Our Daily Bread

[kitchensqueen]

Okay, I only aspire to bake daily, but anyway! For those of us that bake bread at home, I thought we could share what we're doing (and recipes!) here. You can never have to many threads about good eating, right? :-)

Today I'm working on a bacon pain d'epi. Pain d'epi is our favorite basic loaf, and when I came across this recipe that added bacon I was ecstatic! I wish I had some of my home made bacon to put in it, but I'm doing it today with store bought since I haven't smoked a pork belly in awhile (another thing I need to start doing again). It makes six small loaves, so I think I'm going to do three of them with bacon and three plain, just so I can see how I like it. And I'm already thinking of ways to further customize it - maybe next time I'll add sun dried tomatoes and olives and herbs - I'm thinking that would be an excellent breakfast loaf to serve with an omelette.

Anyone else doing some interesting bread? 

[llwr]

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=43&gs_id=1v&xhr=t&q=artisan+bread+in+five+minutes+a+day+healthy+bread&pq=artisan+bread+in+five+minutes+a+day&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=825&wrapid=tljp1320694119561212&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7898333404751391294&sa=X&ei=aTG4Tu-HEs_gsQKVo_TrDw&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ8wIwBA#

I love that this takes so little work.  There's still losts of rising, baking time, but the actual time YOU spend is so small.  And it tastes good!

[kitchensqueen]

I keep seeing people mention that book all over the place. I may need to see if the library has it. Though I am pretty partial to the River Cottage Bread Handbook myself. Which recipes have you made from the Healthy Bread book that you like?

I'm doing another pain d'epi today. The last one I made turned out so well - literally the best bread I've ever made. I'm only splitting the dough into two loaves today though, instead of six small ones. And I think I'm going to do the sun dried tomatoes and olives with the bacon in one, and leave the other plain. 

[ollyoxenfree]

Well, probably not too interesting, but yesterday I made a basic French loaf with white flour for the first time in ages. I usually make whole wheat bread, but DD likes white, so I decided to treat her. 

Now today's loaf is a basic whole wheat because we're running out. I've been wanting to make the challah that zinemama mentioned in the other thread, so I think I will try that next. 

The pain d'epi looks good, thanks for the link. 

[craft_media_hero]

We use the 5 Minute Artisan method, too.

Not making anything too special, but went on a dough mixing blitz Friday and froze 3 loaves sammich bread, 2 of Boule which will probably be baked as pita or pizza crust, maybe rolls, have 2 boule in the fridge for the week, baked 1 loaf sammich bread, mixed pie crust, tortilla dough, and oatmeal cookies-- double batches of everything!

I am finding big batch mixing and storing to be most efficient for providing all our bread in house. Also been "soaking" everything, or letting it sit mixed at least overnight and getting good results from that.

Time to re-up the flour supply!

[kitchensqueen]

I finally remembered to buy more bread flour, but I didn't get to do any baking today since we went to the farmers market in the morning and I had my book club in the afternoon. I need to start freezing dough too - it would be great to just pull some out of the freezer for fresh bread. 

Tomorrow I'm going to do more pain d'epi. I'm still playing with portioning the dough for that recipe. I didn't like just the two loaves I did from it, and six loaves makes them a bit too small, so I think I'm going to portion into four this time and see how I like that. Hopefully it will be the perfect balance. And I'm probably going to do them all with bacon. If I have the time, I'd like to do some focaccia too, though I'm also doing dozens of cookies tomorrow as well. The oven is going to be on overdrive! 

[kitchensqueen]

Well, I remembered to buy bread flour but not yeast. And my new sourdough starter isn't ready to use. Fail. 

[mcoreen]

I. Love pizza buns!  Just roll out French bread dough, spread with your fab sauce, sprinkle with cheese.  I add dried chorizo ( my new fab pizza meat) too.  Roll , cut & let rise like you would with cinnamon. Buns

[craft_media_hero]

Baked oatmeal cookies yesterday! Mixed up a double batch and portioned it into quarters wrapped in the fridge--6 big cookies is perfect for my family to have a sweet treat but not pig out, you know?

Loving my premixed doughs this week!

