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The Bread Topic (2009 – 2014)


Jstern35

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This next bread is called "Warm Comfort Bread"..its a sour dough, no added yeast bread. So far, I am 3 for 3 for breads using a starter. ALL DUDS.

This would be better called "Round Door Stop Boule" :wacko:

door_stop.jpg

Oh well can't win them all.

Well, just tasted my doorstop and guess what ? Its got a good taste ! It has a hint of sourdough, the sweet potato comes thru, all and all not bad. The dark spots are indeed burt and bitter but they are only on the top skin.

I am really enjoying baking bread. :smile:

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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Hi Frank.

My loaves often do something similar. I put it down to hot (or cool) spots in the oven, but I haven't yet been scientific enough to work out exactly what's happening and where.

It probably helps that my bread tastes fabulous.

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forumslcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

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Whoa. Posting a first-ever loaf on this thread is ... intimidating.

But I'm looking past that, because I made bread. Real bread. And I'm excited about it, dangit! It's the Anadama from BBA. I've never had anadama before, so I don't really know what it's supposed to taste like but if it's supposed to taste good, then I think I did it right (I'm from Texas - anadama's a New England thing, right? Or am I just woefully uninformed?). I probably haven't even noticed a bunch of things that I didn't do right, but right now, I don't mind a bit.

Anadama small.jpg

 

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so I don't really know what it's supposed to taste like but if it's supposed to taste good, then I think I did it right.

Anadama small.jpg

Rico, it look great, nice air pockets inside, I'm not familiar with this particular bread however I'd say you hit it out of the park!

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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It looks great, especially for your first go around! There's something special about one's first loaf of homemade bread. There's a moment when you just knowthat making bread is going to be one of your great pleasures. My first loaf was a dismal failure, but I fell in love with breadmaking that day.

I've got the dough in the fridge for Artisan Breads everyday, Butterflake rolls. They'll get baked off Saturday morning.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Can someone tell me what causes my bread to bake up like this? It does not happen all the time, and it tastes fine, but it doesn't look so great:

Here's a site that explains some of the reasons for a blow-out of the crust.

http://www.artisanbreadbaking.com/blogs/?p=43

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Rose Levy Beranbaum's Banana Feather Bread

I made it free formed in a feather pattern, at lest that was my attempt :smile:

It looks great, smells great, the taste well I think it is going to be great. Here's why the "THINK"

When I did the sponge, I let it sit for only 15 minutes and then put the flower mixture on. Rose says to let the sponge sit for an hour before putting flour mixture on, or if you'd like, let the sponge "work" for 8-24 hours to develop more flavor, before putting flour mixture on. Realizing that I had not followed directions and her suggestion to let the sponge 'work', I decided that I would let it sit with flour mixture on top of the sponge, leaving it for 20 hours on my kitchen counter. Again, had I read and followed her instructions, it says after a hour to put in the fridge for anywhere between 8-24 hours to coax more flavor.

Ahhhh, cooking 101...read the recipe once through or more, till one understands what one is making and how to make it. !

My kitchen is cool, it sat in the mixer's SS bowl, so fingers crossed it came out alright.

Banana Feather BreadII_RLB.jpg

Edited by Aloha Steve (log)

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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Savory Asiago, Apple & Rosemary Bread

I substituted Gruyère for the Asiago. The crust is super but I think I did not let the bread cool long enough before cutting and eating. I think tomorrow it will be more tasty.

Savory Asiago Apple & Rosemary bread.jpg

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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I'm in the middle of testing a new recipe for honey whole wheat that uses a somewhat bastardized form of Peter Reinhart's epoxy method. Considering the overall hydration is something like 78% (!) it will hopefully bring about a nice, springy loaf.

I'll try and post a photo if my camera doesn't hate me too much tomorrow.

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Savory Asiago, Apple & Rosemary Bread

I substituted Gruyère for the Asiago. The crust is super but I think I did not let the bread cool long enough before cutting and eating. I think tomorrow it will be more tasty.

