The Bread Topic (2009 – 2014)

[Marlene]

That looks great, but how did you manage the slashing and using the form?

[MikeJ]

Awesome looking bread, abooja.

[abooja]

That looks great, but how did you manage the slashing and using the form?

Since it was refrigerated for almost a day, it was easy to invert and slash right before going into the oven. Actually, into a dutch oven that was placed on a stone in the oven. That no-knead bread trick has me spoiled for shaping crusty breads into anything but a boule.

Thanks again, everyone. I've got another loaf retarding in the fridge right now. I hope this wasn't a once-only fluke.

[dougal]

That looks great, but how did you manage the slashing and using the form?

Since it was refrigerated for almost a day, it was easy to invert and slash right before going into the oven. Actually, into a dutch oven that was placed on a stone in the oven. That no-knead bread trick has me spoiled for shaping crusty breads into anything but a boule.

...

Sorry, I'm not quite certain I understand that properly.

Is this right?

- proof refrigerated in the form

- directly from the fridge, invert onto bench and slash

- transfer to hot cast iron pot

Or

- proof refrigerated in the form

- directly from the fridge, invert into hot cast iron pot and then slash

Or have I completely misunderstood?

[Ciao Ling]

This weekend's efforts. I have Maggie Glezer's Artisan Bread book. I saw Kerry's very nice Tom Cat Semolina Filone in an earlier post. I have never made a semolina bread so gave that a whirl (except no sesame seed coating as my kids hate it). My market did not have any durum flour so I made do with Arrowhead Mills pasta flour which is a mix of fine Semolina and durum flour. Also from Maggie Glezer's book, I made Thom Leonard's Country White Bread which I split into two forms. They all came out nicely. My slashes were not great as my razor blade is dull. I have no lame, but will head out to the market for some new razor blades. There is definitely something uniquely satisfying about bread baking, especially trying something new.

[abooja]

Sorry, I'm not quite certain I understand that properly.

Is this right?

- proof refrigerated in the form

- directly from the fridge, invert onto bench and slash

- transfer to hot cast iron pot

Yes, this is how I did it.

[Aloha Steve]

This weekend's efforts. I have Maggie Glezer's Artisan Bread book. I saw Kerry's very nice Tom Cat Semolina Filone in an earlier post. I have never made a semolina bread so gave that a whirl (except no sesame seed coating as my kids hate it). My market did not have any durum flour so I made do with Arrowhead Mills pasta flour which is a mix of fine Semolina and durum flour. Also from Maggie Glezer's book, I made Thom Leonard's Country White Bread which I split into two forms. They all came out nicely. My slashes were not great as my razor blade is dull. I have no lame, but will head out to the market for some new razor blades. There is definitely something uniquely satisfying about bread baking, especially trying something new.

Great looking loaves, crumb and crust. Your slash technique looks pretty good to me, well done!

[robirdstx]

I've been playing around with the artisan loaves but my other half has been asking for a sandwich loaf, so yesterday I made Peter Reinhart's BBA White Bread, using Variation 2.

And this morning we sliced it.

I also made some dinner rolls with the rest of the dough. We ate most of them shortly after they came out of the oven!

[Ciao Ling]

Like Robirdstx, no artisan bread this weekend. My kids wanted the comfort of cinnamon raisin swirl bread. I haven't made a loaf style bread for some time. This recipe was from the instruction booklet of a long lost hand cranked bread maker and includes 1.5 cups of rolled oats. I also substituted a cup of whole wheat white flour for AP. Not the prettiest as you can see. I didn't get much cinnamon swirl as I did not roll the dough out flat enough before putting on the cinnamon sugar and then rolling it up. I also didn't insure that the roll seams were at the bottom. Nevertheless, it has a nice crumb and toasted up nicely for a late winter morning.

[Chris Hennes]

robirdstx - does that BBA white loaf use one of Reinhart's standard pre-ferments? Or is it a straightforward one-day-in-the-making sort of loaf?

[robirdstx]

robirdstx - does that BBA white loaf use one of Reinhart's standard pre-ferments? Or is it a straightforward one-day-in-the-making sort of loaf?

Chris - he offers three different variations for this loaf. The third variation uses a sponge but I used the second variation which, like the first, does not use a pre-ferment. I was able to start it and bake it on the same day.

Edited March 10, 2010 by robirdstx (log)

[Aloha Steve]

I made Five-Grain Bread from the book "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes: by Jeffrey Hamelman.

It calls for a Liquid-Levin build, which means use a portion of your "sourdough" starter, add stuff to it and then use in the total formula, in this case the next day. I've never had any confidence in my starter, however:

Even though the bread looks like a 3 (out of 10)

It tastes like a 9 yum.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Blether]

I baked these rolls last night (!) as another step in a quest to replicate Scottish Morning Rolls.

From working with pizza and bread from long-rise doughs, I know the long rise is one secret to the flavour. I've tried sponge-and-dough methods and not been bowled over by any difference in results.

