The Bread Topic (2016–)

[shain]

Oatmeal bran porridge bread with toasted seeds (flax, sesame, sunflower, poppy, caraway, pumpkin). Baked in a dutch oven with glass lid, placed over baking steel (230dC, ~50 minutes), partly chilled and baked a second time (about 10 minutes) to crisp up even more (I'm not a fan of chewy crust, I peffer crunchiness).

 

 

I could have added a little more water, the bran absorbs more than I accounted for. Very tasty and moist. This morning I had a few slices buttered and toasted. The poppy seeds were much more notable, and very tasty.

[Ann_T]

@shain, beautiful seeded loaf.

 

 

Mixed up a batch of dough on Sunday and baked Monday.

 

 

Got the idea from @Franci and used some of the baguette dough to make  mini rolls. 

 

 

Not much bigger than a large egg.

 

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

 

Plain white sandwich bread  for my number two son who will be visiting this evening.

 

[Ann_T]

Today's bake

 

from a batch of dough made yesterday.

 

Crumb shot.

 

 

I also have a batch of sourdough that I started this morning.

 

I have neglected my sourdough starter for months.
I don't think I have fed it since October.

Pulled it out yesterday morning and got started. Poured off the hooch and retained 6 oz of starter. Gave it a good stir and fed it with 3 ounces of fresh milled Canadian organic rye flour and three ounces of spring water.

I was expecting to have to feed it a number of times before it got active, but it actually doubled in six hours. It was slow starting but once it got going it took off.

I fed it again last night and used some of the discard to make a biga/preferment. This morning it was ready to use so I started a batch of sourdough. Not sure if I will bake today or wait until tomorrow.

 

 

 

[Ann_T]

Almost had a baking disaster last night.

My oven decided not to heat up.
It had preheated for a long time but never got past 485°F. Or so I thought.

I opened the oven door to slide in the first loaf and realized that it did not seem all that hot. So I turned it off and on again and it was only at 290°F. Wouldn't heat up past 310°F.

So I debated whether to just toss the remaining three loaves, but decided to try baking them on the grill.

Not perfect, but turned out better than I expected.

Sliced this morning. Moe wanted just toast at 4:30 AM.

Proof that it is really difficult to screw up bread.

[liuzhou]

I am getting very upset.

 

My last two loaves were total failures. I did them exactly the same way I always do; in the same oven set to the same temperature and checked with oven thermometer, the same baking tin, same batch of yeast. The flour is a new load (to me), but I watched the woman weigh it from the same sack she always does. 

 

The bread behaves as I expect, the dough rising normally. The finished bread looks OK in the oven, and as always, I check the temp with my Thermapen, but I can't get the loaf out of the "non-stick" baking tin. That never happened before. Both times it fell apart as I gently tried to prise it out.

Looking good

 

Looking bad

You can see here that the base isn't stuck. In fact, once I get the thing out, I can't see where it may have been stuck. It is cooked through. I really don't understand. All my previous loaves just slid out of the pan when I turned it upside down.

Any ideas or am I just an idiot and missing the obvious?

Feel so sad.

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[Anna N]

 I am equally at a loss. However, the way it has come apart makes me suspicious that it is sticking to the pan at the rim and there seems to be very slight evidence of that In the second photo.  Perhaps others can come up with a better explanation. I know how disappointing it can be. I have two nonstick loaf pans and I line them both with parchment paper because I've had too many similar disasters.  

Edited February 19, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

 I am equally at a loss. However, the way it has come apart makes me suspicious that it is sticking to the pan at the rim and there seems to be very slight evidence of that In the second photo.  Perhaps others can come up with a better explanation. I know how disappointing it can be. I have two nonstick loaf pans and I line them both with parchment paper because I've had too many similar disasters.  

 

 

Yes, thanks. It does seem to be sticking at the rim, but even when I freed that first , it still fell apart! Unfortunately, I can't get parchment paper here.

It has cooled now and I just tasted it. It is fine. But...

[cakewalk]

Some stuff from the past week. At bottom are Dan Leopard's semolina buns. I love anything with semolina in it. This recipe calls for mixing the semolina flour with some boiling water before incorporating it into the dough. It makes for a wonderful texture. Last time I made it I had trouble rolling it out and cutting the dough into squares, which is what he suggests, so I ended up weighing out pieces of dough and rolling each piece individually. This time I patted the dough out into a rectangle and cut it into squares. I liked the results better the first time.

 

The other loaf us from Keller's Bouchon Bakery cookbook, it's the multigrain loaf. It's a very nice, very straightforward recipe. He calls for 2 loaves, but I prefer one larger loaf. 

