The Bread Topic (2015-2016)

[Ann_T]

Anna, great crumb and crust.   I love mini loaves. 

 

Today's Bake - Handmixed up two batches of dough this morning.  

 

 

 

Baguettes were baked this morning.   The second dough, went into the fridge for a few hours to retard the rise.  

Taken out late afternoon, given time to warm up before shaping  and proofing.   Baked early evening in Dutch Ovens.

 

 

Love the sound of bread "singing".

Edited March 25, 2016 by Ann_T (log)

[liuzhou]

 

Slightly nervously baked again today. After the initial rise, I left the dough in the fridge for 36 hours rather my usual 24. Life got in the way.

 

I also attempted to scale back the top crust which was getting overcooked by loosely covering the bread with some aluminium foil for the first half of the baking time.

 

The loaf is now cooling down and seems fine, so far.

 

There is a slight fermented aroma to it, not something I've noticed before, but not an unpleasant one. Perhaps a result of the extra 12 hours in the fridge (??).

[kbjesq]

<<There is a slight fermented aroma to it, not something I've noticed before, but not an unpleasant one. Perhaps a result of the extra 12 hours in the fridge (??).>>>

@liuzhou I'm sure that your premise is accurate. I've noticed that a slow ferment in the fridge always improves the flavor and texture of my bread. In fact, the best (most flavorsome) loaf that I ever made had been inadvertently left in my outside fridge for more than a month! 

 

[liuzhou]

In the end, the last loaf was slightly undercooked, but still edible. I think, perhaps, my fretting about the top burning led to me opening the oven too many times to check!

 

 

Still, I'm not unhappy. It's a learning experience and the next batch is now tucked in my electric blanket for its first rise (It can be a bit chilly here at times). Will bake about 24 hours from now and try to apply what I have learned. Cover the top with foil as before, but bake a little longer.

I wish I had a proper oven! I feel I'm fighting the toaster oven all the time.

[Anna N]

@liuzhou

 

Don't know how much difference it might make but if I bake bread in my toaster oven I will tent it with foil towards the end rather than at the start. I will let it reach almost the darkness I want and then tent with foil to prevent getting any darker.  I feel your pain about not having a full sized oven. I am guessing you are unable to see how your loaf is progressing while it is baking?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

@liuzhou

 

Don't know how much difference it might make but if I bake bread in my toaster oven I will tent it with foil towards the end rather than at the start. I will let it reach almost the darkness I want and then tent with foil to prevent getting any darker.  I feel your pain about not having a full sized oven. I am guessing you are unable to see how your loaf is progressing while it is baking?

 

I did first "tent" at the end of the bake, but found it didn't work so well. Perhaps I left it too late. Will try again.

You are correct. The only way to see what is happening is to open the oven door, which isn't a great idea.

Thanks for your help. I'll get there. I ain't letting a stupid oven beat me!

[Anna N]

@liuzhou

 

I am absolutely certain that no oven, stupid or otherwise, will get the best of you. 

 

 

Kasoori methi paratha. Needs work but was very tasty and my house smells delicious enough to lick the walls.  

[kayb]

Oooooh. Can you provide a recipe or a link? That looks stunning.

[Anna N]

34 minutes ago, kayb said:

Oooooh. Can you provide a recipe or a link? That looks stunning.

  Quite happy to provide a link. However I was not completely happy with my results. Doubt that this was a fault of the recipe. There is an art to making these. Getting the dough just right then getting the heat just right can make all the difference as can using atta flour rather than all purpose  if I recall correctly. 

[liuzhou]

I'm hoping I may have finally got over my recent lack of bread success. Two fine loaves in a row. Here is the latest effort.

 

 

I upped the baking temperature slightly and left it a little longer than I intended. I got stuck on the phone when I should have been taking it out, hence the slight char on the roof. However, I am happy with the crumb and taste and the crust colour in general.  I also carefully checked the internal temperature, which was just over 100ºC.

 

 

I'm hoping I now have a template to follow.

Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement in my new adventure  Especial thanks to @Anna N

 

P.S. The rest of that loaf is in the freezer. Most of what you see is now in me!.

[DianaB]

Liuzhou, that looks really good. I'm yet to try that style of loaf but plan to as my next project.

 

i'm still working to perfect my baguettes, this was my last attempt, tasted fine.

 

[kbjesq]

@liuzhou great looking bread, I'm truly astounded at what you can accomplish with your toaster oven. Bread failures are frustrating, but happen to all bakers. Just last week, I had 2 loaves of King Arthur Honey Oatmeal bread fail. They never rose properly during the second rise or in the oven.  And this is a recipe that I have made every week for years now.  (BTW last week's failures are now breadcrumbs in my freezer, so they were not a total waste)

I'm pleased to learn that your perseverance paid off.  I'm going to have to attempt more bread this morning since we are now completely depleted and I can't bear "supermarket" bread now that I'm used to homemade. 

[ElainaA]

@DianaB Those baguettes look pretty darn perfect to me! 

[Okanagancook]

Why, oh why, is bread soooooo good!?  Really, 4 ingredients.  How silly.  My DH made two large loaves from Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt to take to a friend's for Easter dinner/next day breakfast.  They vanished quite quickly with everyone making funny noises while chewing on the slices slathered simply with butter.

 

[Ann_T]

Diana, I can't imagine a more perfect looking baguette.   

[DianaB]

Thanks Ann_T and ElainaA for your kind comments. I was happy with the texture, can't get the slashing right though, on baguettes or any other shaped loaf so far. Just been given a new scalpel so plan on trying with that next time....

[Dave W]

I've been gone for a long while, looks like you guys are doing great work here still. Here's some forkish levain pain au bacon. So good!