Savory Asiago Apple & Rosemary bread.jpg

I really tried to like it. Had a little piece last night and today. Cut the top off thru the rest away, figured the Muffin top theory, tried a little piece that way.........its history, Round Filed it all. :hmmm:

Can't win them all......gonna get back on the horse tonight and make something from P.R.'s ABED

Edited by Aloha Steve (log)

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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Okay. I need some help here. Can someone make this and tell me what you think? I think that the method plus the ingredients are what gives me the bread, but I need a confirmed second opinion that it's good.

What we're going for here is a 100% sandwich wheat bread that isn't too heavy, is soft enough for peanut butter, and my 2 year old won't turn her nose up at. She likes white breads, loves sourdough and light rye, but she's stuck on this no whole grain thing.

I'll put the ingredients as I used them and then the baker's percentages (roughly) next to them. It's enough for one 8.5x4.5 loaf and a few rolls, so the entire recipe would probably work in a slightly larger pan.

A couple things to keep in mind. I use instant yeast here. Also, my kitchen temperature is about 68-70 degrees. My milk was cold from the fridge and my water was room temperature and bottled. My butter was half melted, half not. None of this was completely scientific. Had it been, I would've been able to calculate for 500g of flour instead of 550g. :rolleyes:

Soaker

200g (36%) whole wheat flour (KA or other finely milled)

115g (21%) white whole wheat (KA or other finely milled)

35g (6%) gluten flour (I used Arrowhead Mills)

260g (47%) milk (I used 1%)

Mix together all ingredients so that the flours are thoroughly moistened and set aside for at least an hour at room temperature.

Biga

200g (37%) whole wheat flour

150g (27%) water

5g (1%) instant yeast

Mix together all ingredients in a separate bowl from above and set aside for an hour or so, also at room temperature.

Final Dough

all soaker

all biga

50g (9%) butter

75g (14%) honey

12g (2%) salt

25g (5%) milk

Break up both the soaker and biga into small pieces and put in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter, honey, salt, and milk into the middle of the pieces and turn the machine on low until they are starting to become incorporated into the dough and the dough itself is starting to stick a bit more to the dough hook. Once it starts to become dough, move up to medium-low speed (3 on my KA Pro) and go for about 4 minutes. It doesn't really take too long to become a nice dough due to the long autolyse that all the flour got.

I did 2 letter folds (pat or stretch out dough and fold in thirds like a letter, both top to bottom and left to right) at 30 minute intervals through the bulk fermentation, which takes about 2 hours. After the second fold let the dough completely double in size before moving on.

Once fermented, split the dough into enough for a loaf (750g or so is what I used) and a few rolls (I did one long free form batard). Proof until almost double, or about an hour. Score or not, brush with butter or not, and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes (your rolls should probably be done now), then turn the oven down to 325 degrees and bake for another 10 or so minutes.

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Authentic Pumpernickel w Raisins RLB Bread Bible

Came out, I think, exactly as Rose meant it to. I weight the doug before first proof, she said it was supposed to weigh 29.2 ounces (from memory) mine weighted 29.5 :biggrin:

Deep, rich, earthy taste, offset with the raisins and sesame seeds. My favorite type of bread.

Authentic_pumpernickel.jpg

Authentic_PumpernickelRLB.jpg

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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Steve, have you ever made the pumpernickel in Baking with Julia? We made it recently and it was fantastic. Just curious to get a comparison. We don't have RLB's bread book.

Katie is the formula called Pumpernickel Loaves or Rustic Pumpernickel ?

I don't have Baking with Julia, but I have found those two recipes.

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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The recipe in Baking with Julia is Pumpernickel Loaves. If your head starts to spin looking at the list of ingredients, that's probably the one. The addition of prune lekvar to the bread dough astounded me. We had just been given some home-made fig goop by relatives for the holidays, so we subbed that.

