Bread

[dosco]

I love bread, it's one of my favorite foods. My mother is from Brazil, and they have quite an obsession with bread there ... along the lines of what you'd likely find in Europe.

Anyhow, back in the mid 1990s I tried my hand at bread with little success. I recently stumbled into "The Fresh Loaf" website and my interest has been rekindled. I am particularly interested in sourdough breads (the challenge of maintaining a viable starter is interesting) although if it's bread I'm interested in making and baking it.

Here is today's loaf (baked this morning), Dave Snyder's San Joaquin Sourdough.

I thought it might be interesting to post pics, recipes, and discuss ...

(I'll post links to The Fresh Loaf and the SJSD later ... their site is a bit wonky today ...)

[fallingwickets]

please fedex a loaf asap

[dosco]

Haha.

Perhaps you can try making it yourself?

-Dave

[jww]

Not fair to post these kinds of pics when some of us are trying to continue to be health conscious ......

[dosco]

Haha ... I do low-carb during the week and "regular" on the weekends.

I regularly do weightlifting "depletion" exercises at the gym in the morning, usually 5 days a week.

Have lost ~25 pounds in the last 6 months or so.

Which is what makes bread, being my favorite food, both a blessing and a curse!

[Squire]

Work to make it then work to eliminate the results, seems sensible, balance in the universe and all that.

[ShadowsDad]

There is absolutely nothing as good smelling (IMO) as a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Nice looking rustic loaf. How long did it look like that before it was slathered with butter and the wolves descended? We generally have one sacrificial loaf and 1/4 of it disappears fairly rapidly.

The Fresh Loaf is a good site. I'm BBQinMaineiac over there. I don't get over there very often any more though. I never was a big poster over there.

It's been a very long time since we've bought any factory made bread. The only factory bread stuff we buy are hot dog rolls. I make everything else, english muffins, hamburger rolls, yeast rolls, ciabatta, everything. I make all of our loaf bread from 100% home ground whole grain, ground minutes before the loaves are made. While I'm weighing things out into the mixing bowl the Ankarsrum is grinding the grain. I'll give our neighbors a loaf now and then, she likes all of my bread, he likes soft bread. The last loaf of 100% home ground white whole wheat that I sent over, he came over the next day to tell me just how good it was. I told him that it was 100% whole wheat and he didn't want to hear how healthy it was, only how much he liked it.

So far I've developed a traditional white sandwich loaf that is soft, flexible, tasty, and doesn't fall apart when made into a sandwich, and a sourdough loaf with full flavor and similar texture but no need for a 24 hour ferment. I like breads that I can make in hours and very much dislike bread that requires 2 days to make. I generally fix those loaves so as to be made in hours and still have full flavor and such.

Do you have starter? If not I can mail you a baggie of 250 year old King Arthur Flour starter.

Soon on the development queue is a sourdough rye bread that will make me think of the NY Jewish Rye I remember from my childhood, complete with Chanushka (nigella) seeds. When I get time to develop it. That might take longer than I anticipate since rye bread is so very different from wheat bread. After that I want to get busy with rustic loaves. Or maybe I'll do the rustic wheat loaves first since I have a grasp of wheat at this point.

If you need a great pizza recipe the Americas Test Kitchen recipe is the one we use now after trying MANY. If you keep the dough in a cold refirgerator it can stay for up to 10 days (near 32°F). ATK claims 3 days, but that's probably where little hands open the door and longingly gaze inside for "something". It's easy to make homemade pizza when the dough is made at ones convenience and one needs to make the pizza sometime in the next 2 weeks.

I'd post my bread recipes but they are written for the Ankarsrum mixer and home ground whole wheat, so they won't do anyone here any good. Store bought "whole wheat" is a fraud, it's not even close to being whole wheat and won't work the same as the real stuff.

I'll post some pix.

White whole wheat sandwich. The hole in the middle of the cut loaf is from the instant read thermometer.



