The Bread Topic (2009 – 2014)

[Kerry Beal]

I've been fooling around with a recipe from the Australian Thermomix board posted by an energetic woman from Spain. She's calls it Yogurt Bread and it is all purpose and rye flour based. I've adapted it to use whole wheat, all purpose and some grains that I've flaked with my flaker. I included some sunflower seeds and topped with flaked cereals, sunflower seeds and sesame.

Makes a tasty loaf.

[Aloha Steve]

I've been fooling around with a recipe from the Australian Thermomix board posted by an energetic woman from Spain. She's calls it Yogurt Bread and it is all purpose and rye flour based. I've adapted it to use whole wheat, all purpose and some grains that I've flaked with my flaker. I included some sunflower seeds and topped with flaked cereals, sunflower seeds and sesame.

Makes a tasty loaf.

Kerry, did you make this all in a Thermomix, except the bake ?

[Kerry Beal]

I've been fooling around with a recipe from the Australian Thermomix board posted by an energetic woman from Spain. She's calls it Yogurt Bread and it is all purpose and rye flour based. I've adapted it to use whole wheat, all purpose and some grains that I've flaked with my flaker. I included some sunflower seeds and topped with flaked cereals, sunflower seeds and sesame.

Makes a tasty loaf.

Kerry, did you make this all in a Thermomix, except the bake ?

/yup - ground the hard wheat to make the whole wheat flour - bunged in everything else - kneaded 6 minutes. Let rise in machine. Used fresh yeast. Less than 2 hours start to finish.

[Aloha Steve]

I've been fooling around with a recipe from the Australian Thermomix board posted by an energetic woman from Spain. She's calls it Yogurt Bread and it is all purpose and rye flour based. I've adapted it to use whole wheat, all purpose and some grains that I've flaked with my flaker. I included some sunflower seeds and topped with flaked cereals, sunflower seeds and sesame.

Makes a tasty loaf.

Kerry, did you make this all in a Thermomix, except the bake ?

/yup - ground the hard wheat to make the whole wheat flour - bunged in everything else - kneaded 6 minutes. Let rise in machine. Used fresh yeast. Less than 2 hours start to finish.

Holy Mackerel, reason number 37 to get one of these contraptions!

[Ciao Ling]

A great thread. It stimulated to get my hands into some dough again. For convenience, I tried the master boule from Artisan Bread in 5 mins for the first time. It was OK but I did not like the crumb. I then moved back to the Lahey no-knead which I have done many times. That was much better, but like anything else, sometimes it doesn't get you what you crave. I cracked open Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking and made the Acme baguettes which add both a poolish and scrap dough into the recipe. Now I am getting somewhere.

[franktex]

This might be a dumb question, but some bread recipes call for butter at room temp(Brioche/Challah). Why can't I just melt the butter to liquid? It seems like it would mix in better instead of room temp?

[MikeJ]

Standard white sourdough (10% rye) boule and, I guess, batard.

[MikeJ]

Also, from a few weeks ago now: standard white sourdough (left), Hamelman's sourdough seed bread (right).

[isomer]

Nice looking breads, MikeJ!

[Marlene]

This might be a dumb question, but some bread recipes call for butter at room temp(Brioche/Challah). Why can't I just melt the butter to liquid? It seems like it would mix in better instead of room temp?

You can, just be sure to cool the melted butter. Hot butter tends to kill off yeast.

[LizD518]

I have what may be a silly question. Can I take any bread dough and make rolls instead of one or two large loaves?

Further questions: Shaping - any tricks or anything to keep in mind?

Rule of thumb for baking times and temps?

Thanks!

[Aloha Steve]

RLB's Tyrolean Ten-Grain Torpedo

It tastes great, its a keeper. I used KAF Harvest Grains Blend for the grains.

[Marlene]

I have what may be a silly question. Can I take any bread dough and make rolls instead of one or two large loaves?

Further questions: Shaping - any tricks or anything to keep in mind?

Rule of thumb for baking times and temps?

Thanks!

Almost. Brioche and challah dough certainly.Sandwich dough, yes. Cibatta dough, not really, it's much too wet. Technically you could with baguette dough or sourdough bread as well, but they will be more along the lines of crusty rolls, not soft dinner rolls.

Shaping for rolls? most rolls are 2 - 3 ounces in dough weight. Take a chunk of dough, and roll it on the counter under the palm of your hand, with your fingers cupped. Don't be afraid to exert pressure. The dough should spring up into a tight ball in your hand and be smooth.

Rolls are usually baked at around 400, brushed with some sort of egg wash and take anywhere from 12-18 minutes.

Edited February 9, 2010 by Marlene (log)

[LizD518]

I have what may be a silly question. Can I take any bread dough and make rolls instead of one or two large loaves?

Further questions: Shaping - any tricks or anything to keep in mind?

Rule of thumb for baking times and temps?

Thanks!

Almost. Brioche and challah dough certainly.Sandwich dough, yes. Cibatta dough, not really, it's much too wet. Technically you could with baguette dough or sourdough bread as well, but they will be more along the lines of crusty rolls, not soft dinner rolls.

