The Big Bread Thread ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chockswahay
  • Start date Start date
I'm not sure if anyone saw the tv miniseries a while back where there were modern bakers trying to reproduce the bread of the past ........ anyway in the first program they used brewing yeast and the crumb (I think that was what they called it) was like fermented cake batter - one of the bakers said it was like gluten free dough :)

Found it!

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Two - Victorian Bakers, Episode 1

Four bakers leave their businesses behind to bake their way through the Victorian era.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

No longer available but worth watching if they show it on repeat.
 
Lenny HB said:
Fed up with this thread all right for you lot that have flour.
Not been able to get flour for weeks around here. :cry:
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I'm going through my stock of shipton mill from pre pandemic. It's almost gone now but i can get some flour from the local pub which rears their own pigs and has opened a mini farm shop whilst the pub is shut. It's pricy though at £2.80 a kg.
 
£2.80!!!!! Yowzer!?

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Chockswahay said:
I’m still at it with my experimental hob top soda bread?

This one is 100% Wholemeal goodness with no dairy......just flour, water and cider vinegar (and of course the soda, tartar and salt!) ?

It actually is SO close to yeasted Wholemeal Bread ????

View attachment 379117View attachment 379118

Super yummy and all gone now?
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I made your recipe with water and cider vinegar today, half and half spelt and plain flour as I have to eke out the one small bag of spelt. It’s a bit more rustic than yours but was very nice
B774DD40-4DB6-4887-9CFC-982178009D21.jpeg

Puddleduck said:
Most gluten free "dough" is actually more like a thick batter to start with and you whisk it or use a spoon. :) As the yeast grows the batter becomes soft and similar in looks to uncured foam filler. If you get that sort of look prior to baking you will get a good loaf.

If you actually get a dough it lurks at the bottom, doesn't really rise and is like rubber in texture after baking.

When my yeast comes I will try to take photos. Found this on the net which gives you an idea - it can be even more liquid than that.

View attachment 379188
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Ooh er ! It’s very green !
 
Riverbankannie said:
I made your recipe with water and cider vinegar today, half and half spelt and plain flour as I have to eke out the one small bag of spelt. It’s a bit more rustic than yours but was very nice
View attachment 379324

Ooh er ! It’s very green !
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Oh well done ? Looking at the colour would suggest either too much soda or more likely little or no tartar...... can you list the exact amounts?
 
Helen Ariel said:
Seems impossible to get a delivery though and £6 delivery so for amount i need works out more expensive ?
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Yeah delivery slots are tricky but they do become available (next release 10:00 today (y))

For what it's worth delivery is FREE over £30 ........ you'll be able to buy three times the amount than you can from the farm shop OR just a wider choice :smiley:

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Helen Ariel said:
Seems impossible to get a delivery though and £6 delivery so for amount i need works out more expensive ?
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Worth looking on Facebook to see if any local bakeries are delivering. I got a shared post yesterday through the new local support group with an advert from a bakery who are now delivering their own baked goods and have added plain and wholemeal flour and fresh yeast and also got together with a butcher and have bacon eggs and sausages.
 
Chockswahay said:
Oh well done ? Looking at the colour would suggest either too much soda or more likely little or no tartar...... can you list the exact amounts?
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I didn’t think my photo was that good !
my scales not so accurate as yours so adding 3.6 gm of baking soda a bit tricky! Anyhow to make it worse, I had scribbled down your ingredients on a scrap of paper and when glancing back at the paper, I missed the decimal point !! It was only when adding the third teaspoonful to the flour that I thought to myself “this doesn’t seem right “. So I roughly scooped some out.
To answer your question, I have no idea of the exact amount !
 
Riverbankannie said:
I didn’t think my photo was that good !
my scales not so accurate as yours so adding 3.6 gm of baking soda a bit tricky! Anyhow to make it worse, I had scribbled down your ingredients on a scrap of paper and when glancing back at the paper, I missed the decimal point !! It was only when adding the third teaspoonful to the flour that I thought to myself “this doesn’t seem right “. So I roughly scooped some out.
To answer your question, I have no idea of the exact amount !
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OMG? I’m surprised it was even edible!?