If lekvar is a new one for you (my husband was completely baffled) it's a thick fruit paste that's used as filling for pastries, cookies, etc. If you've eaten a prune danish, you've had it. I would guess that any thick fruit butter could be used if you don't want to take the trouble to make prune butter, which I didn't. However, it isn't difficult or expensive to make, but is pricey to buy or mail order. I imagine it's easier to buy a bag of pitted prunes in Hawaii than it is to buy a jar of lekvar. Apple or apricot butter might be good too in this bread. Actually the fig paste we were given was a bit bland and I was just as glad to use it up. We're only talking 1/2 cup for two VERY big loaves of bread. Given that this bread takes a certain commitment, I would consider making prune or apricot butter for next time.

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This is my first loaf i've done in a long time and I've done a couple before really. This on is my first with a biga and the first time I've used steam in the oven. Pretty pleased with how it's come out.

I used mostly white flour with a little wholemeal and a few poppy seeds thrown in and made 2 smallish loaves.

IMG_2999.JPG

IMG_3000.JPG

IMG_3001.JPG

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Steve, have you ever made the pumpernickel in Baking with Julia? We made it recently and it was fantastic. Just curious to get a comparison. We don't have RLB's bread book.

Hi Katie, I've looked over the recipe and its ingredients are similar but different. The plain yogurt, vegetable shortening & prune lekva are not in the one I made. The yogurt and solid vegetable shortening (Crisco) are off putting to me. The prune lekva sounds like it would taste terrific, in bread, on bread or a bit on a spoon ! :biggrin:

To answer your question directly I don't have any comparison as I have not made or tasted it.

Edited by Aloha Steve (log)

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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I bought and just received my new and LAST, so help me, bread book. :raz:

"Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" by Jeffrey Hamelman. He is the Bakery Director at King Arthur Flour and for better or worse I've married myself to KAF products.

I made his Semolina bread today, with sesame seeds and my wife said, after it cooled on the rack: "Close your eyes, a little more seeds, you would think we were eating bread in Paris" I agree the bread is fantastic. While I find the text book (teaching) part difficult, I bought it for the recipes and the first one, is a Superbowl contender.

semiolina_sea.jpg

The bottom is not dark like in my poor picture. Great oven spring in this bread.

Semolina.jpg

edited for grammar & spelling. I do it 95% of my posts so I'll state it here. :)

"I have never developed indigestion from eating my words."-- Winston Churchill

Talk doesn't cook rice. ~ Chinese Proverb

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Whew, it's been a long time since I posted something here.

Today I had my first tangible success with a whole-grain bread!

The recipe I used is from a Jeff Basom. I found the recipe online here. This is a bit of a departure for me, because I am normally all about the weights and reproducibility. None the less, It seems to have worked out ok.

The dough is made with 2 cups (I know! cups!) of whole grains (I used a mixture of brown rice, barley and moong dal), and I sprinkled the top with Kalonji seeds instead of using the glaze he recommends in the recipe.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. The only think I will change for next time is to use a higher oven temperature than 350. The crust doesn't get that nice foxy brown color before the inside is up to 210F.

Anyway, here are the two loafs I made:

gallery_59916_6220_1059.jpg

gallery_59916_6220_18562.jpg

gallery_59916_6220_128830.jpg

I just made this bread and it came out great - probably my best loaf of bread to date. Thanks!!

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Steve, have you ever made the pumpernickel in Baking with Julia? We made it recently and it was fantastic. Just curious to get a comparison. We don't have RLB's bread book.

Hi Katie, I've looked over the recipe and its ingredients are similar but different. The plain yogurt, vegetable shortening & prune lekva are not in the one I made. The yogurt and solid vegetable shortening (Crisco) are off putting to me. The prune lekva sounds like it would taste terrific, in bread, on bread or a bit on a spoon ! :biggrin:

To answer your question directly I don't have any comparison as I have not made or tasted it.

Whenever I have a recipe that calls for vegetable shortening I substitute butter. I checked out the video and found it interesting how they used a sling made out of a kitchen towel to hold the loaf while it was rising. Does anyone here do that?

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