The Bread Topic (2014 –2015)

[bethesdabakers]

Patricia Wells features an olive oil brioche, Pompe a l'Huille, in her 1997 book "At Home in Provence". My black book tells me I converted it into a naturally leavened version in 2004.

 

Contains orange and lemon zest together with orange flower water. She says it is common in Provence and an essential part of the Christmas Eve dinner.

 

She even has a chocolate olive oil brioche.

 

Mick

[Ann_T]

Double batch today.

 

Small baguettes and small boules.

 

 

[kayb]

Played with my basic white sandwich bread recipe, subbing 1 1/2 cups (of a total 3 3/4) of a/p flour for whole wheat, and adding a quarter cup of flaxseed meal. Then had to dash out on an unexpected grandchild run during the second rise, which resulted in the loaf overproofing and then falling on one end. Didn't seem to hurt the outcome. Next time I'll up the honey; I think it'll go better with the whole wheat.

 

 

OK, so it's a bit lopsided.

 

 

Texture (and taste) were fine, though.

 

Then a day or so later, I got in the mood for a quickbread, so I made apple oatmeal walnut quickbread based loosely on a recipe from Stonyfield Yogurt, with liberal additions and substitutions.

 

 

It was quite excellent, hot with butter. 

 

 

[heidih]

Has anyone ever made this 100% rye bread that Pille posted or something similar? I have had it on the brain for years but before I go buy the flour and make a mess I thought I would ask. Thanks  (scroll down for her recipe)

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/107602-eg-foodblog-pille/page-5#entry1470529

Edited October 28, 2015 by heidih (log)

[bethesdabakers]

If you can wait until tomorrow (UK time) I'll take you through Simple Danish Rye which is probably the 100% rye I bake most frequently. Very easy but a bit weird if you're coming from wheat bread and not used to rye.

 

Mick

[bethesdabakers]

 

Simple  Danish Rye – a formula given tome by my friend Nina Holm Jensen in Denmark.

 

You need a rye starter. If you’ve only got a wheat starter refresh some of it with rye a couple of times. I keep my basic starter at 100% hydration (equal weights of starter, water and rye). Your starter needs to be fairly active because of the small amount that goes into the starter for the dough.

 

Mix a starter as shown in the bottom grid of the formula “First Starter”. Use water that’s had the chill taken off it – rye doesn’t like cold. This starter needs 24 hours to mature before it goes into the dough.

 

Mix the dough by hand in a large mixing bowl. Don’t be scared by the wet consistency. There’s no point in kneading it because there’s not much useful gluten in rye. Cover the bowl and let it rest for an hour.

 

Oil a 2 pound bread tin. Have a bowl of water handy. Wet your work surface, wet your hands and scrape the dough out onto the wet surface. Keeping your hands wet, squeeze the dough between them first one way then the other to produce a homogenised mass. Then squeeze the dough to roughly the shape of the tin and drop it in. Press it down and smooth the surface. Cover the tin with oiled cling film so that you can see what’s going on. In my kitchen the dough will prove in about three and a half hours. Keep your eye on the dough and just when you think it will never move it will start to rise. It doesn’t have to come right to the top of the tin, but wait until there’s been a significant movement.

 

Heat your oven to 240C. Bake for 10-15 minutes, turn the oven down to 180C and give it another 40-45 minutes. Turn the oven off. Remove the bread from the tin and return it to the oven with the oven door slightly ajar for about 20 minutes.

 

When the bread is totally cold, wrap in greaseproof, cling film or put in a freezer bag for at least 24 hours before using. Freezes well.

 

You can roughly shape the dough into a boule and prove it in a basket if you are feeling brave but using a tin the first time gives you an idea of how the dough works.

 

Mick

 

[heidih]

Thanks so much Mick for the rye recipe. I've saved it and will give it a try once it cools off around here.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Did you ever wonder what happens when you forget to score your loaf?