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by mcoreen 

I. Love pizza buns!  Just roll out French bread dough, spread with your fab sauce, sprinkle with cheese.  I add dried chorizo ( my new fab pizza meat) too.  Roll , cut & let rise like you would with cinnamon. Buns

I have to try this - it sounds good! So glad I started this thread. :-) 

I finally got the store and got more yeast, so hopefully tomorrow I'll get some bread going! 

[Shantimama]

I have been baking bread for so long that I don't often use recipes any more but lately adding any leftover mashed potatoes I have in the fridge has been making yummy, lofty loaves.

[OliveJewel]

I am stubborn about baking only 100% whole wheat, but I have yet to perfect it.  Never light enough for our tastes.  I have used ascorbic acid, and I think that helps a little.  Also adding liquid whey seems to help too.  Maybe I will try the mashed potatoes and see what that does.  I have made 100% WW pita that is outstanding using a poolish. And my 100% WW pizza dough seems pretty good.  The sandwich bread needs some help though.  I *know* the perfect loaf exists, I just have to keep trying!

[ollyoxenfree]

Ugh. For the first time this fall, I've run into my biggest challenge - finding a warm place to let it rise. We keep the house on the cool side (about 65 F), so there really aren't any warm spots anywhere. I usually use the oven for rising dough, but today I have beans baking - and they take a long time to cook. Earlier, I set the dough in a heavy Dutch oven at the back of the stovetop and hoped for the best. But after the letting the first rise last for over 2 hours, it was just a sad, sticky mess. I've just deflated it and left it for a second rise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

I suppose it's my own fault for not getting up early and baking the bread BEFORE I needed the oven for the beans. Sigh. 

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

Ugh. For the first time this fall, I've run into my biggest challenge - finding a warm place to let it rise. We keep the house on the cool side (about 65 F), so there really aren't any warm spots anywhere. I usually use the oven for rising dough, but today I have beans baking - and they take a long time to cook. Earlier, I set the dough in a heavy Dutch oven at the back of the stovetop and hoped for the best. But after the letting the first rise last for over 2 hours, it was just a sad, sticky mess. I've just deflated it and left it for a second rise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

I suppose it's my own fault for not getting up early and baking the bread BEFORE I needed the oven for the beans. Sigh. 

What about on top of the fridge? Though nowadays most are built-ins and that doesn't work for most people. Strange that built-in fridges are a basically a relic of our childhoods now. 

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by OliveJewel 

I am stubborn about baking only 100% whole wheat, but I have yet to perfect it.  Never light enough for our tastes.  I have used ascorbic acid, and I think that helps a little.  Also adding liquid whey seems to help too.  Maybe I will try the mashed potatoes and see what that does.  I have made 100% WW pita that is outstanding using a poolish. And my 100% WW pizza dough seems pretty good.  The sandwich bread needs some help though.  I *know* the perfect loaf exists, I just have to keep trying!

I remember reading this somewhere, although I've never tried it...  with WW flour, you need a considerably longer kneading time to develop the gluten and a longer rising time, since the dough is heavier.  Also, using WW flour, you don't want to keep adding flour until it's not sticky like you would with white, you want the dough to be sticky, or else it has too much flour in it.  Which means kneading it in a bowl, with wet or greased hands, a wooden spoon or a bowl scraper.  Supposedly it is possible to get a lighter loaf with just WW, but those were the authors big tricks to doing so.  HTH

I'm wondering what recipes you ladies have luck freezing dough with.  I would love to do some of that for my pp period.  I haven't made bread in ages, but I grew up baking it weekly with my mom.  My big problem is that I suck at remembering to defrost. 

As for rising in a cooler house, it can be done, you can even let it rise in the fridge, which is WAY colder than you keep your house.  It just takes a LOT longer.  Some other good spots are on a tv tray over a heater vent, on top of the television or computer (screen if you have an old fashioned one, CPU if not - us Mac people are out of luck with this one).  I know both my cable box and the XBOX get pretty darn warm, so a cooling rack placed on top of them (to allow air circulation), with the bowl on that could also work.  Also, I'd go with a non-plastic bowl if using any of these, since you want the heat conducted.  If you have a lamp with an incandescent bulb, get it near that.  Or I stick mine in the dehydrator.  I never have luck using the oven for it. 

