cajungirl

Has anyone gotten Jim Lahey's new book? I got it a couple of weeks ago and am having a great time. The cheese bread is delightful and I substituted sundried tomatoes for the olives in the olive bread, again, its terrific. Today it will be a plain loaf with a little semolina added...this is also very "yum".

Whew! I just made it through the whole thread...but I didn't wait to finish it before trying out the method. I've been baking bread for years with mixed success and for well over a year I've been making the Jim Lahey "No-Knead" bread with great success. But it always put me in the position of having to plan to bake bread. This method surely takes that necessity away, but I wasn't able to get the crust I liked with adding steam rather than cooking in a hot container. So, I now combine the two! I make up the recipe as it is in the book (just got the book today), but I add about two ounces of sour dough starter (that I've been keeping going for years) as well and this is really yummy stuff. Since I live alone I make small loaves (in an oval casserole) about every other day. This is great! I want to thank Zoe for being a part of this forum and helping and inspiring us all! To the "newbies" who are just beginning to bake bread, don't let a failure or two discourage you Well, its on to reading the book, I'm looking forward to trying some of the enriched breads soon.

Well, I was just heading to TJ's for OJ, eggs and milk... But! I guess my basket will be a lot fuller than that after browsing through this thread...hmmmm chocolate croissants you say? Sounds delightful

Yep, this old gal has been sprinkleing bread for many years. I wet my hand and shake it over the bread (like we used to sprinkle clothes to iron before steam irons, Boy am I old or what?), then put the bread in foil for a few minutes, open the foil and let it crisp up. Saved many a loaf this way Guess I'm a bread wetter from way back

Well, this is the last thing my chubby butt needed to know, but I'm on my way to TJ's... Guess I can work it off after the holidays

Your own senses will be the best judge. You will know if you are pleased. If you have a good artisan bakery near, and a kind baker, when you have problems you may be able to talk to him/her for advice. If you can show a piece of the bread that you're having an issue with to an experienced baker, that baker can give you tips and direction. I have been baking bread (on and off) for 15 years and I can tell you that I never stop learning and I'm never totally satisfied with what I bake, always feeling that I could make a better loaf. Good Luck to you. You have read some of the very best...so you're probably well on your way

Lordy. New Orleans to the SF Bay area to Mountain Home, AR. There must be a story there. ← Lets just say I definitely dance to the beat of a different (maybe crazy) drummer. Stories....? Son, I could tell you a few!

Well, this is all good news to me. I'll be retiring in about 18-24 months from the Bay Area to Mountain Home, AR. One of my big fears has been the food scene. I'm originally from New Orleans, then to the SF Bay area, so I'v never wanted for great food. Does anyone know how far it is from Little Rock to Mountain Home?

This weekend, I went back to the original recipe (but with more salt). I had been making sourdough or rye, or semolina, or 9grain cereal, or rosemary, or potato, or ...well, you get the idea. For those of us who are not home all the time, it sure gives us a lot of flexibility. I've also made different shapes, batards in oval shaped caserole dishes, small boule in small casserole dishes. Since I got back into bread baking, the market hasn't seen a cent of my money go toward bread purchases

Oh My God!! I hadn't thought of it in so many years (I moved to CA more than 20 years ago), but this is a New Orleans institution. I spent much of my teen and early adult time there. Will the changes in my beloved hometown never stop. At any rate, thank you for bringing this up...it has really brought the memories flooding back.

They're great for allowing very wet dough to proof, eliminates sticking. I have a really big one (and a small one) and use it for hand-kneading, rolling out pastry dough, etc.

Glenn, So good to see you back again. I was wondering what happened to you and I'm really glad to see that you haven't stopped baking. Your bread looks great! I have found when I take a break, it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things again and refresh my mind with what I had previously learned. Anyway, I'm so happy to see you back...Welcome!

What a shame, I don't know why some people are like that! One thing is for sure, if you blow them off, and they are really interested you'll eventually hear from them...if they aren't , you won't. Don't let it drive you crazy, you'll probably never know whats really going on, so forget them and continue on your merry way.

How about lemon pudding cake, its served cold...but oh so yummy. Here's the link to Fine Cooking Magazine http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes...ding_cakes.aspx

I've tried using 1.5 T of my starter with one cup of flour and one cup of water to make a poolish the day before I make the dough. To make the dough, I subtract the cup of flour and of water (that I used for the poolish) from the original ingredients and proceed with the recipe without additional yeast...or if the starter has been refreshed recently, I just add 1 T of the starter to the recipe and 1/8 tsp of yeast. Both have come out very well I haven't changed proofing times from the recipe. Aside from adjustments mentioned above, I just use the NYT recipe...good luck!

I've used my romertopf for several loaves, no soaking, into a cold oven with great results. My brother, on the otherhand, soaked his and the bread stuck on the bottom...

Thanks for sharing, this really made me smile

I wouldn't oil it, you'll get smoke. There was oil residue im my cast iron and it smoked pretty badly when I baked my first loaf.

Sam, I use about 1 1/2 Tablespoon of starter, mix it with 5 oz flour and 5 oz water to make a poolish. I let that sit overnight on the counter, then proceed with the recipe deducting the flour and water used in the poolish from the full recipe amounts. It comes out very well.

I've made several loaves with semolina, (33.33%) and its really really good.

I have found that rice flour (not glutinous) on the towel works really well. Though some of the moisture still leaches onto the cloth, there is no sticking. I don't use it on the counter though, I just use wheat flour and a bench knife for my folding.

This weekend I used refreshed sourdough starter. Also, I used 1T of kosher salt and bread flour. This was a wonderful loaf of bread (my 4th so far). Yesterday and again this morning it was still fresh, though the crust was less than crisp. But thats easy to remedy with a toaster or oven to re-crisp it, so no problem. My next endeavor will use both sourdough and semolina, possibly a few sesame seeds on the top. Oh, this is such fun

Well, not a real baker, but in my opinion, the creature that comes out of the 18 hour fermentation, and the creature that comes out from under the folded towel two hours later, are entirely different in appearance and characteristics. I am inclined to agree with you and Alana. ← Right On Anne! I found that what came out of the bowl was much like a poolish, yet after folding and rising, what was on the towel was a dough.

Wow, this is really great. So many of us trying the same thing with slight variations I baked my first loaf just as I thought the recipe called for, but using bread flour rather than A/P. I agree with almost everyone else, needed more salt, but I loved the crackling after I took it out of the pot. By the way, I used a cast iron dutch oven and it works great! My second loaf was 2/3 bread flour and 1/3 semolina...this produced a nutty taste which I loved. It really came out great, had a little more substance to it, next one will also have sesame seeds...hope they don't burn. Also, I'm going to try this with sourdough...oh the variations are endless...

I converted to weight, 1 cup = 4.5 oz (should have used a tad more after checking online for conversions, I found it should have been 4.83 oz) and of course water 1oz (volumn) = 1oz (weight). I'm at work and the dough is in the bowl sitting on the counter at home since about 10PM last night. I'm really excited to try this..hope it works well. I'm going to use cast iron, but will watch closely due to the dark color. I'll use rice flour on the towel...it works great! Let y'all know on Monday how this works out.