The Bread Topic (2016–)

[Ann_T]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

This, right here, is a perfect demonstration of "expert" or "expertise". You call this simple, I'd call it a major and uncertain project!

Thanks Nancy.  But I should tell you that they really aren't difficult to make. Just a little time consuming. But you can also cut down on the time

if you make larger bagels.  I just happen to really like the cocktail size.   

 

If you are interested I have posted the recipe often on the blog, including this post with a pictorial. 

I updated it a while ago with metric measurements. 

https://thibeaultstable.com/2009/07/07/pictorial-how-to-make-bagels/

 

 

[RWood]

More sourdough. Tried a little different method and made a levain the night before. 
 

 

[Ann_T]

I decided to  bake something I haven't baked in probably 6 or 7 years - my Caramelized Onion and Poppy Seed baguettes.

 

Started the dough with one of the small sourdough starters with the addition of yeast, for a same day bake.

 

The initial mix 

 

 

After the 1st stretch and fold. 

 

 

Dough had three more stretch and folds before being left on the counter

 

 

in a covered container for a room temperature bulk fermentation.

 

 

Last batard was out of the oven by 3:30.

 

 

 

After dinner tonight, Moe had a slice buttered.

Edited January 6 by Ann_T (log)

[Ann_T]

Today's bake. 9 mini baguettes.

 

Started a sourdough last night and left it on the counter until 3:00 AM this morning. I used one of the mini "scapings" in the jar starters.

I fed what was left in the jar again and left it on the counter overnight as well and it had more than doubled overnight.

I started another dough this morning for Matt, for pizza and fed another jar of scrapings.

Will have two starters that will get used in two batches of dough tonight.

One will get left out to bake in the morning and the other will go into the fridge for a longer cold fermentation.

 

 

[Ann_T]

I started a sourdough after work on Friday. Used one of the small starters (95g) with 800g of flour at 68% hydration.

Left if out on the counter overnight for a room temperature bulk fermentation. I had intended to bake Saturday morning, but decided it could wait since the dough was slow rising.

So I put the dough in the fridge for a cold fermentation. 

 

Took the dough out of the fridge last night at 8:00 PM and left it on the counter until 3:00 AM this morning.

So basically three fermentations over about 36 hours, 2 at room temperature and one at cold.

Baked two batards this morning.

One baked under the Netherton Foundry Spun Iron Cloche and the other in a Romertopf Clay Roaster.

Edited January 11 by Ann_T (log)

[RWood]

Tried some inclusions this time. I cut the dough into three, and added chives and roasted garlic and marinated mixed olives in two of them. Left the other plain. The olive one is good, but I’m thinking the oil may have affected it. Seems a little gummy. Could have need a longer bulk ferment, or they got a little deflated from added the inclusions. More experimento I guess. 
 

[Ann_T]

@RWood, I love the idea of the mixed olives.  Beautiful loaves. 

 

 

[RWood]

Made a Pain de Campagne loaf. I’m liking the flavor of this one better than the sourdough I was making. This one has a little whole wheat added.

 

[RWood]

Another Pain de Campagne. Longer fermentation and baked a little longer. 
 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

 

 

I've been evaluating a new dough mixer for Amazon:

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

It works with my usual quantities of dough that are too small for my three stand mixers.  I have another dough mixer that works well, but the new Sunvivi is better.  For one thing the Sunvivi bowl sits flat on the counter, which the other mixer's bowl does not.

 

Very pleased.

 

 

[Smithy]

14 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

 

 

I've been evaluating a new dough mixer for Amazon:

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

It works with my usual quantities of dough that are too small for my three stand mixers.  I have another dough mixer that works well, but the new Sunvivi is better.  For one thing the Sunvivi bowl sits flat on the counter, which the other mixer's bowl does not.

 

Very pleased.

 

Thanks for that writeup. It looks like it's quite compact! Are those measurements right? And yet the bowl is 5.3 quarts?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Thanks for that writeup. It looks like it's quite compact! Are those measurements right? And yet the bowl is 5.3 quarts?

 

Yes, light and compact.  It needs suction cups to hold it down.  I see no markings on the bowl but the size is about the same as my 5 quart KitchenAid mixer bowl.  The rated capacity is 1.5 kg of dough.  I usually make 1 kg at a time.  Don't get flour on your skirt.

 

[ElsieD]

@JoNorvelleWalker  So if I already have a Kitchenaid, I don't need one of these, right?  Right?  

[Tropicalsenior]

@ElsieD I'm with you. Not only does my KitchenAid make great bread, it does a lot of other things for me. I'm not that crazy about one use appliances and I don't like to give them valuable cupboard space.

I don't understand @JoNorvelleWalker's complaint that her other mixers don't handle small batches of dough. I have made dough with as little as a cup and a half of flour and it works just fine.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 hours ago, ElsieD said:

@JoNorvelleWalker  So if I already have a Kitchenaid, I don't need one of these, right?  Right?  

