what are your main/everyday meal breads?

[eugenep]

hello,

 

my everyday meals are mostly: (1) a saute of protein followed by; (2) a side of  rice, pasta, potatoes or bread. 

 

I just have made only one bread (the round one that's baked in a dutch oven) using a quick no-knead easy method. 

 

I'm tired of eating the same bread for dinner and was hoping to make another everyday practical bread for meals. 

 

I was thinking baguettes and dinner rolls? 

 

Like are these practical everyday meal breads that people are using or doing? 

 

I bought a baguette baker from Emile Henry bc it could trap steam 

[TdeV]

We have a lot of other grains: bulger, toasted kasha, quinoa, oats, barley, brown rice, red rice, wild rice, and some I'm forgetting. Sweet potatoes.

 

I admit that I'm a breadoholic, I blame it on my dad. I have a bread machine. My favourite bread comes from Bread In Half The Time from Eckhardt & Butts which is a combination of bread flour, white whole wheat flour and semolina. It's wonderful as is for about 3 days (DH doesn't eat much bread). After 3 days, I toast it. It rarely goes blue . . . Another favourite bread uses up all the cheese ends in one's fridge. I have a lot of bread machine recipes for different kinds of bread.

 

I just made sweet potato dough in the bread machine and then baked the rolls. Generally, I find that rolls get stale on the second day, so they don't last as long as a loaf.

 

Edited to add: Oh, and beans!

Edited July 11, 2019 by TdeV
Omission (log)

[kayb]

Probably my favorite bread recipe is a dinner roll recipe made semi-famous by a woman in the local Methodist church in the town where I lived. She made them for every church dinner, including the fundraising "turkey dinner" before Thanksgiving for which she made 1,200 of them over a period of several weeks. You can make this in loaf form, but it's too soft and a little on the crumbly side to make a good sandwich (you can remedy that by kneading longer). I like to use it for all sorts of filled breads, from cinnamon rolls and savory versions baked the same way, to hand pie-type constructions. I also make the rolls, flatten them somewhat, leave them room to spread on the cookie sheet, and they make great hamburger buns.

 

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided (this needs to be a "soft" flour -- she specified Gold Medal or White Lily)

1 1/4 cups hot tap water

3 tbsp softened butter

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

1 package instant yeast

1 egg, beaten

Melted butter and sea salt to glaze (optional, but real tasty)

 

If you are using regular yeast instead of instant, take 1/2 cup of the water and 2 tbsp of the sugar, mix in a measuring cup, and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside for 10 minutes until it foams nicely.

Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, butter, yeast and water. Stir, or mix in stand mixer, until nicely combined. Add egg and continue to mix. Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time (you may not need all 2 1/2 cups) until you have a soft dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl.

 

Knead, either with the dough hook in the mixer or on a counter with as little added flour as possible, for just a couple of minutes. Transfer into oiled bowl and cover. Allow to rise until doubled.

Punch down and form into rolls. I make mine by pinching off 2-oz pieces of dough, rolling into a smooth ball, and putting them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You can make them in muffin pans, or in a nine-inch cake pan so they all rise and crowd together, or you can form them into Parker house or cloverleaf shapes if you're feeling fancy. Let them rise again for about 45 minutes. If desired, brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Or you can brush tops with melted butter after they're baked.

 

Bake at 350 until they're a light golden brown. Cool briefly on a rack, and transfer to a towel-lined bread basket to keep warm.

[Duvel]

My everyday bread follows pretty much your formula: straight yeast dough, 70% hydration, no knead, overnight fermentation, Dutch oven. 

What I do though is vary the grains: wheat at minimum 50% for structure; then rye, spelt, emmer, oat, corn, different degrees of whole grain ... taste and character of the bread will be very different based on your combination, while the method (and thus your effort to prepare) remain constant. 

Please give it a try ...

[eugenep]

thanks for the tips. 

 

I think I'm going to try some of your recommendations out and altering the type of grains - maybe starting with rye since it's so talked about in books. 

 

@TdeV - I do eat other grains besides rice like Bulgar and couscous but in order to get flavor out of it I have to fry an aromatic in oil (e.g., onion, celery, etc.) and toast the grain before adding stock (as the water). I wonder if that's the usual method. I tried wild rice but mine was bland. 

 

@kayb - I'll try those dinner rolls. I've been looking at a lot of recipes here and none of them has a long fermentation period - 24 hr in fridge etc. The only dinner roll I found that does is from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Bread Bible. She creates an overnight sponge to give it flavor and adds dry white milk powder too. I wonder if her longer fermentation period gives more flavor than other rolls? 

 

 

 

[TdeV]

@eugenep, sorry for my delay but I've been living it up in St Louis with a few eGulleters (click).

 

I find that leftover grain (seasoned) works very well in bread.

 

Also, my pizza dough method (bread machine) uses very little yeast and then sits in the fridge for 3 - 10 days. I think this delay adds to the flavour.

 

 

[eugenep]

the gathering in St Louis looks really cool - kinda like modern, E-bulli style entrees 

[TdeV]

It was a superb experience!