Did you add cream of tartar?
 
Chockswahay said:
£2.80!!!!! Yowzer!?
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Be glad you are not coeliac. I had to get some flour on private prescription, £9 for 500 gm PLUS I should have paid the GPs fee for the prescription but she was kind enough to waive that when she saw she could only prescribe 500 gm and not the 5 kg I would normally get every couple of months.

Rice flour is the basis of most gluten free flour blends and on Amazon one seller is asking over £6 a kilo - cashing in on the shortage and making a very good profit? :( I do need rice flour though :( I'll see if I can get a small box of 5 or 6 bags at anywhere need the usual retail price plus delivery. The alternative would be to get a domestic flour mill and grind my own - but that really would be hard work and messy.

I did get a delivery (£30 for a Coeliac Care Package) and we used some of the flour included yesterday - it's blended flours and I don't usually use it preferring to make up my own blends ........ everything I have made with it was black inside. Martin made dumplings to go into the soup and they were also black. The flour looks okay and smells okay, and I tasted the biscuit dough (tasted okay and no ill effects - the colour only develops when heat is applied) so all I can think of is that they have put husk powder in the flour rather than whole husk as that will give a blue, purple or black colour to baking.

EDIT: Thought I had sourced a supply of rice flour but on enquiry they can't guarantee it is gluten free and it is stored in a wheat warehouse :(

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Chockswahay said:
OMG? I’m surprised it was even edible!?

Did you add cream of tartar?
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Yes, but it’s the very old stuff as described before :unsure: Once again only to the nearest 1 gram on my scales. Bread was very nice better than the photo shows I expect. Maybe a bit salty for my taste. Can I reduce the salt content ?
 
Puddleduck said:
Be glad you are not coeliac. I had to get some flour on private prescription, £9 for 500 gm PLUS I should have paid the GPs fee for the prescription but she was kind enough to waive that when she saw she could only prescribe 500 gm and not the 5 kg I would normally get every couple of months.

Rice flour is the basis of most gluten free flour blends and on Amazon one seller is asking over £6 a kilo - cashing in on the shortage and making a very good profit? :( I do need rice flour though :( I'll see if I can get a small box of 5 or 6 bags at anywhere need the usual retail price plus delivery. The alternative would be to get a domestic flour mill and grind my own - but that really would be hard work and messy.

I did get a delivery (£30 for a Coeliac Care Package) and we used some of the flour included yesterday - it's blended flours and I don't usually use it preferring to make up my own blends ........ everything I have made with it was black inside. Martin made dumplings to go into the soup and they were also black. The flour looks okay and smells okay, and I tasted the biscuit dough (tasted okay and no ill effects - the colour only develops when heat is applied) so all I can think of is that they have put husk powder in the flour rather than whole husk as that will give a blue, purple or black colour to baking.

EDIT: Thought I had sourced a supply of rice flour but on enquiry they can't guarantee it is gluten free and it is stored in a wheat warehouse :(
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I watched a John Kirkwood (almost as good as our own Chockswahay !) video recently and he used his own mill, buying a sack of wholewheat once a year. I guess in the end could be an investment for you if you like your own blend of flours. It didn’t look too messy!




He has a gluten free recipe too but I know recipe is not the problem right now it’s ingredients!



This is his latest video and i notice he replied to a question from a viewer just 2 hours ago. I wonder if it is worth asking if he has any contacts for supplies? You never know!

 
Riverbankannie said:
He has a gluten free recipe too but I know recipe is not the problem right now it’s ingredients!

