Bread Bakers Unite! - Page 2

[rainbowmoon]

Originally Posted by dex_millie

Joining this thread. I am going to start tomorrow making my own bread. I use to do it and know I cannot remember why I stopped. I also cannot find the old recipe I use to make. It was mostly whole wheat flour, molasses, and I use to press rolled oats on the top.

Question for the bread makers - I am thinking of making alot of dough(just about 2 weeks worth) and plan on freezing a portion for a week. How long can do be frozen or should I mostly do it fresh all the time?

I swear I have made this recipe! I will search my bread baking cookbooks this weekend and see if I can find it!

btw I think bread dough can be kept frozen for like 6 weeks or maybe even longer!

[goodheartedmama]

I try to make several loaves per week, although I've been slacking off lately : I am at my moms house and don't have my recipes, but my favorites are whole wheat, triple apple bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and banana bread. I do some bread machine breads and some hand-kneaded breads.

[AngelBee]

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[rainbowmoon]

anyone have a great foccacia recipe or maybe possibly a good deli style pumpernickel?

[dannic]

Oh, fun! I told my dh that I would bake all the bread items we used if I got a BOsch for Chirstmas, and I did! I kept my word and then our oven broke and I haven't since....But I found out dd has a sensitivity to all sugars except agave nectar, honey, stevia (not a true sugar I know) and possibly maple syrup. Try finding a bread w/out sugar (we live in a small town--only normal grocers here). So I've been making it at mom's. I've done sponged breads, and I never make bread the same way twice (I just throw in whatever grains sound good--right now, kamut is my favorite.) But I have a question about soaked grains/sprouted grains breads...do you sprout them and add them to your flour , soak them and dry them and grind them? Could someone post a recipe and explain it? I'd be interested in trying...

[Purple Sage]

Found this thread just in time. :

I just baked my first loaf of bread today - what fun! I'm looking for a 100% whole wheat recipe that is relatively simple to make. You know, for a beginner. I found one that calls for "gluten flour" - is this the same as vital wheat gluten?

[BMG580]

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[natural_mama89]

I have made my own bread a couple of times and would love some good recipes. Can I freeze already baked loaves? If I could do this, or make large batches of dough and freeze it, I would make my own bread a lot more. How would I freeze the dough? Would I do it after letting it rise twice?

[carfreemama]

I'm a breadbaker, too!

Just wanted to add my voice to the breadbakers.

I'v been baking bread for about 20 years. I do all our baking and also barter bread for dog-walking services. I did a stint apprenticing as a baker at a little bakery that ultimately went out of business. If I could manage it financially, I would bake for a living.

I just bought a Nutrimill so now we have fresh-ground flour, too. The bread seems to come together really easily and even cookies and stuff are really tender, although we're using high-gluten ww bread flour.

My absolute favourite bread book is The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. My edition was published by Shambhala in 1986. It was the one bread book that had recipes, diagrams and instructions about kneading that were detailed enough to actually work. I'd been baking for a while before that, but my bread became much lighter and more consistent after following these guidelines.

My standard recipe is 100 percent ww bread flour (grown in my area), combined with a bit of yeast, sea salt, canola oil and a touch of honey or maple syrup. With the grain mill, I'm now experimenting with adding cornmeal, small amounts of ground beans, etceteras.

[Purple Sage]

Originally Posted by carfreemama

My standard recipe is 100 percent ww bread flour (grown in my area), combined with a bit of yeast, sea salt, canola oil and a touch of honey or maple syrup. With the grain mill, I'm now experimenting with adding cornmeal, small amounts of ground beans, etceteras.

Would you mind sharing this recipe?

Fresh milled flour sounds wonderful.

[Sleeky_Meerkat]

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I am just starting to make my own bread and want to sub this thread for ideas!!

[neptunemama]

I'm very new to bread baking also. Last week I tried the no-knead bread recipe, but it didn't come out very well. Last night I tried again with a different recipe. I basically followed some of sneaky pie's tips and got a really good loaf. What I did:

In a bowl I added 1 cup of KA's white whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp honey and 1 cup of warm water. I mixed that together to form a sponge and let it sit for 15 min or so. In the meantime I added 1/2 tsp active dry yeast to 1/2 cup warm water w/some sugar added to feed the yeast. I waited till it was foamy (5 min) then I added it to the sponge. Then I slowly added about 1 1/2-2 cups more flour to the mixture, till the dough was smooth and not sticky. I let it rise overnight. This morning I punched it down, let it rise for another 45 min or so, then baked it for 45 min at 350.

It came out really well, nice crisp crust, tasty interior, but the inside seemed a bit not done. It could've baked for another 5-7 min, which is what I'll do next time. And I might add more flour initially to the sponge and less at the end. Just to see if it makes any difference. My family loved it by the way.

[annekevdbroek]

I've been making bread for years - since high school (? - 20+ years ago), on and off. I recently got a breadmaker and a new baby - the combo works well. So, lately I've been fiddling with the breadmaker to get the loaves to turn out the way I want. I mostly make a Oatmeal Honey 1/2 Whole Wheat - super! I also make a mean Russian Black Bread.

