cooking

[zeon]

only way i can seem to get this to work is to provide the link

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v696/z...bread1.jpg

[zeon]

Prince,
Next time you do mash try it and add some sugar it will of course sweeten it up but it is dead lovely... Salt i avoid adding as it has enough in it already

kindest regards

z\eon x

[pellaz]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v696/z...bread1.jpg

i tried to get the image up, didnt work odd

[MidgetGem]

I'd say I'm fairly good at cooking, took it up in high school despite people saying it was purely for girls I couldn't give a crap, I loved it and still do, studied hard there and got A's and the odd A+ - I took it further and studied it for a year at a local college and had planned to keep on trying, to make it as a well known chef, but well.. that dream died when I couldn't cope with the stress working in a real kitchen and after much thought, I finished the course and went on to instead study my 2nd passion - art/design digitally as I couldn't draw etc, and now I'm turning heads with my work and what not but still cook up whatever I can in the kitchen using whatever is there to make something delicious, home made and not some frozen garbage, :biggrin: I love baking though! having a sweet tooth and all but do make a meaan spicy pasta from scratch, even the pasta strands are home made :redface:

[East]

I can't bake at all but I love to cook fish and my favorite thing is to make creative salads...the combinations are endless. I like to make it visually appealing as well. Not really cooking but I love to experiment with the juicer. I got a heavy duty one where you just put the whole veggie or fruit in and it takes out the pulp...I love that machine.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Every winter I bake bread. Why the winter instead of summer? With average temperatures of 90-95F in summer (many going over 100F) running the oven over heats the house. I live in a house that is only 450 sqft - so that over can really heat the house running 40 minutes at 350F.

The simplest recipe for bread is:

1 cup water
2 tsp lose yeast (or 1 packet)
1 tablespoon flour
2 3/4 to 3 Cups flour
1 egg
1/4 Cup vegetable oil (EVOO works well).
1/4 tsp salt

Turn the oven on at 350F

run the tap hot water until hot water is coming out. Most homes are set between 100-110F so this should be hot enough. Fill your mixing bowl with hot water (from the tap)put your measuring cup in it. Let sit a couple minutes until both are hot.

Pour out the water, add 1 cup hot water to your bowl. Add yeast. Mix until yeast is dissolved. Add one tablespoon sugar, mix.

In your measuring cup measure out 1/4 cup vegetable oil (at room temperature) crack and add one egg. Beat with a fork until slightly frothy. Set to the side.

Add 2.5 cups of your flour to the water, yeast sugar mixture. pour the egg oil mix on top, add 1/4 tsp salt. Mix until well blended. Then add a little flour at a time until your dough holds together and is ready for kneading.

Knead 10-15 minutes. How fast and how well you knead is going to determine time.

Here is where most breads fail. Kneading is an art skill. Its a rolling and folding movement that slowly develops gluten. Gluten is what holds the bread together, it determines the bread's 'crumb'.

A well kneaded bread will have 'spring' to it. Pull it and it will stretch, but tend to spring back a bit. Once you have been doing this for a while and have found the right consistency for your bread, you will know when your dough is ready to be dumped in a bowl and allowed to rise.

If you have a kitchen aide and a hook, its becomes far easier. Add the ingredients to the bowl as I directed above. Mix on 1 until mixed, then set it between 2-4 and let the hook do its thing for 11 minutes.

In an oiled bowl, roll your dough to cover it oil. Cover with a sheet of saran wrap, cover with a towel. Set in a warm place for 35 minutes or until doubled.

Punch down and shape and move to your oiled loaf pan. Let rise again (about 30 minutes) and then bake at 350F until the top is golden brown, for me that is exactly 36 minutes ;-)

a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp more yeast and a tad more kneading and shaping into a long 'tube', painting with egg white and baking at 350F until golden brown will result in something very similar to french bread.

A tad less yeast (1 3/4 tsp) results in a heavier crumb which is good for dinner rolls and for cinnamon rolls.

If you are into whole grains, mix 1/2 white flour with 1/2 whole grain. This will mean you will need to knead it more. A 100% whole grain bread will need to be kneaded a lot longer and with far more enthusiasm :tongue:.

BTW if you keep your eggs in the refrigerator, I suggest pulling out the egg(s) you use for baking 1-2 hours before you bake, let them reach room temperature. Warm eggs react better with other ingredients. In this case your yeasts are kept warm - yeasts love warm moist places.

[Almac]

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkGreen"]I make my own sour-dough bread, it takes time an patience but it's worth the time and effort. Lard, butter, or olive oil helps the crumb of the bread to be better. With sough dough you have to have a very strong bread flour, I use 'Sainsbury's Taste the Difference' Canadian very strong white bread flour. I activate the dried yeast, then mixed it with all my ingredients, the kneed my bread for 8 minutes, after that I put it in a plastic bowl with cling film stretched over the top and then throw it in the fridge for around 12 to 14 hours to rise....
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[monk]

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="DarkGreen"]I make my own sour-dough bread, it takes time an patience but it's worth the time and effort. Lard, butter, or olive oil helps the crumb of the bread to be better. With sough dough you have to have a very strong bread flour, I use 'Sainsbury's Taste the Difference' Canadian very strong white bread flour. I activate the dried yeast, then mixed it with all my ingredients, the kneed my bread for 8 minutes, after that I put it in a plastic bowl with cling film stretched over the top and then throw it in the fridge for around 12 to 14 hours to rise....
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In the fridge? I thought it needed a warm place to rise. :confused:

[Almac]

Hi electricmonk to answer your question, no bakers yeast can and does work at low temperatures. The slower the rising the richer the flavour of the bread... Now take for example, lager, in (German) meaning lagering, unlike beer which needs a warmish temperature, lager yeast is happy at low temperature.

[Zet]

A tip for mash potato,,,

Using a hand mash or in my case a retro 1970's hand manual wisk thing add some butter with a drop of milk and after its blended nicely using a modern day fork wisk it up as fasdt as u can to go all fluffy and add a sprinkle of sugar... Depending on your sweet tooth if you have a strong sweet tooth add 4 big spoon fulls of sugar and blend it all in.... Makes it very more ish and bloody lovely... Alternatively do a volcano meal... Diced chicken and veg mixed with mash with a well at the top and in the top pour some gravy so when its sliced down the side the gravy runs and the meal can be dunked in it for a change

Never forget butter for nice mashed potatoes, and let some chunks still exist. Salt, pepper and nutmeg does the rest