12 replies to this topic

[weinoo]

In our ever increasingly busy world, leave it to Fleischmann's (yes, that Fleischmann's) to come up with the product we all need - and in many varieties.

Yes, it's their Simply HomeMade No Knead Bread Mix (in four flavors) - and it's as simple as making bread in under an hour. Here are the ingredients for the Stoneground Wheat Bread:

Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Whole Wheat Flour, Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Canola and Soybean Oils). Contains 2% or less of Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative), Salt, Active Dry Yeast, Sorbitan Monostearate, Ascorbic Acid, Vital Wheat Gluten, DATEM, Mono- and Diglycerides, Wheat Starch, Azodicarbonamide, Enzymes, Cellulose Gum. Contains Milk, Wheat

So, who is brave enough to give this stuff a try?

[radtek]

Looks interesting. If I see a pack might give it a whirl. However, it bothers me that there is a need to simplify making bread, when it is already straightforward.

I notice that you still need to let the mix rise.

[Mjx]

I wonder how it tastes cold. I adore bread, and hot bread is... well, there are few breads that don't more or less past muster when they're hot, but once it cools down? That really separates the good from the DEARGODWHATTHEHELL.

I'm a bit curious about the 'under an hour' thing; it suggests that both baking and rising take under a half hour each..?

[lancastermike]

Looks like something from the book Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Billet. Perhaps you have herad of this.

[weinoo]

I wonder how it tastes cold. I adore bread, and hot bread is... well, there are few breads that don't more or less past muster when they're hot, but once it cools down? That really separates the good from the DEARGODWHATTHEHELL.

I'm a bit curious about the 'under an hour' thing; it suggests that both baking and rising take under a half hour each..?

Yes - evidently the rise time is 20 minutes and the bake time is 25 - 30 minutes. There's a video on the site.

Looks like something from the book Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Billet. Perhaps you have herad of this.

Yes, I own and have heard of this. Nothing in the books comes close.

[radtek]

What a 20 minute rise time says to me is that the yeast is there for flavor and not much leavening.

[lancastermike]

Similar products are available from King Arthur Flour, and though I admit to it being plebeian, I have used these King Arthur mixes and found the product to be just fine.

I also bake my own bread and I do not use all the extra ingredients the commercial producers use. I do indeed see the similarities between the methods used by commercial produces to manipulate traditional ingredients and techniques and those advocated by the MC wizards. After all, Velveeta has been around a lot longer than the MC processed cheese.

Modernist techniques applied by Fleichman's and King Arthur's industrial facilties are the same as those applied by Myrhold and his gang of merry pranksters. It is manipulation of traditional ingredients to an end. In the case of these bread mixes it is to provide the user with the illusion that they are making home baked bread. And they really are, the product bakes up and smells and tastes just like traditional home baked bread.

I understand it is beneath the dignity of some to even consider such an abomination.

http://www.kingarthu...60091303941.pdf

Edited by lancastermike, 07 February 2013 - 12:37 PM.

[weinoo]

What a 20 minute rise time says to me is that the yeast is there for flavor and not much leavening.

But won't that flavor be, ummmm, gross? The whole idea of a long (or even reasonable) rise time is so that the yeast has time to work its magic on the flour and develop delicious flavors.

[HungryC]

The ingredients read just like those of a supermarket loaf of sliced bread. I'd imagine many US consumers would be perfectly happy with the resulting loaf if their standard bread is a commercial sliced one. No shame in that--some ppl spend time replicating Oreos or Twinkies at home. If you like squishy, fast rising breads.....why not? Maybe someone will buy the mixes for a while and then decide to make the jump to a completely scratch loaf at some point, perhaps after figuring out that scratch is cheaper than a mix.

I'm not the biggest fan of an oil and dough conditioner enriched soft sandwich loaf, personally, but it is the preferred style of virtually all the students I encounter in my baking classes. Way more ppl sign up for squishy white bread classes than for my wild yeast sourdough classes.

[Cyberider]

I'll buy their yeast by the brick but I won't be buying this!

[judiu]

In the case of these bread mixes it is to provide the user with the illusion that they are making home baked bread. And they really are, the product bakes up and smells and tastes just like traditional home baked bread.

I understand it is beneath the dignity of some to even consider such an abomination.
http://www.kingarthu...60091303941.pdf

Beneath my dignity? No way; I have a tiny kitchen and a dining table not fit to roll or knead on, and also a large streak of lazy! Home made style bread in under an hour? Bet your butt I'll try it!

[radtek]

What a 20 minute rise time says to me is that the yeast is there for flavor and not much leavening.

But won't that flavor be, ummmm, gross? The whole idea of a long (or even reasonable) rise time is so that the yeast has time to work its magic on the flour and develop delicious flavors.

I agree but not necessarily with "gross". There is a yeasty component to bread after baking IMO. Usually I make a poolish when doing bread. But I'm intrigued as to how this "no knead" technique would be any better than what I could do for myself without a mix that has all of this:

INGREDIENTS: Enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, malted barley flour, may contain enzymes, ascorbic acid), sugar, canola or soybean oil, nonfat milk, salt, fumaric acid, wheat gluten, soy lecithin, lactic acid, calcium lactate, enzymes, natural flavor (contains milk derivatives).
YEAST PACKET INGREDIENTS: Active yeast, ascorbic acid.
CONTAINS: Wheat, milk and soy.

Was at the store tonight and bought this: http://www.krusteaz....h-bread-mix-445 It has three different ways to make the bread including a 1 hour no knead technique. I'm following that but turned the mixed dough into a loaf-pan to rise.

Says to bake after an hour, but I might let it rise for longer but will be hands off until slashing the dough. Will report back.

[radtek]

I did a loaf last night. I allowed the dough to rise longer than an hour due to the cooler temps here. It rose to the top of the pan but there wasn't any dough-spring in the oven which was disappointing. However, suprisingly the resulting bread tasted quite good and the crumb was far better than expected. Certainly this mix would be improved if kneaded and allowed to proof by established methods.

Glad I used a $0.50 off coupon so the whole experiment cost less than two bucks. I'll stick with my bread flour from now on though.