a floured surface.

Rosemary, I hear you on those gardening hands. I just finished moving tomato plants around and turning the dirt in my garden. I'd be putting them in permanently but we might get some cold nights this week so I'm giving it one more week. The snap peas are up and I've event eaten two already! The green beans got too cold so I replanted this morning!

Hello all: I don't know if you have access to the same brands and models we do here in the former colonies, but we had a Zojirushi bread maker for a lot of years before it died of old age. We replaced it with a basic model Cuisinart, which we really like. We like whole grain bread, but it's harder to get to rise properly than the basic white bread, even with added gluten. Our solution is to doctor the white bread recipe with added wheat germ and wheat bran, which gives a very nice "whole wheat bread" that cooks like a white bread and always rises well. We've started adding herbs (rosemary is a favorite) to the basic bread recipe for additional flavor and odor.

Many years ago I used to make all my bread by hand as well as all the cakes and biscuits. I used to like kneading the dough. I would still do it now but the kitchen I have now doesn't have any work top to work on.
The breadmaker's going to be in my lounge as there's no mess involved and can be put in the sideboard when not in use.

Breadmaker just backstabbed me! Left me with a condensed, inedible, half baked dough :-(

Lorraine, you said you keep your yeast in a warm place but on the dried yeast I've just bought it says once opened keep it in the fridge well sealed.
I know when I used to use the dried yeast years ago that I used to mix it with a little warm water (blood heat) to acitivate it when using it.

Just want to clear up some confusion over yeast new bakers might be having.

There are three types of yeast, Fresh Yeast, Dried yeast/active dried yeast and fast action/easy blend. The first two need to be put in warm water or milk for 40 mins to activate, the dough also needs to rise twice. Fast action/easy blend goes in with the flour and only needs to rise once.

Fast action is much harder to kill in storage than the other two but you must must put it in with the flour. Where I ballsed up yesterday was by grabbing the wrong packet from the shelf and trying to activate fast action in warm milk, as it reacts a lot quicker than the other two it burnt itself up too fast as it were and there was no carbon dioxide left to rise the bread.

I was a bit puzzled by the yeast thing too. I use the Dove Farm packs(Lakeland sells them, and supermarket sometimes has them) rather than individual sachets, and keep it in the fridge. no probs with it at all.

I use dry yeast (fast acting or regular) and I keep both dry in the pantry. The only time I've really had trouble is if it sits in there a long time. The cheapest way to buy it is vacuum packed bags that has enough yeast for me for probably 5 years.

That lovely man on the baking programme with Mary Berry (Paul Hollywood?) Not sure of his name but he said on one programme, just buy the quick yeast, forget the the regular. His bread is always good.

Learnin Curve wrote: "Just want to clear up some confusion over yeast new bakers might be having.

There are three types of yeast, Fresh Yeast, Dried yeast/active dried yeast and fast action/easy blend. The first two n..."


Yeah, when I did it years ago, by hand, it was just the dried yeast I used to use and the bread had to prove then knock it back and prove again.
The dried yeast I've got now is the fast one which you can use in breadmakers, you just put it in before the flour without having to activate it. It's Allinsons in a green tin.

My attempts at making home made bread have always resulted in something you could bounce off the walls!

R.M.F wrote: "My attempts at making home made bread have always resulted in something you could bounce off the walls!"

My mum would have done Terry Pratchett proud. Some of her baking was like the dwarf bread in his Discworld books. She used to do a lot of rock cakes and I'm sure the 'currants' were actually real rocks. You had to watch your teeth on them.
Got to say she did make good pastry so she could make nice apple pies.

My pastry recipe is my mother's recipe. Which is her mother's recipe. Which is her mother's recipe.

When I make pastry I make seven covered pies.

The only pastry that gets nicer and more flaky the more you work it.

I've posted it somewhere in the recipe thread, I'm sure.

We need someone to go through our recipe thread and sort it alphabetically and publish it.

