Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Ben Can Not Live On Bread Alone

I've been breading it up over the past few days. I've made flat bread to have with a curry, pizza bases and a sort of damper thing with sultanas in it. I just like how basic the ingredients are, and kneading this big messy lump.

I imagine myself to be Malcolm Douglas cooking on an open fire in the bush. I like to think how cheaply you could possibly eat, and it still taste good-- homemade bread with just flour and water, lentil curry and rice... About 5c a month.

Not sure how to progress my bread past big hard lump though. How do you get fluffiness? I haven't tried yeast yet. I don't know what it is, or what it even looks like. It all sounds a bit foreign and biblical.

Any bread making tips that don't require a bread making machine (which is cheating, and very un-Malcolm Douglas)?

6 comments:

Drew said...

This one is our favourite and although it may sound like a pain because of how long it takes, as long as you think ahead, it is surprisingly little effort :)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

Ell

Ben McLaughlin said...

Hi Ell- unfortunately I couldn't get access to that site..

Pedro said...

Benno...right now, the bread you are making and eating is tops. Healthy, no preservatives and no yeast, gluten etc that starts to take you into the too many calories zone. Add flavour ingredients and forget the fluffy components and you can eat bread to your hearts content.
Flatter the better!!!!

Hows little I?....

Signed
'Jealous'

Ben McLaughlin said...

thanks Drew- I'll buy some yeast and give that a crack..

Hey Pete,little i's going good. She's a funny little thing. I don't mind healthy, but I think I'll at least try a bit of yeast.. If I can't have my bread fluffy, I'm not sure that I'll be able to go on (with life in general).

Aimee said...

If you don't want to wait 14-20 hours for that one to cook, you can try this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=1&ref=dining

It is the same basic recipe, but with 4.5 hours rising time. Apparently the bread rises the same, but the flavours are not as fully developed. I cooked this last night and PH (who is somewhat critical in his appraisals of food) thought it was 'great'.

Both of these recipes you don't have to knead though. If you want to be "manly" and do some good kneading, just google 'bread making'. Or pop over to Laura's blog at madenoughtips.blogspot.com

Aimee said...

Oh, and I made the speedy version with plain flour, not bread flour. It was fine.