And the sourdough white whole wheat. I actually let it rise about 15 minutes too much, but it was still good.

[fallingwickets]

Ive made no knead bread several times over the years.....very very tasty, but it looks nothing like yours does Brian. For some reason I can never get the shape right!

I always bypass step 3 for some reason

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dinin ... .html?_r=0

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

[jww]

My wife has long ground our own wheat to make flour which produces easily the best bread ever, bar none ..... well, you get the idea.

The "Free Weekend" notion initially advocated by some of the power body change programs (read Bill Phillips' Body For Life into this statement), is something I caught onto back in the late 90s as well. They sure can quickly stonewall a plan, however, if you aren't too careful .....

[dosco]

The "Free Weekend" notion initially advocated by some of the power body change programs (read Bill Phillips' Body For Life into this statement), is something I caught onto back in the late 90s as well. They sure can quickly stonewall a plan, however, if you aren't too careful .....

Yeah, it's not uncommon for me to have to diet pretty hard during the week due to overindulgence on the weekends. So far, though, my weight has been stable at 198 - 201 lbs.

[dosco]

There is absolutely nothing as good smelling (IMO) as a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven. Nice looking rustic loaf. How long did it look like that before it was slathered with butter and the wolves descended? We generally have one sacrificial loaf and 1/4 of it disappears fairly rapidly.

That loaf I posted was made from my sourdough starter and is what I consider to be my "first successful loaf from starter." The other loaves weren't bad, but they didn't rise well nor did they have good oven spring. My younger one doesn't like sourdough and as a result hasn't had any of this loaf - irony is that for whatever reason this loaf isn't particularly sour.

So far I've developed a traditional white sandwich loaf that is soft, flexible, tasty, and doesn't fall apart when made into a sandwich, and a sourdough loaf with full flavor and similar texture but no need for a 24 hour ferment. I like breads that I can make in hours and very much dislike bread that requires 2 days to make. I generally fix those loaves so as to be made in hours and still have full flavor and such.

So far I don't mind the long ferment, but there may come a time where I would want faster results.

Do you have starter? If not I can mail you a baggie of 250 year old King Arthur Flour starter.

I do have starter ... although I am intrigued by the thought of a 250 year old starter.

If you need a great pizza recipe the Americas Test Kitchen recipe is the one we use now after trying MANY. If you keep the dough in a cold refirgerator it can stay for up to 10 days (near 32°F). ATK claims 3 days, but that's probably where little hands open the door and longingly gaze inside for "something". It's easy to make homemade pizza when the dough is made at ones convenience and one needs to make the pizza sometime in the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for the pointer, I'll check it out. I worked in a pizza shop in high school, then again immediately after graduating college.

I'd post my bread recipes but they are written for the Ankarsrum mixer and home ground whole wheat, so they won't do anyone here any good.

Although I have neither I would be interested, but if it's too much I understand.

Cheers-
Dave

[ShadowsDad]

It's not too much to post them, but w/o using home ground "real" whole wheat I doubt that they'll work. That flour is that different. The real whole wheat flour can be obtained in the refrigerated section of a natural food market. Too, the Ankarsrum recipe won't work in a Kitchen Aid or Sunbeam type mixer. If using a KA or Sunbeam I would NOT use my recipes for the full load, divide the recipe by half for one loaf only. You're on your own if you destroy your mixer by overloading it. Your kneading times will also be way off. Perform a window test to make sure the gluten is fully developed.

Having written that as a warning, here they are along with 2 others. One is a KAF recipe that is designed for the KA mixer and a hamburger bun recipe that will work in a KA mixer.

11/25/13
The Mainiacs Rustic Sourdough using 100% fresh ground hard white wheat

This started out as a King Arthur Flour recipe. It no longer resembles the original at all. This can be made in a few hours and it has better flavor than the original IMO. The original was an overnight loaf.

