Breadmakers

[ZenSojourner]

Well, so far - I still have yeast and bread flour, LOL!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well, so far - I still have yeast and bread flour, LOL!

It's still progress over last month!

I have a new loaf rising now to be baked- we'll see how this one comes out. I'm still not confident at all yet, since my results have varied so much with the first 3 batches. Guess I'll report back later today.

[ZenSojourner]

Ok, so I finally got around to ordering the breadmaking books suggested here.

What I REALLY want is crusty french baguettes! Hope there's a recipe in one of those books for that.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm finding that when I try to make the loaves too big they don't rise as well, something to do with being too heavy and collapsing under their own weight while puffing up, maybe? They are still coming out quite edible, though, but I like the more ball-like boule like I got with the one perfect boule loaf I've produced so far.
So it's back to trying to get 3 loaves instead of 2 out of the standard Artisan bread 'master recipe' batch (the one that starts with about 6 cups flour).

[ZenSojourner]

Books are here! So now I have bread, yeast, and recipes.

Maybe I can make something happen this weekend.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

As I also posted in my personal blog today:

I made another couple of loaves of white crusty boule bread from the Artisan Bread book basic dough recipe today. Since they were a nice petite 8" round size, I made two at once and placed them side by side to rest/rise and bake together.
They wound up 'kissing' each other in the middle- it was so sweet! My husband and I agreed that they represented us rather accurately. So romantic!
We ate one boule this afternoon in ham/cheese/pickle/tomato sandwiches (plus snacking on the irresistible heels later), and we'll eat the other one tomorrow. Now I know I can get three of this ideal size round boules from each basic dough batch (made with 6 cups flour). Not too big, not too small.

As the book said, when the dough ages a few days in the fridge before shaping and baking, it has a nicer flavor, nicer crust, and is more chewy/stretchy. This proved true today as these boules were made from 5 day old dough and they really tasted great, with perfect texture. I've started a new dough batch in the fridge.

My new peel and the parchment paper make handling and transferring the dough much easier than before. I think I ham finally getting the hang of it, though I don't really feel confident yet at all- I am still getting uneven results sometimes.

I tried making some baking powder type bread the other day (no yeast) just for fun, and I think my husband and I have become spoiled by this artisan chewy crunchy yeasty bread. The old baking powder bread I used to like ok just didn't float our boats this time.

I have ordered a few interesting additional bread baking goodies to try out...some sourdough starter, some 'white' whole wheat flour from King Arthur Flours, a lame for slashing the loaves, and I want to try some semolina/durham flour. I also need to get some black sesame seeds, poppy seed, sun-dried tomatoes, nuts, fresh rosemary, and olives to begin experimenting with other interesting breads.