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Bread machine is easiest..... What kind of bread do you want?

Quick breads like biscuts or corn bread... flat unleavened breads.. french types... sweet breads... sour doughs

A lot depends on how you handle the process....

Nothing beats fresh, homemade bread but the last time I tried I was afraid for my life as it grew into something that even Godzilla would have ran screaming from lol.

My advice? Bread machine or a bakery

Raven, you and I have discussed this before. You said you don't have any "real" measuring cups or spoons and you just guessed at the amount of each ingredient you were adding.

When cooking, one can usually get away with random or "close enough" amounts. Baking is simply different. Unless you know what you're doing, guessing isn't your best bet.

Get some standard measuring cups and spoons and try again. You'll probably have surprisingly good results.

Baking is done by the numbers... the weights and everything have to be right on the money..

Bakerys weigh ingredients.. which is another option.. but tough on a small scale..

Baking bread is pretty easy, actually quite simple once you understand the basics. If you don't understand the basics you are likely not going to get good results even with a bread machine. However, many home bread bakers get great results with a machine.

I agree with weighing the ingredients, I measure all mine by weight except for little measurements like the yeast, oil and sugar.

I make about 99% of all my bread. The only things I don't make are hot dog buns (not a big deal since I don't eat hot dogs often) because I haven't mastered the shaping of them, and Italian or French breads because you need an oven that injects steam at the beginning of the baking to make the crisp crust (and without a crisp crust what's the point of those breads?).

Raven, the best thing to do is to do some reading, get the ingredients and start baking. When something goes wrong, don't give up but instead try to understand what went wrong. Bread making can be very rewarding.

Recommended reading, books by Peter Reinhart. If you want some links to baking websites pm me.

Thanks for the tips..
I've given up on my bread making machine though.
There seems to be lots of different kinds of flour and just got a bag that says it's for bread making.
So I will start again with that flour,mixed with milk and and a yeast portion.
I wonder if it will rise....

I'd recommend also using a recipe, Raven.

BUSH DAMPER

3 cups of self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water

Sift flour and salt into a bowl, rub in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Make a well in the centre, add the combined milk and water, mix lightly with a knife until dough leaves sides of bowl.
Gently knead on a lightly floured surface and then shape into a round, put on a greased oven tray. Pat into a round 15-16 cm (6-6 1/2 inch) diameter.
With sharp knife, cut two slits across dough like a cross, approximately 1cm (1/2in) deep.
Brush top of dough with milk.
Sift a little extra flour over dough.

Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Reduce heat to moderate and bake another 20 minutes.

Best eaten the day it is made.

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. 5-10 minutes.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. (If using a stand mixer, mix ingredients together on low, then turn it up to medium for about 5 minutes.)

Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half, and let rest for a few minutes so it's easier to shape. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

This is a basic white bread. It's excellent plain and can easily be modified by adding whatever you like - herbs, spices, fruits, nuts, cheese, etc.

Lots of interesting info here Thanks.
By the way, can bread, while forming in the oven explode ?

You can get a crispy crust by spraying the oven walls or setting a cake pan with hot water in it on the oven floor..... the steam only needs to be applied in first 10 minutes....

Or if you want vapor injection..its easy to do, a little copper tube and a SS mist head your golden.. you can get everything you need at a hardware store that sells swamp coolers an misters..

Plus you get bragging rights.. I've lined my stove with tile and done some weird stuff to get pizza the way I wanted it..

I would like French Bread..
That must be very light...
Like baguettes for example.

Unless you've got an odd sized bread machine, Raven, I don't think you're gonna get 'em.

How about chopping them into small thingies before bakeing in da oven..
My Bread making machine is usless !

Part of the deal is how you handle the dough... kneading develops the gluten so you get that chewie texture....

Then for a baguette roll it into a rectangle...then roll that up a long skinny thing... I have made sandwich type rolls the same way.. which work for bratwurst an BBQ.. not to mention my lunch

Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to get her poor dog some bread but when she bent over Rover took over and she got bread instead.

