Looking for replies here. I would like to know what your favorite kind of bread is. There are so many from which to choose. Everything from Wonder Bread to Pumpernickel. There is Rye, French and Raisin bread. So many more…
Personally, my favorites change with my moods and the time of day and day of the year. Come on, lets get some input here …
A lot of people have special diet restrictions. I got this email the other day:
I didn’t notice any yeast free bread recipes. I need one of those as I have been advised too get off of yeast breads until I can back off my candida problems. Thanks for any information that you can give me on yeast free recipies and have a great day.
We went right to work to on a new wheat bread recipe that does not have yeast. Check out our new Yeastless Wheat Bread Recipe. It is a nice recipe, the rising factor is baking soda. Unfortunately, it will not have the same consistency as regular wheat bread. Still, it is tasty and can be used to make toast.
I get this question alot. People like to have their homemade bread as if it came fresh from a bakery. And I don’t blame them.
Thankyou for your lovely website.
We have been making bread (in a machine) for many years now, but a problem has started happening which we cannot solve. We only make wholemeal bread from purchased wholemeal flour. The bread comes out looking good, but it breaks up easily. It hasn’t got that elastic “stretchy” quality.
Can you suggest what we could do ?
Perhaps your answer cold be included in your Bread FAQs.
I got the following note from Monica Saylor which contains an interesting proposal:
This morning, I caught a blurb on “The Early Show” about today being “National Cheese Day” (or something along those lines), which got me to wondering whether there was a “National Homemade Bread Day”. So far I haven’t found anything along those lines, so I’m suggesting a month/week/day be designated “National Homemade Bread Month/Week/Day”
I found thise site I like this site – http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm – which has an entry (sometimes several) for every month/week/day of the year – but nothing for “Homemade Bread”.
I believe the way one goes about getting an unofficial “National (something) Month/Week/Day” is by simply declaring it on a website or blog. I’m going to post to my little blog, and contact a couple of manufacturers of bread makers plus flour companies. (They should be OK with it because it’s a way to boost sales).
Is there any particular month that seems better suited to bread making than others? I was thinking every day of the year should be so designated, but what about going with February? The weather’s usually less than nice during that month, plus it’s just around the corner. Also, with Valentine’s Day in mind, what better way to show you love someone than by making them a load of bread custom-tailored to their tastes?
Just a thought…
Monica Salyer
Just thought I would put it out there for anyone interested in joining a campaign to create a national homemade bread day. Going along with Monica’s idea. Maybe the day before Valentines day would be good, 13 February!
Will
I got the following comment from a reader. I love positive reinforcement:
I just found your site and wanted to let you know that I LOVE IT!
I just got into bread-making and agree with you that it is very satisfying – It’s great knowing exactly what ingredients are going into the bread (and therefore my body), plus the difference in price (home-made vs. store-bought) adds up to serious savings very quickly!
I started off with a basic bread-making machine (Cuisinart – $70 at Costco over the holidays) but have “graduated” to using a mixer (Hamilton Beach Commercial CPM 700) to mix and knead the ingredients, manually controlling the rise and baking the loaves in my gas oven. I have a Big Green Egg and a baking stone, so the next step will be to begin baking bread in that.
Again – Love your site!
Thanks, Monica, for the kind words.
Got this question about French Bread flour this morning:
Question: Which is the best flour for making french breads. We use all purpose enriched bleached flour but all our breads have tough crust and are really dense mass. What do you recommend?
Answer: What you want is flour with slightly higher gluten content to make French Bread. Honeyville makes a nice flour for French Bread. It is available at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007NC15W/essentialbooks
You can also buy your own gluten and add to all-purpose flour.
We go from tall orders to long orders. Here is a question and answer I received today:
I came across your website today. Can you tell me if there are any home bread machines that can make the longer style loaf of bread like the ones you see in the store, or a bread machine that can make more than one loaf at a time? We are a family of 4 and make our own gluten-free bread, and we seem to be making bread every other day. Thanks in advance for your help and assistance.
My Answer:
There are none that I know of that will make loaves that long. The longest I can think of is the Zojirushi:
http://www.breadinfo.com/zojirushi-supreme.shtml
Having said that. I have found that nearly all the bread machines make excellent dough, much easier than you can do it by hand. If you want to make long loaves, try making the dough in a bread machine and then baking the bread in the oven. This is actually quite efficient. I estimate the total prep time using this method to be less than ten minutes. Whereas doing it totally by hand would take much longer. You can see our rundown on many bread machines at:
http://www.breadinfo.com/machinecompare.shtml
I get lots of questions. But some go a bit beyond my capabilities. Here is one I received the other day that I have no idea how to answer:
Dear Sir,
We want to set up small bakery unit with capacity of No – 1 2000 loaves/ 5000 loaves per day. We want complete details of machine & equipments for manufacturing of the same from the stage of wheat (aata) to finished loaves.
Please mail to us urgently complete details including details of :
1. Space required
2. Power required
3. Workmen required
4. Other essential detailsWe want quotation for the best quality machinery.
Please also give us information about making of Rusk / Cake if possible.Thanks and Regards
If you have any ideas, let me know and I can forward the info.
I got this question yesterday. I thought a lot of people might be wondering the same thing:
Hello:I just bought a bread machine. I didn’t know until I opened the box that it required “bread flour” and “bread machine yeast”.I couldn’t find anything in the store that was labeled “bread flour”, and the “bread machine yeast” was double the price of regular yeast. I’m beginning to think that I made a mistake in that purchase. Can you use “regular flour” in a bread machine, as well as “regular yeast”?Thank You for any information about this.Also, I haven’t gone completely through your website yet, but I plan to. I haven’t seen any reviews on the brand of bread machine I bought, which is a Hamilton Beach brand. What do you think of that brand?
On my table manners website I am often asked about bread plates. Yes, bread plates are handy for bread at formal occasions. But for meals where the family is stretched out at a long table with little or no elbow room and even less room for extra dishes , a bread plate is not absolutely necessary.
Bishops Hat Folded Napkin
However, a nice addition to the table setting can be a specially folded napkin. It is kind of like origami with cloth. With the holidays on the horizon, this is a good time to do a bit of research on the subject. My own experience with folding napkins is that the first one is the toughest. After that you can mass produce them relatively easilly.
As for bread and napkins, the ideal solution at the dinner table is to bake a loaf, cut it into pieces wrap it in a napkin and place on the table in a wicker basket. Sure it is classic, but when everyone sees the basket, they know what is in it, and if they are in any doubt the aroma will dispell it soon enough.
Make the holiday season special this year…and every year.
Breadinfo Blog 