I just thought I would give some quick tips on bread making. I do say I know a lot but a little at least. I learned to make homemade bread a couple years ago and have had some very strange loaves come out.

One thing I learned is to mix in one third of your flour to the yeast, water,oil, mix then add the salt and sugar to the next bit of flour you want to mix in. If you try to mix in the salt at the first it will kill the yeast. Also I don't think you can over knead the dough.

A few years ago there was an add in the countryside mag. that was offering to sell the recipie for homemade yeast. I got, it works great. But will rise more slowly than store bought yeast. You can use the homemade yeast to start the sour dough starters too.

A dear friend of mine tried to use a bread machine to make bread with wholegrains. She went through two machines in 6 months. I guess the machines can't handle the whole grains. Wonder why.

Any way hope these help.

-- michelle (tsjheath@ainop.com), December 27, 2000

Answers

I recently bought a fairly new breadmachine at a flea market - a Breadman Plus. It does fine with whole grains so I think it depends on the machine. Some are more powerful than others. I still bake some bread the "old fashioned" way but when I'm in a hurry, the bread machine is great. My favorite whole wheat bread is the one on the walton's web site. You make a sponge first before adding all the ingredients and it is without a doubt the lightest whole wheat bread I've ever had. It is great for sandwiches. If anyone wants the recipe, I will post it.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), December 27, 2000.

Please do post the recipe! I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to experiment with new breads! Looking forward to it, and thanks! Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), December 27, 2000.

Michelle I do things a bit differently but I also use store bought yeast. I heat my milk and water up to above lukewarm. You want it fairly warm but not hot especially when you keep your yeast in the refrigerator. Disolve honey in milk and water well and then add yeast. This feeds the yeast and gets it to working well. Let it set till it is fairly frothy then add oil salt and flour. I use a couple of cups of white flour to ensure a good rising. I have a bread machine that I bought at a garage sale probably 3 years ago. I made bread twice in it. Hand made bread is so superior to a bread machine there is no comparison. The texture is so much better. I managed to find some large bread pans so our loaves are 'normal' size. The bread in the bigger pans is better. I make all of our bread and to me it isn't too hard to work it in once or twice a week when I'm doing laundry or something. I love to make(and eat) homemade bread. I'm glad to see other folks are interested in it too. It is so much better for you and so economical.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 28, 2000.

I'm on a rye bread kick lately....this recipe is really good: 3&1/4 cups very warm water with 6 Tbls. honey stirred in-add 2&1/2 Tbls. yeast. Let sit til foamy, 10 minutes or so. Combine 4 cups rye flour with 3 cups whole wheat and 3 cups white flour. (You can play with the ratio of wheat and white flours, but I find this works well.) Combine liquid with flours, 4 Tbls. vegetable oil, 1 rounded Tbls. salt, and 7-8 Tbls. caraway seeds. Knead for quite a while, let rise in greased bowl, covered with a kitchen towel, in warm place til doubled in size. This makes two large loaves, in my big bread pans. Let second rise in greased pans, and bake at 350 for about 35- 45 minutes.

I would also love to try anyone elses bread recipes. I need something that goes great as toast with homemade jam. How about a simple pizza crust recipe? Thanks, Michelle, this is my kind of topic!

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), December 28, 2000.

My kind of topic too! I have a tip you might use. I warm up my flour a little bit. I am blessed with a nice big microwave and the bread bowl stuck in there on low for a few seconds takes the chill off and seems to rise nicer and faster. I'm into faster. I have a super simple recipe for a sour dough that's not sour tasting.I am holding the baby while typing so will post it when she takes a snooze. Blessings. Q. PS This is the bread John takes PB&J's to work on daily and has to fight off scavengers!

-- queen (queenbuffness@hotmail.com), December 28, 2000.

