The Bread Topic (2009 – 2014)

[Ciao Ling]

Recently I made a sourdough loaf impregnated with 4 bulbs of roasted garlic.

MikeJ:

Now that is what I would call garlic bread!

[BadRabbit]

Instead of using ice cubes, however, use hot water (as in out of your sink's tap).

How much water do you use? Does it matter?

[robirdstx]

Reinhart's BBA White Bread, Variation Two has become our go to sandwich bread. I made two loaves today...

Perfect looking sandwich bread...

Thanks Steve. Tonight we sliced into one of the loaves. This bread can be sliced thick or thin, and does not fall apart.

[Ciao Ling]

Another recipe from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Breads, a polenta bread from Della Fattoria. It has cooked polenta mixed in (you can see some if you look carefully in the crumb pic) and uncooked polenta on top which gives it a crunch. My attempt at a "swirl" slash, rotating the boule on parchment was a new one for me. I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I baked it during the week and I didn't it plan it right for my work schedule. I threw in an overnight retard in the refrigerator. It still came out quite good and is a great toasting bread.

[Ciao Ling]

Pizza today, not quite "bread' but definitely something kneaded. The weather was good enough this weekend to make a fire in our backyard pizza oven. Made sourdough pizza dough from Reinhart's American Pie, but did not do the overnight retard but let it rise at room temperature so I could make some pies for dinner. Pizza topping was all about what was available in the fridge. For my kids, it was standard pepperoni pizza. Another pie was white truffle oil, goat cheese, parmigiano reggiano, fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, with a grinding of smoked salt, pepper and a little parsley. The last pie shows you how you can put anything on a pizza, leftover roast chicken salad made with apples and sliced almonds, a couple of grape tomatoes and the rest of the goat cheese. It was pretty good.

[Aloha Steve]

I made Pain Rustique from J Hamelman's "Bread" This is the first time I have used only THE 4 ingredients which make bread:

Flour, Water, Salt and Yeast. Usually I add something which I think will enhance the taste. I did use First Clear flour instead of Bread and increased the water amount very slightly. When I ate the first piece, with just a little butter on, I was blown away as to how those 4 ingredients, prepared and cooked properly (Well, by me anyway:) could make a food that taste's so delicious. I'm new but I think a part of me will always feel this way.

I do have a question if someone would know: Should the crumb be so tight ?

[CanadianBakin']

Pizza today, not quite "bread' but definitely something kneaded. The weather was good enough this weekend to make a fire in our backyard pizza oven. Made sourdough pizza dough from Reinhart's American Pie, but did not do the overnight retard but let it rise at room temperature so I could make some pies for dinner. Pizza topping was all about what was available in the fridge. For my kids, it was standard pepperoni pizza. Another pie was white truffle oil, goat cheese, parmigiano reggiano, fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, with a grinding of smoked salt, pepper and a little parsley. The last pie shows you how you can put anything on a pizza, leftover roast chicken salad made with apples and sliced almonds, a couple of grape tomatoes and the rest of the goat cheese. It was pretty good.

Wow! Those pizzas look fabulous.

[Aloha Steve]

Just bought this new kit for bread making. http://www.steambreadmaker.com/

I posted about it here Artisan

It works really well and gives the baker complete control and safety when it come to steaming.

[Marlene]

Just bought this new kit for bread making. http://www.steambreadmaker.com/

I posted about it here Artisan

It works really well and gives the baker complete control and safety when it come to steaming.

I've been using one of these for a couple of years and I love it.

[Aloha Steve]

Just bought this new kit for bread making. http://www.steambreadmaker.com/

I posted about it here Artisan

It works really well and gives the baker complete control and safety when it come to steaming.

I've been using one of these for a couple of years and I love it.

I'm in great company and know I made the right decision !

[Ciao Ling]

I came across a great blog by Steve B, Breadcetera. He gave a recipe from Wavehill Breads in Wilton, CT. My sister lives there and when I visit, I get their bread because it is so good, so I gave the recipe for Cherry Pecan Bread a go, although since I didn't have dried cherries, I substituted raisins and craisins. I liked it a lot as a fuit and nut bread that is not sweet. Mine aren't as pretty as Steve B's, but I have to work at shaping. I have never made a fendu shape which he shows in a short video.

