The Bread Topic (2016–)

[shain]

19 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

This might be considered an absurdly, stupidly basic baking question:  when baking a hearth bread that has been brushed with butter, how do you prevent butter from running off the edge of your baking steel?*

 

I'm getting tired of putting the baking steel through the dishwasher.

 

 

*"Level the oven" is not a valid answer.

 

 

You can use a parchment between the bread and the stone. It should not affect a bread at all (though it can affect pizzas and flat breads that bake fast and have a wide surface contact).

[AlaMoi]

you don't.  either put something under to catch the drips, or do the self-clean routine more often....

I only rarely self-clean the baking stone.  dark butter stains do no harm and created at 400"F pose zilch comma zero bacterial "danger"

[JoNorvelleWalker]

35 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

you don't.  either put something under to catch the drips, or do the self-clean routine more often....

I only rarely self-clean the baking stone.  dark butter stains do no harm and created at 400"F pose zilch comma zero bacterial "danger"

 

My baking steel does not self-clean, I have to run it through the dishwasher.

 

[weinoo]

Yesterday, I rearranged the racks in my oven, in order to make it more amenable to some baking I hope to do. I also reintroduced the baking steel, cleaned it first and re-seasoned it as well. I have one of the big ones - sucker weighs 24 lbs. or so, so I intend to leave it in the oven for the foreseeable future.

 

My first reintro to baking in the real oven, and I started with focaccia...with a biga, from a recipe in one of the first baking books I bought, the Il Fornaio baking book (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  I hope, one day, to make as beautiful a pizza bianco as @Franci, but that will take some time. In the interim...

 

The thicker, sometimes softer version of focaccia (from the Ligurian region, I think).

 

 

Was good.

[weinoo]

And the bread, baked the following (yesterday) morning...

 

 

So here's where I tend to get myself in trouble. I did the Forkish overnight white, but with 100 grams of biga substituting for 100 grams of flour and water in the proper proportions.

 

Biga just changes the bread, in my opinion (and as it should, I guess). I like the flavor a lot, and it looks quite light, but it's actually a little dense. Didn't get the oven spring I sometimes see, but I think I just dicked around with the dough a bit too much. I swear I'm gonna take notes. 

 

And if I could get @Ann_T to teach me how to make baguettes, when @Franci is done teaching me how to make pizza bianca, I'd be golden!

[heidih]

15 minutes ago, weinoo said:

And the bread, baked the following (yesterday) morning...

 

 

So here's where I tend to get myself in trouble. I did the Forkish overnight white, but with 100 grams of biga substituting for 100 grams of flour and water in the proper proportions.

 

Biga just changes the bread, in my opinion (and as it should, I guess). I like the flavor a lot, and it looks quite light, but it's actually a little dense. Didn't get the oven spring I sometimes see, but I think I just dicked around with the dough a bit too much. I swear I'm gonna take notes. 

 

And if I could get @Ann_T to teach me how to make baguettes, when @Franci is done teaching me how to make pizza bianca, I'd be golden!

Perhaps we need our own Master Class series   I get that odd looking airy but bit dense but I always toast so it is ok for my taste. Oh and you dicking around - unfathomable!

Edited December 6, 2020 by heidih (log)

[weinoo]

22 minutes ago, weinoo said:

So here's where I tend to get myself in trouble. I did the Forkish overnight white, but with 100 grams of biga substituting for 100 grams of flour and water in the proper proportions.

I actually just had an epiphany. Or I figured out what I screwed up. The biga was right around 70% hydration.

 

So while removing the 100 grams of flour and water in the proper proportions, I actually reversed the proportions and removed 70 grams of flour and 30 grams of water, when I should have removed 70 grams of water and 30 grams of flour. I'm an idiot!

[weinoo]

11 minutes ago, heidih said:

Perhaps we need our own Master Class series

 

I prefer private lessons. 

 

But they are both so far away from me.

[heidih]

12 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

I prefer private lessons. 

 

But they are both so far away from me.

Fearless leder Hennes makes videos. He is not busy anyway

[ElsieD]

I have a couple of questions:  there is a recipe for cinnamon Raisin bread that I would like to make. 

 

Question no. 1:  it calls for 1/2 cup of oatmeal along with the flour.  Can I sub the oatmeal with flour and if yes, would I use the same amount?  

 

Question no. 2:  raisin bread never has enough raisins to suit me.  I would like to double the amount called for.  Do I need to make adjustments to the recipe to accommodate the extra raisins?

[lindag]

15 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I have a couple of questions:  there is a recipe for cinnamon Raisin bread that I would like to make. 

 

Question no. 1:  it calls for 1/2 cup of oatmeal along with the flour.  Can I sub the oatmeal with flour and if yes, would I use the same amount?  

