Baking with Reinhart's "Artisan Bread Every Day"

[BadRabbit]

I've recently started cooking from Reinhart's newish "Artisan Bread Every Day" and I really like the book. I think the technique he uses throughout the book is pretty easy to work into even a very busy schedule.

My first bread from the book was the Focaccia and it turned out to be spectacular and really reminded me of a bakery that I used to live near that had the best rosemary focaccia I've ever eaten (I used Reinharts herb oil as a topping). The only problem I had was that I forgot to put down parchment and the bread stuck A LOT. I had oiled it well and the sheet was non-stick but none of that seemed to matter.

Has anybody else done much baking from this book? What are the must try recipes?

[FoodMan]

I do a lot of baking in general and I use this book at least twice a month or so. I just had a sandwich for lunch on one of my favorite Reinhart breads from this book, the Struan Bread. It freezes well and toasts great. Give it a shot.

I also baked a couple of loaves of the soft rye bread recently. We ate one and the other is well-wrapped in the freezer now.

[Marlene]

This is one of my favourite bread books. I make the baguettes often, and the biscuits. And when you add cheese to the biscuits, it just takes them to a whole new level.

[janeer]

Glad to hear the positives on this book; I bought it about a month ago, mainly because I am a fan of R's other books, but haven't tried anything yet.

[lowonthehog]

My absolute must-try is pain a l'ancienne. Fermenting overnight makes for the kind of complexity in the bread I thought that you needed a starter for. It takes about 20 minutes the night before and three more hours in the morning, but it's worth it.

I'm a disciple of Reinhart's "slower fermentation is better" and am making less and less un-fermented bread.

[hathor]

If you love this book (and I do..particularly the pain a l'ancienne), try Bertinet's Crust book. Also outstanding.

[technophile50]

I just got a "Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book" at a local thrift store for $0.50 - anybody have any opinions? Cheap at half the price?

I also got a Cuisinart for $9.99 complete including manual.

[Luke]

Made the baguettes from Reinhart's book today (well yesterday if you consider the overnight fridge rise).

The finished product was great!

Now I am NO expert, but I have attempted (several times) three different methods of making high hydration breads.

The three methods were "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day", Bread cetera's poolish method and Reinhart's method, but I think I will settle on Reinhart's.

Each method has pro's and con's, but if I was to weigh up effort required vs quality of result, Reinhart's high hydration folding technique with overnight fridge proof is the one for me.

Cheers

Luke

[HungryC]

Count me as a fan, too (I even tested recipes for it). The basic lean bread recipe makes great little crusty rolls. I give all the credit to ABED's pineapple juice trick for solving my wild-yeast starter problems, and I bake the yeast-spiked sourdough over and over again (with a little ground flaxseed added to it).

[deensiebat]

His pizza recipe here has become our default -- there's also a great stretch-and-fold video tutorial:

[FoodMan]

His pizza recipe here has become our default -- there's also a great stretch-and-fold video tutorial:

I agree that this is a wonderful pizza dough. We make pizza at home often and the recipes I use vary, usually we use the Jeffrey Steingarten recipe though. I tried Reinhart's from this book a couple of days ago. It is great and very straight forward to make. I think it will become our default now. Here is my pizza that I topped with Guanciale (is there anything Guanciale does not go good on??) and an egg.

[Luke]

Just made the second batch tonight ....

One comment I will make, I find it a lot easier to do the folding in a plastic container. You can put it back in the fridge between folds, and you can experiment with additional folds later on in the fermentation process (not sure if Reinhart would approved).

I'm not sure I agree with Reinhart about not slashing prior to baking. I tried tonight, but my razor blade got stuck due to the high hydration. However, in the few places where the slashing did work, the bread rose significantly higher in that spot, so I think it would bring benefit. Maybe I misread the details about the slashing...

Luke

[BadRabbit]

This is one of my favourite bread books. I make the baguettes often, and the biscuits. And when you add cheese to the biscuits, it just takes them to a whole new level.

Are the biscuits fairly foolproof? We've been invited to a last minute dinner party and I thought I might bring these but if there's a learning curve, I don't want to show up with a subpar product.

[Marlene]

I think they are, yes. you can make ahead and chill, and then take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before baking. Or you can bake and reheat at your party.

[Jmahl]

Try using scissors for slashing wet dough. I think you will like the results.

[BadRabbit]

I think they are, yes. you can make ahead and chill, and then take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before baking. Or you can bake and reheat at your party.

For some reason, mine did not rise correctly. They still tasted pretty good and weren't dense but they just stayed fairly flat. I checked my powder and soda and both were fairly new. I did add the cheese and his suggested amount seemed excessive. I'm wondering if the cheese inhibited the rise by weighing everything down.

Also, the temperatures and times seem to be way off. My oven is pretty spot on (I checked temperature at the shelf where I was cooking with an oven thermometer). Still, my biscuits cooked in half the time listed in the book. They were almost fully browned before the first phase of baking was over. I only put it in for a few minutes in the second phase because to leave them any longer would have burned them.

I also tried the Pain a l'Ancienne Ciabatta and found it good but unremarkable. I wasn't wowed. I did only cook 1/3 of the dough so I'm hoping another day in the fridge will make the next loaf better.

[Marlene]

How strange. Mine usually look something like this. And I use at least as much cheese maybe more than he says too. I make these on almost a weekly basis and haven't had a problem

Edited May 16, 2011 by Marlene (log)

[BadRabbit]

How strange. Mine usually look something like this. And I use at least as much cheese maybe more than he says too. I make these on almost a weekly basis and haven't had a problem

Those look more like what I was expecting.

Do you use the AP and Pastry flour? I just used all White Lily AP (he says you can substitute AP for the Patry). I figured that WL's low protein would work best for a substitute since I didn't have pastry flour.

[Marlene]

I do use both usually.

[ElsieD]

Marlene, what is the recipe you use for your cheese buns?

[FoodMan]

The recipe for croissants from this book is the best I've tried so far and the most detailed. It produced some fantastic (rose perfectly, flaky, slight chew, buttery but not greasy,...) results that I served, as per our tradition, for Mother's Day breakfast. Like any croissant recipe, this is not easy or hassle-free. However, if you are up for a small and fun challenge and follow the instructions closely, the results should be worht the effort.

I blogged some more about it here.

[Marlene]

It is the biscuit recipe in the book, with shredded cheese sprinkled between the layers as you fold.

[BadRabbit]

I made the ciabatta this weekend and it was a great success. We had a party with 15 people and I went through 3 large loafs before dinner (I just has it toasted and served it with both herbed olive oil and hummus).

My other experiment was a disaster. I tried the bagels and they really were not good. They were overly dense and the crust split all over the place.

Anybody else had luck with the bagels? I feel like maybe I didn't roll them enough during shaping.

[robirdstx]

I'll have to give the ciabatta recipe a try. The only recipe I've made so far is the one for soft pretzels; which were very good. The Reinhart bagel recipe I have used is from his Bread Baker's Apprentice book. That recipe uses a sponge and I had excellent results.

[ambra]

I adore the sourdough and pain au levain recipes. I made the mother starter following his instructions.

I can't get the sourdough pizza to work though. But that's OK. I'm fine using the other recipe.