Let them eat cake
Mar 14th 2009, 3:39 pm
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: South Charente
Posts: 546
Let them eat cake
We bake all of our bread at home and save quite a bit of money. Now that we are planning a move to France, how much does a kilo of strong white flour (plain) cost? A kilo of blé noir? These are the two we use most, strong white and fine rye. Any info? Thanks in advance.
Blackie
PS anybody else into bread baking?
Blackie
PS anybody else into bread baking?
Mar 16th 2009, 10:02 am
#2
Grey Bombshell
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: La Feuillee, Brittany
Posts: 1,441
Re: Let them eat cake
Hiya Blackie
Can't help with the cost of flour, but i would say it isn't prohibitively expensive. I too love bread-making, it's great. Choosing a recipe, getting all the ingredients out, sticking it in the bread-maker, and reading for 3 hours while the paddle churns etc. Love it!
Joking aside, I also love making it "by hand" but although I simply adore cooking, I just don't seem to ever be lucky. Things just go wrong, no matter how simple or difficult, and I have gone so far as to ban cook books with pictures cos mine never even resembles the photo of the finished article. I do it mainly for the pleasure and often chuck whatever hideous concoction appears as a result down the loo or on the compost. We are getting chickens mainly so they can hoover up my mistakes - but the whole point is to have fun really.
It's the kneading bit I can't get the hang of, no matter how much of it I do and whatever way I do it, it don't work, so any tips would be welcome. Have got about 8 wonderful books all dedicated to bread-making though
Perhaps in France it will happen and we will be able to eat one of them (not the chickens, my home-made loaves!)
Can't help with the cost of flour, but i would say it isn't prohibitively expensive. I too love bread-making, it's great. Choosing a recipe, getting all the ingredients out, sticking it in the bread-maker, and reading for 3 hours while the paddle churns etc. Love it!
Joking aside, I also love making it "by hand" but although I simply adore cooking, I just don't seem to ever be lucky. Things just go wrong, no matter how simple or difficult, and I have gone so far as to ban cook books with pictures cos mine never even resembles the photo of the finished article. I do it mainly for the pleasure and often chuck whatever hideous concoction appears as a result down the loo or on the compost. We are getting chickens mainly so they can hoover up my mistakes - but the whole point is to have fun really.
It's the kneading bit I can't get the hang of, no matter how much of it I do and whatever way I do it, it don't work, so any tips would be welcome. Have got about 8 wonderful books all dedicated to bread-making though
Perhaps in France it will happen and we will be able to eat one of them (not the chickens, my home-made loaves!)
Mar 21st 2009, 3:36 pm
#3
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: South Charente
Posts: 546
Re: Let them eat cake
Hiya Andy!
Gotta recommend a great bread book by a Breton (!) fella named Bertinet. The books, in English, is called 'Dough' and gives you all the lowdown on kneading (book comes with a neat little DVD showing you how the master does it). Simple recipes and they come out great I can guarantee. You get Baguettes, Pain Baucaire, Fougasse and all the other famous French breads. I've tried it with strong white flour from Sweden and the results a really good. Well worth the money. You can google his website through his surname Bertinet. Give it a go!
Blackie
Gotta recommend a great bread book by a Breton (!) fella named Bertinet. The books, in English, is called 'Dough' and gives you all the lowdown on kneading (book comes with a neat little DVD showing you how the master does it). Simple recipes and they come out great I can guarantee. You get Baguettes, Pain Baucaire, Fougasse and all the other famous French breads. I've tried it with strong white flour from Sweden and the results a really good. Well worth the money. You can google his website through his surname Bertinet. Give it a go!
Blackie
Mar 21st 2009, 5:44 pm
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2007
Location: Halfway between Ricard & Absynthe
Posts: 4,291
Re: Let them eat cake
Hiya Andy!
Gotta recommend a great bread book by a Breton (!) fella named Bertinet. The books, in English, is called 'Dough' and gives you all the lowdown on kneading (book comes with a neat little DVD showing you how the master does it). Simple recipes and they come out great I can guarantee. You get Baguettes, Pain Baucaire, Fougasse and all the other famous French breads. I've tried it with strong white flour from Sweden and the results a really good. Well worth the money. You can google his website through his surname Bertinet. Give it a go!
Blackie
Gotta recommend a great bread book by a Breton (!) fella named Bertinet. The books, in English, is called 'Dough' and gives you all the lowdown on kneading (book comes with a neat little DVD showing you how the master does it). Simple recipes and they come out great I can guarantee. You get Baguettes, Pain Baucaire, Fougasse and all the other famous French breads. I've tried it with strong white flour from Sweden and the results a really good. Well worth the money. You can google his website through his surname Bertinet. Give it a go!
Blackie
Mar 22nd 2009, 9:29 am
#6
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,987
Re: Let them eat cake
We sometimes buy ready kneaded dough from our friends the boulangers in the village. When using the bread oven, it's less time consuming (not to mention cheaper) to buy from them. They're proffesionel and the dough is 'pukka'. We buy 4 or 5 kilos at a time. They leave it in a huge plastic tray. We cover it with a tea towel and leave it to rise. Around an hour or two later - perfect bread-making dough. From 4 kilos, we can make dozens of fouée, and then when I pull the embers from the oven, we throw in plaited breads, bread rolls etc. Loads of bread. 4kilos of this dough will cost us around €3!
Smells fantastic, and tastes brilliant!
Smells fantastic, and tastes brilliant!
Mar 22nd 2009, 11:06 am
#7
Grey Bombshell
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: La Feuillee, Brittany
Posts: 1,441
Re: Let them eat cake
Drat, I'm really hungry now. We bought some Tiger bread from Tescos yesterday and the wretched wonderful stuff smells marvllous but it's got something addictive in it I swear, cos you can't stop till it's gone.
Blackie, I am definitely going to buy that book and the DVD sounds a brillo idea as it is the kneading that foxes me - the movements and how hard-soft to be with it. I always thought one belted dough about like a couple of wrestlers on the WWW, but that can't be right as my sad efforts to date will attest to, so I will watch that DVD and get the hang of it if it kills me. The people at work used to knickname me "Ria" after that woman in Butterflies - most of you are too young to remember, but she could make gravy that was classed as an Offensive Weapon.
Stu, that could well be a great alternativ for Sad Cases like me - I will xplore that once we get there and if M Bertinet's book fails to train me up. Still, at least we will have the fattest chickens in Brittany ..........
PS Apologies for any missing "e's" in my posts for a bit, as OH melted the keyboard the other day with a spotlight so we dragged an old knackerd one out of the loft!!!
Still remember the mortification of missing letters when I first worked for a solicitor in Exeter and left the "l" out of Public Highway on a search I sent to Plymouth 
Blackie, I am definitely going to buy that book and the DVD sounds a brillo idea as it is the kneading that foxes me - the movements and how hard-soft to be with it. I always thought one belted dough about like a couple of wrestlers on the WWW, but that can't be right as my sad efforts to date will attest to, so I will watch that DVD and get the hang of it if it kills me. The people at work used to knickname me "Ria" after that woman in Butterflies - most of you are too young to remember, but she could make gravy that was classed as an Offensive Weapon.
Stu, that could well be a great alternativ for Sad Cases like me - I will xplore that once we get there and if M Bertinet's book fails to train me up. Still, at least we will have the fattest chickens in Brittany ..........
PS Apologies for any missing "e's" in my posts for a bit, as OH melted the keyboard the other day with a spotlight so we dragged an old knackerd one out of the loft!!!
Still remember the mortification of missing letters when I first worked for a solicitor in Exeter and left the "l" out of Public Highway on a search I sent to Plymouth
