> > I am about to undertake breadbaking. I am a pretty good cook
> > otherwise, but this will be new to me. There is a bakery near my
> > mother's home and when I go for my annual visit I get addicted to
> > their bread, and I want to try to reproduce their recipe at home.
> >
> > The difference in their breads (and, I have observed, most commercial
> > breads) is that almost every recipe I have come across on the web
> > contains oil or milk or eggs or all three, and their breads contain
> > none of these. My wife is lactose intolerant, and in my cooking I try
> > to maintain a low-fat regimen, so I would like to make my bread like
> > they do.
It is not most recipe contains such ingredients that are not essential
but it adds to the varieity in terms of appearance texture, and
taste .
> > Here are the ingredients lists for breads from Stone Mill Bread &
> > Flour Company.
> >
> > Sesame Sunflower. Freshly milled whole wheat flour, water, honey,
> > sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, yeast, salt, egg whites
> > (brushed on top for browning)
> >
> > Bronze Honey Wheat. Freshly milled whole wheat flour, water, honey,
> > yeast, salt, egg whites (brushed on top for browning)
> >
> > Cranberry Pecan. Unbleached white flour, water, honey, cranberries,
> > pecans, yeast, salt, egg whites (brushed on top for browning)

Actually egg whites are not essential if you had a good oven and it
has good steam formation you can forego with the egg white.
> > You can see that no oil or milk is used and only the whites of eggs
> > (most likely reconstituted powdered egg whites, which I use).
> >
> > Obviously, they have a basic whole wheat recipe and a basic white
> > flour recipe from which they can vary added ingredients. I want to
> > start by making a basic whole wheat bread.
Ot they have one recipe , they just vary the flour and incorporate
other materials. Most bakery do that. Actually they are making only
few recipes but the varieties that they can bring out are countless.
So the question is do any
> > of you have tried and true basic recipes and maybe some tips for
> > baking bread without milk or eggs? (It seems to me that the milk/eggs
> > either add some quality or reduce the amount of work involved,
> > otherwise why include them since bread can be made without them).
> >
Bread that is tried and true when baked by other people sometimes does
not come out the same.
The reasons are varied, so the most important point is you had the
basic recipe: the flour,salt,yeast,water and you know how to make it
properly.
Do not be misled the bread is just fixed to the basic ingredients.
BRead can be classified as lean, medium, and rich.What I mean here
simply is the lean recipe is just made with flour,salt, yeast and
water; the medium type contains some amounts of sugar and fat. The
rich (in the simplest way) contains in addition eggs and milk.Spices
and other flavorings such af fruits, with their essences etc can be
added.
It is the ratio(in relation to the basic components) of the
incorporated enriching ingredients that will dictate the degree of
richness of the bread.
Conclusively a bread recipe can have infinite permutations on the
other ingredient that you can incorporate; and hence create varieties
that is limited only by the bakers imagination and skill.
Roy