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…
I’ve never actually made anything sweet with my breadmaker, I should be more adventurous. I love malt loaf, usually. 😉 Sorry yours wasn’t a hit, that’s so annoying.
Well it’s early days, seems I need to try again with some more sugar and add fruit…
Lovely to see that you can cock it up too!! As for bread makers, I like mine in a mild bread emergency and for cakes! But I always only use recipes from the supplied book, the ones on flour packets never work for me!
My gluten free fruit cake was from the book. The malt loaf was on flour packet. My mum said to try packet bread mix too.
Oh dear… its still edible though, and I guess that’s all that should matter right? Hope you guys are all feeling better now, being sick is no fun at all!
I have a very old bread machine that I picked up from a garage sale here. I got some great advice from someone, they said, bread machines make lousy bread, but amazing dough. And that’s what I always do. It takes away the mess and stress of making dough, and once its had its first rise, I just take it out, pop it into a loaf tin, sit it in a barely warm oven for 30 minutes, and then turn up the heat to cook for about 20 mins. Voila!!
I also use the machine for pretty much any dough that needs making. Makes life (and kitchen cleanup) tons easier.
I do envy you your fancy one though 🙂
More wonderful tips, thank you. Several people have suggested using them just to knead now. I won’t be giving up yet!
I used to make loads of bread in my breadmaker….and then I needed to go on a diet so I stopped! None of the recipes I used called for dried milk powder, I used to make lots of seedy bread & fruit loaf. My only disaster was when I left my OH in charge! I used wholemeal flour which needs more water but I forgot to tell him to keep an eye on it & add more water if necessary, when I came home from work, it just looked like a load of crumbs baking!
Anyway, keep going with the breadmaker & maybe invest in a book that doesn’t use milk powder – I picked up a great one from one of those cheap book stores for around a fiver.
I agree about the ‘scar’ it does kind of ruin a great looking loaf! And I’ve made malt loaf before, not in a breadmaker, but I remember thinking it was a lot of effort (you had to leave it a few days to improve & go sticky) for something you could buy for around 50p!
x
Thanks for all the tips. Good to know Marvel isn’t compulsory!
Oh no, don’t go for style over substance. Taste has surely got to be the most important factor. Sorry to hear your malt loaf didn’t come up to scratch though. It can be done, my mother makes a fantastic malt loaf in her bread maker.
There is hope yet then! This one has gone in the bin today!
I like my bread machine, but like Michelle I only ever use it to make dough. I set the timer so the dough is ready when I get back from work, and all I have to do is knock it back and shape it, throw it in a tin, let it prove again and bake it. I still prefer doing it by hand but unfortunately I rarely seem to have time these days, so this is the next best thing.
Really can’t imagine ever making a cake in it though!
Definitely a lot of people are saying that. I’m still not convinced I want to surrender the counter space though
Sarah, you do make me giggle!
Bread machine bread can be good, and is a huge time saver, but trial and many errors are key!
Thanks for persisting and taking part in FFTO
It’s been really interesting to hear everyone’s bread making machine experiences… Trial and error sounds time consuming!
What a shame! Homemade malt loaf can be truly delicious – sticky and dense and smothered in butter. I’ve never used a bread maker – i don’t have the space for one in my kitchen – but you definitely can do this by hand.
Thank you for posting your mistakes though – it helps more amateur bakers realise that every so often things do go wrong, and is as interesting to read about as all the gorgeous successes you normally post!
Even though my kitchen is quite spacious a bread maker still takes up a lot of room and I’m yet to be convinced it’s worth it yet…
Your post made me laugh!..you’re hilarious Sarah! 🙂 Love reading your write ups. I never used a bread machine before either. I always knead by hand so it would be nice if you master it and write about it – failures included..:D
Thank you Faithy!
Unfortunately I have to stick to a gluten free diet so yes Id be very glad of a cake exactly like yours..actually it looks quite attractive to me:)
Thanks. I reckon it would have been much nicer with a more generous ratio of fruit.