STARTER GOO:1C warm h2o. 3/4C sugar. 2T yeast. 3T instant potato flakes. Place in mason jar and shake well. Take lid off and let sit on counter 5 days, stirring daily.Should be bubbly.Day before making bread-feed 1C warm h2o, 3/4 sugar,3T potato flakes. TO MAKE DOUGH: Stir starter.Mix 1C goo, 3/4C sugar,1T yeast(OPT.just is faster),1 1/2C very warm h2o,1/2 C oil into large greased bowl.Let sit a little bit. Add 6C flour and 1T salt.Stir until all moistened. Cover and let rise. When doubled turn out onto floured counter and knead no more than 10 times(till not sticky). Cut in half. Shape into loaves and plop into greased bread pans.Spray with Pam or grease tops. Let rise to top of pan. Bake 325 for 45 minutes or until evenly brown. Makes GREAT toast.TO FEED STARTER: Add 1C warm h2o, 3T instant potato flakes,3/4C sugar and stir well. Wait 8 hours to bake. Can sit unattended for a week at a time, then feed. When we're out of this bread the hubby literally growls. The King Arthur Flour cookbook has hundreds and hundreds of recipes!! Q.

-- Queen (queenbuffness@hotmail.com), December 28, 2000.

Cathy, you asked for a pizza crust. This one is pretty bullet proof and makes 2 fairly generous size crusts. 1 cup warm water 105-115o (I usually use milk as it's abundant here), 1 pkg yeast, 1 T. sugar, 1 1/2 t. salt, 2 T. oil, 2 3/4-3 1/4 cup flour. Measure liquid into bowl, stir in yeast until dissolved. Stir in sugar, salt, oil and 1 1/2 c. flour. beat until smooth. Add more flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl and turn to grease top. Cover. Let rise until doubled about 45 minutes. Punch down and divide. Roll and place on greased pans. Bake at 350o for 10 minutes. When cool, wrap and store in frig up to 6 days. To serve, unwrap and top with favorite fillings. Bake at 400-425o. This is as written originally. I don't add the salt initially as it does inhibit the yeast. I've also just frozen the extra dough for later use although it doesn't seem to rise as well.

I've substituted a cup of my sourdough starter for the liquid and yeast and it made a delicious crust. My husband prefers it. We joke about the fact that I make the crust, brown any ground meat we use on it and make the mozzarella cheese. I follow the same recipe for the tomato sauce topping but when my husband assembles these things, his tastes better. He tells me he does barn jobs then declines to wash his hands before cooking. I know he's kidding because HE DOESN'T DO MANY BARN JOBS. In fact, his joke is "St. Peter, can she come later? She hasn't done chores yet!" Hope you like this crust. It also makes wonderful bread sticks.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), December 28, 2000.

Just checked the four loaves in the oven, and open the forum, and there is this thread.....!!!! So I write to the fragrance of oatmeal- wheat bread.

I became a convert to bulk gluten and BREAD flour when the guys in my family tried to take sandwiches made from my homemade bread to school/work. The needed a spoon to eat them out of the baggie; seems the bread didn't hold up in transit. It needed gluten (the sticky protien that makes the bread hold together). I bought some in bulk, and started using bread flour (do any of you remember the Bread Lady, who used to be in some of the Y2K forums? She put me on to this stuff). It makes a BIG difference in all my yeast breads, esp. if you like chewy, robust bread. Bread flour is made of hard red wheat, and has more of the gluten that makes the bread hold together.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), December 28, 2000.

Here's two of the recipies... OATMEAL BREAD..makes 5 loaves 4c water boiled, 2c instant oatmeal, 2tsp. salt, 1c molasses, mix and let set for 45 min. then add 2c water, 5tsp dry yeast or 1 cup homemade yeast, 8c flour. then mix in as much more flour as you can, about 7c. knead in the rest until it is smooth, place in large bowl and let rise for 1 hour. put in greased pans, let rise again and bake 376 degrees for 22 to 24 min.

