River Cottage

Quick question.

I was under the impression that yeast generally needed sugar to help it activate. There is no sugar mentioned in this recipe and I was wondering why, especially if using instant dried yeast i

Is there a reason?

Hi all. everything worked fine for me, doing this recipe with 25g fresh yeast and then rising for 45 mins and 20 mins if you dont have fast-action yeast. My problem though, is that the nice crust is ruined and completely soift the day after, when containing the loave in a plastic bag or paper bag. Does anybody have any good tips for maintaining the nice crisp crust for a day or two?

mamabear, I find that once the family smell the bread coming out of the oven there is no need for storage! They're on it before it's even cooled!

However I have found it lasts well if wrapped in greaseproof paper.

Great simple bread. I had seen on the show and thought I would give it a go. Didn't turn out that well. However looking at the instructions here I saw my mistake. I used way too much flour. That corrected it didn't take long to make up and was a wonderful compliment to my my meal.

mamabear if it was me I would store the extra loaf in the freezer.

Hi There!

I am about to attempt this recipe (and baking bread) for the first time ever. I just have a quick question before I start though: what is the best way to store/keep the bread? As this recipe makes two loaves, lets say loave # 1 lasts us/gets eaten within 1-2 days, what is the best way to store/keep loave #2 so that it lasts until we need it- say 3-4 days later?

I do realise I could halve the recipe and make one loave at a time, ensuring it is always at it's freshest but with work/children etc baking once a week to last most of the week is usually easiest.

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere on the site, I'm just finding my way around.

Thank You :)

Hi Lilly
Sorry it was you that I was replying to not liz, Hope it works for you as there is nothing more enjoyable than a perfectly made loaf of bread made by your own hands.
All the best.
Montgomery

Hi Montgomery,
I'm not quite sure wether you are replying to Liz or me but your information is usefull anyway, thank you!
I'm using dried yeast, so that explains the "burning out" on the second rising. I have been experimenting with putting it in a slightly warmer spot for the second rising and leaving it longer.
But I'll also see what happens if I leave it to rise just once, and then straight into the oven...
Thank you again.

Hi Liz
The second rising will take a lot longer to achieve as it is not as active as the first rising, also it depends on what type of yeast you are using, if it is fresh yeast you should be able to get a good second,third and sometimes a fourth rising from the dough but it does take longer between risings to achieve the right size, If you are using fast acting dried yeast then it is only really meant for 1 rising as it does tend to burn itself out so to speak, try giving it a first rising with this type,if this is the type you are using and see how it turns out, if using fresh yeast try and give it a little longer to rise and see if this works better.

Hi everyone,
Each time I make the bread it rises beautifully the first time (it gets a "Wow!" out of me every time), but after deflating and re-shaping it never seems to rise enough the second time. This leaves the bread somewhat "heavy". I have just been watching the River Cottage Every Day bread episode to compare the size of the ready-to-bake risen loaves with my own, and mine are definately smaller. I put them on a wooden board and cover them with a warm damp teatowel as instructed, and leave them in the exact same place as during the first rising.
Does anybody know what I might be doing wrong? Or does anybody have any tips?
Thank you very much in advance!
Lilly

Liz
Double the amount of fresh yeast to dried and yes to just disolving in warm water.