 

I can't say I had, personally.  But now I know.

[Norm Matthews]

Last week I woke up my sourdough starter that had been sleeping in the refrigerator since May and yesterday made some French bread with it.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2015 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Ann_T]

Norm, two beautiful baguettes.  Nice golden colour.

[cakewalk]

Beautiful baguettes, great slashes. Did you not feed your starter at all since May? I also just starting "waking up" some starter - but mine was in the freezer. A while ago I threw out my starters. I wasn't baking bread and I got sick of the whole feeding process, so I just dumped them. (White and rye.) But I put some in the freezer. The white starter (bread flour) seems to be waking up nicely, but the rye starter seems to be dead as a doornail. I'll feed it another few days and see what happens. I think the colder weather makes me want to bake bread again. 

[Arey]

Did you ever wonder what happens when you forget to score your loaf?

 

I can't say I had, personally.  But now I know.

No. I've never forgotten to score a loaf, but  I know what happens when you're as lousy at scoring as I am.  I bought a pain de mie pan from King Arthur so I could have slices of bread that would fit into my toaster without surgery,   and my sandwiches wouldn't look weird.  I look at Norm Matthews' bread in the above post and wonder why I can't get that result.  With my loaves , oven spring looks more like oven eruption.  My attempts at bread slicing don't help the matter any.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Arey (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Beautiful baguettes, great slashes. Did you not feed your starter at all since May? I also just starting "waking up" some starter - but mine was in the freezer. A while ago I threw out my starters. I wasn't baking bread and I got sick of the whole feeding process, so I just dumped them. (White and rye.) But I put some in the freezer. The white starter (bread flour) seems to be waking up nicely, but the rye starter seems to be dead as a doornail. I'll feed it another few days and see what happens. I think the colder weather makes me want to bake bread again. 

 

It's been at least since May. I fed it daily for about a week before I used it.  I had some for many years that I would keep in the refrigerator for months but after about ten years it died and I decided not to have any more.  Then a friend sent me some as a Christmas present about 4 years ago from King Arthur, along with a ceramic canister for keeping it. 

 

No. I've never forgotten to score a loaf, but  I know what happens when you're as lousy at scoring as I am.  I bought a pain de mie pan from King Arthur so I could have slices of bread that would fit into my toaster without surgery,   and my sandwiches wouldn't look weird.  I look at Norm Matthews' bread in the above post and wonder why I can't get that result.  With my loaves , oven spring looks more like oven eruption.  My attempts at bread slicing don't help the matter any.

I use a sharp paring knife and cut it deeper than I used to.  I also brush it with an egg and water wash inside the gash as well as outside. I put a pan of steaming water in the oven too. I don't know how much any of those things makes a difference though. 

 

One other thing I do that helps is: when the dough has set for about 10 minutes, I insert a thermometer probe in the middle of one of the loaves and bake it to 190º instead of to time.  These were done about 7 minutes before the recipe said to let them bake.  You can see the hole for the thermometer probe in the  top picture on the side of the closer loaf.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Norm Matthews (log)

[cyalexa]

Anyone else have trouble with the oil/water emulsion Genovese focaccia sticking to the pan? I meant to use parchment today but forgot. Spent quite a while prying the breads loose with thin metal spatulas. 

 

The post that got me interested in this tehnique:

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/149192-the-bread-topic-2014-–/?p=2017440

[curls]

KAF Sandwich bread. Very pleased with the taste and texture. Thank you Anna N for recommending this recipe.

[suzilightning]

The first of the Portugese sweet bread has been baked and just waiting for turkey sandwiches and toast with toast dope....

Came out well risen and nicely crusty ... wish I could taste(lousy cold) so will have to have Johnnybird test it.

[Ann_T]

Yesterday's bread.

 

 

 

 

 

Host's note: this delicious topic is continued in The Bread Topic (2015-).

Edited November 18, 2015 by Smithy
Added host's note (log)