 

As long as you are delighted with the dough from your KitchenAid, use the KitchenAid.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

9 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

@ElsieD I'm with you. Not only does my KitchenAid make great bread, it does a lot of other things for me. I'm not that crazy about one use appliances and I don't like to give them valuable cupboard space.

I don't understand @JoNorvelleWalker's complaint that her other mixers don't handle small batches of dough. I have made dough with as little as a cup and a half of flour and it works just fine.

 

I'm not sure what we are doing differently, but it's not just me.  The Modernist Bread French Lean Bread recipe, which uses slightly more flour than the bread I make, comes with the note:

 

"For an 8 qt stand mixer, multiply this recipe by 1.5 or up to 2.5.  Unless you use a 4.5 qt stand mixer, the 1 kg recipe is not enough mass for the hook to catch and mix all the ingredients to make a uniform dough.  Even with a 4.5 qt bowl, with only 1 kg of dough, it may be best to start the mix using a paddle attachment; switch to a hook after autolyse."

 

And it is not only KitchenAid.  My Ankarsrum struggles and fails to mix a kg of dough.  The bread recipes Ankarsrum gives are for larger batches.  For 1 kg I've gotten good dough results only with paddle type mixers, such as the Sunvivi and my other similar mixer.

 

One of my KitchenAid mixers lives on my counter but it is more used for grinding meat and rolling pasta.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

This is my bread baking for the last couple weeks. Last week I made sourdough bread and rolls. The Stars aligned for me and it was some of the best that I've made. Didn't do anything different so I just got lucky.

Few days later I made Italian breadsticks (grissini). They were okay but not a recipe that I will repeat. They were more chewy than crispy. Carlos love them so they weren't a total failure.

Then I made yeasted gingerbread loaf. That was a fiasco. I started it at 7:00 in the morning and it wasn't ready to go in the oven until 4:00 in the afternoon. It just wouldn't rise. I thought maybe my yeast had gone flat but I decided to do some internet research and found out the problem. I've always had problems with very sweet dough rising but I found out that there is a limit to how much sugar you can use for the amount of flour. This recipe had double that sugar. Further research revealed that cinnamon is also a yeast inhibitor. Who knew? The most you should use is one teaspoon for 3 cups of flour. This recipe has two tablespoons. So this time it wasn't me, it was a bad recipe. It tasted good but it wasn't worth it.

So yesterday it was back to the basics. Just plain old baguettes. Nothing fancy but they taste good.

[Smithy]

29 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Then I made yeasted gingerbread loaf. That was a fiasco. I started it at 7:00 in the morning and it wasn't ready to go in the oven until 4:00 in the afternoon. It just wouldn't rise. I thought maybe my yeast had gone flat but I decided to do some internet research and found out the problem. I've always had problems with very sweet dough rising but I found out that there is a limit to how much sugar you can use for the amount of flour. This recipe had double that sugar. Further research revealed that cinnamon is also a yeast inhibitor. Who knew? The most you should use is one teaspoon for 3 cups of flour. This recipe has two tablespoons. So this time it wasn't me, it was a bad recipe. It tasted good but it wasn't worth it.

 

That's interesting information about the sugar:flour ratio affecting yeast. Without having read anything about it before, I'd have assumed that the yeasts would love having extra sugar! I suppose the issue is that there has to be enough flour to provide the gluten, else the carbon dioxide produced by the yeasts simply escapes to the atmosphere. Does that sound right?

 

Also, I'd never heard about cinnamon being a yeast inhibitor. That's good to know.

 

Finally: you say this tasted good though the recipe itself was a failure. Was the flavor good enough that you might try tweaking the recipe? It could be an interesting experiment.

[Tropicalsenior]

6 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Was the flavor good enough that you might try tweaking the recipe? It could be an interesting experiment.

Oh, I'm not going to give up. I've been reading every yeasted gingerbread recipe on the internet and I've got my eye on one right now that I want to try.

Unfortunately, it was the cinnamon in this recipe that took the flavor over the top. And it was the cinnamon that made it fail. If I had had another 2 days to let it rise it might have gotten there.

From all the reading that I have been doing, I think I have figured out some things that I can add to get more flavor. One Baker in Australia put rum and Brandy extract in hers. Another used anise seed. I have powdered Ginger, stem Ginger, candied ginger, and fresh ginger. So I can use the combination of ginger to get a stronger flavor. Yes, I looked that up and ginger doesn't inhibit the yeast.

I have a specific reason for wanting to make the yeasted Gingerbread. We both love gingerbread and my body no longer tolerates sugar. If I eat very much sugar I get severe leg cramps at night. I don't know why but sugar in a quick bread bothers me but sugar in a yeasted bread doesn't. Go figure. And I have a severe sweet tooth that sometimes just demands to be indulged.

[Tropicalsenior]

Finally, success in something. These are true crispy grissini.

A little more well done than what I intended but somehow or other I got tied up on EG and wasn't paying attention but that's an easy fix. These I will be making again.