Friday, November 08, 2013

Bread Baking

I have been wanting to try bread baking for very long. But I don't have a bread maker (don't plan to get one at the moment), and I cannot imagine how hard it is to knead with hands. And then, I saw Christine's blog posting a no knead crusty bread recipe, it looks so easy and I quickly saved it into my google drive. Still, I wasn't very sure to bake it, until last week.

I tried baking it with wholemeal flour, and I mixed in some cut apricot. And sad to say I am still not very good in my oven setting hence I used fan bake (which I read is 30C hotter than normal bake). And my bread got overbaked. However, it's still tasty. All of us (Yes, including Natalie) finished half of the bread for breakfast and it was so filling that we didn't feel hungry until lunch.

Wholemeal bread with apricot - overbaked.
Very hard but taste is good.

EG said the bread is good. Asked me to do it again. So, this round I followed the recipe carefully and precisely. I went to buy bread flour, and still I added in cut apricot. And this time, I used Bake function in my oven. I remember I put my bread dough into the oven and I went to bath with my girls upstair. When all of us are ready, when I opened my room door, Eunice said, "Wow mummy, the bread smells so nice...!" I was sooooo happy - that was one of the greatest motivation.

And when I went to the oven and see my bread - the satisfaction cannot be described. I just looked and looked at it and felt so happy about it. It was big and nice, but I had to cut them up so that I can keep them in some container. I had to admire it for a while before cutting them up. Silly me! :D


Tadaa! A successful attempt!
Fluffy bread inside.. Yummy!
Some asked me if the bread is very hard. No! The skin is crispy and the inside is soft. Well it's not so nice to eat just plain like this but if you put on butter and cheese, Wow, it's so good! :)

After that EG got really addicted to the bread. He told me he doesn't want to buy the normal bread out there anymore. So this round I tried the no knead herb wheat bread that Christine posted up after a few days. Again, it's NICE! But I forgot the step to shape it nicely, so the shape looks funny. However, it still tastes very good.

3rd attempt with Italian herb. Smell very very good :)

While I cut the bread into 3 portions to store in container, both my girls couldn't wait to taste the bread. And guess what, the two small girls (~14kg + ~9kg) finished 1/2 of my 1/3 bread, that means it's 1/6 of the bread. I really think it's quite a lot for 2 small girls - but they like it. As long as they like it, mummy is happy. It's homemade and I am pretty sure it's healthy. :)

So now, I am so addicted to bread making. I am still not getting a breadmaker. I think I'll stick to this recipe until everyone gets bored, and I think, it'll last for a while before they get bored. :)


6 comments:

Unknown said...

hi,I have read thru ur blog n find out you purchase a Izoton oven at 2010 Feb.I plan to purchase 1 recently. just no sure how the oven perform. would u mind to help me with this? since u purchase until now did the oven get u any problem? did u use Izoton brand hobs n hoods? if 5 stars is full rating for it how many stars would u give? tq very much

Unknown said...

hi,I have read thru ur blogs n find our u purchase Izoton oven. I plan to purchase 1 recently,but no sure how the oven performs. just wondering would u mind to share some comments about the oven? since u purchase the oven at 2010 Feb until now,did the oven have any problems?if 5 stars is full rating,how many stars would u give to the oven? did u use Izoton hobs n hood?do u recommend me to buy this oven? tq very much,appreciate it help.

pENguiN~ said...

Hi. Yea I am using Izoton oven as well as their hood and hobs. So far they are working good for me. Their service is good. The oven baking function didn't work once, and the service man came just 2-3 days after we called up and fixed it on the spot. And for the hood and hobs, no problem so far. I'd recommend it for its good service. However, they are local brands so their shape might not be so nice, and it might be noisy (the hood). For me, that's not important as long as it does what it supposed to do. :)

Unknown said...

thanks a lot.I just purchase the oven yesterday. in future I might purchase the hobs too. do u mind I'm asking are u live in BM?

Unknown said...

thanks a lot.I just purchase the oven yesterday. in future I might purchase the hobs too. do u mind I asking are u live in BM?

pENguiN~ said...

Hi Jocelyn,

No, I stay in Penang island. :)