[liuzhou]

On 2/19/2017 at 6:20 PM, liuzhou said:

I have two nonstick loaf pans and I line them both with parchment paper because I've had too many similar disasters.  

 

I have come to the conclusion that something has changed in the pan surfaces. Yesterday, I had a good baking day. I did the bread in a non-non-stick pan and it came out fine.

 

 

 

I also did some banana bread in the disaster baking tin, this time well greased with butter and the cake slid out perfectly. Pass the cheddar!

 

 

Baking is like life. Utterly mysterious and unpredictable!

 

 

 

[chefmd]

Forkish Saturday bread never fails.

[Ann_T]

@chefmd, beautiful loaf.  Love the rustic look and the colour of your crust. 

 

Bread dough hand-mixed on Wednesday and refrigerated for 24 hours.  

 

Baked two pizzas and three small rounds on Thursday night. 

[Shelby]

Cyalexa's buns

 

[rotuts]

no comment.

[Dave W]

Sourdough with garlic sautéed mushrooms, pecorino Romano and sharp cheddar. 

 

Levain, bread and all purpose flour, water and salt comprise the dough. I sprayed with water before baking uncovered on a preheated steel griddle 450F. 

 

Delicious! Any tips for making my crust more glossy rather than matte?

 

[Shelby]

49 minutes ago, Dave W said:

Sourdough with garlic sautéed mushrooms, pecorino Romano and sharp cheddar. 

 

Levain, bread and all purpose flour, water and salt comprise the dough. I sprayed with water before baking uncovered on a preheated steel griddle 450F. 

 

Delicious! Any tips for making my crust more glossy rather than matte?

 

Brush with egg white right before baking.  Nice looking bread!

[keychris]

4 hours ago, Dave W said:

Delicious! Any tips for making my crust more glossy rather than matte?

 

Have you tried steam? My oven was terrible for holding steam (the front seal is basically gone) but I could get around that by baking loaves underneath a cloche or another bread tin or a cast iron pot for the first 10-15 minutes of my bake. This hugely improved my golden glossy colours on the loaves

[Dave W]

Sunday bagels here

 

 

[liuzhou]

I am delighted. I managed to bake a loaf with built in ears. Or are they wings? Handles?

 

 

For some reason my instant active yeast got over excited and hyperactive. It rose the dough a lot more than usual, to the point that it overflowed the tin (one I have used many times before).

Never mind. It amused more than dismayed me!

Edited March 6, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Yeast bread is a beast with its own mind. One that I need to try to tame again after my failproof recipe for milkbread that I made successfully for like twenty years failed and put me off trying again. So many kudos to you folks that are producing beautiful loaves.

[Anna N]

@liuzhou

 

 Bread wings.  They go perfectly with pig wings or even buffalo wings.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[Soupcon]

Day 4 of my 4th attempt to make a whole wheat sourdough starter. This is just 5 hours after a feed. Finally, I have succeeded. My first four attempts were dismal failures. The goal, once I figure out how to make a starter and bake with it, is to buy 20 Kg. red fife stone ground organic whole wheat flour. I love sourdough whole wheat bread. 

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by Soupcon (log)

[Anna N]

51 minutes ago, Soupcon said:

Day 4 of my 4th attempt to make a whole wheat sourdough starter. This is just 5 hours after a feed. Finally, I have succeeded. My first four attempts were dismal failures. The goal, once I figure out how to make a starter and bake with it, is to buy 20 Kg. red fife stone ground organic whole wheat flour. I love sourdough whole wheat bread. 

 

 

I hope you love it very much and that you will be able to use up or freeze all of those 20 kg of flour. I learned the hard way that flour has a shelf life and whole wheat flour does not have a very long shelf life.  Perhaps you are already aware of this in which case you don't need my advice.

[Soupcon]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I hope you love it very much and that you will be able to use up or freeze all of those 20 kg of flour. I learned the hard way that flour has a shelf life and whole wheat flour does not have a very long shelf life.  Perhaps you are already aware of this in which case you don't need my advice.

 

Thanks Anna. I do have freezer space and know that I will have to freeze the flour as it will take me quite a while to use all of it. It is much cheaper for me to buy Red Fife in bulk than in small quantity so the benefits in the long run outweigh the loss of freezer space. 

[chromedome]

When my restaurant was open, stoneground Red Fife from our local organic mill (Speerville) accounted for about 60% of the flour in my house-baked bread. The end result was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself (I used smaller amounts of spelt, buckwheat and rye flour for a hint of sweetness and depth of flavor, and a smidge of gluten for structure).