Killer home made bread bait recipe.

[barbus maximus]

As a man who likes to bake his own bread, I decided to experiment with a little something for my fishy friends, that would not break the bank but would hopefully increase the chances of some good fish.
After months of trials the simplest method won, so here for your information is my up to now top secret but very simple recipe.

Ingredients list.
1.5 kg of strong bread flour
1 Tablespoon of dried yeast
1 Table spoon of salt
Splash of honey
500ml of slightly warmed liquid from a tin/jar of sweetcorn or hempseed. (NO BITS)

(It is advisable to use a tablespoon measure, and not actually a tablespoon for the yeast and salt)

Method.

Dissolve the yeast in a cup or glass with a little warm water until it is the consistany of single cream. Put to one side.

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, and make a hollow in the middle.
Pour in the warm liquids with the dash of honey.
Pour in the yeast mixture.
With the handle of a wooden spoon or such like, start to mix it together, from the outside inwards.
Keep mixing until it becomes thick and gloopy.
Turn it out onto a floured surface, and sprinkle some flour over it.
Start to knead the dough, adding more flour as required to prevent sticking to your hands or the surface, this needs to be done for a good 5 minutes to stretch the gluten in the flour.
When this has been done, place the dough into a clean dry bowl and cover with a cloth, in a warm place for 2 hours to rise.

At this stage it is recommended that a total clean is carried out, in order to prevent the Mrs from going ballistic at the state of the kitchen. (If you are a female fishing person, don't worry, the kitchen probably still looks immaculate).

After the 2 hours punch your fist into the dough to release some of the air inside.
Turn it out onto a floured surface and, more gently this time, knead again.
Cut into 2 equal parts, and place onto a baking tray, cover again, and leave for 30 minutes.

Set your oven to about 180, and put the tray in for 35-40 minutes.

They will rise, go a golden brown colour, and should sound hollow when tapped. Allow to cool on a rack.

When cool, keep in a resealable freezer bag fro freshness, and it can be frozen.

The addition of the corn/hemp liquids give a sweet, fish attracting smell whilst retaining the characteristics of bread flake or crust, and have proved to be deadly for good Chub, but should work just as well for other fish too, and equates to about 50p a loaf.

By the way, if you add 500ml of water instead of the flavoured liquids, it makes a lovely loaf for yourselves, for the required bankside bacon butty!!

I have attempted to add small amounts of hemp to the bread, but it just doesn't work very well, I think the flavour is enough.

Hope this works as well for you as it does for me.


BM

[BoldBear]

Great recipe BM.
My father used to make most of our bread and I remember it tasted brilliant, but the only similar thing I have cooked in the oven for bait was a floating cake for using as a floating bait for carp which was a bit tougher than bread and didn't come off the hook on a strong cast; and which was made by adding extra eggs to a normal boilee mix and flavouring and baking in the oven instead of using it for making boilees; it didnt rise a lot but was like a sponge and the Carp seemed to like it.

I may use your recipe and knock some of your bread up for bait in the early summer I can almost taste it myself.

[barbus maximus]

Thanks BoldBear,

Its excellent for the big chub, but have only had smaller Barbel on it, however when used (mashed wet or blitzed dry crumb) for groundbaiting it does bring in the larger ones who take the hook bait.
With the price of our baits these days, its a cheaper option for some situations, and appears to be a good all year round bait too.

BM