The Bread Topic (2016–)

[blue_dolphin]

Yesterday, I made this Tuscan Grape Bread from Diana Henry's How to Eat a Peach (recipe online at this link) and it was a fail for me.  

It looked nice and the crust was crisp and tasty from the olive oil, rosemary, sugar & grapes but the interior was just flabby, soft white bread with little texture, flavor or chew. I've never had Wonder Bread, but this is what I imagine it being like. I took it to a party last night and it made a nice presentation but very little was eaten, though the cheeses alongside were a big hit!
I'm not an experienced baker so I'm not sure how to troubleshoot it.  I'm sure it could have used more salt - the recipe called for only 1 tsp (3g)  for ~ 500g flour.   It also seems like the dough might not have behaved as expected. There was no way it was large enough after proofing for me to put all 1 lb 2 oz of grapes on top - I used less than half of them. The finished loaf was ~ 12 inches in diameter.

 

 

[ptw1953]

I have only ever made 2 loaves of bread, and I am fascinated by the process and the yeasts involved. I am an insulin dependent diabetic, and stick to high protein breads for my carb counting, but now my son and daughter-in-law wish for me to make bread for them once a week. The first loaf is a dough recipe from the Thermomix my wife purchased for me for my 65th birthday, and the second loaf is a no-knead recipe. Both baked in different-sized casserole pots I have lying around. I didn't cut either open, but I am infomed that the no-knead one had large holes when cut open, and the Thermomix one, not so much.

 

I now am working on a recipe for Scottish morning rolls that I have aquired...

[dtremit]

22 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm not an experienced baker so I'm not sure how to troubleshoot it.  I'm sure it could have used more salt - the recipe called for only 1 tsp (3g)  for ~ 500g flour.   It also seems like the dough might not have behaved as expected. There was no way it was large enough after proofing for me to put all 1 lb 2 oz of grapes on top - I used less than half of them. The finished loaf was ~ 12 inches in diameter.

 

What kind of flour did you use?

[blue_dolphin]

42 minutes ago, dtremit said:

 

What kind of flour did you use?

 

King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

 

[dtremit]

43 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

 

 

Huh. I was thinking it might have been a lower protein flour causing the issue, as compared with UK "strong" flour, but KAF bread flour is about as "strong" as you can easily get in the US.

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, dtremit said:

 

Huh. I was thinking it might have been a lower protein flour causing the issue, as compared with UK "strong" flour, but KAF bread flour is about as "strong" as you can easily get in the US.

 

It's likely that I underproofed somewhat in the second rise - the recipe says to shape into a 9-inch disk and proof for 30 min. I gave it that much time and it certainly expanded but because of the excess grapes, I'm thinking I should have let it get larger.  I'm not sure the method is ever going to develop the kind of flavor and texture I'd really like to have so I probably won't devote a lot of time to troubleshooting. I can make a nice chewy focaccia with these toppings and be a happy camper!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Gaahkoeh, Sami soft flatbread, Magnus Nilsson The Nordic Baking Book (p170):

 

 

 

A sweet, sticky, intractable 77 percent hydration dough.  Lacking reindeer fat and reindeer broth I used butter and water respectively.  I fermented longer than called for and scaled down but otherwise followed the recipe.  If I make it again I'll use less golden syrup.

 

[demiglace]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Gaahkoeh, Sami soft flatbread, Magnus Nilsson The Nordic Baking Book (p170):

A sweet, sticky, intractable 77 percent hydration dough.  Lacking reindeer fat and reindeer broth I used butter and water respectively.  I fermented longer than called for and scaled down but otherwise followed the recipe.  If I make it again I'll use less golden syrup.

 

1

are you out of reindeer broth too?

 

[Duvel]

5 hours ago, demiglace said:

are you out of reindeer broth too?

 

Really ? So quickly after Christmas ..?

[Kim Shook]

snow day – I always seem to want to bake bread.  Even though we bought a loaf of bread from the store on Friday in anticipation of the storm.  CI American Sandwich Loaf – my go-to simple loaf of bread.  Did the initial proof in the oven, the second (in the baking pan) in the CSO and baked in the CSO.  Got a little overdone:

I should have checked it earlier – got a little dark on top and temped at 210F.  But, it was fine – flavor, texture and crumb were all great:

[ElsieD]

Must have been a bread baking day.  I made an English Muffin Loaf and raisin bread.  The muffin bread was made in the normal fashion, the other in the bread machine.  When I heard the beep beep beep go off I added my raisins and dried cranberries.  ,then later I found out the beeping came from my fridge telling me a door had been left ajar.  Meanwhile, the bread machine is kneading away and when it beeped for real, my raisins were already shards.  Tastes okay though, especially toasted.