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That's the standard Dove's Farm Recipe. With so much tapioca flour it makes your teeth "squeak". I used to use that recipe but now have much better :)
 
Riverbankannie said:
Yes, but it’s the very old stuff as described before :unsure: Once again only to the nearest 1 gram on my scales. Bread was very nice better than the photo shows I expect. Maybe a bit salty for my taste. Can I reduce the salt content ?
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It's a bit tricky I agree. If you have standard (digital?) scales they are hopeless for anything less than 10 grams with any degree of accuracy. If you have measuring scoops then you would be better of using them and 'guestimating' to the nearest 1/2 or 1/4 level teaspoon (which is why I mentioned the weight of each small ingredient as the density is different between them).

If you wish to go the whole way These are the type I use. There are so many of them on Amazon and eBay you will see that they all seem to be from the same factory! Mine are 100g and accurate to 100th of 1 gram (yes!).

For anything like serious bread baking they are more of a necessity than an option ;)

As for the salt you can add to taste but I would not suggest much below 1% (I actually use 1.8% which is the 'latest' recommended amount by percentage for health and taste). Again if you used your scales you could have added way too much salt!

All of these ratios are less of a problem when making bread of say 500g or more due to reduced error.

(y)

Edit: Too much Soda will give a weird taste (salty?) too!
 
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Riverbankannie said:
he used his own mill, buying a sack of wholewheat once a year. I guess in the end could be an investment for you if you like your own blend of flours. It didn’t look too messy!
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I've had a look at flour mills on the big online retail sites and to get anything decent looks like a lot of money ........ the £50 ish models have poor reviews. Most reviews say they don't seal properly so I can imagine the dust and how it would affect my breathing :(

When I am in funds again and especially if I find I can grow sorghum and buckwheat (both grasses and not wheat!) and maybe millet here then maybe worth the investment.

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Here are a couple of photos of my version of Rye bread straight out of a Panasonic bread maker. It's obviously reasonably dense due to the dark rye flour but is very tasty.

Cheers

Clive
 

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I had another go at gluten-free soda bread yesterday. Looked dreadful and tasted worse :( The bubbles from the raising agents had just gone up through the top and left a solid lump. There does need to be something to hold the bubbles in place (obviously gluten in wheat etc even if not fully developed) so I will need to use egg and xanthan gum (but not too much as it leaves a nasty taste), possibly physillium husk.

My yeast is due today so I'm hoping it arrives :)

My Asda order was around £100 (a normal weekly shop) but when I checked it had been cut to less than £40 as so much is not available.
 
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I thought I'd found a supply of rice flour at a reasonable price (only 50% more than normal) and then I noticed the postage ........ over £12 per bag !!!!!!!! errrrrrr no thanks.

I found a 5kg bulk pack for an okay price but not sure of the use by date or carriage cost as that isn't stated - then saw the delivery is in early June :(
 
Puddleduck said:
I thought I'd found a supply of rice flour at a reasonable price (only 50% more than normal) and then I noticed the postage ........ over £12 per bag !!!!!!!! errrrrrr no thanks.

I found a 5kg bulk pack for an okay price but not sure of the use by date or carriage cost as that isn't stated - then saw the delivery is in early June :(
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Have you tried a coffee grinder or a blender. I have used both in the past for grinding down granulated sugar when a recipe calls for caster or even a crunchy icing sugar! and to make ground almonds from whole almonds though that’s trickier due to the oils.
Assuming you can get rice of course!
I think things are available but not in the major supermarkets. Do reach out to local facebook groups and ask if anyone can look out for it.
 
I don't have a coffee grinder (and it would take ages!!!) I have tried the blender but the "flour" is too coarse so I have to sieve it (very messy) and then the blended cut it because it was overheating. At that point I said very rude words before getting teary.

I've asked three local help groups to no avail. I think when I say "rice flour" they are looking in the home baking section and not asking at customer services for the special diet requests (I did tell them that) ......

We have Asda tomorrow for the click and collect. I may go with Martin for the change of scenery and not get out of the car - I'm feeling pretty low at the moment and it might help. Tesco is next to Asda so maybe if it isn't too busy he would have a look in there but I expect it to be heaving.
 

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