I decided last Friday that I would try and make one of the bread recipes in my food processor recipe book.
One of the recipes said it made a sandwich loaf, so I thought that I would try that.
Unlike most bread recipes the liquid used was milk. Now the first bread I had made were some ‘morning rolls’ when I was in school. That recipe used milk and we had to mould the dough into various twists and plaits and mini cottage loves. Later I used the same recipe to make an ordinary loaf shape and I remember that the bread had a different sort of texture, closer to cake.
Using the food processor it was very easy. No hand kneading, just using the dough blade in the processor for one minute and then allowing the dough to rise followed by shaping and putting in a tin and allowing it to rise for another thirty minutes while the oven heated up.
This was the result. (These days I have to admit I am not editing my photographs as much as I once was. Not sure the colour balance is quite right in this one.)
Unlike the ‘artisan bread’ I have made, this had a much softer crust and was very easy to cut with my fairly cheap bread knife. The texture was softer too.
Not being an especially large loaf, I manged to eat it all over the weekend so on Monday I decided to make some more bread: a wholemeal loaf this time.
Since I am avoiding kneading because of the arthritis in my wrists, I remembered a Delia Smith recipe for a no-knead wholemeal loaf that I had made in the past.
Basically, you mix the dough then spread it out into a rectangle three times the size of the bottom of the tin. (I am not being so picky about how I make food either! being rather tired all the time.)
You then fold a third into the middle and the other third on top and put it in the tin. 
I then put it in the airing cupboard. When I took it out it had risen nicely and this is how it was when I put it in the oven. 
When it was cooked. 
The texture is quite dense, denser than if the bread had been kneaded but still very tasty and just as edible because it is wholemeal. I can see I should maybe have taken a little bit more trouble putting the loaf together but nonetheless it was quite delicious!
Rainbow Junkie 
Scrumptious.
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I am happy to get back to regular bread making!
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Well done! I’ve never been good at baking bread, although I have tried for over 20 years off and on! Always jealous of those who can make it so easily! 🙂
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I think it is a case of practice makes perfect. I have had spells of regularly making bread, normally on a Friday, ever since I was in my twenties. If you do it often like that you get to understand how the dough needs to feel to get the best loaf and to add more water or flour to get the right consistency. Also to know when it is kneaded enough.
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Yes. I think I just never have the right atmosphere for raising dough. Mine just never seems to rise right. New yeast, old yeast. Maybe my kitchen is too cold? Who knows. One day I will figure it out. 🙂
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Yes, rising the dough is the thing I find hardest. I use my airing cupboard but it works less well in the summer and I normally find it takes longer than the recipe says although recently with the heating on so much more it seems to be working well.
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My friend at work suggested in the laundry closet with the dryer on? Lol.
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Nothing beats homemade bread, no matter what it looks like!
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Yes, freshly made bread is wonderful!
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Your breads look delicious. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can do all your kneading with that and save your wrists.
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I only have a small hand mixer. I have never been prepared to spend the money or use up the space needed for a large mixer. And of course the problem with my wrists is recent but thanks for the suggestion. I don’t know if a mixer would knead better than the food processor but it would probably allow a greater amount of dough.
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Delicious!
I use Liz Herbert’s WI Bread book for recipes. I’ll never need another collection. I also can’t knead by hand, it aggravates my elbow, but that’s fine by me. I use my Kenwood and knead dough for about 5 minutes (roughly half the stated time given for hand kneading) with the dough hook. Or, whenever I judge it right.
Paul Hollywood says the wetter the dough, the better the dough. This certainly seems to be true. My dough is always more moist than it used to be. I often add another splash or two of water now.
I must flick through to look for a milk loaf, thanks for the inspiration.
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I have a bread book with all sorts of fancy breads but many of them are savory or very time consuming so more to be made for a special meal than used for jam and peanut butter! My food processor only allows for a small amount of dough as it is a smaller model. (250 – 375g flour in the recipes) but I was surprised how one minute warmed the dough considerable and seemed to give a good result. The biggest problem is scraping the dough out of the bowl which of course doesn’t happen if you hand knead.
I must look for the book you suggest and see what sorts of bread it has.
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It’s savoury, plain and fancy, sweet and actually there cakes too. I don’t use it regularly as I know what to use for wm/white/beige bread, but oh my the special ones I’ve made have been very good: walnut & raisin. Stromboli, chorizo & tomato and Chelsea buns (others too, but these were the really memorable ones.)
With a Kenwood you just remove the hook and I use a silicone spatula to scrape out the bowl.
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I used to make walnut and apricot rolls to take to work not sure if I had a recipe or just made it up. A second hand copy of your book is very reasonably priced. I do have a special spatula for the bowl of the food processor which is just the right size. So I’m okay till it wears out. I expect a replacement one would be expensive!!
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They sound delicious
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I find our kenwood mixer great for bread. It allows me to have a wetter mix too as it isn’t sticking to my hands and by the time you want to shape it it has come together ti make a cohesive dough.
But I do find getting the bread to rise is very hard in my house as we don’t have an airing cupboard and our kitchen is far too cold…
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I found the same with the softer dough for the brioche in the Food Processor; much less messy. One of the recipes suggested proving the dough in a low oven but I wasn’t sure mine would go that low! Of course with the ‘artisan’ no knead method of making bread you just leave the dough for 12-18 hours at room temperature. I have even seen recipes where people put the dough in the fridge.
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