Have you all seen this innovation in bread making??!! - Page 2

[yitlan]

Mixed Results

Well, I made my first loaf. After adding flour and salt and letting it sit for a bit, but not as long as recommended by my friend, I did see it rise some and baked it up. It came up flat (I did want to let it sit longer, but won't have time to deal with it tomorrow), but GOOD. I also only had a flat stoneware thing to bake it in. I will try it in something smaller or divide it between bread pans.

So, despite being flat, the pluses: great texture, great crust, great taste. Dh LOVES it and he's the bread guy around here. So.....I am definitely going to try again this weekend and keep experimenting!

[ConsCathMamma]

I wish I could count.

Dh and I are taking a picnic lunch to share with a friend and his children. His wife has been with his baby whose been in the hospital for 9 mos! Anyway, I thought fresh baked bread would be a yummy addition (the kind of thing their mom used to do but obviously can't).

Well, I thought I would bake it early tommorow morning before mass, so I threw it together this morning. That equals 24 hours, not 18. In 18 it will be VERY early--like 2 am-ish.

So, would you ladies recommend I go the shorter 12 hours, a full 24, or set the alarm?

[yitlan]

I would gamble on 24 being OK, but that's just me. And you'd still have to give it 2 hours to rise some before baking, so factor that in.

[HerthElde]

Originally Posted by yitlan

I would gamble on 24 being OK, but that's just me. And you'd still have to give it 2 hours to rise some before baking, so factor that in.

Yes, I would let it go longer - especially if you can set it in a cooler spot (the yeast won't be as active then).
This is totally fascinating! I'm going to try a loaf as soon as I can!!

[yitlan]

Well, this time I'm using a different flour (another spelt, but fresher) and the dough is MUCH thicker than yesterday. Not watery at all. In fact, I feel like it SHOULD be more watery. So we'll see!

[ladywolf]

Update on my second loaf:

I decided to make the bread this time with sourdough starter. So I replaced the yeast in the recipe with about 1 C. of starter. I added 2 teaspoons of salt and cut the water back to 1 1/4 C.

I actually let the dough rise for 23 hours.

At the folding stage, the dough was MUCH easier to handle and still had the bubbly look that is talked about in the article.

I let it rise two more hours and baked as directed.

This is the prettiest artisan loaf I have ever made. It looks perfect, brown with the crackling crust and the "exploded" top.

The flavor is excellent. It is very similar to a San Francisco sourdough loaf.

This is now a definite keeper recipe. I may try it with my chocolate sourdough adaption.

[AJP]

ladywolf, did you use wholegrain flour for the sourdough version?

[thomlynn]

OK I just put mine on the table to rest for 15min. What are you using if you don't have plastic wrap. I put in in a glass bowl with a lid for the 18hr sit and I've put a plastic store bag over it for this 15min sit. Any ideas??


ETA Also I'm using a receiving blanket rather than a towel b/c I don't have any that aren't terry. I'll let you know how that works out. :

[phroggies]

Originally Posted by ladywolf

I may try it with my chocolate sourdough adaption.

Chocolate sourdough? Oh, drool.

I'm about up for another bread baking session so I think I'll try this tomorrow. I'll report back on my strategy and results.

[thomlynn]

Mine's just OK. It didn't rise much so it's kinda flat and heavy. DH wants to dip it in olive oil.

Anyhow, for my first bread ever I'm happy. Gonna try again soon.

[BelovedBird]

Can somone please explain to me exactly what to do, amounts of ingredients for whole wheat flour? This looks like something I really want to try.

Okay, scatch that, I think I found it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

[HerthElde]

So I just had some (and I took pics of the bread which I will post on my blog soon). Mine turned out with pretty much the same consistency of an English muffin. I loved it, dh hated it, dd hasn't tried it yet (she's still too busy eating her "noodles" - Rice pasta tuna casserole made with peas and coconut milk. Good stuff, quick and easy on a night when I forgot supper was coming : )

[Tigerius]

My version is sitting proving now.

I've done 1c starter, 1 1/4 c water, 2ts salt, 2C spelt flour, 1C sprouted spelt flour. We'll see!

[alsoSarah]

I made some yesterday, after seeing the article in nyt online.

I wasn't happy with it, but I'm going to try it again soon, with some modifications.... I really like the *idea* of it!

