Anyone can be a baker with this mix (Hovis White Bread Mix)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	Hovis White Bread Mix
Date:	28/04/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy, cheap, lovely bread at the end

Disadvantages: None

I have to admit to being rather lazy with my baking of late, and taking a few shortcuts. The Hovis bread mix has been one of them, rather than messing around buying bread flour and yeast, then fermenting the yeast etc, I thought I'd give the all in one mix a try.

Using it couldn't be simpler, empty the entire contents into a bowl, add 10 fl oz of warm water (you can rub in an ounce of butter first if you like, but I didn't) and mix. Once you've got a dough you need to knead for 10 minutes (or 5 if you're using an electric kneader), then put in a greased tin for about 1 and a half hours to rise.

Now that is how Hovis tell you to rise the dough. I prefer to do it in the same way as I would if doing it properly, and rise it first for an hour in a greased bowl, then knock it back, knead the air out and then rise again for another hour in the tin.

Once you've risen it to your own specifications, you need to cook it in a hot oven, 220deg C or gas 7 for 30 minutes. Again I prefer to brush egg on the top to give it a golden shine before baking, but you can flour or seed the top if you want first. For first time bread makers, you can test to see if it's cooked through, by turning it upside down and tapping the bottom, the loaf should sound hollow.

The mix makes one 2lb loaf, or approximately 8 buns depending on what size you prefer.

I don't think there is a nicer smell than that of bread baking, and hot bread straight from the oven, smothered in butter is absolutely gorgeous, and this mix makes pretty much the perfect bread. I certainly haven't made any better starting from scratch.

The only problem is, it's just too nice and the loaf disappears so quickly because we end up having huge doorstop slices to mop up sauces, or just to eat on their own.

At 66p (the current price at Tesco), it's much cheaper than a decent sliced loaf, of course you have to take the fuel costs of your oven into account, but I still think it's far cheaper than buying a loaf.

I will be buying this mix more often, because it's much easier than messing around with yeasts, and except for the rising times (which you'd need whichever method) it only takes about 15 minutes all in all.

You can also use this bread mix in a bread machine, which is handy for having piping hot bread when you wake up in the morning. Unfortunately the one who shall not be named took the bread maker, so I have to stick to making it by hand now.

Summary: Why not give it a go?