Ugh. What was I thinking of? The more I think about it, this recipe, whilst it might have tasted good, never had the pedigree to be a good looking blog post from the start.
From now on I vow only to decide to bake things that at least stand a fighting chance of being pretty.
Normally I would bin stuff that turns out like this but a) it’s my Fresh From The Oven entry and my good friend Helly at Fuss Free Flavours is hosting this month so I didn’t want to miss and b) I never claim to be any kind of “expert” so here is the proof.
Helly gave us free rein to make any kind of (hideous, disastrous) bread this month but stipulated that we should be able to trace exactly where our flour came from. This malt loaf flour has stamped on the pack that is a blend from three different mills in Oxfordshire. I would trek downstairs to check but since it’s nearly midnight I’ll assume it’s enough detail to say it’s from Lewknor.
At the Masterchef Live show back in November, I came across the Wessex Mill flours stand who were selling malt loaf bread flour. Nostalgic for Soreen and keen to buy things that I don’t normally see in the shops, I pocketed a bag and looked forward to making my own home made malt loaf that would eclipse the sticky wodges from the supermarket.
Only like Monster Munch and Oreos, somethings are pointless to make yourself when they taste better out the packet and aren’t expensive anyway. Malt loaf would appear to stand in this category.
I wish I could tell you it tastes good but I reckon it needs loads more sugar and also dried fruit (oddly absent from the ingredients list).
You may laugh louder when I tell you that this is the malt loaf upside down. It looked even worse the right way up. I hate cookery errors. I’m too busy for them.
I have been testing out a Morphy Richards bread maker which I was sent to review. Today is not the review. I have had two pretty disappointing experiences with the bread maker so far but I will put these down to arrogantly trying to run before I can walk and persist in making some more straight forward loaves before I cast final judgement.
The recipe on the flour bag did warn that less water may be required for bread makers but advised trial and error with your own machine.
My first attempt using the bread maker had occurred when the whole family were ill. I know I keep banging on about the whole family being ill, it’s kind of had an impact on life round here. Thankfully I am better. The boys are still lurching from post viral hangovers into the next bug appearing without any gap in between. We’re not normally like this.
Anyway, whilst we were running on empty and were too dead on our feet to make it to the convenience store, I decided to use the new bread maker only to realise that it required skimmed milk powder for all the bread recipes. The only thing I could make from the instruction manual without dragging myself to Spar to buy Marvel was the gluten free fruit cake you see above. It was pretty funny looking but we ate it anyway. I guess if you had serious medical grounds to go gluten free you’d be glad of a cake like this but I found it a bit grim. I’m also disturbed by the mark left in everything by the dough hook, it’s like a scar.
I’m not writing the bread maker off yet by any means, enough people I know swear by them so you will hear more about this soon.
No recipe today. I’m assuming noone out there is masochistic enough to make this.
In the meantime, what are you views on bread makers? Do you have any tips or stories for me?
And while we’re at it, should I hide my disasters? Or do you prefer to see them? Even if I am growing alarmed at their frequency lately.
Other Maison Cupcake baking disasters include:
Burnt Hot Cross Buns That Were More Like Rock Cakes
Burnt Stollen (there’s a theme here)
More sucessful bread maker recipes include:
Sunflower Seed Bread in the Bread Maker
Sorry to see your malt loaf didn’t work out.
We have a Morphy Richards breadmaker which I love. I’ve not experimented too much with it yet but found best results have come from following the recipes in the booklet very precisely. I particularly love the cinnamon raisin bread that it makes and the way you can set put the ingredients in in the evening and set the delay feature so that you wake up to freshly baked bread. Our machine produces loaves with a good texture and a really nice crust. The dough feature is great too – make some excellent herby rolls to go with soup the other week.
My husband does not have so much success with it. I suspect this is because he is less precise with his measurements. For example, our machine says that when measuring the flour you should spoon it into the cup measure, rather than scooping it out. Odd, but the precise measurements seem to make a big difference.
It does take up a lot of counter space though, I have to agree. And I hate the hole left by the kneading paddle. If I were the sort of person who loved making bread, I wouldn’t bother with the machine. But I’m not (cakes are more my thing) so for me, it is the only way we’re going to get regular freshly baked bread round here!
That’s a very balanced argument for using one… I have been spooning my dry ingredients rather than scooping but I would much prefer to weigh them. If only the booklet or cups displayed the ingredients in grams but instead you have to convert yourself from a chart on a separate page. I’ve made a disastrous loaf of bread overnight so we’re still very much in experimental mode!!
I have been thinking about getting a bread machine partly because a lot of moms tell me that it is convenient, quick and easy and you can try lots of different types of bread recipes. I must admit, the last one is what grabs me the most. I would to overboard trying out sundried tomatoes, walnuts, raising, olives. I think the problem could quite easily become that I end up putting on a lot of weight because I’d be the only one in my family eating it that much.
I think it’s my husband who wants the bread more than me, if we can crack the recipe so we get better results I reckon we’ll use it a lot but it’s taking a while to get there!!
Well, since realising that there would be no decent bread in our house that I didn’t make myself (damn local Hong Kong grocery stores) and that I also had to continue working 50+ hours a week, a bread maker is now a household friend. The bread is better than nothing and certainly easy. I got a good recipe from my mum and I’ve adapted one from the machine’s manual that’s decent, too. I’ll look forward to your proper review.
It’s the great reports I’ve heard from happy bread maker users that’s keeping me going. Hopefully I’ll succeed with a decent loaf soon!!
Hi, not a great long essay because so much has already been said, but bought ours in 2005 and have used it every day since! Simple brown (granary) & white every day (no milk powder) and swap butter for olive oil & sugar for honey! Love it! Fab too for making dough for pizza, cinnamon buns etc… get one, but don’t jump to fancy, do the peasy ones first! x
Sounds like very good advice! I jumped ahead due to lack of ingredients in the house!
I like seeing failures as well as successes – doesn’t make me feel so bad! Wondered where my doorstop had gone….
I have a bread machine, given as a wedding present, and used to use it quite a lot. I got into a habit of putting it on late at night on the pre-timer thingie so the smell of bread would float up the stairs in the morning. Divine! But then I got a bit complacent about the measuring and the freshness of the yeast and my last few attempts have been disasters. I’ve successfully made pizza dough in it as well but not anything fancier. I still think the whole breadmaking process of kneading and proofing in the airing cupboard is much more satisfying.
ha ha, it does look like a doorstop…. or an elephant turd….