Nice to see this thread!

alsoSarah

[ConsCathMamma]

I made some using white whole wheat flour and let it sit 24 hours. It didn't rise so much those last 2 hours, which was probably due in part to my leaving it a bit too long, and it wasn't a very big loaf, but my cast iron pot is pretty big, so, it may have spread out instead of up.

I also might try doubling the recipe. I know it is a rustic loaf, but I have seen some bigger rustic loafs that are more suited for saandwich making.

Anyway, it tasted great! Very light. I took it to a friends house for lunch today, and dh, friend, and friends picky kids loved it, too.

I think maybe the trick is to play a bit with the ratios when using ww flour. Also, is it NT to add wheat gluten to ww breads to help them rise better? That might help, but I don't want to do it if it makes it less healthy as that defeats the purpose, yk?

[ladywolf]

AJP, I made this with white flour this time. It will be one of the experiments once "I" get some whole wheat flour ground (my husband likes the workout). I am going to use the same porportions as with the white.

phroggies, 3/4 C. organic dark chocolate chips per loaf. I find this is a nice ratio. I have tried less and more.

Beloved Bird: If you use the orginal recipe, you should have no problems with a substitution for whole wheat. You may actually decide that the dough is too wet and need to cut back on the water but I would try it the second time around.

It also helped that I was the oly one in the kitchen when I transferred the dough to the dutch oven this time. The first time my husband was in the kitchen and it was part of my frustration.

[yitlan]

Well, my second loaf came out.....gorgeous! Looks like what I can buy at the store!

Originally Posted by HerthElde

Mine turned out with pretty much the same consistency of an English muffin.

This is how my first loaf turned out when it was too watery. But it tasted great. So, I think the trick is to play with the water amounts, which will vary upon type of flour and what result you want. I made a thicker dough to start, just adding water until it seemed right. I had less obvious bubbles and I'm not sure it doubled when it rose, though it did get larger, for sure.

So.....I'm sure results will improve as I go along. But this is definitely worth keeping up!

Now, for those of you who are bread experts, how do I make these rolls or add other goodies, like make cinnamon raisin bread? For rolls, do I just let rise and then break up into small bits and bake less time? And if I want a cin. raisin bread, when do I add all that? Elementary questions, probably, but I avoided bread before and now I'm interested.

And you sourdough ladies, keep posting. I'd love to hear more results until we know what is fairly foolproof for us novices.

[HerthElde]

Originally Posted by yitlan

This is how my first loaf turned out when it was too watery. But it tasted great. So, I think the trick is to play with the water amounts, which will vary upon type of flour and what result you want. I made a thicker dough to start, just adding water until it seemed right. I had less obvious bubbles and I'm not sure it doubled when it rose, though it did get larger, for sure.

I figured as much . . . I looked at my english muffin recipe and it definitely calls for a more watery dough, so I'll try again with less water.
Another thing about my loaf is that the crust was a bit thick. I had used my clay roasting pot, and I guess the moisture-holding properties are different. Next time I'm going to:
1) Make a thicker dough to begin with, and
2) soak the clay pot before heating to create the necessary humidity for a thinner crust

[yitlan]

Originally Posted by HerthElde

Another thing about my loaf is that the crust was a bit thick. I had used my clay roasting pot, and I guess the moisture-holding properties are different. Next time I'm going to:
1) Make a thicker dough to begin with, and
2) soak the clay pot before heating to create the necessary humidity for a thinner crust

Oooh...yes, my crust was thick, too, and I used a clay pot. But dh loves thick crust, so I didn't even think about it. I prefer a thinner crust, though. Thanks for the tip! I'll soak my pot next time, too. Oh wait, will it still help if you soak the pot and then let it bake in the oven for that half hour before adding the dough? Or will the water just bake/evaporate right out before even adding the dough?

[HerthElde]

Just some thoughts on commercial yeast vs sourdough.
I have never ever understood why avoiding yeast is part of a candida diet. Yeast does NOT feed on yeast, if anything, it would be in competition. However, a baker friend of mine told me that commercial yeast contains cornstarch, so maybe that's why. Also, because this loaf has no sweeteners, I think that if one could obtain starchless yeast (I've never looked into whether such a thing exists), there wouldn't be any detriments to its use. After all, sourdough starter is simply wild-caught yeast