Simple Bread

[htwoopup]

In honor of the UNESCO designation I attempted baguettes today. The dough was almost unmanageably wet, good thing I have baguette pans my brother's wife gave me years ago. Instead of rolling and stretching on the counter I dumped them in and smooshed them out. Were they good? Oh, very much so. Crispety crunchy crust and light holey inside. Salty and fermented. Delicious. Still, work to do. Not a daily driver with that effort level.
People turn out better without thinking. Practice, practice, practice...

There are no bad baguettes. Period.

Crusty is why they are wonderful ATMO.

French Lean bread. Yum.

[72gmc]

Good memories of a coworker cursing when baguette sandwiches were the working lunch for the fourth day in a row … I’d really like to be in Paris again, eating baguettes too often.

[ides1056]

I have a friend whose bread rivals any anywhere- Jonathan Stevens at HungryGhost in Northampton, MA. Walking through the Mission yesterday I wandered into Bernal Cutlery and found his Christmas present: a Windmuhlenmesser KB 2 bread knife.

He is a hell of a cyclist too.

[rwsaunders]

[rwsaunders]

Cooling time.

[Mark Walberg]

The high contrast on that phot makes it look like yo could take that loaf to the next curling match.
Bet it tastes good though.

[rwsaunders]

The high contrast on that phot makes it look like yo could take that loaf to the next curling match.
Bet it tastes good though.

Eh Mark? Pairs well with poutine and a bottle of Molsen Golden.

[ides1056]

The gift was a hit.

[dgaddis]

Helped a work buddy get a starter going, and we're in a bread baking groove right now. Here's my first one in a while, 75% hydration, 15% rye. About 12hrs bulk ferment, two days in the fridge for a cold ferment. Over baked it a bit, didn't set an alarm and time got away from me a bit!

Didn't get a crumb shot.

[mnoble485]

Dustin, hold on to those crusty parts for croutons!

Mike

[dgaddis]

Trying an experiment. Feed the starter a two days ago and put it in the fridge. Took it out this morning and mixed it into a loaf - no feeds, nothing, just fridge to mixing.

Plan is to put it in the fridge before I leave work and then bake it Monday. Will report back!

[dgaddis]

Trying an experiment. Feed the starter a two days ago and put it in the fridge. Took it out this morning and mixed it into a loaf - no feeds, nothing, just fridge to mixing.

Plan is to put it in the fridge before I leave work and then bake it Monday. Will report back!

So, once you've got a starter going, if you give a little work/folds/etc to develop the gluten, it's pretty hard to mess it up. In summary:

75% hydration, just all purpose flour (a bit of whole wheat in the starter), ~9hrs bulk fermenting at room temp, ~60hrs cold ferment in the fridge overnight. When I baked it I didn't pre-heat the bottom of the pan, just the top (I've got one of these FWIW) - the hope was to not bake the bottom into such a thick hard crust. Turns out that didn't quite work haha, it stuck to the pan and developed a thin layer of BURNT bread, but it was such a thin layer it just flaked off. So I'll just keep pre-heating the whole pan.

But anyhow, the bread was great. I scored it with a simple 'X' across the top, and cooked it seam-side up, so it sprang out more than up, but I was really happy with the crumb.

[rwsaunders]

Dustin...I upped my baking temperature to 475F a while back and I started using 2 sheets of 8" round baking paper on the bottom of the Dutch oven as a shield. Works like a charm, as the bottoms of the boules were getting too dark, as they were cooking faster than the rest of the boule. Like you, I need to crank a few out for the holidays, so I'm starting a few tonight to deliver as gifts tomorrow, along with a jar of homemade pesto.

[Clyde]

Would someone throw out the current favored mixture for one of those loaves please? And thanks.

[rwsaunders]

Recipe on the link below and Ken’s how-to videos. Dustin and Curt G work with sourdough starter I believe and I’m a French yeast guy, as it’s a simpler route for me. Have fun! PS…I just checked the recipe and it’s 1/8 teaspoon of yeast and not 1/4 teaspoon as the author has stated. Your dough will rise in 1/2 the time, but not have the same flavor imho. PSS…275F and not 245F…what was this schmuck reading and why did I share it? Your boule will undercook at 245F…been there done that. All else is accurate. Enjoy the videos and watch the FWSY videos first, as they are most relavent.

https://www.cookinggoals.com/overnig...forkish-bread/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvV...86bLbd5FdgYiUg

[htwoopup]

As the most inexperienced and amateur person in this thread, this is what I follow for all kinds of Simple White Bread (which you can then change up and get fancy by throwing in maple syrup etc)…

[TMB]

I have not read this thread for some time, so it was fun tonight checking in on it.

I have been doing some different things of late. There is a bread in the Forkish book Called Country Brown which bakes up into a lovely loaf and I have made that a number of times and then I started playing with it, mostly swapping amounts of dark rye flour in for equal amounts of white flour.

This completely changed the taste of the bread, as you might expect and required that I add Vital Wheat Gluten to get the rise I wanted.

Then I started looking at comparative recipes in the Hamelman book and came back to the Pain au Levain, which I had made a few times some time ago. I started playing with this again = it is basically the same bread as Forkish’s Country Brown, just a lower hydration. Anyway I have pretty much mastered a 3 flour ( white, Whole Wheat and Rye) blend of this that I do in loaf pans to make it easier for me to toast and make sandwiches. Delicious.

Then my wife did the worst possible thing to do one the people that hangs out in places like this (obsessive.. ??) and gave me Stanley Ginsberg’s book for my birthday this year. I have always loved Rye bread, I prefer it to most other breads for taste and texture, so getting a book titled “The Rye Baker” was like giving me pure crack.

I quickly discovered that the variety of Rye flours avialable in the stores is pretty thin. So what would an obsessive do? I started searching the internet for suppliers of Rye flours and found the best/worst (?) result … a full service organic grain mill about an hours drive away. My first trip I came away with Red Fife and Hard Winter wheat berries, Rye Berries, Spelt and Emmer.

What is a fellow to do with wheat and rye berries you ask? Well, of course you acquire a grain mill.

So now I am playing with different grades of grinds; fine, coarse, etc.

Different combinations of wheats in my breads - I have been shocked at the different tastes arising from using different wheats in the bread mix so …

This is quite the rabbit hole my bride sent me down ….. learning to deal with rye doughs on a regular basis has been quite a process.

All of this kept me going and entertained this year while waiting for surgery - I was mostly unable to spend any time in my workshop or garden so bread it has been - I think the neighbours are sick of it to be honest.

While on the subject - another book I picked up - at a library book sale - is a little book called “In Search of the Perfect Loaf” - very interesting read. It is one of the books I took with me to the hospital for after surgery days - I think the pretty young nurses got a good chuckle out of it.

Anyhoo - long post - keep baking everyone. It’s fun.Attachment 122619Attachment 122618

[rwsaunders]

Nice..I’d be thrown out if I came home with a mill, but thanks for the tips on the rye.

[rwsaunders]

These two brownies are headed out the door this afternoon, each with a jar of homemade pesto and some EVO from the old country.

[rydesteel]

I use Forkish's Poolish mostly. I read a little bit of Bittman's book and started using a lower (450*) temp for about 25 minutes then I use the Parchment as a handle and lift the bread out of the pot and place it directly on the rack to brown. It seems to work fairly well and it keeps the bottom from getting too dark. I might venture back into Sourdough after the first of the year, we'll see. The last attempt ended badly, poor little stater :>(.