Flour power.

I was never able to make a loaf quite the way the family liked it. Mainly, despite all my best efforts, it was just a little bit too dense. I liked it, Bear loved to toast it ("as a treat") but getting the kids interested was an uphill battle, so invariably a Tesco' Finest Cheapo Floppy Sliced would rear it's annoying crust in the bread bin.

Woe betide me, after hours of work, I should dare serve up Wholemeal or Rye. I must have been the only bloke locally with five large jars of different bread crumbs. I can't stand waste.

In the end, it was the sheer hard work of one-handed kneading that got to me. But I wasn't ready to give in yet, so I spent about 70 quid on a bread making machine. Don't even have to justify it to She Who Must Be Obeyed. "Don't bother" she said "Your going to do it anyway". Yup.

It's wonderful. Just put the ingredients in - in a certain order. Hit a few buttons, wait anything between 2-5 hours, depending on the loaf, and job done. More, you can experiment.

That put me back to square one with the mob. Soft white wasn't right, and "What's those bit's in it?" But they ate a great deal more.

I've been making bread since my Nan showed me how 40 years ago. So I've an idea behind the science of it. I was always good at experimenting.

I've cracked it! Now, the 13 year old's mates ask for some when they are around!

Just a couple of fore notes. My Bread Maker instruction book asks for 1oz of butter for a basic white loaf. I've substituted oil for that. It seems to keep longer too.

The recipe asks for 1 tsp salt. I originally used sea salt, it certainly tastes better, but the large grain size means it dissolves slower and I don't think it distributes in the dough as well.

Salt is in there not just for taste, but to increase the gluten production. Gluten is very important for texture and holding it all together. Strong white and wholemeal are heavy in gluten.

In my Bread Maker, a Panasonic SD-255, the ingredients go in, in the following order :-

Makes a medium Soft White loaf.

1 teaspoon of fast action dried Yeast

7 oz Strong White Flour

7 oz Plain White Flour

1 level teaspoon Sugar

1 level teaspoon of table salt

1 teaspoon of lemon juice - the yeast likes the environment slightly acidic.

3 tablespoons of oil - I use sunflower, but I'm sure olive, sesame or walnut are delicious.

300 ml water.

And that's it. Amazingly simple.

On my machine, I set to 'Basic', 'medium loaf', 'medium crust' - which is 4 hours. There is a 1 hr 55 min quick loaf setting for the same ingredients, but I don't think it's as good.

Not all bread machines are the same. A friend told me that he's had a battle putting the correct temperature water in his - I just don't have to worry about that. I suspect he was using just plain flour too - but my experience is using some Strong flour is very important.

I've not tried this for an oven loaf, but it works very well for soft white rolls.

Enjoy.