Rover had a rise instead of the bread.

My Bread still won't rise...

Get out of the basement Raven ...go to the BIG shops...and you will find all sorts of ...ready to bake ...just add water ...types of bread

But I wants to know the chemistry !

( and make it work )
lots aready said, thanks..

Raven, if your bread isn't rising there is only thing wrong. Yeast makes the bread rise. If the yeast isn't doing it's job it's dead. It's possible your yeast expired. But more likely you killed it. Heat kills yeast. You added the yeast to liquid that was too hot. The liquid should be about 110 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 43 - 46 degrees Celsius. Get yourself a digital instant read thermometer, they don't cost much.

Happy baking.

Raven, only 4 ingredients are ABSOLUTELY necessary for baking:

- Flour (You want something with about 12-14% protein for good gluten development)
- Salt (This regulates the yeast development, softens gluten, and provides some flavour
- Water (This provides a good environment for the yeast, and should not be too hot or too cold)
- Yeast (Active Dry is crap, make sure to buy Instant Dried Yeast)

Any additional ingredients will increase the richness and softness of the bread, but these four ingredients are the only ones necessary for making lean doughs like french breads.

It was already mentioned, but I'll say it again: Make sure to check if your yeast is dead or not. If it's old or crap (especially Active Dry, argh!) then it will be no good. Buy small quantities of Instant Dried Yeast. The yeast needs a good environment to live in, so the dough should optimally be about 80 degrees fahrenheit. Bread is harder to make in the winter and takes a lot longer. To see if the yeast is alive, stick some in a bowl with some lukewarm water (don't make it too hot!!) and a bit of sugar. The yeast should "bloom" and froth to the surface. If this doesn't happen, throw out the yeast!! As for the chemistry, it's very complex, so find yourself a very simple recipe and start there. It can either be one where you make a starter (like a "poolish" for a baguette) and leave it before adding to a bread recipe, or one where you just dump it all together without that stage. Both ways can be used to make bread. Just follow the recipe.

Unless you have a special steam injection oven you will not be able to produce crusty bread with a thin, light crust like you can buy in a bakery. You can try spraying the top of your dough lightly with a spray bottle before sticking it into the oven to delay the setting of the crust and provide a thinner, crispier crust but this doesn't always work. Make sure you let the dough double in size, and don't handle it too roughly the second time it's risen or pound all the air out of it- it'll be flat as a pancake!

Thanks Unsullied
I'll get it right one day !
I'm just a a daft Raven..!


xx

Bread can be intimidating, Raven, but I've learned a lot recently so it doesn't seem quite so bad It just takes good quality ingredients and patience!
Let me know if you (or anyone else too) have any other questions about bread!!

Well I think the yeast is ok and the flour etc, but the machine turns out yuckie.
Bread is becoming too expensive over here as well.
Never thought I would have to give up bread.

Raven, yuckie in what respect?

stoney..semi flat.
Oh well will keep trying...

If it's stoney the dough probably isn't properly hydrated. If it's semi flat it could be a lack of hydration or too much hydration. Since it's easy to measure liquids I will assume you have that measurement correct. But measuring flour is tricky because it is easily compacted. As such, it is very easy to over measure flour by volume. Thus, I deduce you are using a heavy hand in your flour measurement. Get yourself a small electronic kitchen scale (about $20 - $30 USD, not sure what that comes out to in your currency).

Even if you use a bread machine you should check what the dough feels like. When it is about half way into the kneading cycle, carefully stick your finger into the dough. For most breads the dough should feel somewhat tacky, just shy of sticky. If it feels too dry add additional liquid in small amounts (teaspoon or tablespoon at a time) and let it incorporate and check it again. Adjust as necessary. If the dough is too wet add additional flour, again in small quantities, let it incorporate and check again.

Yep It seems you have to precise.
But I thought that machine would simply do it !

I endorse HP's advice.

--fanasm