Poorly chicken

[Leicester_H]

Dear all

I used to use this bread mix to make pizza bases, focaccia etc.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-crusty-white-bread-mix-500g?productId=28374&storeId=10151&catalogId=10241&langId=44&categoryId=235753&krypto=pnj7WYSdCtGQTk%2BVYN4gdqfvYAYtUQ21lhTAcbLRsSdRcaM%2FkTA2zMiWfWXOkzn2H9OnyLQCVpYgAdzUp7tBWZ9xTICfF%2FgOoXJOBQ4ME4akRaA%2FNBiKnl2PaUO0rwDtOrElZqsfI3UpxT%2BZSeW2PkfQZD%2BYBkk%2FdnnlmJOCW7ZCIXfcivv3MbYvxCwX%2BV4fvmqWJvtWHFIi4wQTHU3dXRrLVixPxSv%2Bm6jUq4J9br0%3D&ddkey=https%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Fbread-flour--mixes---yeast%2Fsainsburys-crusty-white-bread-mix-500g

but can’t get at the moment.

I managed to buy some plain flour

https://carrsflour.co.uk/product/carrs-plain-flour-1kg/

and I have Fermipan Instant / Fast Action Yeast

Will this flour work (more or less) or MUST it be proper bread flour ? Worth a try or not ?

Any modifications to recipes or advice will be gratefully received.

H

[soapdragon]

Bread flour is much higher in gluten than baking flour so you will def not get the same result! You can try with plain and it will make 'bread' but not as we know it! Try Googling Bake with Jack; I think there is a lesson on bread with non bread flour. 

[The Dogmother]

I agree, you need 'strong bread flour'. One year, the quality of the wheat was very poor, with low gluten levels. I forget why this was. Everyone was turning out duff loaves... had to use flour improver!

[Leicester_H]

Thanks - I thought that was probably the case.

I'll try using it as a pizza base - might not be such an issue there.

H

[mullethunter]

I use 00 flour for my pizza bases but as they’re pretty flat anyway and are ‘sogged’ a bit by the toppings and crunchy around the edges I would use plain if that was all I had - I wouldn’t expect it to be exactly the same though.

I tried to make croissant dough with plain flour and it was a total fail - dough structure just wasn’t strong enough to hold the butter and it all leaked out. Tried it with string flour and perfect - up until then I hadn’t really believed it made a difference. 

[Willow]

 

 

If you need to make bread and have only plain flour make soda bread

350g plain flour (I use a mix of plain white & wholemeal depending on what odds and ends of flour I have)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

285ml buttermilk (or sour milk, or mix milk & plain yogurt, or fresh milk with some vinegar or lemon juice added to sour it)

Mix dry ingredients, add liquid, mix together into a ball of dough, if sticky add some more flour.

knead for couple mins, form into a flattened ball and place on a greased and floured baking tray

using a sharp knife cut a cross right across the dough almost to the bottom

180C for 30mins

[rachel84]

On 4/28/2020 at 2:38 PM, mullethunter said:

I use 00 flour for my pizza bases but as they’re pretty flat anyway and are ‘sogged’ a bit by the toppings and crunchy around the edges 

 

My pizzas were always a little soggy in the middle until I started sprinkling a little bit of semolina on the baking tray first - crisp all the way to the middle now 😀

[soapdragon]

If you make pizza fairly regularly it may well be worth investing in a baking stone and baking the pizza directly on the pre heated stone. We have one because OH makes sourdough but it's brilliant for pizzas too.

[Luvachicken]

5 hours ago, soapdragon said:

If you make pizza fairly regularly it may well be worth investing in a baking stone and baking the pizza directly on the pre heated stone. We have one because OH makes sourdough but it's brilliant for pizzas too.

Be careful what kind you buy.

We bought a stone thing from Lakeland but it absolutely stank when in use - and afterwards.

We ended up taking it back because I really couldn't stand the smell and Lakeland, being Lakeland  were very good and gave us our money back 

[soapdragon]

Oh that's odd.....I wonder why it smelled?! We are on our second and haven't had any nasty niffs - the current one is by Navaris and I think OH  got it from Amazon.

[mullethunter]

On 5/4/2020 at 3:51 PM, rachel84 said:

My pizzas were always a little soggy in the middle until I started sprinkling a little bit of semolina on the baking tray first - crisp all the way to the middle now 😀

I use stones with semolina on and they are always crisp and never stick. I meant that it wouldn’t matter if your bases weren’t perfect if you had to use normal plain flour 👍🏻

[soapdragon]

Heard a recipe for potato bread on the radio this afternoon....sounded nice! As I was listening with only half an ear I missed the actual proportions but plan to have a Google and see what comes up. Apparently it's quite dense and so soaks up loads of butter when toasted........