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.

[IvonaDestroi]

My husband has decided that he wants to buy a bread maker. I don't really want one since I don't eat that much bread. He is saying it would be really nice to have fresh bread all the time. I use to make it by hand many years ago, several loaves at time.

He is aware that I'm not keen on the idea since I would probably end up the one actually having to measure all the ingredients and put it in. Yes it would be a whole lot simpler then making by hand but still one more thing I would have to do.

I have tried talking (gently) him out of it, but he is determined to get one. He knows I don't want one.

My question is do I just let the silly thing sit there and hope he will make it (or try to) himself or wait until he ask me. If he asks me to make it (I don't want to) what do I say to him.

tell him beforehand you will have nothing to do with it. If he asks, tell him you wanted it, YOU use it!

[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?

[Tuckervill]

I just use a wooden cutting board instead of a pizza peel. I have to use both hands and open the oven all the way, but it works just fine.

I didn't want to spend $40 on a peel at Williams-Sonoma (that's the only place I could find one locally when I was looking). So I tried the cutting board and it worked fine.

Karen