This recipe was developed for the Ankarsrum mixer and Ankarsrum Grain Mill (Family Grain Mill). If your grain mill can’t produce fine flour, and especially fine bran, the recipe might not work. Large pieces of bran will definitely cause the loaf to fall at the end of the rise or in the oven. It was one of the first problems with this loaf that I had to figure out and overcome. I pass the berries/flour through the mill 3 times at it’s finest setting to make sure the bran is fine enough. That also helps to make sure the yeast has enough of what it needs to eat. Folks with KA mixers sorry, I can’t develop recipes for you, to convert it for your mixer try adding more flour or give it more kneading time. You’re on your own. I want to stress that the mixing instructions are for the Ankarsrum. You need to do what you need to do for your mixer. Oh, you’ll probably want to add the dry ingredients to the liquid, but again, you know your mixer.

If all you have is commercial “whole wheat” (which isn’t whole wheat at all) you’re also on your own. I suspect the recipe will still work, but I don’t intend to try it to find out. Let me know and I’ll add the info here.

On to the recipe...

yield: 2 loaves

This is a delicious “sour” loaf with a deep brown crust, fine crumb, and full flavor. It’s a tender loaf that won’t fall apart when a sandwich is made with it, and it makes fantastic toast (you may need to toast on the “dark” setting). It has all that it needs and nothing that it doesn’t (so omit nothing). It’s also a fast loaf to make since it only rises once in the pans. You could probably do a double rise if you wish since there’s plenty of food for the yeast. Dough conditioners are built in so don’t add any. Follow the recipe precisely .

For a “wheatier” flavor substitute hard red wheat for the hard white wheat. Obviously, no matter what type of wheat is used it needs to be a high protein wheat (15% or higher) or it’s unsuitable for yeast bread making. You want hard spring wheat if possible. If the planting time isn’t possible to determine just tell your supplier you want hard wheat (white or red) and tell them you’re making yeast bread. Then keep your fingers crossed. A good book for understanding wheat and home grinding is “Flour Power”. At this time ( Nov’ 2013 ) I pay approx $25 for a 25# sack of organic hard white wheat out of Utah and it works great. Working with fresh ground wheat you may need to adjust the recipe as you open a different sack of wheat since you’re working with the raw material and not a standardized flour. That’s just a characteristic of using wheat and not flour from a supplier who standardizes it. The good thing is that you have nutrients that standardized flour doesn’t contain. You gain something and give up something.

This is the finished recipe, but it may require fine tuning of the baking a bit, but each baker needs to do that for ones own oven; otherwise the recipe is finished. It’s been months in the development and I’ve learned a great deal by doing so and it’s been fun. The dogs especially liked the failed loaves cut, dried in a 225 degree oven, and turned into crispy treats.

Ingredients:

2 TBLSP Diastatic malted wheat (I make my own) and enough hard white wheat berries to equal 903 grams, ground 3x into flour on the finest setting (Family Grain Mill/Ankarsrum). The bran needs to be fine, and if it is, so too will the flour be fine enough.

362 grams "fed" King Arthur sourdough starter
700 grams scalded and cooled milk
OR (IMO better options)
I can evaporated milk and water to make 700grams total
OR
56g (3/8 cup) non-instant milk powder*** and water to make 700g total (644g water)
3 teaspoons (1 TBL) fresh instant yeast (note: I didn’t write to proof it- if it’s fresh it’s good, if not get and use fresh)
1 1/2 tablespoon sucanat or sugar
2 TBL lecithin granules or 4 egg yolks * (eggs are a poor substitute but are better than nothing, see the note)
2 tsps Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

8 TBL softened butter or oil
3 3/4 tsps salt

additional water or bread flour to adjust the dough ring, I almost never need to adjust anything
additional butter for the loaf pans

Directions:

1) use the roller and scraper set up. Combine all of the first set of ingredients in the mixer bowl. I weigh and measure everything out into the tared bowl while it’s on the scale, and tare it out after each addition (except for the oil and salt). Then I put the bowl into position, add the scraper and roller and I’m off. Of course the wheat was weighed out first before grinding. I add approx’ 1/2 of the flour before I even start the mixer. As the mixer is turning I add the rest a cup at a time, and fairly quickly. Adjust the arm away from the bowl as required so as not to make a mess. The arm needs to be there anyway for kneading.

