Breadmakers

[ZenSojourner]

Arrrgh, Bleeker!

NO BAKING POWDER! I threw mine out awhile ago because it was too old.

I MEANT to get some more.

*grump grump grump*

[smilingcat]

Arrrgh, Bleeker!

NO BAKING POWDER! I threw mine out awhile ago because it was too old.

I MEANT to get some more.

*grump grump grump*

and

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.

I'm bit confused now. Ar ya' lookin' for a sodabread? or ar ya' lookin' for a baguette?

For a sodabread, you need acid to make the bread rise. So if you are planning to use baking soda (sodium bicarb), you need to use either buttermilk or milk + TBS of vinegar or ... You need some kind of acid no matter what with soda bread.

soda bread as baugettes. now that's interesting...

Oh for a crusty baugettes, you get that effect with steam in the oven as it's baking. The trick provided in the book that really works is the pan of boiling water underneath (on a lower rack) the pan where the bread is baking. water can not touch the pan. Isn't pan also Spanish for bread??

smilingcat

[ZenSojourner]

Baking POWDER

Not baking SODA

I just got confoozled. BleekerStGirl mentioned baking powder and I thought I needed it.

Actually what I need and don't have is unbleached all purpose flour. I have BLEACHED all purpose flour, and I bought BREAD flour, and neither will work well for the recipe in the artisan breads cookbook.

[tulip]

I don't have the book, but I've made plenty of loaves from a recipe adapted from the book (from the NYT). I've used the flour that I have (bleached, and bread flour) and it's worked fine. My recipe does not call for baking powder. I've baked alot of yeasted breads and have never used baking powder. Now for biscuits, it's a must, but not for yeasted bread.

Start where you are...

[ZenSojourner]

The book says the dough will be too wet with bleached flour due to a lower protein content. It's a wet dough to start with. It's not a regular bread recipe. I think I'd rather make it the way they tell me to to start with and then see if I can change it. They do give a conversion factor for using bread dough, but say the bread will be denser and chewier because of it, I'll probably go ahead and try that.

If you'll give me your adaptation, I could try that too.

And I actually do need baking powder, for the banana bread recipe a friend of mine gave me recently. That's why I've had baking powder on the brain, then BleekerSt_Girl mentioning it made my brain jump a track.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yeah, baking powder is fine for making biscuits and banana bread and such.
Definitely not in the plan for the crusty yeast breads though.

Smilingcat- I have been faithfully using the steam pan under the baking stone as recommended in the Artisan bread book....and it seems to work fine.
When pouring in the water, you have to be very careful not to drop even a drop of water on the extremely hot 450F oven door glass- I hear it can crack the glass window of the oven door if you do that! So I am very careful when I add the steam water.

[ZenSojourner]

There is a baguette recipe in the Artisan Bread book, but I can't find my peel anywhere. I think it may have warped in storage and got tossed, but who knows.

I'm getting this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Peel-Sol...1213503&sr=1-1

The manufacturers site has videos of it in use:

http://www.superpeel.com/videos.html

Yeah, it's a little pricey, but apparently the problem I've had with baguettes in the past is picking them up and moving them makes them "degas". Eg collapse and turn into bats.

It's actually a little cheaper than the one they had at Target.

I figure I can do without a bread knife (I should be able to use a steak knife for slashing the loaves, they're serrated too).

I've got the baking stone, don't really have to have parchment paper, but I do need a peel.

Has anybody tried the artisan bread recipe for baguettes?