[ollyoxenfree]

Well, it turned out okay. Not the best loaf, but not a failure. It was a little dense but it did rise on the second and final risings and during baking so it wasn't a brick. DH actually prefers a denser bread, so he thought it was good. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've tried many of them. 

On top of the fridge - I think our kitchen is too drafty. Everyone uses the kitchen door to enter/exit the house because it leads right onto the driveway. I've never had much success with this spot. 

Heating vents - I used this before we got a dog, but he loves bread dough and sneaks his way to the bowl if I leave it on a vent. If I close off the room, he'll paw and scratch at the door. I learned the hard way. I had to throw out a big bowl of licked and slobbered dough, and was grateful that he didn't actually eat any and need a trip to the vet. I imagine that rising dough creates a bad GI obstruction. 

Yep, I use a Mac laptop. Our t.v. is a flat screen and the components are tucked into a shelving unit. All good ideas though, thanks again. 

[Shantimama]

When we lived in a cold, drafty house I would turn on the oven for just a few minutes of the preheat cycle and then turn it off again when it was about 100 degrees F. Then I would pop the bowl of covered dough in the oven to let it rise. The oven was only on for a couple of minutes and so didn't use a ton of electricity and it made the dough rise perfectly.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by Shantimama 

When we lived in a cold, drafty house I would turn on the oven for just a few minutes of the preheat cycle and then turn it off again when it was about 100 degrees F. Then I would pop the bowl of covered dough in the oven to let it rise. The oven was only on for a couple of minutes and so didn't use a ton of electricity and it made the dough rise perfectly.

Yes, the oven is definitely the best spot in this house. Sometimes I just wish we had two ovens, since it's a challenge if I want fresh bread AND anything else baked or roasted. I had hoped that the back of the stovetop would be warm enough while the beans were baking, but the drafts must have been too much even for the heavy dutch oven. 

I made zinemama's challah today and it turned out yummy. I posted in her thread about it, with a note about the recipe, if anyone is interested.  

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

Well, it turned out okay. Not the best loaf, but not a failure. It was a little dense but it did rise on the second and final risings and during baking so it wasn't a brick. DH actually prefers a denser bread, so he thought it was good. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've tried many of them. 

On top of the fridge - I think our kitchen is too drafty. Everyone uses the kitchen door to enter/exit the house because it leads right onto the driveway. I've never had much success with this spot. 

Heating vents - I used this before we got a dog, but he loves bread dough and sneaks his way to the bowl if I leave it on a vent. If I close off the room, he'll paw and scratch at the door. I learned the hard way. I had to throw out a big bowl of licked and slobbered dough, and was grateful that he didn't actually eat any and need a trip to the vet. I imagine that rising dough creates a bad GI obstruction. 

Yep, I use a Mac laptop. Our t.v. is a flat screen and the components are tucked into a shelving unit. All good ideas though, thanks again. 

Have you tried rising in an oiled bowl covered with a kitchen towel on top of the stove while your oven is running for other things? I'm rising a loaf of half rye just now while chocolate chip cookies bake, and it's rising in record time. I also use a heated bowl to rise in - just rinse it with the hottest water you can stand to warm it, then wipe the water out well. 

I hope my half rye turns out. I love the pain d'epi recipe so much I want to make it my house bread, so I've decided to try using it in all the kinds of bread we like. I've substituted half of the bread flour with dark rye. I'm thinking I'll just shape it into four basic batons. It's on the first rise now, and I'll let it go another rise, and maybe a third if I've got the time. I really want to develop the gluten and flavor. I wanted to do five rises on it (since rye is so dense) but I didn't make the time to get it going this morning. Oh well, I'll let everyone know how it turns out. 

[craft_media_hero]

I LOVE using the 5MAB Boule dough for pizza! Last night I baked a sauceless pizza with thin sliced purple potatoes, mushrooms, arugula, sliced garlic andred pepper and mozzarella! Yum! So good we are making it again tonight with previously frozen dough.