Monday, March 15, 2010

Bucket Bread

Step 1

5 cups warm water, 1/4 cup dried yeast, 1 cup honey
Combine water and honey, sprinkle on yeast and laeave until bubbly (5 min)

Step 2

3 cups P/flour, 1 cup gluten flour (bread improver)
Add flour to yeast mix. Leave for 20 min to form a sponge.

Step 3

7 to 8 cups Plain flour, 1 tbsp salt 1/2 cup oil
Add to spnoge knead to earlobe consistency

Let rise until doubled (45 min) Knock down and knead

Let rise in tins (45 minutes)

Bake in a hot oven 230c for 10 min then 180c for 20 min
Turn out of tins, tap bottoms if they sound hollow they are ready.

This mix makes 4 double high tops or 3 loaves and 1 doz rolls

It can be made in a bucket and let to prove over night.

My notes:

Go with 7 cups plain flour in Step 3, mine was a little dry. I also used bakers flour and forgot about the gluten flour (bread improver)
My mix made a huge loaf, I have a giant tin which took 2 packs of regular bread mix today. It also made a dozen bread rolls and 2 pizza bases.

After making another batch a week or so later, I used the 7 cups of flour in Step 3 and it was a bit sticky, so practice will make perfect. I made a huge loaf of bread again (which I sprinkled with a little water to make a crusty loaf), 9 hot cranky buns (minus the x's) and a dozen pizza scrolls that never had a chance to cool down.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Home made bread

I have just had home made bread for lunch. MMMMMMM. Tricked the rest of the family and they got chips from the shop, so a couple of hours later when the fresh bread came out of the oven they couldn't have any. Sneaky hey?

I had a couple of boxes of bread mix and a bag of bread flour in the cupboard for ages, and last week made a recipe called bucket bread out of the bag of flour. It made a huge loaf of bread, a dozen rolls and 2 pizzas. Pretty easy to make, but the kneading was a tad difficult.

Today I used up 2 bags of bread mix that came out of a box in the cupboard and used the bucket bread steps. It has come out of the oven light and fluffy with a crisp crust. Fabulous, I had 2 big slices, shhh dont tell anyone. I can see now that I'm going to have to source some good bread flour, as the shop stuff isn't as good. I knead this stuff better than my bread maker does. The bread maker isn't nearly as good, I tell you. I have a feeling I'll be making more tomorrow.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I'm back

I've been missing in action for a while now, but I'm menu planning again in an attempt to save some money.

Friday 12th March: homemade lasagne

Saturday 13th March: homemade KFC (This recipe can be found in the forums at www.simplesavings.com.au)

Sunday 14th March: chicken and vege soup

Monday 15th March: steak and veges

Tuesday 16th March: homemade burgers

Wednesday 17th March: homemade pizza


I made homemade bread this week that went down a treat. I made a huge loaf, 12 rolls, and 2 pizzas out of the dough I had made. Pretty good as it cost almost nothing. It was a little yeasty, so I'll reduce the amount a bit next time.

Thats all I've got so far, stay tuned.