This time I used my standard white bread dough - 400g strong (15%) Canadian flour, no additives; 310ml water; 1/4tsp Saf-instant dried yeast; 20g olive oil; 10g salt; a tiny bit of sugar, say 1/8tsp. I didn't especially keep count of the time, but after kneading (in the breadmaker, first 5 minutes of the pizza dough cycle) I kept it in an oiled plastic bag in the fridge. I made it on the same night I made lasagne dough (made lasagne, this dough, and one breadmaker loaf - saves washing the b/maker tin out), so it would have been five days in the fridge before I shaped and baked. I tore the dough into three, and each of those into three pieces. I flattened each piece out into a long rectangle-ish shape, and folded one end over, and the other end over that, in thirds. Each was then dipped in flour, and I lined the nine of them up in turn on a baking tray, covered with plastic and left for 4 or 5 hours at room temp of 20C. I baked them on the top shelf at 220C, turning up to 230C later for more browning, checking from 15 minutes and eventually baking for 25.

I was a bit apprehensive about how flat the rolls were looking (sorry, no unbaked pictures) before they went in the oven, but at the higher temperature I got more oven spring than I've seen before (I think at lower temperatures). I'm pleased with crumb and crust. With such strong flour, the rolls are dense, heavy for their size, but by no means unpleasant. I couldn't resist one of them buttered, hot from the oven, and that gave me a chance to relive the authentic pulling-out-and-discarding-some-of-the-internal-dough-ball experience (the roll shown here, this morning, is complete).

The flavour is also good - for such a strong flour. I do think I want to go back down a little in flour strength, to get more flavour.

Edited March 10, 2010 by Blether (log)

[Ciao Ling]

I was thumbing last week through the bread section of Molly O'Neill's New York cookbook (now out of print) and it mentioned Orwasher's Bakery in the Yorkville section of Manhattan. She then has a recipe for "Yorkville Raisin Pumpernickel Bread". I vaguely remembered Orwasher's bread when I was growing up in New York. She didn't attribute this recipe to anyone as she does all her recipes so I assumed it was some version of Orwasher's. You have to make a Rye starter/sponge 3 days in advance with commercial yeast, letting it ferment at room temperature for a day and then retard in the fridge for 2 more. The amazing thing is that this bread is almost all Rye flour (4 cups for the starter and 3.5 cups for the dough) with only 0.5 cup of whole wheat flour. It also calls for cornmeal and for two mashed potatoes (no volume or weight indicated for the potatoes). This recipe makes one sticky and stiff dough. The end result is shown below. It is substantial, by that I mean dense and moist, but with excellent flavor and is good with butter or cheese. I don't recall Orwasher's to be quite like this. That bread also was more loaded with raisins. This recipe only called for 1 cup. Googling for Orwasher's RP bread recipe, I only came up with Joe Ortiz's version from The Village Baker which is supposed to be a takeoff of Orwasher's recipe. In future if I make RP bread again I might try that one and also probably use a more finely milled Rye flour to lighten it up. All they had in the market nearby was Hodgson Mill Rye flour which has more coarse rye meal in it.

[Aloha Steve]

3 days ago made Authentic Pumpernickel from RLB's Bread Bible. I've posted about it up topic before. Added KAF's Deli Rye Flavor in the sponge and it made it better tasting which I did not think possible. Great after-taste.

Today I made Classic Irish Soda Bread from CI. It tasted like a big biscuit. On its own, eh. But with butter or sweet mustard and the corned beef I made today...yummy

[Aloha Steve]

AFTER the bread comes out and is cooled, how do you keep it tasting good for a few days ?

I keep mine on a wood cutting board with a microwave dome cover with holes, on top. My loafs usually last 3-5 days and are in pretty good shape throughout. Meaning crusty, fresh tasting which I think if refrigerated or kept sealed in plastic they would not be.

How do you keep yours and not worry about bugs?

Edited March 18, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)

[robirdstx]

AFTER the bread comes out and is cooled, how do you keep it tasting good for a few days ?

I keep mine on a wood cutting board with a microwave dome cover with holes, on top. My loafs usually last 3-5 days and are in pretty good shape throughout. Meaning crusty, fresh tasting which I think if refrigerated or kept sealed in plastic they would not be.

How do you keep yours and not worry about bugs?

Steve, I put my lean loaves in brown paper bags and store in the pantry with the cut side down but they still only stay fresh for a couple of days. I keep enriched loaves in plastic sleeves in the pantry and recent loaves have been staying fresh for at least 6 days.

[Blether]

How do you keep yours and not worry about bugs?

I take a mix and match approach - most often recently, I'm wrapping a loaf in a table-linen type cloth, with the heel against the cut end. That keeps the bugs off, such as they are in winter, and the crust crusty. However, Japan's winter is dry and the bread dries out pretty quickly. If I think the loaf will be around longer than three days, I'll put it in a plastic bag - the crumb stays moist at the expense of the crust going soft.

