"Maximillian" > wrote in message
news
> 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.

The only ingredients you need to make bread are flour, yeast, salt, and
water.

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 10:50:36 GMT, Maximillian >
wrote:

>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.
>
Stop by the alt.bread.recipes or rec.food.sourdough groups and browse
awhile. You can also google either of those groups and check for
recipes that have been posted in the past.

You are looking for what is known as "lean" breads, those that depend
on the basics, as Vox said, of flour water, yeast and salt. I bake
almost all my own bread and rarely use milk or eggs or fats. (ok.. I
do like to make a brioche once in awhile). There are wonderful whole
grain breads to be made with no "extras" needed.

An excellent start may be your local library, too, to find a few
cookbooks that specialize in bread baking.

Start here, by reading a sourdough faq, not to point you exclusively
to sourdough, but just to give you some starting point on looking
around.

http://faqs.jmas.co.jp/FAQs/food/sourdough/basicbread

Here is another web site that may give you some interesting background
and offers many bread recipes that you may like.
http://www.theartisan.net/bredfrm.htm

Boron

"Maximillian" > wrote in message
news <snip>
> I want to
> start by making a basic whole wheat bread. 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).
>
> Thanks for your responses.

Here is a recipe http://www.gbronline.com/jacke/recwheat.htm for whole wheat
bread without milk or eggs. It does have 3 tablespoons of shortening for 2
loaves. If that is too much fat for you, try it without the fat. Fat just
'softens' the dough.

Milk and/or eggs add richness to the dough. Brioche and challa are examples
of 'eggy' breads. French bread (baguetts) have nothing more than flour,
water, yeast and salt.

There are some rustic breads on this site that even if you don't want to
make soon, present a spectrum of starter breadmaking that might be of
interest to you. They contain no sugar, oil, milk or eggs. She has created
three breads using techniques of 3 very popular breadmakers. It is an
excellent page.

http://ejmtph.crosswinds.net/recipes/rusticbread.html

Dee



"Maximillian" > wrote in message
news
> 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.
>
> 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)
>
> 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. 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).
>
> Thanks for your responses.
>
>