1a) After mixing allow to rest for a minimum of 15 minutes.

2) After a minimum of 15 minutes start the mixer. The dough will be “dry” (too stiff) so expect that. Add salt. Slowly add oil to the inside of the dough ring. Give the oil time to mix with the dough. It helps to adjust the roller a bit closer to the bowl to aid this. After it’s mixed in adjust the dough ring for moisture with additional water as required- it might not be needed. At this point you don’t want the arm swinging back and forth. You want a nice dough ring. Trust me, the gluten will develop and the dough won’t be too sticky in a bit.

3) Knead for 10 minutes @ 1/2 - 3/4 speed; stay out of the shaded area on the speed knob and you’ll be OK. If you got the moisture content perfect the arm will move back and forth a bit as the dough ring changes from a ring into a ball in the last minute or so of kneading. A teaspoon of water can make the difference and atmospheric moisture is a factor, so I can only get you close with the recipe amounts. Even if it’s slightly too wet and doesn’t ball up at the end of the kneading time, relax, it’ll still work fine.

4) Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and divide into 2 masses as evenly as possible without getting all anal about it. If you want to be precise you could weigh them, but I don’t. Relax, it’ll still work fine if you don’t weigh and just go by eye as best you can.

4a) Spread softened butter into your loaf pans. I prefer clear Pyrex loaf pans. I tried non-stick spray and I far prefer butter for the pans. Non-stick spray isn’t even close as far as taste but it’s your bread. Don’t clean your hands.

5) Use your (at this point) slightly buttered hands to grease up your bench scraper and to handle the dough. Divide and shape the dough into 2 loaves and place into 2 buttered loaf pans.

6) Cover with plastic wrap or brush with melted butter, yeah that, the melted butter, it’s better. I use extremely soft butter, a scant pat per loaf is plenty and I just put it on the top of the loaf with my hands. Let rise until risen possibly an inch over the loaf pan sides; it should do this quite rapidly so don’t get involved doing something and forget it! If I have used all warm wet ingredients it’s amazing how rapidly these loaves can rise. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat your calibrated oven to 425°F. The dough will definitely rise high over the loaf pans when they’re ready to bake, 1"- 1.5". And you’ll get good oven spring as well.

Optional 7) Spray the loaves with lukewarm water. I never do this, neither do I score the loaves.

8 ) Bake the bread @ 350°F for 35 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown and the internal temperature is close to 200°F. If it hasn’t reached the temperature give it another 5 minutes more as required.

9) Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes in the pans (I use pyrex which hold the heat). This step is where the pyrex pans really work great! If you’re using metal pans that step might not work as well. Then turn the loaves out and continue cooling.

10) When cool enough to slice, but still warm enough to melt butter slice an end off and enjoy! You earned it. Plus you need a square end for storage. Read below.

Miscellaneous notes follow. Why? Because I want you to enjoy the loaves you made. The farmer grew the wheat, and the supply chain got it to you. Ankarsrum made the mixer, the Germans made the grinder, your supplier got you the wheat, and it took effort for you to make the bread. OK, I was in there somewhere too. All to bring you a superb loaf. I want you to get the most from all the effort all those people expended for your bread. Enjoy!

The recipe makes 2 loaves. We use one loaf fresh and put one in a poly bag in the freezer. To store the loaf in use never put it in a poly bag. It loses flavor faster than you can shake a stick at it (all bread does), and the poly bag is a hothouse for mold. Too, never put the loaf in the refrigerator; that just speeds staling. Come to grips with this idea... once bread is made it has a finite life and the best use for the bread changes day by day. However, I’ve done what I can to extend the fresh use time for this loaf with the conditioners.

