131 replies to this topic

[Heartsurgeon]

you might consider adding a small amount of malt to boost the "bread" flavor. see previous posts for the details.

[Jmahl]

A second attempt at the brioche recipe



this is good stuff.

This loaf and the two mini loaves from a half batch.

[Lior]

OMgoodness!! Tha looks so delicious!!

[Heartsurgeon]

epic picture of the brioche!
if that isn't gastro-porn, i don't know what is.

what was the recipe?
what did you do differently the second time?

[Jmahl]

epic picture of the brioche!
if that isn't gastro-porn, i don't know what is.

what was the recipe?
what did you do differently the second time?

This was a half batch recipe right out of the book. Can't think of anything different except I didn't think there was enough for two loaves so I put two balls of dough in those little cast iron Cocottes from Staub.

[Jmahl]

Tried a new form as suggest in the book. It worked.



Lately I have been making 40% whole wheat bread - grinding hard winter red wheat here as home. Great hard crust and great whole wheat taste. I give the standed receipe a good dose of honey. This is good bread.

[heidih]

Wow! I want to play with whole grains in my "no knead" and this looks like a great concept - maximizing the crust. You actually take the wheat berries and grind in what process?

[Heartsurgeon]

your crust looks great.

i've been trying variations to my basic recipe.

now i'm substituting 15% whole wheat (KA white whole wheat), and i think it makes the crust crunchier and brown quicker compared to 100% KA all purpose flour.

i've also added 7.5% steel cut oats to the standard bread recipe. Adds some nice texture and flavor inside the bread.

i've got a friend who is growing some winter wheat, so i'll be trying the home ground whole wheat later in the year.

[Jmahl]

You actually take the wheat berries and grind in what process?

Exactly.

[lesliec]

That is a beautiful loaf.

I've also been fiddling with the basic recipe and have a variant which is gaining rave reviews (at home).

I substitute just under a cup of whole wheat flour for one of the six cups of white in the standard recipe, plus I throw in about ½ - ¾ cup of kibbled grains and a rough handful each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and linseed (aka flax seeds). When forming the loaf (this method) I roll the dough in a bit more kibbled grain.

The texture is if anything slightly lighter than the 'plain white' version, with a good crunch to the crust being helped by the kibbled grain sticking to it. I'll see about a photo sometime soon.

[Jmahl]

That is a beautiful loaf.

I've also been fiddling with the basic recipe and have a variant which is gaining rave reviews (at home).

I substitute just under a cup of whole wheat flour for one of the six cups of white in the standard recipe, plus I throw in about ½ - ¾ cup of kibbled grains and a rough handful each of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and linseed (aka flax seeds). When forming the loaf (this method) I roll the dough in a bit more kibbled grain.

The texture is if anything slightly lighter than the 'plain white' version, with a good crunch to the crust being helped by the kibbled grain sticking to it. I'll see about a photo sometime soon.

That sounds really good. And in looking back, I am going to use your folding method next time out. Thanks.

[lesliec]

The planets were in alignment last night, so here are the photos threatened/promised above ...

A blob of dough, straight from my container. Note interesting seeds:



A sprinkle of kibbled grains on the benchtop, ready for the part-folded loaf to be plopped onto to finish shaping (this is after the 'fold the edges into the middle, then flatten a bit' stage and before the 'fold one edge over' stage):



Shaped, slashed and ready for the oven:



Half an hour or so later:



And this morning, ready for my toast:



I really like this mix with the kibbled grain, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.

One caution; not wishing to be indelicate, but if you eat enough the effect on one's bowels is, let's say, not insignificant!

[Jmahl]

The planets were in alignment last night, so here are the photos threatened/promised above ...

