Bread in Half the Time

[Anna N]

A friend loaned the book to me so this morning I was all set to try out the method on the Olive Oil loaf. After mixing up the dough according the directions, I did the usual slap on the forehead and asked myself, "What's the rush?" So I left it do its own thing, in its own time! Duh.

But isn't that what choice is all about? The loaf is quite lovely and far better than anything I can get from the local variety store.

I promise next time I will try the method.

[rgural]

I don't see any rational argument for drawing the line at food processor and microwave technology. A food processor is a faster dough mixer, and a microwave is a faster proofing cabinet, that's all.

The argument is simple and rational. Overheated dough and high proofing temperatures result in decreased fermentation times. This over oxidizes the dough, reduces the development of organic acid compounds, and reduces conservation. Bread with no flavor, no texture, that stales quickly is a poor product. Intensive mixing and short fermentation is the realm of industrial mass production, the results speak for themselves. What is the rational for making industrial bread at home? Professional bakers have a greater need to save time than the home hobbyist and yet none of the great bakeries of the world have adopted these wonderful techniques. Why? Bakers who are concerned with quality are happy to use technologies and techniques so long as they don't sabotage the final product. Unfortunately breads don't benefit from being made in 90 minutes or less. If only it were so, bakers could instantly increase production and make more money, or sleep 7 more hours a day, or go to a movie, or spend that saved time with their families.

My problem is that you don't have even a basic understanding of the bread making process and you are encouraging people to adopt a methodology that produces compromised results. In short you are promoting eating less well and less critically. This is especially troubling when there are other bread baking methods that take less active time, less equipment and produce a vastly superior product.

There are breads in many legitimate traditions that can be made very well using the food processor and microwave method: brioche, challah, pain de mie, Parker House rolls, cinnamon-raisin bread, most yeast-risen pastry-type breads, etc.

None of these products can be made very well using this technique. You need to taste a properly made bread in a side by side comparison and you should be able to understand this. In my admittedly limited experience of doing demonstrations to baking amateurs, all of them can identify rapidly made bread as vastly inferior. If your point of comparison is industrially made bread these techniques may produce favorable results by virtue of it being fresher, hotter, softer, but if you compare it to the same product made with sound techniques they will always fall short.

[Fat Guy]

None of these products can be made very well using this technique.  You need to taste a properly made bread in a side by side comparison and you should be able to understand this. 

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They can and I have.

By the way, have you actually tried this technique? Has any person posting on this topic who has made these categorical proclamations tried it? Or are these all just theoretical objections?

[pennylane]

My problem is that you don't have even a basic understanding of the bread making process and you are encouraging people to adopt a methodology that produces compromised results. In short you are promoting eating less well and less critically. This is especially troubling when there are other bread baking methods that take less active time, less equipment and produce a vastly superior product.

None of these products can be made very well using this technique.  You need to taste a properly made bread in a side by side comparison and you should be able to understand this.    In my admittedly limited experience of doing demonstrations to baking amateurs, all of them can identify rapidly made bread as vastly inferior.  If your point of comparison is industrially made bread these techniques may produce favorable results by virtue of it being fresher, hotter, softer, but if you compare it to the same product made with sound techniques they will always fall short.

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I don't understand this comment. The technique described in this thread was suggested as a means to produce an inferior loaf of bread, in a shorter period of time. What are you saying, that no-one should ever bake bread unless they have at least 24 hours to spare? I do normally use the long fermentation method, and while I didn't do a side-by-side comparison I didn't find the results of the rapid-rise technique to be markedly lacking in flavour. Now I'm probably just not a very good baker or maybe my taste-buds just aren't as refined as yours but surely there are others like me who like to bake their own bread and just aren't good enough at planning ahead to make sure the freezer's always stocked with dough in various stages of fermentation just waiting to be popped into the oven...

[andiesenji]

When you began this topic, Steven, I just knew that something sounded familiar and from time to time I would casually survey my cookbooks to see just why I kept getting a sense of deja vu.

Yesterday I stumbled (litterally) over "The 60-Minute Bread Book – and other fast-yeast recipes you can make in 1/2 the usual time." Authored by Nancy Baggett and published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1985.

She states the secret is the new fast-acting yeast, "which rises twice as quickly…and a host of modern preparation techniques that simplify and streamline the bread-baking task."

The recipes are "specially developed for making the fastest and easiest breads ever!"

She notes that using warmer than normal liquids, dry milk powder, skipping one rising period, using an electric mixer, and there is one chapter using the food processor. Also there are separate chapters on no-knead batter breads, traditional breads, whole-grain breads.

I thought you might be interested in comparing this book to the one you have.

The book is out of print, but I'm sure there are a plethora of used book stores in your area and it is, of course, available via ABE books.

First, I am going to try an oatmeal bread. I love bread made with this grain but my other recipes take far too long.

[Anna N]

Well I still have not used this book (Bread in Half the Time) as it was intended to be used but two of the recipes have now entered my permanent file! The Olive Oil bread turns out great and keeps for 3 days and the Tomato Basil bread, despite two rather lacklustre batches is on my list to bake again tomorrow.

The problem with the Tomato Basil bread on the first try was lack of salt. The recipe does not call for any but the first batch tasted flat to me. The second batch I winged it and added the same amount of salt (2 teaspoons) as called for in the Olive Oil bread (based on the same amount of flour) but it was too much! Tomorrow I intend to make it with 1 teaspoon of salt.

Even without using the microwave technique, these breads rise quickly and bake up to make breads that far exceed the quality I can buy locally.

Now if only I could find my glass loaf pan! Then I would give the pain de mie a try using the microwave or maybe not...

[andiesenji]

Anna, do you have a soufflé dish? I used one (8-inch) and it worked beautifully, just deep enough.

[Anna N]

Anna, do you have a soufflé dish?  I used one (8-inch) and it worked beautifully, just deep enough.

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No, no souffle dish. Sooner or later I will come across a glass loaf pan either mine will show up or I will buy one. At the moment I am so happy with the other loaves I have made that I am not especially anxious. But thanks for the suggestion - I just realized that my daughter has a souflle dish and I can certainly borrow that!