For storage, what we now do with the loaf that’s in use is to slice off an end. You did that anyway didn’t you? After it’s still warm from the oven it has the best flavor and it melts butter great. Just a tip for the baker. You earned it and you’re providing a needed service! The loaf needs to stand up. OK so the end is cut off, up-end it onto a plate, a counter top, whatever you choose as long as it’s a non-porous surface. A wooden cutting board won’t work; it’s porous. Putting the cut end on a non porous surface reduces evaporation. Having the crust open to the air keeps it as it should be and having it at room temperature slows staling (as compared to being in the refrigerator). Not having it in poly allows the loaf to retain it’s flavor. When you’re near it you’ll be able to smell the fantastic aroma. Compare the flavor and aroma to bread stored in poly over time. You’ll notice the difference in aroma and taste in under one day. Slice off what you need and keep the cut end on the surface. Yes, it will stale over time; within a few days in fact. That’s bread, get over it; but the dough conditioners in this loaf will retard the staling a bit and they’re good for you anyway. Remember the old time box boxes and bread drawers? Our forebears knew something. Then came poly bags used to get the bread to the store, and we thought that was the way to store the loaf. A pre sliced loaf is maybe better stored in the bag.

So how is it frozen if not in a poly bag? Poly is OK for freezer storage. Just not for room temperature storage. After it’s thawed, it gets the same cut end and “upended onto a surface” treatment. If you use it soon after loaf #1 is used up you’ll never even notice that it was frozen.

Happy bread making!

* In the average egg yolk there is 125mg of lecithin. In a tablespoon of lecithin granules there is 1600mg of lecithin. So one can’t possibly use enough egg yolks to equal the lecithin granules. Don’t sweat it though, lecithin is good for the body.

*** non-instant milk powder can be had from a natural food market.

Classic White Sandwich Bread
King Arthur Flour original recipe

Makes 1 loaf.
Brians note: easy, quick, and a great sandwich loaf. It doubles (or more) with great results.

For sandwiches, toast, and French toast, you just can’t beat a classic American sandwich loaf, with its creamy-white interior, golden crust, and soft, easily sliceable texture.

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
1/2 cup milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole, your choice)**
1/2 to 2/3 cup hot water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough**
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons succunat*** or sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Brians addition: ½ tsp Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water OR 2 teaspoons instant yeast
Brians addition: 1 ½ tsps lecithin granules (optional) or an egg yolk since it contains lecithin

*For added whole-grain goodness, substitute great-tasting King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour for up to half of the all-purpose flour in this recipe. See following recipes.

**Mix the cold-from-the-refrigerator milk with 1/2 cup of the hot-from-the-tap water to make a lukewarm combination.
*** Dehydrated sugar cane sap- it contains everything good from the cane
Mixing: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine set to the dough or manual cycle). Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8" log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap*, and allow the bread to rise for about 60 minutes, until it’s domed about 1" above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until it’s light golden brown. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom (it should sound hollow), or by measuring its interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer (it should register 200°F at the center of the loaf). Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. Yield: 1 loaf.
*Lately I’ve been melting a pat of butter per loaf and brushing it on the top of the bread before the rise. It does what the plastic wrap does and tastes better.


The Maineiacs 100% Fresh Ground Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

Yield: 2 loaves

If making 4 or more loaves increase the kneading by a few minutes, 6 loaves a bit more time, etc..

1 cup milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole, your choice)**
1 to 1 1/3 cup hot water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough** (hold the 1/3cup in reserve)
8 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter or vegetable oil †
4 tablespoons succunat or sugar
2 packets active dry yeast dissolved in 2 TBL warm water OR 4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tsp ascorbic acid
1 TBL lecithin granules or 2 egg yolks since they contain lecithin

1 1/4 teaspoons salt
796 grams of hard white wheat fine ground (3x through the Ankarsrum (aka “Family”) grain mill)
2 TBL diastatic malted wheat flour added to the wheat berries before grinding

A small amount of additional flour as required for adjusting the dough and dusting the countertop

Instructions:

Add the first set of ingredients to the SS mixer bowl with the roller set up. Turn it on slow or higher and allow to mix.