A blob of dough, straight from my container. Note interesting seeds:



A sprinkle of kibbled grains on the benchtop, ready for the part-folded loaf to be plopped onto to finish shaping (this is after the 'fold the edges into the middle, then flatten a bit' stage and before the 'fold one edge over' stage):



Shaped, slashed and ready for the oven:



Half an hour or so later:



And this morning, ready for my toast:



I really like this mix with the kibbled grain, sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds.

One caution; not wishing to be indelicate, but if you eat enough the effect on one's bowels is, let's say, not insignificant!

Lovely - what do you use for slashing?

[rotuts]

this thread has inspired me to start baking bread again.

I have this:

http://www.kingarthu...d-slashing-tool

but have never in the past got it to work well: it seems to deflate the bread rather than slash it

any help? any vids?

many thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

Try this.

[rotuts]

Kudos!

this is the bread I used to bake, as you can see the blade work was poor:

Attached Images

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[Jmahl]

this thread has inspired me to start baking bread again.

I have this:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/lame-bread-slashing-tool

but have never in the past got it to work well: it seems to deflate the bread rather than slash it

any help? any vids?

many thanks!

Try using a scissor, snipe almost to the level of the pan - You should get a lot of oven bounce.

[Heartsurgeon]

Jmahl, what was your favorite recipe for caraway flavored bread?

Can you sprinkle caraway seeds on the surface, do they burn or become hard/unpleasant?

I had some caraway flavored breadsticks the other day at a restaurant and they were addictive with mustard.

Now I have a jar of caraway seeds I need to use up!

[lesliec]

Hi, Rotuts. Welcome back to breadmaking!

I also have a lame like yours but I've found it completely useless for this recipe. I suspect it's because of the high moisture content in the five-minute dough; something more serious is required. There's a photo of the bread knife I use for slashing over here in my earlier post about shaping - it doesn't get stuck and drag its way through like the lame does, but Jmahl's scissor idea is good too.

Is your cat a British Blue? Two of them own me!

[rotuts]

i have to get my oven repaired the gas what ever doesnt light the oven all the reast OK
'
that would involve a 'cleaning' of the top etc. not for a while

ill start with my old soughdough and then move to the 5-min

(BTW thats Earthquake, my fathers cat now mine. he is a pure bread american long hair. an orphan when he was brought to my father. in California hence the name. he has a good appetite, and enjoys the woodstove in the winter here in New England. he thinks breakfast is served just as the sun begins to show.very polite about it: tap tap tap with the paws, then a careful bite.)

Edited by rotuts, 13 February 2012 - 12:26 PM.

[Jmahl]

Jmahl, what was your favorite recipe for caraway flavored bread?

Can you sprinkle caraway seeds on the surface, do they burn or become hard/unpleasant?

I had some caraway flavored breadsticks the other day at a restaurant and they were addictive with mustard.

Now I have a jar of caraway seeds I need to use up!

Sure, just your formula maybe 20% whole wheat, 10% rye and for the caraway seeds like 2 Tbs. or more. To stick to the crust, an egg wash of egg beaten and some water. I have also tried milk but it does not glue as well. The seeds do not burn in my experience but, as you know, every oven is different. Having seen your work I have no doubt that you will get very good results.

[Heartsurgeon]

I pretty much followed your advice:
15% white whole wheat
10% light rye
75% all purpose
2 tbsp caraway seeds

LIKE!

bread making is now becoming to complicated, to many options..

[Jmahl]

Latest attempt at brioch - did not have any honey so used blue agave syrup.




The loaf lasted 10 minutes before being gobbled up.

[ChrisTaylor]

I made three loaves this morning. Or, rather, I mixed the dough over the weekend, boxed it up and baked it this morning.

-- Deli rye. I used a bit more rye and a bit less regular flour than what the recipe said. Bad idea, I guess. It tasted good but didn't rise much at all once shaped.

-- Smoked bread. Took the base recipe and parked 1/3 of the flour in the smoker for one hour.

-- Olive bread. Worked from the base recipe, too. Next time I'd just use the olive oil dough, but people still seemed to like it.

