bread
 

I'm getting really fed up with the fresh bread available near me (choice of Brumby's/Coles/Woolies). None of it lasts long and the wholemeal etc options seem to actually be white with a token handful of whole grain. Tasmania has miles better bread (even the packaged/sliced stuff) and I'm tired of going to the supermarket all the time just for bread.

So I'm thinking of getting a breadmaker and making my own but are they really worth it? I've seen a fairly cheap one (no timer), but have vague memories of trying bread made in one back in the UK and finding it a bit strange and yeasty.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,

TC

Do you have the bakers chain called "Bakers Delight" up there?? We have them in Adelaide and also were tading in New Zealand too. Their bread is wonderful, and htey do every kind you can thnk of. Most branches make it onsite fresh daily, and i have found that it keeps a long time.

Keep the bread in the fridge it lasts longer.

Re: bread
 

Talking about Bread ....
Our local fruit & veg shop sells bread for 95c per large loaf, and it lasts longer than the Main brands at Woolworths etc., and they cost about $2.40 a loaf. It freezes well, but only lasts about 2 days after freezing. It's the "Country" brand, also sold in some shops for $1.50 !

I'm also interested in replies on bread machines. I might get one for my wifes birthday if they are any good :) :D

Re: bread
 

oooh..you romantic fool you... :rolleyes:

I've become a big fan of Turkish bread. The vietnamese bakeries can be good because they picked up a few techniques from the French.

since i have been on my ahem... posterior reducing regime (not allowed to say diet!!) I have discovered that most breads are not that healthy for you.
Most breads unless they are high in whole grains, or rye, which is the best, are high on the glycemic food index, which isnt good for blood sugar levels.
Not that it will stop most of you eating it !! But for those looking for a healthy life, stay off all breads but the ones listed above.

For tasty brown try Noble Rise avail in the supermarkets about $2.70 a loaf but its really thick brown and grainey.

Anyone on the sunny coast who wants to chop a bucket load off their grocery bill try Erbachers on the road out to BLI BLI from the Plaza.

Milk $1.60 compared to $2.97 in supers

Bread 900g for $1.45 instead of almost $3.00 in supers

Eggs, fresh actually laid there about $3.00

most fruit and veg half the price of supermarkets.

It does not last as long in the heat as the supermarket stuff but all that probably means is its got less chemicals in it.

They also do a cheese that has taste, Kenilworth vintage, great stuff .

Re: bread
 

my mrs has been talking about getting a breadmaker when (if) we get to aussie, is the bread that bad there ?

Re: bread
 

Not in my opinion no..but its all relative according to your taste. The stuff i buy at BD is better than UK

Why is bread so bloody expensive in Australia? They grow wheat etc surely?

i think it is hard to keep fresh for long, keeping it in the fridge does help though.

In the UK the supermarkets sell it a loss leader in the supposed price wars. Same with baked beans.

We have a bread maker. It's good and quite easy, but still can't be bothered to make it half the time, but that's cos I'm lazy.
And I can't get those ready bread packs cheaply.
And the breads that do come out are quite small. So all in all it's easier and cheaper buying here (in Holland)

In WA lots of people (I know) have breadmakers. MUch more than here. And you can get the flour with all stuff in it (so ready) in bulk easily apparently.

What about yoghurt makers? Yoghurt is quite expensive as well isnt it? Anyone made their own?

Re: bread
 

My parents have a breadmaker and they've fallen in love with the thing. My dad is somewhat obsessive about his bread and refuses to eat the packaged plastic bread. When they moved to Jersey, away from his favoured bakery, they got the breadmaker and haven't looked back. Takes him about 2 minutes to shove the stuff in the maker, hour and a half to cook. Puts it on timer so they wake up to the smell of freshly cooked bread. Lovely.

When in Oz, living on a sheep station, I used to make enormous dampers every day, to feed the hoardes. It was a cheat's recipe - just flour, yeast, a little salt, a little sugar, but it tasted great and made the best toast.

we nearly bought a yoghurt maker here in the uk - until we saw the price, then we just carried on using the thermos flask !!!

sue:D :D :D

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Damper's great! I still make it sometimes!
When living in a small aboriginal community near Broome, we went to beach once with school and made damper in the sand. Cool!
I think that was my first experience with it.
Love it with butter and jam. Traditionaly eaten with Golden Syrup, right?

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Yep...although jam is more common in my experience. I used to make these vast vats of pumpkin soup and the damper was great dunked in that. We tried making it over here, but it just wasn't the same - I used to cook the loaves up in camp-ovens.

Re: bread
 

Yeah, seen jam more often too.
Pumkin is great too. Can't find it here. Well maybe at an expensive fruit and veg shop.
Also no sweet potatoes here either, looking forward to that again too.

Re: bread
 

I can get hold of pumpkin and sweet potato over here, but it's ridiculously expensive. I'm forever having to tell the check out person what a sweet potato is...

Not quite the same as going down to the pumpkin patch and hacking off your own, which is what I used to do when making soup.

Re: bread
 

:D
When we lived up north we also had a vege patch with pumpkins and tomatoes I think.

And in the other place up north (near Broome) there was a market garden, and we got HUGE watermelons and rockmelons all the time. So now I don't like watermelons anymore.
We also got heaps of salmon and shark to eat!
And down south we had a walnut tree, orange trees, and nectarine trees. Oh, and a Gooseberry and pepper tree.
Wow, what a difference to up here hey!