 

Question no. 2:  raisin bread never has enough raisins to suit me.  I would like to double the amount called for.  Do I need to make adjustments to the recipe to accommodate the extra raisins?

Lately I've been making Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread from this recipe.

I mix in my bread machine and I don't do the rolling out and spreading the filling.

I just add some of the sugar, the cinnamon and lots of raisins into the dough.

It turns out perfectly every time and is just delicious.  Easy too.

 

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Question no. 1:  it calls for 1/2 cup of oatmeal along with the flour.  Can I sub the oatmeal with flour and if yes, would I use the same amount?

I would sub by weight.

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, lindag said:

Lately I've been making Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread from this recipe.

I mix in my bread machine and I don't do the rolling out and spreading the filling.

I just add some of the sugar, the cinnamon and lots of raisins into the dough.

It turns out perfectly every time and is just delicious.  Easy too.

 

 

Do you add more raisins?  I would make the dough in the bread machine as well and would not roll it out.  I would just add the cinnamon with the flour and the raisins at " the beep".

[lindag]

3 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Do you add more raisins?  I would make the dough in the bread machine as well and would not roll it out.  I would just add the cinnamon with the flour and the raisins at " the beep".

Yes, I like lots of raisins.

 

[heidih]

Every time I see a post about a rye bread I think of @Pille 100% rye. Has anyone ever made it. I may get bold.  https://forums.egullet.org/topic/107602-eg-foodblog-pille/?do=findComment&comment=1470529 Have not done a starter in forever.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On 11/30/2020 at 5:00 PM, shain said:

 

You can use a parchment between the bread and the stone. It should not affect a bread at all (though it can affect pizzas and flat breads that bake fast and have a wide surface contact).

 

I found an easier method.  I just didn't brush the bread with butter.  No mess.

 

[Franci]

On 12/6/2020 at 7:20 AM, weinoo said:

 

I prefer private lessons. 

 

But they are both so far away from me.

No problem, WhatsApp is easy. We can connect next time I am making it 😉

[ElsieD]

The NYT recently talked about Salt-Rising Bread and I am attempting to make it.  Has anyone ever tried this and if so, how did it turn out?  Recent sleuthing shows a number of different starters, but I'm going with the one in the article for now.  In case anyone is wondering, this bread contains zero yeast.

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

The NYT recently talked about Salt-Rising Bread and I am attempting to make it.  Has anyone ever tried this and if so, how did it turn out?  Recent sleuthing shows a number of different starters, but I'm going with the one in the article for now.  In case anyone is wondering, this bread contains zero yeast.

I'm not sure where in eG that I documented it - but I made salt rising bread a few years back. Clostridum perfringens is the same bacteria that causes gas gangrene - I strongly recognized the smell from my lab tech days as I was growing my culture. I seem to recall it ending with my hubby suggesting that I bin it, out in the back yard, buried.

[ElsieD]

On 11/7/2019 at 9:47 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

My mother made bread at least once a week all of her life.   By hand.   Using whatever AP flour was on sale.   Every kind from good old American white bread to French baguette and batard, her specialty.   Occasionally branching off to the unappetizing such as salt rising...oh god, that smell.    Multi grain and single grain, amazing aromas.

 

By hand.   No machines.    Wonky oven.  

 

Fabulous crust and crumb.    I can only walk in her shadow.   

 

Do you remember how she made salt rising bread?

[ElsieD]

29 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'm not sure where in eG that I documented it - but I made salt rising bread a few years back. Clostridum perfringens is the same bacteria that causes gas gangrene - I strongly recognized the smell from my lab tech days as I was growing my culture. I seem to recall it ending with my hubby suggesting that I bin it, out in the back yard, buried.

 

Thanks, Kerry.  I found the topic and read through iit.   It was VERY descriptive. 😁  I'll see how this first experiment goes.  I'm just doing it for fun so if something comes of it fine, if not, I'm just out a few inexpensive ingredients.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 

Do you remember how she made salt rising bread?

Absolutely not.   She worked her alchemy while I was in school.   I only remember the stench on arriving home, and my refusal to eat it.   It smelled and tasted "cheexy" in a way that was not pleasant to a, say, 8 year old.

[ElsieD]

Sounds like it stinks and yet people sing the praises of it.  My first starter batch didn't take.  I'll start another tonight.  It's not like I don't have any time on my hands.

[Anna N]

16 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Sounds like it stinks and yet people sing the praises of it.  My first starter batch didn't take.  I'll start another tonight.  It's not like I don't have any time on my hands.

You might possibly have second thoughts. 
 

Here.

[ElsieD]

47 minutes ago, Anna N said:

You might possibly have second thoughts. 
 

Here.

 

Thank you, yes, I read that.  I'm trying once more tonight to see what happens.  The first batch got thrown out.  John said it smelled like cheese.  Not in a good way.