[teapot]

this thread has inspired me to start baking bread again. I have this: http://www.kingarthu...d-slashing-tool but have never in the past got it to work well: it seems to deflate the bread rather than slash it any help? any vids? many thanks!

Try using a scissor, snipe almost to the level of the pan - You should get a lot of oven bounce.

R


If you're bread is deflating when you slash it, I suggest that it is a sign that you are overproofing the dough. To get good openings (grigne) the bread should be somewhat underproofed (about 85% proofed).

[FrogPrincesse]

The most surprising though, is the Soft white bread. Hubby had commented that he didn't see why we bothered buying bread anymore and I had explained that he still liked some sandwiches on woolly store-bought bread! So today I decided to give this recipe a try. I mixed up a 1/2 recipe very early this morning (4 a.m.), left it to rise at room temp for a couple of hours and then immediately put it in a bread pan, left it for 40 mins and then baked it. I wasn't expecting much and wasn't about to blame Zoe if it didn't work out. But it did and amazingly so!

The recipe states that it will make three - 11/2lb loaves and suggests a bread pan with dimensions of 9x4x3. This struck me as odd so I did a search on loaf pans and found that the dimensions seem to be a mix of the two standard sizes 9x5 and 8x4!! (Is this a misprint Zoe?). The recipe states that it can be halved or doubled but halving it poses a problem if you intend to bake it in a pan! It will then make one 1 1/2 loaf and leave you with a rather small blob of dough. Undeterred I put all of the dough from the 1/2 recipe into my 9x5x2 1/2 pan and it was the perfect amount. As usual I converted the recipe to weights from volume so this may have been sheer luck that it fit so well.

We had leftover roast beef sandwiches on this bread for lunch today and it got thumbs up even without a long rest in the 'fridge. I am ever more impressed with the recipes in this book!!!!

I made the Soft American-Style White Bread last night with good success. The recipe makes 3 loaves (my loaf pan is approximately 9 x 4 x 3 so the loaf of bread fits perfectly), and I reduced it by 2/3 for a yield of two loaves. I took pictures of the process.

First rise (I proof the dough in the oven). It almost escaped from the container.



I then put it in the fridge for a short time to make the dough more manageable, and used half the dough.



Second rise.




I sprinkled some flour and slashed the top, and put it in the pre-heated oven.



I did not hear the timer go off so it spent a few extra minutes in the oven, meaning that the top developed a small crust. Other than that it looked pretty good.



I was nervous that it would be hard to get out of the pan in one piece, but that was not an issue.



I cut a few slices to try it. There is only a small amount of butter in it but you can really taste it. I was out of regular butter and used goat butter, and I can definitely recognize it (it's great).

[Chris Hennes]

Deli-style rye (recipe as written, five days in the fridge, baked in a Dutch Oven):

[robirdstx]

That looks awesome. I'll have to give it a try soon.

[FrogPrincesse]

Beautiful rye bread, Chris.

I made these little brioches à tête (aka brioches parisiennes) for my daughter. They remind me of Paris - I used to live near a briocherie that had the most amazing deep-brown brioches in all sizes.




They are a little more time-consuming to make than a brioche loaf, and cleaning the fluted-edge pans is somewhat of a hassle, so I don't make then very often. They are really pretty though and have a more interesting texture than the loaf.

The best part of course is biting off the little head.

[Jmahl]

Beautiful rye bread, Chris.

I made these little brioches à tête (aka brioches parisiennes) for my daughter. They remind me of Paris - I used to live near a briocherie that had the most amazing deep-brown brioches in all sizes.




They are a little more time-consuming to make than a brioche loaf, and cleaning the fluted-edge pans is somewhat of a hassle, so I don't make then very often. They are really pretty though and have a more interesting texture than the loaf.

The best part of course is biting off the little head.

Lovely, I have been showing lots of people how to make these breads at the Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen and I think I have changes some lives.