Nearly nobody in Holland knows what a sweet potato is. I don't think I'll get them even if I look hard. Maybe in Amsterdam, but that's 1 1/2 hours! :D

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Yep, it's the fresh veg that I miss (not that it isn't possible to grow fresh veg over here, but not in our flat!). I used to stroll out to the veg garden, pull a few things up, move round to the herb garden and grab some herbs, go back to the kitchen, wash it all in pure rain water and cook it up to accompany meat from the station's own supply. It's just not the same over here!!!

Wheat ~$200 / tonne = $0.20 / kg.

0.75 kg bread loaf contains 0.5 kg wheat = $0.10 / loaf.

Yeah, and why did a pot of tea for one (no milk or sugar, one teabag, enough water to fill a small cup one and a half times) cost me £1.50 (more than the price of an Aussie loaf) on Sunday?
:D

OzTennis:)

The price of tea in India: Rs 41 / kg = $A 1.50 / kg.

1 kg = ~500 cups tea (250 ml), 1 cup = $A 1.50 / 500 = $0.003 / cup.

Megs, you are full of the most interesting information ;) :) .

Clare, I agree with Podgy, try Bakers delight, they have excellent bread & it keeps reasonably well. Im a bread Nazi unfortunately (just ask Dagboy :eek: ) so Im pretty fussy about freshness of bread etc. My other suggestion is to try one of your local bakeries. We have one just up the road from us that makes the most INCREDIBLY fresh breads & it stays fresh for days, its sometimes worth trying a few in your area to see if theres a good one nearby. thats one thing I noticed in the UK, you could hardly EVER find small bakeries that sold bread & cakes & pies & buns etc, in Oz they are everywhere! Also agree with whoever mentioned keeping it in the fridge in the hot weather, we get through ours fairly quickly, but if its just you then it will keep longer if its refrigerated.

As for the breadmaker, I have one, unfortunately I have experienced what you mentioned ie yeasty/heavy/unappetising loaves. Normally a pretty good cook, but Ive come up blank on the bread making even using prepackaged mixes. If anyone has any good recipes please pass them on :)

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Hi Top Cat

We bought a breadmaker out here with the idea it would be cheeper and we would never run out.

It smelt gorgeous as it was baking and tasted delicious when done. The real chalenge was cutting the bloody thing. We bought one of those slice guid devices but it still didn't work. we wasted more than we used through it being too thick or too thin.

Thats just my experience though

Andrea

I knew you would come in with some 'agricultural' stats Megs;)

Bloody galling it was when I thought - tea bag (peppermint) 3p at retail, less than 1p at cost; water less than 1p, electricity for kettle or urn less than 1p to boil my bit of water. So of course, staff wages, council rates, rent, etc, etc and profit margin took up more than 95% of the final price (with the emphasis on the latter). Restaurants and tea rooms will tell you of course that drink is where they make a lot of their profit and it subsidises meals to keep prices down etc, etc. Bloody galling still.:D Oh and the thermos and my own tea bag wasn't an option in this situation. :D

OzTennis:)

OK..so now i am curious..

What is the best make and model of breamaker? As some people seem to have more success than others maybe its the quality of the equipment


Hello Mrs DB... hows things on posterior reduction (not allowed to be on a diet!!) :D

My dad (who likes to research these things) swears that the best brand is Panasonic. Not sure if that's available in Oz/NZ, but that was the result of his extensive research:D :D :D

Thankyou Bundy..i shall do some research tomorrow...so is it true you can buy the stuff already mixed and just bung it in??... what if i want to make my low GI index bread?.. do they make different types of dough?

Packet of matches $A 0.40, 10 boxes / packet, 50 matches / box. 1 match = $0.40 / (10 x 50) = $A 0.0008
http://www.websiteconcepts.com.au/ma.../billy_tea.jpg

My parents make gluten-free bread for my cousin and it seems to work. Might take some fiddling about with recipes though.

My dad has an excellent recipe for plain white bread - I'll get it off him and post it. Takes him seconds to put it together, basic ingredients, dead easy

I think I know him....
:D

Re: bread
 

Dunno about where you are but our local Brumbys is ACE! They are one of only a handful of bakeries that don't put that weird preservative in their bread (well known one that makes kids with ADHD more hyper)....that could also explain why it doesn't last as long. Mind you bread never lasts more than a day or two in our house....how long do you keep it for??:confused:

I was thinking to go with my new vegetarian lifestyle, why not go the whole hog and start making my own bread....and then I remembered....I'm WAY too lazy for all that palarver...bring on Brumbys I say (Rye bread of course for my posterier reducing regimen ;) )

love sophia xxx

thanx Bundy, but i am not allowed white bread as it messes with my diabetes. It makes your glucose level shoot up too quick i'm told

I know, I thought I'd post that recipe for everyone else....what ingredients can you/can't you use?

hiya Podgy, fancy talking about posterior reduction on the thread about bread :D. Havent weighed myself again, I though 5 kgs was pushing my luck, so I will wait til next week when i have to go back to the specialist. At least Im eating again now, just trying to keep it healthy & small portions. Also with a little bit more energy Im doing a bit more which is good for burning it off. I'll let you know next week :) .

He lives in Nundle, doesnt he? ;) :D