Turn the mixer off or not, and add ½ of the total flour. Allow to mix. The dough will be more like batter at this point.

If you haven’t yet, turn the mixer speed up to ½ - 3/4 and begin adding the rest of the flour and salt. Adjust the roller arm as necessary. Withhold the last ½ cup of flour and use it to adjust the dough consistency. You want a slightly too wet dough at this point but do not strive for that. If you have that consistency OK. You should use most of the flour, but possibly not all of it. I found I use all of it.

Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes for the flour to finish soaking up the water. After that time start the mixer and run it at ½ - 3/4 speed and adjust the dough consistency using the additional flour and/or reserved water.

After it’s mixed and the consistency is right, knead for 8 minutes (2 loaves). I don’t even do a windowpane test. I just go by what the dough ring looks like as it’s kneading. Since this dough is using a higher gluten flour it’s quite possible that the dough will form a ball in the last minute of kneading.

Lately I’ve been melting a pat of butter per loaf and brushing it on the top of the bread before the rise. It does what the plastic wrap does and tastes better.

Bake @ 350°F for 35-40 minutes. The internal temperature should be near 200°F. If not leave it in until it registers that.

Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes in the pans I use pyrex which hold the heat. This step is where the pyrex pans really work great! If you’re using metal pans this step might not work as well. Then turn the loaves out and continue cooling.

**Mix the cold-from-the-refrigerator milk with 1/2 cup of the hot-from-the-tap water to make a lukewarm combination. So as not to kill the yeast the temperature needs to be below 115°F. Lower temp’s build in a safety margin for error and are meaningless to the yeast and recipe.

† The butter needs to be at least soft, and the water/milk should be under 115°F so as not to kill the yeast. 80°F is fine, but so is warmer. If I use veg. oil I use grapeseed because it’s neutral and is an extremely “healthy” oil.

Depending on the rise in the above recipe another experiment might be reducing the sugar and keeping the diastatic malted wheat flour. Also test removing the diastatic malted wheat flour and just use the sugar to allow options and to change the flavor a bit.


Lynnes (from http://www.primogrillforum.com) Hamburger Buns

Yield: 12 buns

Lynne gives credit to :

“Two Hour Buns Fermipan Quick Rise Yeast Rolls”

These buns are fantastic and fast!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water (lukewarm) (350 g)
4 TBL sugar (48g)
3 TBL oil (37g)
½ tsp salt (3 g)
1 TBL Quick Rise instant yeast (9.2g)
1 egg
3 1/2-4 cups bread flour (divided) or enough to make the dough workable (520 g)

Misc. Flour for the working surface and hands


Directions:

Do in the order listed. Don’t use the kneading attachment, use the mixing attachment.

Mix yeast, sugar, salt, 2 c flour, and ½ the water with the mixer in the mixing bowl. Turn off.

In a separate bowl mix the egg and oil. Add to mixer bowl.

Rinse egg/oil bowl with the remaining water and add to mixing bowl. Mix until incorporated. As it’s mixing you adjust the flour to form a loose dough. It will be sloppy, but you’ll need to hand form the buns, so make a suitable dough. Knead long enough to fully develop the gluten.

Turn the mixer off. Allow to rise for 15 minutes.

Turn the mixer on, to punch the dough down. Turn off and allow to rise another 15 minutes.

Flour your countertop and turn the dough out onto it.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, divide each piece into 2, then each of those into 2 again. You’ll have 12 equal pieces (82g).

Flour your hands and form the buns by gathering the dough at the bottom and forming a round smooth top. Pinch the dough at the bottom together. Adjust size by flattening and spreading them after forming them into a round. Sort of like a tiny pizza, but not to that degree. Just use the hands.