Vanessa wrote: "R.M.F wrote: "My attempts at making home made bread have always resulted in something you could bounce off the walls!"

My mum would have done Terry Pratchett proud. Some of her baking was like the..."

Is it spelt currents or currants? That one always catches me out!

I think it is currants...or teeth breakers in my mum's case lol. They were hard as bullets.
My gran was good at baking but mum used to make things out of a packet or bought ready made if she could. When I got married I taught myself how to cook and my mother-in-law always baked, so I carried on making everything for my now ex-husband. He used to really annoy me 'cos he never put an ounce of weight on even though he stuffed his face with loads of cake, biscuits and bread. Yet I was always on a diet and only licked the spoon and scraped the bowl but didn't eat the finished stuff and I'd put on weight so easily. Wasn't fair lol.

Patti (A Fine Pear) wrote: "We need someone to go through our recipe thread and sort it alphabetically and publish it. "

The UKAKF Cookbook. Recommended recipes for the discerning kindler.


R.M.F wrote: "Is it spelt currents or currants? That one always catches me out!"

currEnt E for electric.

there is probably some way of remembering the other sort.

They look like ants?

Wow! When I posted this I thought it might be of little interest. It's nice to know there are other dough addicts too;-)
I live about 400yds from a Waitrose and their bread flours are pretty good. I use a mix of their seeded flours (crunchy oat & malted) to make a tasty bread that my partner says makes the best toast ever!
I've also tried some pre-mixed stuff and they were all good (sun-dried tomato & chilli was a favourite).
The machines a Morphy Richard's 48319 and at the time it was on offer.
I seem to be making a loaf every other day still, mostly the same recipe that I made up as its so yummy.
It would be good to find a local supplier of flour but the days of local flour mills seems to have gone for ever round here.

Ooh like the sound of sun-dried tomato and chilli.

I used to be able to get a sun-dried tomato bread out of my local supermarket when I lived in London, but they were always selling out.
Down where I am now it's very hit and miss to find something similar so I'm really looking forward to making my own.
I've bought Allinsons flour and their yeast for breadmakers. I hope they're alright in the machine.
I'm still patiently waiting for it to be delivered, it's due today. Can't wait lol.

Well it's arrived...yipee!

20 minutes out of the box and I've just switched it on and I'm doing the middle sized ordinary basic white loaf. I've got 4 hours now til it's done.

Can't wait to see the results and I was extra careful measuring out all the ingredients and what order they went into the machine. It seems ever so simple...hope I haven't buggered it up somewhere lol.

Mmmm green peppercorn bread...

Rosemary wrote: "Mmmm green peppercorn bread..."

One word to that: nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! :)

Olives and capers bread?

Vanessa wrote: "Well it's arrived...yipee!

20 minutes out of the box and I've just switched it on and I'm doing the middle sized ordinary basic white loaf. I've got 4 hours now til it's done.

Can't wait to see t..."

I started with some bought in mixes to get used to the machine before making up my own recipes. That way if anything went wrong I could blame someone else ;-)

I hope you have lots of fun with yours. Its a shame you can't attach the smell of the baking bread to an email or something...

Rosemary wrote: "Olives and capers bread?"

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Olives are just...I'll say no more in case I get thrown off this site! Let's just say they're not for me!

Well the recipe I've used is one from the Panasonic book which came with it, so it should be ok.

I've got 2 hours and 49 minutes to go til it's finished.

Just don't peek until it beeps :)

Come on come on, the four hours must be up by now!

It finished at 9pm and it's turned out perfect.

I let it cool for half an hour and have just had a slice with strawberry jam and it was lovely.

Just worked out how much it cost roughly and I reckon it's somewhere between 60 - 70p and it's a fair sized loaf. Of course I've not taken into account of the cost of the machine but the bread tastes better than bought bread and I think the machine will last a long time. Also I can have what type of bread I want whenever I want.