Bread Makers out there?

cornish

i'm not talking about bread making machines. rather you forum members that actually make bread the proper way!

made a pizza today, using FRESH yeast. what a difference so much better than the dried yeast crap available. best of all, i got the yeast for nothing.... just asked the baker if he had some yeast for sale. he asked how much i wanted.. i said maybe 25g at most... so he got me some fresh yeast and say don't worry about it, it's on the house!

anyway, 25g is plenty more than i needed but i will make pizza again in the next few days as i still have some pepperoni to use up! for the record, i used 6g fresh yeast for my pizza dough.

the bread was nice and light and was probably the second best pizza i have ever tasted..... the first being from a restaurant that makes a lot of italian food.

was better than any takeaway pizza for sure, but i can't match the restaurant pizza yet.

think maybe it is the flour that is the problem. although i used a mix of strong plain flour and some pasta flour which i think is '0', i can't for the life of me find a place that sells '00' flour. perhaps if i can locate some, then my pizza dough will be much improved.

so come on all you bread making connoiseurs.... what's your secret?

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Ian J makes £3k a day

fizl

00 flour can be found in tescos (sometimes labelled as pasta flour).

With regards to fresh vs dried yeast.  I have used both for several years, and I don't actually think there is a difference to flavour or texture of my breads.  There is a significant convenience of the dried stuff, vs the cheapness of getting it free from the baker every week.

Flour wise - I make all of my own bread, so tend to buy flour by the sack these days.  I order this from amazon and keep it in a beer brewing bucket.  I tend to make a 500g loaf, using 400g strong white with 100g strong wholemeal flour and either 10g dried fast acting, or 25g fresh yeast with 10g salt, about 1tbsp oil and 320ml water.  Low water temp and let it prove for about 90 minutes (twice) before shaping and raising to bake.  I also keep plenty of semolina in the house for making focaccia (I tend to buy the big bags in the Indian section of the supermarket) which gets coated with balsamic onions and either made as one large loaves, or as rolls.  The flour seems to have a nice high gluten content to get a good stretch in the dough.

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Why fizl, when you can get a nice loaf for a pound ?

fizl

Costs me less than a pound to make, and tastes fantastic (if I do say so myself).  Its very satisfying as well.  I've got into a routine of making it.  Who doesn't like the smell of baking bread!

cornish

i understand that thinking.....

i don't make bread for sandwiches. but i do like a home made pizza.....

and i do like focaccia for dipping into some olive oil and balsamic vinegar

i will try some semolina but how you ise it?

also, the pasta flour i have says it is '0' flour on the packaging, rather than '00'.....

davidegee

What's the link to your blog please fizl?  The link in your sig isn't a link

IronGiant

foccacia to die for:

fizl

The semolina - for pizza I always use semolina on my peel (and dust a little on the top of the dough before dressing the pizza) to get that rough crunch you get with traditional pizzas.  For the foccacia, I use 400g strong white flour, 100g semolina, 4 tbsp olive oil, 5g salt, 300g warm water and 7g fast action yeast.  Once you have proved and shaped it takes 20-25 minutes in a 220 deg C (gas 7) oven

00 flour - Tesco Ingredient Pasta Flour 500G - Groceries - Tesco Groceries
Mcdougalls Oo Flour 1Kg - Groceries - Tesco Groceries

Blog Spot (split as it is in the swear filter) doesn't work from here.  It is http://yetanothercookingblog.blog spot.co.uk (removing the space)

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I absolutely love the smell the of Tarmac, and I need a new drive