In the summer time, the plastic-bag-and-fridge comes in to play - the warm and moist air means mould.

Also mixed in is occasional use of the freezer - if I'm keeping bread unused even for a few days, that's the best way.

[Aloha Steve]

AFTER the bread comes out and is cooled, how do you keep it tasting good for a few days ?

I keep mine on a wood cutting board with a microwave dome cover with holes, on top. My loafs usually last 3-5 days and are in pretty good shape throughout. Meaning crusty, fresh tasting which I think if refrigerated or kept sealed in plastic they would not be.

How do you keep yours and not worry about bugs?

Thanks for all the replies. Since I keep the house A/C-ed 24/7/365, so humidity and going over 80 degrees does not happen, perhaps that's why I am getting 3-5 days with no real loss of flavor, crunch etc.

As for the critters, I'm going to start putting the loafs in the oven when not in use and after use has reached standing temp.

[Ciao Ling]

This week's what do you knead: Bagels. I used Peter Reinhart's BBA recipe. Unfortunately I did not have high gluten flour which is supposedly key to a NYC bagel. I added a teaspooon of vital wheat gluten per pound of bread flour. The dough is very dry and with the VWG fortified bread flour, it was a workout for my Kitchenaid K5SS motor which became quite warm. It was a new experience for me, shaping the bagels and then retarding overnight in the fridge. A quick dip in boiling water with malt and baking soda and then a quick bake. I made them plain (my kids again are not into sesame or poppy seeds). They were the best still slightly warm from the oven, crisp yet chewy on the outside but soft on th inside. The next day, they were also great, split and toasted with butter- yum. A baker's dozen lasted 3 days in my house.

[Aloha Steve]

This week's what do you knead: Bagels. I used Peter Reinhart's BBA recipe. Unfortunately I did not have high gluten flour which is supposedly key to a NYC bagel. I added a teaspooon of vital wheat gluten per pound of bread flour. The dough is very dry and with the VWG fortified bread flour, it was a workout for my Kitchenaid K5SS motor which became quite warm. It was a new experience for me, shaping the bagels and then retarding overnight in the fridge. A quick dip in boiling water with malt and baking soda and then a quick bake. I made them plain (my kids again are not into sesame or poppy seeds). They were the best still slightly warm from the oven, crisp yet chewy on the outside but soft on th inside. The next day, they were also great, split and toasted with butter- yum. A baker's dozen lasted 3 days in my house.

They look great. And is inspiring me to try making them myself!

[crowdingthepan]

About twice a week, I throw together a loaf using the Lahey no-knead method. I know that there's controversy about whether or not this method produces the full flavor spectrum that the slower, more laborious processes create. But, most of my bread ends up in a toaster, or on a panini press, so those subtleties are a bit of a moot point. The third pic is a rye loaf.

[Aloha Steve]

About twice a week, I throw together a loaf using the Lahey no-knead method. I know that there's controversy about whether or not this method produces the full flavor spectrum that the slower, more laborious processes create.

Those loafs look pretty good and crusty to me !!!!

I just mixed a batch of no-knead on Wed. Based on that 5 minute book's formula, they are probably close to the same as yours.

Supposed to stay in the fridge for two weeks, pull out what you knead (pun intended;) and keep the rest in the fridge. I'll try it on Tuesday, to give the dough some time to flavor up.

Right now, I am on the 2nd rise of a Spinach Cheese bread. Made with a poolish, which I threw together at 1:00 am this morning.

Two more rises and shaping to go..........I am skeptical about the NK being as flavorful as traditionally done.....taste buds will tell.

As I mentioned above:

Those loafs look pretty darn good and crusty to me !!!!

[crowdingthepan]

Thanks Steve. I've used the 5 minutes a day method too, with decent results. The thing that's sort of revelatory about the Lahey method is not the no knead thing, but rather the use of the preheated pot. It creates a sort of poor man's steam injection oven, leading to a crust that can be as explosively crisp as you want, depending on how you manipulate the pot's lid.

[Aloha Steve]

Thanks Steve. I've used the 5 minutes a day method too, with decent results. The thing that's sort of revelatory about the Lahey method is not the no knead thing, but rather the use of the preheated pot. It creates a sort of poor man's steam injection oven, leading to a crust that can be as explosively crisp as you want, depending on how you manipulate the pot's lid.

I See...I did not know that.

I'm trying no steam today. I will heat up the stone in the oven as usual, sliding the loaf onto it which will be on parchment paper. Then instead of throwing hot water into a cast iron pan, I am going to cover it with a stainless large steel mixing bowl and the let the loaf make its own heat. Remove cover 2/3 of the way and its supposed to be good that way.

Nothing against EG.....if you are really into bread type baking.....thefreshloaf.com is the place.....besides here a-course.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)