A bread (flour) recipe question.

[Dave7]

I have a Morphy Richards bread maker.

Someone recommended I should try proper French bread flour as it gives the light baguette texture.
He suggests mixing it with wholemeal to help it rise.
Strong white on its own rises well.

Does anyone use French bread flour ?
Have you tried it on its own ?
Can I mix it with strong white instead of wholemeal ?
Thanks.

 

[mistyoptic]

Best white flour I’ve found is Marriage’s Manitoba very strong white (Canadian)

we get ours from Costco but there are other sources. Mix it any way you like I mix it with some whole meal, some rye and some spelt

 

[T4tomo]

Whatever you do, don't bake it in the bread maker. They are OK for mixing it and doing first prove. At that point take it out and knock it back and bung it in a loaf tin or whatever, 2nd prove and bake it in an oven, with a tray of water in the oven bottom. That gives you a lighter loaf than using the bake function of the bread maker.

 

[mistyoptic]

We get really soft light loaves from our bread maker. Panasonic are the best though. Had a Morphy Richards in the past and struggled with it

 

[Tenkaykev]

We get really soft light loaves from our bread maker. Panasonic are the best though. Had a Morphy Richards in the past and struggled with it

We've got a Panasonic. It was a great introduction to bread making and we still use it more often then not. It also encouraged me to experiment with different flours / recipes, and to use it just to knead the mix before baking on a tray / in a " Dutch Oven " and a regular loaf tin.

 

[figbat]

Look for around 13-14% protein - much more than that is very strong which means a lot of gluten is developed. Good for structure but can mean less rise unless using a lot of time. Less than that will also work at the risk of a softer crumb.

 

[Tenkaykev]

My less than successful efforts, often resembling a house brick both in size and consistency, have become known as " Worthy " loaves due to the diligence and effort required when eating a slice.

 

[Poacher]

Whatever you do, don't bake it in the bread maker. They are OK for mixing it and doing first prove. At that point take it out and knock it back and bung it in a loaf tin or whatever, 2nd prove and bake it in an oven, with a tray of water in the oven bottom. That gives you a lighter loaf than using the bake function of the bread maker.

We've got a Panasonic. It was a great introduction to bread making and we still use it more often then not. It also encouraged me to experiment with different flours / recipes, and to use it just to knead the mix before baking on a tray / in a " Dutch Oven " and a regular loaf tin.

Same here (Panasonic SD-2511). Wholemeal and anything up to 50/50 is made in the bread maker, French style white (generally 90% type 55 with 10% wholemeal) is used to produce dough which is proved on the tray in a bin liner then baked in the oven at 200c fan for 30 minutes.

 

[mistyoptic]

Here’s one I prepared earlier. 120g whole meal, 70g whole meal Rye, 70g whole meal Spelt and 180g strong white with 5 tbsp mixed seeds. Standard (raisin) program

Edit. Not sure what happened there. I came back to the thread and picture had vanished. Probably a picnic issue

 

[stephec]

Whatever you do, don't bake it in the bread maker. They are OK for mixing it and doing first prove. At that point take it out and knock it back and bung it in a loaf tin or whatever, 2nd prove and bake it in an oven, with a tray of water in the oven bottom. That gives you a lighter loaf than using the bake function of the bread maker.

This is what I used to do with French flour, and I was lucky enough to have a half moon shaped tray that I was given when visiting a bakery for work so that I could make baguettes, I've also got a Warburton's 800g loaf tin procured in a similar way.

 

[Dave7]

I couldn't get the French bread flour so ended up making a Hovis granary flour loaf which is very nice.

 

[stephec]

View attachment 605407
I couldn't get the French bread flour so ended up making a Hovis granary flour loaf which is very nice.

Nice flour that, I've never had a bad loaf from it, it hasn't half gone up in price lately though.