Shaping for rolls? most rolls are 2 - 3 ounces in dough weight. Take a chunk of dough, and roll it on the counter under the palm of your hand, with your fingers cupped. Don't be afraid to exert pressure. The dough should spring up into a tight ball in your hand and be smooth.

Rolls are usually baked at around 400, brushed with some sort of egg wash and take anywhere from 12-18 minutes.

Thanks Marlene! I think I am going to attempt rolls on my next batch of bread - whenever that turns out to be!

I made two small loaves of Whole Wheat English Muffin Bread this past weekend. I was going to make English Muffins and decided as it was rising that I didn't feel like standing over the griddle and cooking them, so I just divided the dough in two parts and made two small loaves. They didn't really rise all that much in the oven, but they have a nice tight crumb without being too dense and they taste great!

[Ciao Ling]

On a baguette obsession. Wanted to try a baguette au levain compared to the Acme baguette I made before. There is a recipe online by Samuel Fromartz of his amateur best baguette in Washington D.C., blog post here. I also made a boule using levain from Daniel Leader's Local Bread. The results are good, but I don't think my starter was fully active and thus less of a dough rise and oven spring. It was more obvious with the boule than the baguettes as the leavener in the baguette recipe is not all levain but also uses some commercial yeast. I mixed the starter about a week ago and it wasn't as active as previous starters I have made, but I didn't have any mature starters and didn't want to wait. This is a wetter dough. The overnight retardation certainly led to great natural sugars, thus the great caramelization of the crust which was also shattered nicely. The crumb was also good. I used King Arthur French Style flour to come closer to the Type 55 softer wheat they use in France. I put the baguettes a little too closely together and some touched so those don't have a full circumferential dark crust. I haven't cut into the boule yet as it just came out of the oven.

Here is a good bread equipment buying tip. I used a brotform I just bought and wanted to see how it worked as it was from a discount wholesaler that I read about from The Fresh Loaf. The round brotform is only $6.00. They also picture it with King Arthur products making me wonder if they have supplied King Arthur at some time. The 9" on KA is $29.95. You do have to order $50 worth of products before the order can be placed. I bought several brotform and bannetons and will split if with a friend.

[Ciao Ling]

Here is the crumb of the Daniel Leader Boule leavened only with a liquid levain that I was worried about as I thought the starter was not very active. It was pretty good. Goes to show you how an amateur can misread sourdough starters.

[isomer]

This weekend I made black olive "cheeks" (puccia) from Daniel Leader's "Local Breads". They came out wonderfully. I think this is a very underrated bread book. It's easily my favourite.

[A Canadian Foodie]

Thank you for the recipe - it looks absolutely divine! I loved the Richard Bertinet DVD that came with his book "Dough" - and another with "Crust"

Instead of kneading, I now throw my dough and have quite a high moisture content. Actually, now I am using my Thermomix to knead the bread - so easy with that machine... but I learned how to do it on my own very well before I turned it over to the machine. can't wait to try this recipe. I do not have a really good pumpernickel recipe, and this one looks excellent.

[Aloha Steve]

Thank you for the recipe - it looks absolutely divine! I loved the Richard Bertinet DVD that came with his book "Dough" - and another with "Crust"

Instead of kneading, I now throw my dough

I wish I had the counter space to 'throw' the dough. I've watched his video on how he kneads and have the book. I'll try some of his recipes one of these days but use the mixer. I made this pumpernickle bread and its was great. Up-thread there are some pix of it.

[Kerry Beal]

Working my way through some semolina breads. Made the Tom Cat's Semolina Filone from Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer. Made a wonderful bread, nice crunchy crust, excellent crumb. But the one I want to imitate is bit more sour - so I think I'll try it again, but retard the dough in the fridge for a while.

[Isabelle Prescott]

Has anyone used citric acid as an ingredient in their sourdough?

[abooja]

I finally had some real success with sourdough last week. Using Jack Lang's basic ratios, my own 2-1/2 year old starter, Dan Lepard's folding technique during bulk fermentation, and the brotform my mother purchased for me last year shortly before she passed away, I produced the following very tasty, if imperfect loaf. My slicing, slashing, and photography skills clearly need some work:

[Blether]

I finally had some real success with sourdough last week...

That's a gorgeous loaf and a couple of great pictures.

[abooja]

I finally had some real success with sourdough last week...

That's a gorgeous loaf and a couple of great pictures.

Most kind of you, sir. Thank you.

[Aloha Steve]

I finally had some real success with sourdough last week. Using Jack Lang's basic ratios, my own 2-1/2 year old starter, Dan Lepard's folding technique during bulk fermentation, and the brotform my mother purchased for me last year shortly before she passed away, I produced the following very tasty, if imperfect loaf. My slicing, slashing, and photography skills clearly need some work:

Fabulous looking crumb, crust and your slashing technique is good too. I bet it tastes every bit as good as it looks.

You've inspired me to hurry and get my hands full of flour. I've been on the road for the last couple of weeks and cannot wait to get going baking bread.