Homemade bread

If your a regular reader of this blog (if indeed there are any regular readers!) you'll notice that things seem to go in stops and starts, ill not post for a few weeks and then it seems like I'm posting every other day. Well, that's pretty much true, I haven't posted for weeks and now I've got over half a dozen posts sitting waiting to be posted (and written in some cases). Hopefully I'll get some time Over the next few days to get some posts sorted and up, but for now I've found a new passion.

Ok, passion maybe a bit strong, but its fun and I've been enjoying playing around with it. I've also got some plans for trying out some of the other fun recipes. The bread maker was a present for Christmas from the brother inlaw, not the easiest thing to pack in a suitcase and carry home on a plane! It eventually followed us home via Royal Mail, and was put straight to use. 

The machine

So far it has made only a couple of loaves, and only basic brown and white loaves, but they have all been a hit with the family, especially the bairns. I'm planning on making an olive loaf, a cheese loaf and I'm also considering making some sort of chocolate chip loaf, although this is going to need some extra research. This is the great thing about having your own bread maker, you can just experiment with things and see how they turn out, if it doesn't work, well, just bin it and start again. The bread mixes are pretty cheap, not quite as cheap as buying basics bread from the supermarket, but more fun and like I said, it gives the opportunity to play around.

First run

The only issue seems to be that the bread collapses in the middle a little. It seems to rise perfectly right until the end and then collapse for the final bit. It doesn't seem to affect the bread at all, especially not the taste. So I have yet to find out how to fix this issue, although I don't really care.

I'm really excited for the new bread maker, there are a whole range of options and possibilities. I'll post up as and when I get around to trying some exotic mixes!