I made a committment this year to no longer buy any store-bought bread. The breadmaker helps because I can toss in the ingredients and have a good loaf turn out a couple hours later.

I used to do it all by hand and would batch bake 8 or so loaves at a time. My favorite recipie then was from "Beard on Bread" - the oatmeal bread. So, so, so, so delicious. I haven't been able to work out a bread machine equivilent. Craig Claiborn's book - Bread Bible? also has some great breads - particularly an onion/cheese/poppy seed braided loaf...

Maybe I'll hand make a loaf or two in the next week.

[Mommabelle]

I've never posted here before, but I am a bread baker! I've been baking on and off for several years, however last winter I got a grain grinder and a Zojirushi bread machine. I've been baking succesfully with no problems until we moved in July. Now, I just can't seem to get the bread to come out right since we moved. I've changed rise times etc.. I'm starting to wonder if it's over kneading the bread...if the machine was somehow damaged in the move. The bread comes out very heavy and not nearly as big as it used to. I use a half half combo of red/white whole wheat. I haven't bought bread since last winter until we moved. I have to figure this out! Help!

annekevdbroek..I agree that with kids around the bread machine has made making homemade bread easy and doable.

[Sleeky_Meerkat]

I baked my first loaf yesterday! It turned out wonderful and we ate the entire thing last night!! I can't imagine going back to store bought bread again!

Does anyone have a good recipe for a Tomato Basil bread? I love the one they have at Panera and would love to make something similar!

[mammom]

looking for a gluten-free "kneading" bread

Hi all,

Does anyone have a recipe for a gluten-free bread that can be kneaded?

Thanks!

Melissa

[carfreemama]

ww bread recipe

Hi Sleeky Meerkat! (Did I get that right?). Sorry it took so long to get back to you with your request. For what it's worth, here is my standard bread recipe, very loosely adapted from The Tassajara Bread Book. I don't have a clue how much flour I use and it will be a couple of days before I bake again; I should measure, just for fun...Here goes:

2 scant tsp yeast (approximate)
3 cups room-temperature water

Dissolve yeast in water until it comes to the surface and bubbles. I have experimented with different water temperatures and have had best success going cooler, rather than warmer.

Add a little sweetener (I use scant 1/4-cup honey or maple syrup, but I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary. I've never tried without). Add enough flour to make a runny cake-like batter. Stir 50 times.

Let sit until puffy and raised (seems about 45 minutes)

Sprinkle 2 tsp sea salt and 1/4 c canola oil over top. Stir in.

Begin adding flour. Stir for as long as possible, adding flour in small amounts and working thoroughly into dough before adding more. Keep stirring until dough is absolutely too stiff to work with a spoon anymore. Then start kneading.

It usually takes me 15-20 minutes to knead the dough until it really feels right. The less flour I use, the lighter the bread and the higher the rise. Try to knead the stickiness out, rather than adding excess flour. Also, add things like ground flax or cornmeal towards the end of kneading, as I read somewhere that these ingredients 'cut' the gluten and impair rising. Don't know if it's true, but sounds reasonable and I did notice a difference.

Let sit until 'double in bulk' or not quite--don't over-rise. Punch down and knead 20 times. Let rise again until not-quite-double.

Punch down. Divide into 2. Let rest 5 minutes before shaping into loaves and putting in pans. Let rise again.

Put into HOT 375-degree oven. After 10 minutes, decrease heat to 350. This 'sets' the bread and gives it its best rise (again, don't know where I read this, but it works for me). I take the bread out when the sides are just nice and crisp.

Note: I sometimes make soymilk, in which case I use a couple of cups of the okara, or leftover solids, to the bread with the oil and salt. Adds great texture and nutrition. I also always save cooking water from potatoes and decrease yeast and sweetener a bit. I have also found my convection-toaster-oven gives by FAR the best rise to my ww bread. I have 2 pans that fit exactly, though the bread always rises to hit the top element and chars it in a couple of places. But It's so much better than the regular oven I don't care. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense!

[happy1nluv]

Ok... I'm trying to make a good sandwich bread, and I have a recipe that I like as far as taste goes, but it comes out too dense. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

I grind 8 oz red wheat berries and add 4 oz oat flour - wet down with 8 oz warm (from tap) water and let sit overnight.

Then add:
2 1/2 oz almond milk
1/6 c honey (approx)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
enough oat flour to make a soft bread dough -- put in well oiled bowl

Let rise about 2-3 hours
Fold over dough, quick knead, shape and put in oiled pan - let sit 1 1/2-2 hours. Heat over to 425 for 30 min, put bread in and reduce heat to 375 and cook bread for 45-50 min.

Any ideas?

[counterGOPI]

well until i got preggo and m/s hit me but hopefully just a few more weeks i'll be back to my bread baking self!

[nancyw]

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