** Optional: Use an egg wash (1 egg, 1 tsp water) to brush the tops and sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, diced onion, etc.

Place into a greased pan, pinched bottoms down. Allow to rise 1 hour. Bake in a 350°F oven for 15-18 minutes. Cool and use.

[Scrapyard Ape]

Yeah I know... I posted this in another thread. I'm a shameless whore.

I made this video last May. Trust me on this, it is DAYUMM good!
Chocolate Ice Cream/Bacon Bread
Any kind of ice cream will work as long as it is regular, full fat ice cream. Low fat and frozen yogurt don't work.

[jww]

Not related to bread but pertinent to the thread given the mention of chocolate and bacon above. We got my son-in-law a two-pack of chocolate covered bacon at a booth at the Toronto Christmas market a couple of weeks back as a Christmas present. He's a nutter for bacon. I did not find it quite the confectionary that my son, his girlfriend and wife thought it to be. Like wet shaving ymmv, I suppose.

Back to homemade bread. The fresh ground wheat my wife makes is still the best.

[dosco]

Latest loaf is based on a sourdough recipe, but on this occasion I used commercial yeast. Looks the same because it's very similar to the previous sourdough loaf, but also it appears my batards are (thus far) uniform in shape. Lol. Oven spring was pretty good, although the slash that I put on the top of the loaf did not develop "ears." The crumb was a bit off compared to the loaf I made before this, but the taste is excellent. We hammered through half of the loaf last night!



Here is a piece of that loaf, toasted with butter and jam, and a folded egg white (looks like an omlette but there is no filling).

[Squire]

Nice crumb.

[dosco]

For Christmas my wife gave me a copy of Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.

I decided to try his recipe for 'Basic Sourdough Bread' ... I finally decided to get off my duff and get some King Arthur bread flour, which I think made a major improvement to my bread. The natural/wild yeast leaven worked very well and the result of the effort was 2 loaves. I gave 1 to a friend (who has extensive experience traveling France, among other places) who remarked that it was 'delicious.'

The crumb was a bit tight due to the 65% hydration, so I will try 70% hydration on the next batch in an attempt to get a more airy crumb.

I was also not happy with the lack of "ear" so I watched some tutorials and will try the "correct" method.

Q for the mods: how do I resize the pics to fit the BB format? I don't care for the super-large pics ...

Pics:

[ShadowsDad]

Dave, isn't the loaf having ears just proper slashing technique?

[dosco]

Dave, isn't the loaf having ears just proper slashing technique?

I think it is a combination of slashing technique, gluten development, and proofing.

From watching the TFL tutorial videos I've learned that my slashes are far too deep, and also they are not in the correct direction. With that said, there also has to be enough oven spring which as far as I know is a function of adquate gluten development, proofing time, and by extension yeast activity.

I seem to be getting closer to where I need to be with gluten development, and starter activity ... I'm not so sure about proofing.

And I also learned that my steaming technique might not be so great ... so I have to alter my steaming approach. Right now I have a pan on the bottom of the oven in which I pour water after I load the loaf. I think I'm going to get a few small metal baking pans, stack them, punch holes in the upper pan, and place a small amount of water and maybe a few ice cubes ... hopefully the drip-drip on the hot lower pan will be better than what I'm doing now.

Regards-
Dave

[ShadowsDad]

Dave, you are a very serious baker my friend!

I bake for myself and I do it to feed family and friends, but also to relax and just smell the yeast ferment and then to scent the house as it bakes. OK, the eating is wonderful too.

My suggestion... just relax, take your time, and if you don't have the time it wasn't worth the doing.

Bread making can be addictive though. I now dislike quite affirmatively, factory bread. It's simply junk. At least most of it.

Since you're getting so involved I'm going to suggest a book to you. It will be another direction entirely. The book is "Flour Power". Since bread exists to nourish, one might as well make the best possible.