Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"

[Kerry Beal]

14 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

seems to be permanently attached to the lid - but looks nice! 

 

Bottomless bread makes excellent french toast - couple of cycles through the chamber vac to permiate the bread. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

 I have never had bread stick to my enameled cast-iron pan even though I doubt there’s much enamel left (well the enamel is left but the glaze is dull). Perhaps that is the difference. 

[Kerry Beal]

The Voldemort (I know that's not the name but that's what it has morphed to) still has a very crunchy outside which makes it quite unpleasant to chew. So I took the half loaf I still have (the other half has gone to the rug rat's sitter) and placed it in the Cuisinart Steam Oven and steamed it at 100º F for 30 minutes. Went a long way towards fixing the hard bits. Probably would benefit from a longer steam and perhaps warmer.

 

Next loaf will be the modernist Voldemort - it's shaped as a boule but I want to bake it in the same pullman pan so I can compare apples to apples. I'm eyeing the pumpernickel as a near future loaf. 

Edited January 6, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

 I have never had bread stick to my enameled cast-iron pan even though I doubt there’s much enamel left (well the enamel is left but the glaze is dull). Perhaps that is the difference. 

I don't think I've ever had it stick to my old dutch oven I always used to bake bread - I suspect it may relate to too much dough. But next loaf will start out on parchment just to be sure. 

[Anna N]

20 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I don't think I've ever had it stick to my old dutch oven I always used to bake bread - I suspect it may relate to too much dough. But next loaf will start out on parchment just to be sure. 

Very wise!  

[Eric Srikandan]

Had a go at the Pitta today. Took a while to mix (the oil took its time). I know it's supposed to prove overnight but they're part of tonight's dinner so only gave them 4 hours. Very happy with the result.

[Lisa Shock]

King's Day Bread went online today. This has always been a favorite of mine.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

12 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Bottomless bread makes excellent french toast - couple of cycles through the chamber vac to permiate the bread. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mine didn't stick but you sure gave me an idea what to do tomorrow!

 

[Kerry Beal]

Had some pizza dough in the fridge for quite some time now - figured it would serve as preferment. Added a little extra flour - didn't want it to be as slack as the last Pain Rustique.

 

 

 

I have another loaf in the fridge - not sure when I'll get around to baking it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

 

Modernist Voldemort. Baked in the CSO - who knew that a pullman pan would fit!  Required an extra 35 minutes to reach 100º C. But a much more satisfactory looking crust than the last loaf - suspect it will soften a bit with wrapping and I might not have to steam it. 

 

 

Chopped in half - both halves wrapped in plastic and foil. One half dropped at sitters.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

 

 

The second loaf seems to have benefitted from the extra proofing in the fridge.

[Kerry Beal]

Pumpernickel under construction. It will spend the day in the fridge and before bed tonight I'll give it the 15 minute bake then leave it in the turned off oven overnight 

 

[Kerry Beal]

Had to pry the top off the pumpernickel pullman (and it was not easy) when I could see it bulging in the fridge. Removed a percentage of it to a small loaf pan. 

 

 

This is the modernist Volkornbrot after a 24 hour rest in plastic and foil. Cuts nice and thin. 

[Chris Hennes]

15 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

This is the modernist Volkornbrot after a 24 hour rest in plastic and foil. Cuts nice and thin. 

How's the texture? It looks better than the non-Modernist variant.

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

How's the texture? It looks better than the non-Modernist variant.

Nice texture - perhaps a little crunchy around the edges. I think it is nicer for sure than the regular variation.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[quiet1]

Do they touch on salt in an appreciable way? I know salt is needed to make bread tasty, but my mom is on a low sodium diet and most commercial bread is insanely salty. It’d be nice to have an idea how much salt is actually likely NECESSARY in a recipe versus to the recipe writer’s taste preferences.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

47 minutes ago, quiet1 said:

Do they touch on salt in an appreciable way? I know salt is needed to make bread tasty, but my mom is on a low sodium diet and most commercial bread is insanely salty. It’d be nice to have an idea how much salt is actually likely NECESSARY in a recipe versus to the recipe writer’s taste preferences.

 

I find the MB 2.02% way too salty.  I last went with 1%.  Works much better for me.  I don't think you would want to leave salt out entirely unless you inhabit a new circle of hell.

 

[quiet1]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I find the MB 2.02% way too salty.  I last went with 1%.  Works much better for me.  I don't think you would want to leave salt out entirely unless you inhabit a new circle of hell.

 

 

Right, I want to know how to minimize it reasonably without causing major problems with flavor. (I accidentally made bread without salt once. It was gross.) So I was hoping they might discuss the role or roles salt plays in bread besides just making stuff taste salty - retards the yeast? Has some influence on gluten development? I dunno. But my thought was if I had a better idea of the science of things I’d be more able to look at a new recipe and make an educated guess at how much I can reduce the salt/sodium content without ruining the bread.

 

It’s really hard to buy bread thst’s Low sodium, so trying to make bread for my mom seems a reasonable thing to attempt. (And honestly, basic bread is not where I want to be getting most of my daily sodium, either.  I don’t watch like my mom does, but having to check sodium content for her has resulted in everyone weeding out some unnecessarily salty stuff just because you kind of go ‘wow, that’s a lot of sodium’ when you look at the nutrition information.)

[Chris Hennes]

3 hours ago, quiet1 said:

Right, I want to know how to minimize it reasonably without causing major problems with flavor.

I don’t know that such a thing is possible — it’s always going to come down to taste. I think the 2% salt most of these recipes call for is perfect, whereas @JoNorvelleWalker thinks it’s far too much. Obviously you can make bread without salt at all. So I can’t see any way around experimenting with it.

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, quiet1 said:

Right, I want to know how to minimize it reasonably without causing major problems with flavor.

 You might get some useful information here.

[Anna N]

 I can only hope that my second bread project today is an improvement on my first. I have no idea what might have gone wrong but something obviously did. These loaves are less than 2 inches in height.  They are the German Sunflower Seed Bread recipe. 

 

[quiet1]

17 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I don’t know that such a thing is possible — it’s always going to come down to taste. I think the 2% salt most of these recipes call for is perfect, whereas @JoNorvelleWalker thinks it’s far too much. Obviously you can make bread without salt at all. So I can’t see any way around experimenting with it.

 

When I’ve accidentally made bread without salt in the past, it just came out tasting and behaving entirely wrong, it really wasn’t worth even trying to recover it with the right sandwich ingredients or some such. That’s the kind of disaster I’d hope to avoid - I’m willing to tolerate some flavor/behavior change, because I would be leaving out an ingredient, I’d just like to avoid extensive experiments that produce something basically inedible. I’m expecting to do some experimenting, but preferably with some notion of what will likely work out okay first.

 

I’m thinking perhaps there are ingredients or methods that handle less salt better, also? There is one hard to find commercial bread that’s quite low sodium for bread - it’s a very dark brown, and I think it’s a variety of rye bread. (The color is quite distinctive so I don’t actually recall what it says on the package since I never look at the packaging.) But it obviously turns out acceptably with much less salt added than other types of bread, and I’d wonder why. Flavor? Behavior of different flours? Etc. I suppose the Modernist books do at least likely talk extensively about flour/grain types?

[Kerry Beal]

Pumpernickel. A bit hard to cut but thin is possible.

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

 When the staff at the mission say bring bread, you bake bread! 

 

[Eric Srikandan]

Made bricoche (P136 kitchen manual). Used slightly more butter (250g) and left it to chill overnight. Smells amazing while it cools down.