The Bread Topic (2016–)

[ElsieD]

26 minutes ago, Dave R said:

A little background, since this is my first bread post.

 

At the end of last year my wife got me a couple of USA pans because she wanted a pan rye loaf for sandwiches rather than my usual free form loaves baked on an oven stone. That’s about the only way I’ve baked for the last 20 years, except for rolls and griddle breads. Turns out that we ended up liking the pan loaves and since then I’ve resized my formulas to fit the loaf pans we got.

 

Including the rye recipe I make, I have four basic bread loaf formulas that I vary with different inclusions/additions based on availability, current taste and whim. Since I’ve started to use loaf pans I’ve made the addition of about 1.5% oil, just because I think pan loaves should have a little different crumb.

 

This is a variation of my regular Whole Wheat bread. This uses a poolish (which I grew up calling a starter and will use in the future) and is Bread Flour 61.29% Whole Wheat Flour 35.48%, and Rye Flour 3.23%. Went a little overboard with the additions. The additions I made to this are 1.2 oz polenta (corn grits) cooked and 1 oz toasted ground pistachio nuts. It’s a pretty dense but very tasty bread. Great for dinner or for toasting in the morning.

 

Not sure if there’s interest in this, but for the flours I used Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour (new to me), Wheat Montana Bronze Chief whole wheat, and Bob’s Red Mill dark rye. Like most of you, I take what I can get on the local shelves, although the Red Mill Bread Flour seems to be a really nice flour.

 

Well, enough of my rambling, here’s some pictures.
Dave

 

 

 

Love the look of those loaves.  As for USA pans, once you own one, you'll never buy another brand.  

[Dave R]

4 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Love the look of those loaves.  As for USA pans, once you own one, you'll never buy another brand.  

Thank you!

 

I agree on the USA pans. I would never have bought them for myself (too cheap) but I'm really glad my wife did. 😄

 

Dave

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, Dave R said:

Thank you!

 

I agree on the USA pans. I would never have bought them for myself (too cheap) but I'm really glad my wife did. 😄

 

Dave

 

Your wife is a smart shopper. USA  stands behind their stuff.  I had a problem with my 13" pain de mie pan and I wrote to them.  They asked for a picture, which I sent, and they sent me a new pan.  They did not ask for the one I had to be returned.  They are not cheap, but are worth it.  

[Dave R]

40 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Your wife is a smart shopper. USA  stands behind their stuff.  I had a problem with my 13" pain de mie pan and I wrote to them.  They asked for a picture, which I sent, and they sent me a new pan.  They did not ask for the one I had to be returned.  They are not cheap, but are worth it.  

I've been looking at that 13" pan but haven't ordered yet. Seems like a lot of pan for the money but for efficiency with oven use I'd probably want to get two of them.

 

I've never used a pan that size. Could you please tell me what dough weight you use in the pan, or flour weight in the recipe? 

 

Dave

[Cyberider]

I bought a couple of the 13" pullman loaf pans last year and really like them.  The loaf just falls out of it without sticking.  The cheap loaf pans I've been using for the past 40+ years don't always do that.  I, too, am a cheapskate when it comes to loaf pans but I'm thinking of getting some of their regular loaf pans as well.  I think it took about 4 cups of flour to make a proper square loaf of regular white bread.  The dough filled up about the lower third of the pan before rising.   When it had risen close to the top, I put the lid on and the oven spring filled it up the rest of the way.

[Dave R]

Glad to see I'm not alone! And thanks for the pan info.

 

Dave

[ElsieD]

@Dave R  This is the ingredient list for one 13" loaf.  I follow the same directions as @Cyberider I have a 9" loaf pan also but I seldom use it.

 

 

260 g Water

500 g All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour

100 g Sourdough Discard

40 g Butter

20 g Sugar

7 g Dried Yeast

10 g Salt

[Dave R]

25 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

@Dave R  This is the ingredient list for one 13" loaf.  I follow the same directions as @Cyberider I have a 9" loaf pan also but I seldom use it.

 

 

Thanks so much!

 

Dave

[shain]

A bit old, but I though it might still be interesting to post.

Fatayer breads, pita style dough rolled thin, covered with olive oil, zaatar - both fresh leaves and the spice mix. I also added mozzarella to one.

Rolled together to laminate and cooked very briefly in a very hot pita oven, so that it is lightly chareed-crisp, and tender.

Served with labneh, tomatoes and olive oil.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave R]

@shain, those look fantastic! 

