The Bread Topic (2014 –2015)

[ElsieD]

Ciabatta. 95% hydration.

[bethesdabakers]

You've been practicing!

[Ann_T]

Elsie, beautiful ciabatta.  

 

I decided that I had neglected my sourdough starters long enough.  I hadn't fed them in over a month.  So I fed them both last week, and then again last night.  Used 60g of the discard to make a preferment. (225g flour, 225 g water).

 

This morning I divided the preferment in half and made two different batches of bread.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Ann_T

Your bread is always amazing. My husband was using Bread Makers Apprentice for his technique and recipes but since I bought him Four, Water, Salt, Yeast his bread is much better. The crust is more like the ones you make and very tasty.

[Ann_T]

Thanks Okanagancook.

 

I've been on a bagel kick recently. Hand-mixed.

 

 

 

Poppy seed.

 

 

Poppy and sesame seed.

 

and

 

and onion and cheddar.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I set off to make baguettes.  Unfortunately there was a tragic lapse of concentration on my part.  I needed to chill my water and had a two cup measure in the refrigerator.  When it came time to add water to my baguette dough I took the cup out of the refrigerator and dumped the contents in...neglecting to weigh the proper amount for the recipe.

 

I now had flour soup and decided to make ciabatta.  I added sufficient flour by eye to get something like the consistency of a ciabatta dough.

 

Several hours later:

 

 

 

 

Quite good, I thought, considering.  The poolish was about twenty hours, bulk fermentation was three hours, division and final rise was about two hours.

 

I never took a picture of a piece of bread before.

[CatPoet]

JoNorvelle: Welcome   to bread pictures anonymous, this is the first of many pictures.

 

 

Sorry for the crappy picture, but  it is winter hardly any good light in this home and  I couldnt drag out my  system camera since my daughter was sleeping in that room.

 

This is a  carrot and potato  loaf,  there is small speckles of  orange in the bread and it is a soft crust bread , really tasty.

[rotuts]

this is my current home-made machine bread :

 

1/4 rye, 1/4 white whole wheat ( TJ's ), 1/2 TJ's white, salt, yeast, water.

 

it takes < 3 minutes to weigh out and push bake.  its about 5 1/2 " tall.  its not pretty, but very tasty toasted for breakfast, and for

 

sandwiches.  Hummus on top for breakfast is in the Hummus thread. :

 

 

top cut off ready for the CSB.  Delicious, w or w/o hummus :

 

 

its a 1 1/2 lb loaf.  all I do is carefully weigh and measure and push start.

 

3 1/2 hours or so.

[rotuts]

Ooooooooooops:  the machine bread also has vital wheat gluten.

[Anna N]

Good on you rotuts. Always happy to see anyone making their own bread.

After my rather disastrous bread of this morning (which despite its ugliness is a very nice loaf) which I posted about in the gallery of regrettable foods, I attempted the arborio rice bread from the Della Fattoria bakery. You can Google for the recipe.

This is a very easy one-bowl bread requiring no serious kneading at all.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

More ciabbatta.  Looks the same as my picture above.  I have yet to cut into it.  But it is almost cool now.  Have to finish this mai tai first.

[Dave W]

Inspired by Shelby's work in this thread I undertook to make some English muffins using the Reinhardt recipe. This is the second batch as the first batch of 6 last night was no match for us.

Recipe is simple and killer. I'd like to see more nooks and crannies, so will try with higher hydration.

[shar999]

This was a very tasty bread. Dakota Bread

[Ann_T]

Beautiful loaf Shar.

 

Home-Style White - Needed a white sandwich style bread for last night's dinner. 

[Anna N]

Overnight boule from Ken Forkish and two small loaves of white sandwich bread from Della Fattoria.

[Ann_T]

Hand-mixed up two 500g batches of dough yesterday.

 

Baked two batards from one batch and the other is in the fridge and will probably be used for pizza tonight.

 

 

Just out of the oven.

 

 

Sliced this morning for toast.

[ElainaA]

My very first attempt at baguettes. Obviously I need to really to work on the shaping. But I'm pleased with them and they taste very good.

Elaina

 

[ElsieD]

Elaina, nice crumb you have there!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

ElainaA,

 

Your crumb looks more like ciabatta, and I'd very happily eat a whole lot more than I needed. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Bread 3.pngBread 4.png

My very first attempt at baguettes. Obviously I need to really to work on the shaping. But I'm pleased with them and they taste very good.

Elaina

 

Elaina, what was your hydration?  I'm thinking the loaves may have been hard to shape because the dough was on the wet side.

[ElainaA]

Elaina, what was your hydration?  I'm thinking the loaves may have been hard to shape because the dough was on the wet side.

The hydration was 79.6% - this was Peter Reinhart's  Pain a l'Ancienne (from The Bread Baker's Apprentice) and that is what he specifies. He describes the dough as being very wet and, since this was a first try for me, I followed the recipe as exactly as I could. The loaves he pictures are certainly not as flat as mine.However I am very happy with the crumb and the taste. Looking at his formula for poolish baguettes the hydration is 55.9% - I think I'll try that next. 

 

 

 

ElainaA,

 

Your crumb looks more like ciabatta, and I'd very happily eat a whole lot more than I needed. 

I've already done that! Twice, in fact, once last night and then this morning for breakfast - excellent with my Peach Preserves for a Cold Winter Morning (that is the actual name of the recipe - peach, orange and habanero preserves) very appropriate as it was just 9F at my house this morning. And I had extra time as I can't get down the driveway to work until my husband plows it.

Elaina

[Anna N]

My son was going to visit this morning so I put together some bread early on. It was just beginning it was just beginning the second and final rise when I learned that the weather would put the kibosh on any visit. Oh well they will find a home with my daughter who lives just around the corner.

This is the white bread dough from Della Fattoria with the second loaf made into cinnamon swirl raisin bread. She calls for a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on top.

The camera appears to have introduced some real distortion here as both loaves are the same size!

[Anna N]

The dough shared between white sandwich bread and raisin bread went over so well the other day I did it again today.

Then I attempted two baguettes which ended up being batards but my granddaughter devoured most of one of them for an after school snack! I guess high school chemistry needs lots of caloric input.

[Anna N]

One of four loaves I made today for my family to take with them as they head up to Penetanguishine for some weekend skiing. This is a cheese loaf with three-quarters of a pound of cheeses. There is Gruyere, parmesan and Jarlsberg in there and the smell is just incredible. I am happy to send the other three loaves on their way but the family may need to pry this one from my hands!

[cyalexa]

Anna,

 

Is the cheese cubed and added to the dough? If yes, during the end of kneading or maybe during shaping?

 

Thanks,

Cindy