I treated myself to a new Panasonic bread maker but since it is my first, I have a couple of questions. Also perhaps it is worth mentioning that I live in the UK.
What type of yeast do I buy? There are so many!
Also, I am told that I should buy Strong Flour for making bread, but even then there are so many types, which do I buy? Or is it simply a matter of taste? I prefer wholemeal.
Any clarification and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.
Strong flour has extra gluten added to it, you can find it many varieties (strong white, strong brown, strong wholemeal). I haven't found much difference between brands but I'd avoid store "value" packs. Sometimes if you want a coarser grain you will need something specialist, but I rarely buy flour anywhere but the supermarket.
You will probably want to use fast acting yeast in your breadmaker, again no reason to spend a bomb or get fancy. I'd check the manufacturer's guidelines.
Depends on your budget, personally I find bog standard value Tesco strong flour tastes the same as top of the range organic premium stuff.
Yeast I think it probably depends on your recipe, some will use fresh some will use dried instant action. The different brands don't really have any influence. I'm convinced it's all made in the same factory but stuck in different packets.
So... Buy the second cheapest yeast (generally a rule of mine always to buy one better than the cheapest) and what ever flavour flour you fancy :-).
Edit:
Also if I remember correctly, you can buy bags of flour mixes designed for tipping into bread makers and just adding water.