 

[Anna N]

 

More Stirato. The loaves were even uglier this time but tasted oh so good!  Going to give the sour dough starter a try, but despite much coaching,  I don't have much hope that this will be any more successful than any of the others! Hope springs eternal. 

[kbjesq]

3 hours ago, DianaB said:

Thanks Ann_T and ElainaA for your kind comments. I was happy with the texture, can't get the slashing right though, on baguettes or any other shaped loaf so far. Just been given a new scalpel so plan on trying with that next time....

Aha, a scalpel is a brilliant idea! Thanks for mentioning it! 

[paulpegg]

I haven't been posting lately. Here are few recent pieces.

I hate the store bought bialys and hadn't had a good one in many years, so I decided to give them a shot. My first attempt resulted in mini Mount Vesuvius'. These are my second try.

 

 

 

The recipe said it would produce 8 bialys. I made 12 on the second try and would go for 16 on the next one.

 

For Easter I made a walnut - raisin no-knead bread with two kinds of raisins and some whole wheat thrown in for a little extra flavor. Instead of dumping the dough into the dutch oven I let it rise on a large piece of parchment paper and then just lifted the whole ting into the oven. i trimmed off the long ends before I put the lid on.

 

 

 

 

 

It went very fast!

 

Thanks for sharing all your good efforts.

 

Paul

• PS: I use a very sharp filet knife to score my dough.

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by paulpegg (log)

[shain]

@paulpegg I love good bialys! Yours looks great. It seems to me that you don't pre-cook the onion, I prefer mine well browned. Also, the raisin bread looks delicious. I'll be glad to see more of your breads in the future!

[paulpegg]

You're right. I let them marinate with the poppy seeds and some oil for a few hours. I have posted some no kneads in the past but can't seem to find them right now. I did a focaccia on 26Feb2015 it you want to look it up. it is simplicity personified.

Edited March 30, 2016 by paulpegg (log)

[kbjesq]

Part way through making the King Arthur honey oatmeal bread recipe, I realized that the box of oats was empty - so I increased the flour a bit and added some flax meal and topped with sesame seeds, which (as usual) don't want to stay put. But at least I had no problems with the proofing and rise today. Of course, I really have no right to complain about my occasional bread failures, since I'm a guesstimator.  I just loathe weighing and measuring ingredients.     *ducks head and runs*

[Smithy]

I need help getting a better rise in this loaf.  This is my sourdough rosemary bread:

 

 

It looks pretty good from the top, but the side view shows that it's er, a bit vertically challenged.

 

 

We're both delighted with the flavor and crumb.  He's delighted with the crust, which is not the shatteringly crisp crust revered by others. It came out of the oven with a floury pattern that vanished with the butter I brushed over it to soften the crust for him. I've accepted the crust, but I'd like more rise.

 

This bread is made with half whole wheat and half bread flour, 77% hydration, and my standard sourdough starter.  There is slightly under 9% olive oil and slightly over 3% salt, both added after autolysis.  The dough stretches, folds and proofs nicely, but tends to spread when I release it from its banneton.  In past batches I have suspected overproofing, but this time I'm sure that didn't happen. The somewhat-flat loaf doesn't get much oven spring when it goes into the oven.  The oven is about as hot as I can get it, and according to the oven thermometer hotter than necessary (450F, which is much too hot in my home oven.) I'm preheating it to let the baking stone stabilize at high temperature.  I spritz with water after the loaf goes in, and have added water to a hot pan as past loaves went in.  The oven has a tendency to go out with the steam, though, so with this loaf I put a pan of water in with the loaf.

 

As I see it, the tendency to spread and the lack of oven spring are both issues.  Should I:

• Increase the oven temperature still further and/or preheat longer?  
• Put that pan of water in during the preheat step so the bread goes into a steamy oven?
• Forget about the banneton and shape it more tightly by hand? (A batard, perhaps?)
• Use a bread pan?
• Reduce the hydration?
• Reduce the oil?  (Does the oil tend to relax the dough?)
• Change something else about this formula?

...or just resign myself to having a tasty but flattish loaf?

 

Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

 

 

[Smithy]

I need help getting a better rise in this loaf.  This is my sourdough rosemary bread:

 

 

It looks pretty good from the top, but the side view shows that it's er, a bit vertically challenged.

 

 

We're both delighted with the flavor and crumb.  He's delighted with the crust, which is not the shatteringly crisp crust revered by others. It came out of the oven with a floury pattern that vanished with the butter I brushed over it to soften the crust for him. I've accepted the crust, but I'd like more rise.

 

This bread is made with half whole wheat and half bread flour, 77% hydration, and my standard sourdough starter.  There is slightly under 9% olive oil and slightly over 3% salt, both added after autolysis.  The dough stretches, folds and proofs nicely, but tends to spread when I release it from its banneton.  In past batches I have suspected overproofing, but this time I'm sure that didn't happen. The somewhat-flat loaf doesn't get much oven spring when it goes into the oven.  The oven is about as hot as I can get it, and according to the oven thermometer hotter than necessary (450F, which is much too hot in my home oven.) I'm preheating it to let the baking stone stabilize at high temperature.  I spritz with water after the loaf goes in, and have added water to a hot pan as past loaves went in.  The oven has a tendency to go out with the steam, though, so with this loaf I put a pan of water in with the loaf.

 

As I see it, the tendency to spread and the lack of oven spring are both issues.  Should I:

• Increase the oven temperature still further and/or preheat longer?  
• Put that pan of water in during the preheat step so the bread goes into a steamy oven?
• Forget about the banneton and shape it more tightly by hand? (A batard, perhaps?)
• Use a bread pan?
• Reduce the hydration?
• Reduce the oil?  (Does the oil tend to relax the dough?)
• Change something else about this formula?

...or just resign myself to having a tasty but flattish loaf?

 

Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.