Share your highs and your lows Sarah. I made this decision when a walnut loaf I made (for Fresh from the Oven incidently) looked fine superficially but had a gaping hole underneath where it had glued itself resolutely to the baking tray. The feedback I got was overwhelming – and helped me to look forward with pleasure not dread to the next challenge.
I adore malt loaf and wish I could buy malt here so sorry your recipe didn’t work out (the flour looks gorgeous).
On the topic of bread makers I do not have one and will not buy one. Bread should be put into a hot oven. The bread makers warms up slowly to bake and affects the texture of the loaf. It’s easy to recognise breadmaker-made bread because of this. Making the dough in the bread maker but taking it out and baking in an oven seems to work though.
Hope your family get well soon.
That’s really interesting what you say about needing a hot oven, I hadn’t thought about that.
god forsaken skimmed milk powder… who has this in the house… and then it goes off so quickly… the only loaf you can make without the powder is the french loaf, which always comes out OK but it has that bread-maker taste and texture…
I had one for years… now gathering dust in the garage. I’d rather have the odd failure from hand made than the bread-maker stuff… plus you have to pull that paddle from its arse every time.
… shame about your malt loaf… looks OK, how did it taste?
It wasn’t sweet enough by far. I like your terminology!!
I think I will stick to my guilty pleasure of Soreen in future by the sound of it!
Have never used a breadmaker (or wanted to!) so can’t comment there but its always reassuring to see other people have ‘fails’! I was in a hurry last week and used greaseproof instead of baking parchment to line my loaf tins by mistake = bread was stuck like glue and I had to saw off the sides and bottom of my loaves! 🙂
Oh no that sounds a right mess!
You really don’t need to add milk powder to any bread recipe; I think that the reason that most of the breadmaker recipe booklets suggest adding it is because it a) gives a softer crumb (i.e. more like shop bought than traditional home-made bread), and b) it helps it to keep fresh for slightly longer. Freshly made bread never lasts long in our household anyway!
I’m not keen on the spongey texture of bread-maker bread, or the fact that it doesn’t have a decent crust (I like to have a good chew to a proper bread crust). It hadn’t occurred to me that both these faults are because of the slow temperature rise – doh! Plus digging the paddle out of the bottom of the loaf is just a right old pain, and the slices that have the paddle hole are ugly.
Like others, I only ever use my bread maker for making dough (and haven’t even bothered using it for that in over 2 years). Don’t know why I don’t get rid of it and free up some cupboard space! The Kitchen Aid is my dough-making friend these days.
Having made a third attempt that looks like it’s going rapidly wrong this evening I’m starting to lose faith on the whole idea. So many people are saying the machines are only good for mixing and give a disappointing result for baking. I’m definitely coming round to the idea that it’s not worth the work top space…
I just made my first loaf of disastrous Cranberry Pecan Sourdough. I was trying to replicate the loaf I love at WHole Foods. Needless to say, it more resembled a brick. Love hearing you have blunder loafs also. It makes me feel better.
I rely on my hands more, Sarah 🙂 Your loaf does look good though, hope the taste didn’t fail you!
Sadly it did…. most dull!
It’s always great to see that ‘experts’ can have disasters too. Actually, it doens’t look that bad, but as you said, malt loaf was never going to be photogenic!
I laugh at the title of “expert” but you’re right, malt loaf isn’t pretty.
I’ve always wanted a bread maker but I’m going to wait and see how you get on with yours before making the decision. Love the smell of freshly baked bread and would love to have it wafting through my kitchen everyday.
I used to use a breadmaker a lot – would set the timer, throw the ingredients in, and loved the smell of freshly baked bread wafting up the stairs first thing in the morning, BUT one day I realised that it was a hell of a lot easier just doing it by hand. i hated washing the thing up, and sometimes it had a mind of its own (that’s my excuse anyway 🙂 )
Was fascinated to see the malt loaf bread flour – had no idea such a thing existed! sorry to hear you weren’t happy with it – it’s a horrible thing to admit that sometimes shop bought is best! How can it be?!
Yes I’d not seen malt loaf flour anywhere else before. Not convinced I’ll be buying it again yet though!!
Don’t hide your disasters! It makes the rest of us feel more human. x
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….