[Ciao Ling]

For our kneady experts: does higher hydration reduce "grigne"? How do you achieve great "grigne"? I recently made a sourdough spelt flax seed bread from a recipe posted by Sam Fromartz on his blog Chews Wise. I didn't have straight flax seed available alone but did have it mixed in with Bob's Red Mill 5 grain rolled cereal. I used that in the soaker and because of the other rolled grains, it clearly absorbs more water and the hydration of my final dough was higher than Sam Fromartz's dough. I also ran out of bread flour so I mixed what I had left with high gluten flour. In the end, my loaves came out a lot flatter than Sam's, most likely from the higher hydration. The most noticeable thing was my lack of good grigne for my batard. Slashing technique, I tried to slash very parallel and not to deep so that I would get a lip, but no such luck.

[tino27]

Yes, higher hydration does reduce grigne. The more water in the dough, the less "structure" the uncooked dough has. Where I always slash my French batards (at 65-70% hydration), I never bother with my ciabatta (85% hyrdation) because the spot where I make my slash will simply "fill in" before the loaf has a chance to set up in the oven.

[tino27]

Instead of using ice cubes, however, use hot water (as in out of your sink's tap).

How much water do you use? Does it matter?

I probably use about 1/8 - 1/4 cup of water. I pull out the 1/4 cup dry measuring cup, fill it almost full, and then dump it onto my pre-heated baking sheet.

[Ciao Ling]

Yes, higher hydration does reduce grigne. The more water in the dough, the less "structure" the uncooked dough has. Where I always slash my French batards (at 65-70% hydration), I never bother with my ciabatta (85% hyrdation) because the spot where I make my slash will simply "fill in" before the loaf has a chance to set up in the oven.

Thanks! I guess 70% hydration might be optimal for a really open crumb and a grigne crust explosion.

[Fromartz]

Nice bread, it looks like it proofed perfectly and you have a nice internal crumb. Yes, the "grigne" will not open very much on moist loaves. You also want a relatively tight skin if you want it to burst open but this is tricky to form -- you want the outside tight but you don't want to destroy the gas structure within the dough, so one way to do that is to kind of pull the outer skin around the dough and pinch it at the bottom. Try it with a hydration of 68-70%. Also don't overproof the loaf -- that will defeat an open grigne and use very active sourdough.

Sam

[Aloha Steve]

Portuguese Sweet Bread

This formula came out great, really nice taste.

However, it is different than what we buy in the store. This is more of a bread with a dense crumb. I wonder how I can get it to be soft like the kind we buy ? Anyone know ?

Edited May 3, 2010 by Aloha Steve (log)

[Ciao Ling]

Nice bread, it looks like it proofed perfectly and you have a nice internal crumb. Yes, the "grigne" will not open very much on moist loaves. You also want a relatively tight skin if you want it to burst open but this is tricky to form -- you want the outside tight but you don't want to destroy the gas structure within the dough, so one way to do that is to kind of pull the outer skin around the dough and pinch it at the bottom. Try it with a hydration of 68-70%. Also don't overproof the loaf -- that will defeat an open grigne and use very active sourdough.

Sam

Sam: Thanks so much. There is nothing like a response from the poster of the recipe. Great blog and baguettes!

[robirdstx]

I bought Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day a couple of weeks ago and today I baked off some Soft Pretzels using his recipe. The dough had been refrigerated for 48 hours and then brought to room temperature for shaping. I forgot to take a photo of the crumb, which was very good - moist and chewy. They had good flavor and next time I will be a little more generous with the salt.

[robirdstx]

Burger Buns using Reinhart's BBA White Bread recipe (Variation 2 with buttermilk). When I've made this recipe in the past, I've only used whole milk so am anxious to taste the difference. They smelled wonderful! I've let them cool, and have sliced and bagged them individually for storing in the freezer until we make our next batch burgers on the grill.

[robirdstx]

Time to make more Burger Buns. This time I used an egg wash and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on half of them. I like the shine the egg wash adds to the buns.

[robirdstx]

Today I tried my hand at flour tortillas. Happily, eight of the nine turned out well.

[Ciao Ling]

Baguettes using the Phllippe Gosselin Pain a l'Ancienne recipe as interpreted by Reinhart which is posted on The Fresh Loaf. My slashes were not very good, so the grigne in some actually formed at the seam line from the baguette forming. The overnight autolyse in the refrigerator really increases the flavor. I have never done an autolyse that long.

[franktex]

Ths is my 2nd try at the Vermont Oatmeal Maple Bread(King Arthur)-the first was yesterday, but I jsut had to make this again. The smell while this bread was cooking was awesome:

[Marlene]

I have a question. If one is using a wood fired oven for bread, and making say baguettes or french loaves, would you still use steam and how would accomplish that in such an oven?