WHITE BREAD 8 or 9 loaves you can make yeast rolls with this recipie and still get 7 loaves. 3TLB. dry yeast or 2 cups homemade yeast, mixed into 3quarts of warm water and 6TLB. oil. mix in 3 siftersfull of flour then add your 1/4 cup of alst and 1/4 cup of sugar, then keep adding flour until you can not stir the dough any more. Then turn out on the table and knead in as much as you can. It usually takes 8 or 9 sifters full to get this all done. Then let rise in a greased bowl 3 times, then divide up into pans and let rise again. cook 350 degrees for 25 to 30 min.

The homemade yeast recipie I can't find. I know it uses raisins flour sugar and water but the amounts I'm not sure of. Happy baking.

-- michelle (tsjheath@ainop.com), December 28, 2000.

Michelle,

I guess you must not use the homemade yeast since you do not know the recipe to post. I buy powdered yeast very cheaply, it would be hard to beat the cost and convenience.

Just wanted to say that I add the salt directly to the proofed yeast and have NO PROBLEM. It has been my experience with beginners that they blame it on the salt in the yeast when there really are other problems, such as temperature.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), December 28, 2000.

found the yeast recipie!! mix 1/2 cup water,1/2 cup flour,and 1 tsp sugar or natural sweetner together at about 110 degrees drop in 5 or 6 rasins. if you have chlorine in your water boil the water first, let cool to 110 then add the rest. cover and let stand until bubbly, its yeast. to stor it put in container with loose lid, do not use metal. keep in fridge, it will keep for about 1 month before you need to warm it up ND feed it.

one cup for every two loaves you make. Just heat the yeast slowly to 85 degrees. Good luck.here is where i got the recipie:: Bonnie Fuller HC76 BOX 377 Marshall, Arkansas 72650 Didn't cost much either

-- michelle (tsjheath@ainop.com), December 29, 2000.

Cathy - that rye bread recipe is great!!! Today is my son's birthday and he always requests pork and kraut - the perfect meal for rye bread. Your recipe came at just the right time and it's the best rye bread I've ever made. Thanks!

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), December 29, 2000.

Good Lord - we need a whole new website! My own favorite (adapted from another recipe) is a bread machine one for a quick potato bread. It uses the dried "mashed potato" stuff the yuppies buy since they don't have a potato masher. Nonetheless, once I got beyond the embarrassment of buying that "stuff", I developed what I believe is a superb potato bread recipe. Available by direct e-mail, and if I get more than 2 requests, I'll post it. I admit that a "machine" is a bit lazy, but I consider it to be the best kitchen appliance, or gadget, if you will, that has emerged in MY lifetime! The Ancient Yuppie, (not really! although Ancient, maybe!) GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 29, 2000.

Sorry I haven't posted the "lightest whole wheat" bread recipe before now. I've been busy and haven't been on the computer much lately. Here is where to find it: http://waltonfeed.com/grain/y- rec/wwbread.html It is without a doubt the lightest whole wheat bread I've ever made. Great for sandwiches! If you can't get the site, email me and I will send it to you. I'm going to try the rye bread recipe. I bought 25# of ryeberries and have been looking for a good recipe. Brad, I'd like your recipe too! Are you aware that you can buy instant mashed potatoes at a health food store that still have the peel on them. I feel that is healthier! Thanks everyone, this thread is great and what's better on a cold winter day than the smell of homemade bread?

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000.

"Quick Potato Bread": 7/8 cup water. 2 1/2 TBSP oil. 2 1/2 TBSP sugar. 3/4 tsp salt. 2 1/2 TBSP potato flakes. 2 1/2 TBSP dry milk. 2 1/2 cups bread flour. 1 1/4 tsp dry yeast. I use the "light crust" setting on my machine, but I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. Also, I gave the recipe fo a friend who has no machine, and apparently it works well the "old-fashioned" way as well. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), January 02, 2001.