Fresh Bread at Sea....

[ebs001]

We have a breadmaker aboard which my wife uses until the final stages. The last proofing is done in a proper bread pan and the cooking is done in the boats oven. In order to run the beadmaker we run the engine and use the inverter. The real trick to great bread is to use Canadian flour - a tip we got from Verne in Hope Town, Bahamas and learned the hard way when we bought American flour last year. We make bread the same way on land and have almost exclusively used homemade bread for over 15 years.

[Minnewaska]

The best feature of a bread machine is the delay timer. Toss all ingredients in the night before, set it to be done as you wake. Needs shore power.

While bread is not impossible to make by hand, it does take some practice before you yield something more than a brick. It also requires several steps that you must be available to perform: mix, proof, knock down, proof, bake. That's not going to happen while you are sleeping.

[Dfok]

Fresh baked bread is part of my sail plan for this summer too. At home I use a recipe I found in the New York Times for no knead bread. Sometimes I use yeast and make it a "low Knead", punch the dough down once then put it in a bucket in the fridge. Cut off as much as needed each day and bake for 20 minutes. For the boat I'll bring a couple loaves worth and keep it in the icebox.
I'll be getting a smallish dutch oven for the boat, getting hungry just thinking about fresh rustic bread with dinner.

[Omatako]

There are several recipes that require no kneading or punching down. Just mix, prove up in a warm spot and put in the oven.

There are also several recipes that don't need proper yeast - mix in a volume of beer and the bread proves up very nicely. Now I know there are going to be at least a dozen smart alecs that will say "what a waste of beer" but to trade off half a beer for a tasty loaf of bread is a really good deal IMHO.

And I agree, nothing better than fresh bread, rolls and muffins at sea.

[Minnewaska]

If you ever attempt to sell your boat, be sure to have just baked a loaf within an hour of the buyer coming to take a look.

[Tempest]

I'm a big fan of Irish Soda Bread. Quick, Easy, no yeast, done in about 45 minutes. I put craisons in mine instead of raisons.

It goes great with jam with your coffee or tea in the morning. It holds up well.

[dbrimm]

I'm a huge bread lover so a regular supply was a must when the wife and I were cruising. She made all our bread by hand and baked it in our galley LP oven pretty much everyday. One of the easiest recipes was also one of the ones we had most often and is just called "Easy Bread".



Here's Amanda with a huge loaf of Pumpkin Easy Bread she made one day in St John. Mmm mmm good. Recipe follows in case anyone is interested.

Easy Bread
by Marcia Passos Duffy
New England Travel Magazine, New England Vacations, New England Travel Destinations
In our busy household I like foods I can make that taste fresh, but are simple
to make. You may not think that bread falls under the category of 'simple',
then again, you have not made this bread. Even if you are a bread-making novice, you can make these loaves of delicious crusty-on-the-outside bread with little effort (ie., little kneading and dough rising time). Believe it or not, this bread takes only 1 hour and 15 minutes to make, start to finish. And it is a perfect complement to winter soups and stews.

Ingredients
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat flour for 1 or 2
cups).
2 tablespoons of dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees F.)
A cake pan of hot water

Mix 3 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt. Pour in the hot water
and beat 100 strokes (or 3 minutes with a mixer).
Stir in the remaining flour until the dough loses its stickiness. Turn onto a
floured surface. Knead for 8 minutes.
Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a warm damp cloth. Let rise
for 15 minutes in a warm spot (away from drafts).
Punch down and divide the dough into two pieces. Shape into round loaves
and place on a greased baking sheet. Cut an "X" one-half inch deep in each of the loaves with a wet sharp knife. Place baking sheet with loaves in the middle of a COLD oven. Place a pan of hot water on the lowest shelf. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown.

[tomperanteau]

Originally Posted by eckcn17

check this out!

Windtraveler: cooking

Nice, and bookmarked.

[tomperanteau]

We just bought a small bread maker to keep aboard (the Goodwill is your friend), and now have one at home and on the boat. The wife loves to bake and so we plan on having bread whenever we want.

[TQA]

I will make bread the traditional way on passage [ well it fills in the day ]. But if we are somewhere we can not get fresh bread I will make beer bread as it is quicker and easier and IMHO tastes wonderful if made with brown beer or Guinness.