 

[lindag]

Nothing quite so good a fresh raisin bread toasted and buttered.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Today was my baking day as well!  I'm finally sitting down to my mai tai while a couple of loves are cooling.  Maybe pictures later.

 

My considered take on last week's Gaahkoeh:  great accompanying a soupy braise.  For work sandwiches, not so much.  I may make again.  Particularly considering I have a lot of leftover rye flour to go through.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

 

[heidih]

Lovely bread and rye flour is also on the to do list.

 

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Today was my baking day as well!  I'm finally sitting down to my mai tai while a couple of loves are cooling.  Maybe pictures later.

 

My considered take on last week's Gaahkoeh:  great accompanying a soupy braise.  For work sandwiches, not so much.  I may make again.  Particularly considering I have a lot of leftover rye flour to go through.

 

I find that a small addition of rye flour to lean bread doughs (5%, maybe up to 10% sometimes) adds greatly to the flavour without actually tasting like rye. Baguettes and pizza do benefit from that ...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 minute ago, Duvel said:

I find that a small addition of rye flour to lean bread doughs (5%, maybe up to 10% sometimes) adds greatly to the flavour without actually tasting like rye. Baguettes and pizza do benefit from that ...

 

Interesting.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

12 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Must have been a bread baking day.  I made an English Muffin Loaf and raisin bread.  The muffin bread was made in the normal fashion, the other in the bread machine.  When I heard the beep beep beep go off I added my raisins and dried cranberries.  ,then later I found out the beeping came from my fridge telling me a door had been left ajar.  Meanwhile, the bread machine is kneading away and when it beeped for real, my raisins were already shards.  Tastes okay though, especially toasted.

 

I can't count how many times I've done something similar.  Now, I just get Alexa to give me 19 minutes and put in my add-ins then.  The bread machine beep is so freaking quiet that I was always missing it.

[ElsieD]

59 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I can't count how many times I've done something similar.  Now, I just get Alexa to give me 19 minutes and put in my add-ins then.  The bread machine beep is so freaking quiet that I was always missing it.

 

Great idea.  I'll check the timing of the add-ins and tell 'Hey Google' to do the same.  All these beeps sound the same to me.

[ElsieD]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 I'm finally sitting down to my mai tai while a couple of loves are cooling. 

 

 

Wish I had one cooling!😃

[kayb]

Ages ago, when I first started baking bread, I made a loaf with browned sausage and cheese in it that, toasted, made a great breakfast. No clue what base bread recipe I used. I'm thinking about trying to replicate that. It was also great with tomato soup.

 

[kayb]

Well...the best laid plans. Mostly because I never laid out the sausage to thaw. So I decided to make a savory version of my sweet rolls. I used my basic dinner roll recipe of 5 1/2 c soft white flour, 2 cups water, 1 egg, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/4 cup butter that I replaced with olive oil because I wanted that flavor, 1 tbsp yeast, 1 tsp. kosher salt. Split it into two batches after the first proof, and rolled it out flat after letting it rest five or 10 minutes.

 

 

 

The ones on the left are "pizza rolls." Filling is tomato paste spread thin, sprinkled with Italian seasoning; diced pepperoni, grated mozzarella and parmigiano. Rolled and sliced. The ones on the right have my fig-and-olive spread (4 oz. figs, 1/2 cup Kalamata olives, 1/2 cup stuffed green olives, all whizzed up in the food processor with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and rosemary) and cream cheese spread. The cream cheese is simply whipped with a good olive oil and some black pepper to easy spreading consistency.

 

Both are good, but I think my preference is the fig and olive.

 

Next big baking adventure, beyond an occasional loaf of sandwich bread, will be King cakes. I somehow got in the King cake whirl a few years back, and now I have about six people who depend on me for their King cakes annually. Laizzez les bon temps roulez!

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by kayb
to add ingredients I left out. (log)

[heidih]

@kayb  well you are thinking way ahead. If Lent starts March 6  then the 5th would be the crazy day I think, Do you put figurines in and what types

Edited January 18, 2019 by heidih (log)

[kayb]

12 hours ago, heidih said:

@kayb  well you are thinking way ahead. If Lent starts March 6  then the 5th would be the crazy day I think, Do you put figurines in and what types

 

 

I do. I ordered a bag of little plastic babies from Amazon; they're about an inch long. Should be enough to keep my King cakes supplied for a few years.

 

Yes, Lent and Easter are late this year, but the season starts right after Epiphany, so we've got plenty of time to get King cakes made and distributed. I make them two at a time, generally. And I'll actually be in NOLA the two days leading up to Mardi Gras weekend, so there'll be no baking then!

 

My eldest daughter was asking for a King cake yesterday. I'll probably start in a couple of weekends.

 

 

[lindag]

I need to make some homemade bread...Sometime I just need that aroma to make me feel good.