As you know, I have been buying palm oil free bread from the Co-Op but it's expensive and not great for making sandwiches out of as it's more of a big roll than a loaf. I've made lots of palm oil free loaves myself in both wholemeal and white bread. The early ones all came out very "heavy" and although they were fine when toasted and eaten with soup, they're not very good for sandwich making either.
I have been varying the amount of yeast, doing more kneading, baking it higher and then lower temperatures etc. but the results of my later loaves are the same as the early ones. Home baked bread is supposed to be one of the epicural delights, people write poems about it. I get the smell ... wow, that's lovely, really really good but I have finally had to admit defeat - I just don't have what it takes to make good bread.
I've decided to see if a breadmaker can make a better job of it and have pondered where it could go in my kitchen. The worktops are already pretty full up, if truth be told, I don't have room. If I keep it in a cupboard, it will hardly ever get used (like the food processor). So I have to sacrifice something else. The microwave gets used very little and is actually the first microwave I ever bought - it has kept going all this time since about 1986! It's probably because it's only ever used for scrambled eggs, the odd reheating of leftovers and occasional in-a-hurry baked potato (the ones from the fan oven are much better!)
So, I have done my research at Which? and have purchased a Kenwood BM450; its scheduled to arrive on Monday. After the weekend, my microwave will be consigned to the spare room until I decide whether the breadmaker is of more value.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I don't know if this is useful, but Waitrose organic farmhouse wholemeal loaf seems to be palm oil free. They label all their stuff showing if it has palm oil (fish fingers!), and there is no sign on our bread. I know there is a Waitrose in Cambridge, so it might help.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for letting me know this, I'm not buying any bread at all as I'm making it all myself and I'm really pleased with it. The information is still useful though because I am planning to make a website in the near future with lists of brands of products that I know to be palm oil free, I will include this on my list of bread products. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteHave you tried no knead bread? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU
ReplyDeleteI too am struggling to find bread without palm oil. French sticks seem to be palm oil free but don't keep long and not versatile. Am resorting to using it to make my Christmas puds though. Finally found dried fruit without palm oil - currents were the hardest to get until this week when found rebranded coop ones with sunflower oil instead - it's been exhausting!
ReplyDeleteInspiring all round! I buy Italian ciabata and panini, as they use olive oil instead. Especially when they are yellow stickered so price isn't a worry!
ReplyDeleteHi. These posts look quite old so I'm not sure I am looking in the right place, however I am wanting to go completely palm oil free and was hoping for some help. Basically bread, confectionary and cleaning/toiletries. Anyone able to help?
ReplyDeletedont use extra strong flour or blend it with plane flour, makes it alot softer, also kneed it once, and let it rise again, the slower it rises the better, i like to put damp towl over the bowl, and wrap bowl in blanket for the bread to rise nice :-)
ReplyDeleteAt Sept 2016, Morrison's Super Toastie (white), Toastie (white) and one of their wholemeal loaves is palm oil free. Braces Farmhouse Wholemeal (I think that's the name) is palm oil free, available from Lidl. All of Morrison's own brand 'bake yourself' French sticks and rolls are palm oil free (and are much nicer because they are part baked and you finish them off in your own oven, they only take ten minutes to bake).
ReplyDelete