Any Brits Hnkering For Some "Real" Bread ??

[luv2teach77 41]

WOW...

I've just finished scoffing two slices of a home made loaf I just made and I can categorically state that this tastes EXACTLY like bread I used to buy from Sainsburys !! I make no bones about it... I HATE american bread... I can't stand it so I finally stopped moaning and decided to try and make my own. A couple of weeks ago I tried a recipe that my Mum uses and while it was Ok, it still didn't taste like I wanted to. Enter Delia Smith !!... I just made this recipe for plain white bread and it is FANTASTIC !!

Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves

Ingredients

24oz white bread flour, plus a little extra for the top of the bread (Available in any grocery store)

1 level tablespoon salt, or less, according to taste

1 level teaspoon easy-blend dried yeast (This worked out to be about half a packet)

1 level teaspoon golden caster sugar (I used white sugar as I didn't have any golden caster sugar. I've been very critical of the sugar in bread thing since arriving but I am now convinced its the mixture of the sugar and salt that makes it taste like I wanted it to !! )

about 15 fl oz (425 ml) hand-hot water

All the ingredients are available in US stores and I'd gone from raw ingredients to bread in my belly in under 3 hours (Thanks to the humidity outside on our deck !!).

I cannot reccommend this recipe highly enough for any expat out there who craves some good crusty bread.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I have / am / will be again shortly !!

Mark

Edited August 27, 2006 by luv2teach77

[rebeccajo 14]

Well, Mark...where's the rest of the directions? I mean did you do it in a bread machine or what?

[luv2teach77 41]

oh...

ummm... Nope. No bread machine for me. I worked that dough with my own fair hand. Let it rise to about twice its original size on the first rise, then whack all the air out of it and knead it again before sticking it into the loaf tin. Let it rise again until its up to the top of the tin and then put it on the middle shelf of the oven, pre-heated to 450 and bake for 35-40 mins. When you turn it out of the tin onto a wire rack for cooling, tapping the bottom should produce a sound like its hollow. If it sounds dense then bake it for a while longer.

I've sliced our loaf up already and will then store some of it in the freezer (defrosting pieces as and when we need them) while some of it will juet be kept in a ziplock bag and dealt over the next day or so.

It bakes with a yummy crusty crust all the way round and with some real butter on it I think was about as close to bread heaven as I've got since arriving in the US. I almost wish it was 6am tomorrow morning already so I can toast some up and smother it it butter and smuckers strawberry jelly, all washed down with my regular morning cup of PG-Tips !!

Mark

[rebeccajo 14]

LOL...ok Mark I'm printing this out.

Why do I find your food threads so hilarious? I always get this image of you at a kitchen table somewhere in the midwest......HAHAHAHA....

[luv2teach77 41]

Well your image isn't a million miles from the truth really Rebecca....

I love food, always have, and while there are very few things that I can't buy or easily recreate out here in the corn fields, the lack of what I would call decent bread has been a bone of contention for me since day one. I don't need to eat bread every day but when I do I don't want to have to smother it in stuff to hide its taste which is where I find myself with most of the store bought bread I've tried. Now I've found this recipe I know that with a few hours to spare on a weekend, I can produce great tasting bread that will last me for the week ahead.

Next weekend I plan to fill two slices of the aforementioned bread with a couple of rashers of irish bacon from the local British Grocery store and a fried egg and forget about the world for the 2.5 seconds it will take me to devour it !!

Mark

[pj1959us 0]

Thanks for sharing this! I will be surprising David with this delectable bread very soon.

[Dr_LHA 3]

Sounds good, I'll have to try this sometime, although I'll admit I've very lucky to live a mile away from a Wegman's who's "Farmhouse Style Bread" (baked fresh in store) is almost exactly like a Sainsbury's "Split Tin" crusty loaf, so my need is less great than your own. Decent bread is so hard to find in the US.

I wish I had tried making my own bread when I lived in California. Literally 5 years of bread free existance due to the crapness of the stuff down there.

[Sister Fracas 5]

gotta say I've never understood this bread thang. Just had bread almost everyday for two weeks in the UK and I didn't think WOW, now that's some good bread. *shrug*

[TracyTN 237]

Thanks Mark!!!

Frances, you may think me weird (or weirder than normal ) but I LOVE the bread in the UK!!! I think what I like about it better is the 'top crust' on the US bread is bleck. At least that's the only difference I can tell you for sure other than it just tastes better!!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

You can get good bread where I live -- it just ain't cheap.

But in the UK, I found you get a really good loaf for less than a quid.

[TracyTN 237]

Yeah, you can get good bread here - I just think the 'loaf' bread you can buy in the supermarket is routinely ####### (unlike there).

[Sister Fracas 5]

Thanks Mark!!!

Frances, you may think me weird (or weirder than normal ) but I LOVE the bread in the UK!!! I think what I like about it better is the 'top crust' on the US bread is bleck. At least that's the only difference I can tell you for sure other than it just tastes better!!

It tasted better cuz you were havin' yer toasties with yer hunny!

Edited August 28, 2006 by Frances

[Dr_LHA 3]

gotta say I've never understood this bread thang. Just had bread almost everyday for two weeks in the UK and I didn't think WOW, now that's some good bread. *shrug*

Like a lot of things, its more to do with what you're used to rather than if it is actually "better", I guess.

[Sister Fracas 5]

gotta say I've never understood this bread thang. Just had bread almost everyday for two weeks in the UK and I didn't think WOW, now that's some good bread. *shrug*

Like a lot of things, its more to do with what you're used to rather than if it is actually "better", I guess.

[TracyTN 237]

Thanks Mark!!!

Frances, you may think me weird (or weirder than normal ) but I LOVE the bread in the UK!!! I think what I like about it better is the 'top crust' on the US bread is bleck. At least that's the only difference I can tell you for sure other than it just tastes better!!

It tasted better cuz you were havin' yer toasties with yer hunny!

Must have been!