Making Bread

Bread is pretty high in sodium, and it's something we eat a lot of in this country. So one way of reducing your dietary sodium is to make your own, salt-free bread. It is a bit of an acquired taste, but once you're used to it, I have been assured that you'll find normal bread way too salty.

The first bit of advice I would give on this is to get yourself a bread machine. I got mine for a few quid from a friend (the lovely Cathie at BecomingDomestic) who was upgrading hers to a larger version, and it has been fab. It's not something that needs to be expensive - I have seen a few on Freecycle and in charity shops. I think it's the sort of thing people get as a wedding present, or in an earth-mother moment, and then never use.

It should come with a recipe book (if you get a second hand one that doesn't, then take a look at the manufacturer's website, as most have lists of instructions for their products nowadays). You can buy ready-made mixes for bread machines, but you will probably end up with bread just as high in sodium as "bought" bread. And to be honest, I don't think that getting the ingredients together is that much more hassle.

Some advice:
- Leave out the salt (obviously). This may affect how your bread rises, so you might need to experiment a bit with quantities of the other ingredients to get it right.
- Use unsalted butter or olive oil.
- If you use use the dough setting (on mine this is 90 mins long), then you can make pizza bases/rolls etc.
- Add extra ingredients - if you find the bread too bland, add some raisins, chilli, garlic or herbs. Be careful not to add them too early though or they will get chopped up too much.
- Fathom out how the timer works, and use it. That way you can wake on a Sunday morning to the smell of baking bread, or if you're making bread rolls in the week then the dough can be ready when you get in from work, ready to put into the oven at the same time as dinner.

This week, I have managed to make Mr. C packed lunches made with sodium-free home-made rolls, and to also knock up some very tasty garlic bread, with roasted garlic. And very virtuous I feel too.

Update: Based of 9 months of experience, I have added some new tips here.