BREAD baking

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I just saw in the book where they say you can freeze 1# balls of dough, and just thaw overnight in the fridge before baking. Has anyone tried this yet?
I think I'll it with my next batch. Being a household of one, I just don't eat that much bread, no matter how good it is, and throwing away 2 batches of sort of slimy gray bread dough is a crime, especially if it's still OK to use.

My batch from 6 cups of flour only makes two generous sized loaves- my husband and I can go through that in two-three days, so I bake the 2 loaves right away after the dough's usual initial rise/ripen treatment. No wastage there.
I find that when I refrigerate the dough (or same thing if I freeze and then thaw in fridge), it stays chilled for way too many hours after taking it out to get to room temp, and that seems to make it not want to spring up and rise much when I bake it.
Why not just make a half recipe using 3 cups flour to make one large loaf (or two very small loaves) that will last you several days?

I don't think stiger and lisa would mind if pieces of the bread gets teleported.

Too late, all gone!

[Susan Otcenas]

I find that when I refrigerate the dough (or same thing if I freeze and then thaw in fridge), it stays chilled for way too many hours after taking it out to get to room temp, and that seems to make it not want to spring up and rise much when I bake it.

I've found that I get the best results after leaving it sit our for an hour and a half, or more. It's still very chilled after 40 minutes. Maybe the author keeps her home warmer than we do!

I've had the dough in my fridge for up to two weeks, with no noticeable decline in quality or flavor.

I have a fresh batch of semolina bread rising right now. GLC1968 & I just came back from the Bob's Red Mill factory store, where I stocked up on some new flours. (That place rocks. It's like being a kid in a candy store.) I've never baked with semolina flour before, so I'm really interested to see how these loaves come out.

I've also recently made the peasant bread recipe (with rye flour & whole wheat) and thought they came out really well, too.

[GLC1968]

I have a fresh batch of semolina bread rising right now.

Can't wait to hear how that turns out!

I just organized all my fours, seeds, nuts and 'flakes', most from Bob's! My pantry looks so gorgeous that I'm inspired to make bread. I think I'm going to try that peasant loaf tomorrow.

[NoNo]

I had gotten the book My Bread for Christmas. It's a no-knead formula, but it requires a much longer rise (12-18 hours) than the 5 Minute a Day recipe. But it is about specifically baking in a cast iron pot, which I also got for Christmas I was having my family over yesterday, so I decided it'd be a good time to try it out. Made the dough Saturday night and after 19+ hours rising I shaped it for its second rise. Heated the pan, dumped it in, and this is what came out :

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nono, that bread look perfect texture- was it delicious?...it looks really tasty and springy.

is there a reason you did not slash it just before baking?- I find the slashing really help the loaf expand beautifully in the oven, sort of like bursting out of it's own skin. Plus the expanded slashes add a pretty visual pattern and a wonderful texture variation in the crust.

[Catrin]

That bread looks incredibly tasty! nom-nom-nom

Sigh, since developing this little pre/early diabetes problem bread just sends my blood-sugar through the roof - and I LOVE bread... However, I love the pictures though - at least I can look at it

[NoNo]

Nono, that bread look perfect texture- was it delicious?...it looks really tasty and springy.

is there a reason you did not slash it just before baking?- I find the slashing really help the loaf expand beautifully in the oven, sort of like bursting out of it's own skin. Plus the expanded slashes add a pretty visual pattern and a wonderful texture variation in the crust.

The method in this other book is a bit different. Let it rise, then when you do the second rise you wrap the dough in a towel. When you place it in the cast iron pot, you're supposed to invert it into the pot. I don't know what the difference would be if you didn't flip it over, but it was my first time with this recipe, so I wanted to follow it exactly.

My family loved it, (and being Italian, we LOVE our bread!), but I wish I had a loaf of the 5 Minute bread so I could compare side-by-side. The crumb of this bread looked a bit more textbook, but I don't know if it had more taste. The crust was perfect, you had to give it a bit of a tug between the teeth to bite a piece off. The interior was dense and moist, really nice texture. Maybe I just need a bit more salt to fit my personal taste preference. I'll certainly be trying again!

[Tuckervill]

My son gave the book to my daughter-in-law for Christmas. One day this week she made the sweet rolls, and some of the sauce over flowed onto the broiler pan in the oven, which she didn't clean up.

The next day she made challah, which I think goes in on parchment (haven't tried it). Yep, you guessed it. The cinnamon sugar sauce started to smoke, and then when she opened the oven to check the bread, the oxygen caused it to flame, and the parchment caught on fire! WHOOSH! Big flames and smoke!

She was peeking in the oven while talking to her mother on the phone, and she screamed "I'll call you back, the oven's on fire!" and my son grabbed the fire extinguisher while she took the kids out of the house. My son said the smoke was so bad he had to crouch to get out of the house after he put the fire out and the house still smells horrible. It could have been really bad if the fire extinguisher had not been there--it was left by the previous owners!
It's a funny story now, but it must have been pretty scary.

The moral of the story is: Clean up the spills in your oven!
Karen