 

I was a kid sweeping up in a bakery and the bakers would make things like this on a griddle from scrap dough (minus the cheese). I still make my pitas on a griddle on the stove top. 

 

I make so many breads to remember the flavors of my youth. Thanks for the memories!

 

Dave

[Maison Rustique]

@shain My mouth is watering!

[Dave R]

With all the holiday baking shows on tv I've been sort of tempted to try baking a Challah, but I'm not sure about my braiding skills these days. So I did a spur of the moment Bialy bake. I'm more of a Bialy than Bagel person and they don't need the overnight cold proof.

 

They turned out well enough for most of them to disappear quickly on this cold, damp Sunday morning. My baking stone could only comfortably hold six so the last six were a little over proofed but still OK. I just used onion without any poppy seed for the filling.

 

Dave

 

 

 

[shain]

@Dave R I love bialys and yours looks lovely. A thing that I like doing is adding some dried fried onion to the dough, for extra onion flavor. 

[PatrickT]

On 4/10/2022 at 10:56 AM, Dave R said:

So I did a spur of the moment Bialy bake.

So many delicious looking breads I've never even heard of before - including your Bialys, Dave. Found what appears to be a decent recipe online. Perhaps I'll give them a shot this weekend and see how badly I mess them up. LOL Any tips for the rank novice? 😃

[Dave R]

@PatrickT I know what you mean about all the recipes out there. I'd suggest picking one and working thru it just so you know what you need to tweak to fit your tastes (like @shain has done). Some use drier dough than others. I like a softer crumb so mine is a little wetter. The method is pretty standard from one recipe to another. It's been a while, but I think I based mine on the Kossar's recipe that appeared in "Artisan Baking Across America" by Maggie Glezer. https://milyinkitchen.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/kossars-bialys/

 

I'm going to try to post my formula as a picture because I don't think I can copy and paste a spread sheet. I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can.

 

Dave

[Dave R]

@shain the store shelves are pretty bare around with holiday prep going on, but I'm going to give that a try when I get a chance. Thanks!

 

Dave

[shain]

19 hours ago, PatrickT said:

So many delicious looking breads I've never even heard of before - including your Bialys, Dave. Found what appears to be a decent recipe online. Perhaps I'll give them a shot this weekend and see how badly I mess them up. LOL Any tips for the rank novice?

I'll plug in my own recipe, some tips in there.

 

 

 

[PatrickT]

50 minutes ago, shain said:

I'll plug in my own recipe

THANK YOU! 😃

[Dave R]

1 hour ago, shain said:

I'll plug in my own recipe, some tips in there.

 

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Dave

1 hour ago, shain said:

 

 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Dave R (log)

[Dave R]

Today's bake is another variation of my whole wheat bread. Has ground roasted walnuts. I have to mention this since I started using loaf pans because all my loaves look the same!

 

This one rose quite a bit higher than the pistachio version from last week. The walnuts are a bit softer and don't puncture the gluten strands like the pistachios did. The 9x5 pans I use don't produce the high crown that  8" pan would, but this style works better for us.

 

Dave

[rotuts]

@Dave R 

 

very nice looking loafs 

 

bet they make mighty fine toast ( CSO 'd ) esp. w the walnuts .

 

w plenty of butter .

[Dave R]

@rotuts thank you.

 

I have to admit that our butter intake has gone up a bit over the last year or so! Its the small indulgences that are so important. 

 

Dave

[rotuts]

@Dave R 

 

if you are gong to have some butter

 

have it on fresh baked , toasted home made bread .

 

enough butter so it melts and runs a bit !

[blue_dolphin]

Another batch of bagels from Bagels, Schmears and a Nice Piece of Fish. These are my best approximation of pumpernickel in that I used stone ground rye flour from a local mill instead of one specifically labeled "pumpernickel."  Taste is good.  I added some baking soda to the water used for boiling to see what what would happen. I think they are a little less glossy than the last batch but there's still a crisp crust and chewy interior.  If I really want to make that comparison, I should do it within the same batch. 

[Dave R]

@blue_dolphin those turned out really well! What percentage of rye did you use? Looks like it worked really well.

 

I've tried baking soda but just went back to some sort of sugar for the boiling water, malt syrup in my case. I've never tried baking the baking soda to make it more alkaline, although lots of pretzel recipes use that. Yours look to have a pretty nice gloss to them.

 

Dave