Today's Large, Light-Crust, Multigrain Rapid-bake loaf
Do you have a bread machine lurking at the back of a cupboard, or collecting dust but for occasional weekend use? We bought this shiny example of Panasonic "white goods" ten years ago and it's still going strong - admittedly five of those years were in storage, but it is now back in daily use. At the time we bought it we had several friends who warned: "Oh, it smells lovely but it's so much hassle", or "Yes, we started off with good intentions but we soon stopped using it". At the time I was hand-making bread, so I it was hard to imagine a machine being more hassle. My problem was more with giving up the wholesome, hands-on process of kneading, shaping, oiling tins etc, which are therapeutic as well as practical. In short, converting to a machine felt like cheating, or giving up.
We decided to invest in one nevertheless, vowing never to buy bread from a shop again, except soft rolls for packed-lunches. We stocked up on 32kg sacks of flour and yeast in bulk, quickly establishing a routine of making a 'rapid loaf' in the evening, or a 'timed loaf' to be ready for breakfast. Once you know the standard recipe, it takes all of 3 minutes to prepare the ingredients. Once the loaf has been shaken out of the tin, it takes another 3 minutes to clean it. The question is, will the novelty last? Furthermore, is it worth the effort? I reply with a resounding "Yes!"
Firstly, for the same price (about 60p, using Organic Malted flour from Highland Wholefoods), one gets a much better loaf. Sure, we could buy white cotton wool that's past the sell-by date for less, but is that really bread? Secondly, it's healthier than the average supermarket loaf with the potential to tweak the recipe to suit your own tastes/needs e.g. leave out the salt altogether, leave out the dried milk powder if vegan friends are coming to visit. Thirdly, it's a lot less hassle than getting your shoes on and walking/driving to the nearest shop when you realise you don't have any bread left. Fourthly, it leaves your house smelling like a bakery, which is hard to beat. Lastly, it's simply divine to experience a taste of self-sufficiency. So we're not growing the wheat and grinding the flour, nor do we have a solid-fuel, hand-built oven in the yard. It is very satisfying, nevertheless, to throw some basic raw ingredients together and make something that is both attractive and sustaining.
We decided to invest in one nevertheless, vowing never to buy bread from a shop again, except soft rolls for packed-lunches. We stocked up on 32kg sacks of flour and yeast in bulk, quickly establishing a routine of making a 'rapid loaf' in the evening, or a 'timed loaf' to be ready for breakfast. Once you know the standard recipe, it takes all of 3 minutes to prepare the ingredients. Once the loaf has been shaken out of the tin, it takes another 3 minutes to clean it. The question is, will the novelty last? Furthermore, is it worth the effort? I reply with a resounding "Yes!"
Firstly, for the same price (about 60p, using Organic Malted flour from Highland Wholefoods), one gets a much better loaf. Sure, we could buy white cotton wool that's past the sell-by date for less, but is that really bread? Secondly, it's healthier than the average supermarket loaf with the potential to tweak the recipe to suit your own tastes/needs e.g. leave out the salt altogether, leave out the dried milk powder if vegan friends are coming to visit. Thirdly, it's a lot less hassle than getting your shoes on and walking/driving to the nearest shop when you realise you don't have any bread left. Fourthly, it leaves your house smelling like a bakery, which is hard to beat. Lastly, it's simply divine to experience a taste of self-sufficiency. So we're not growing the wheat and grinding the flour, nor do we have a solid-fuel, hand-built oven in the yard. It is very satisfying, nevertheless, to throw some basic raw ingredients together and make something that is both attractive and sustaining.
RSS Feed