Author Topic: The Bread Thread (Read 110479 times)

citoyen · « **Reply #800 on:** 21 November, 2022, 03:27:04 pm »

Quote from: Ham on 21 November, 2022, 07:21:03 am

Almost. Part bake is the answer, I get great results with my baguette bake that way. You're looking to take them out the oven when the bread is set but not yet brown. Defrost before finishing.

Part-baking sounds like a good plan.

My Christmas baking will be panettone - I need to make six to distribute to the various far-flung corners of the family. Panettone is something that definitely wouldn't tolerate being part-baked, which is a problem given how temperamental our oven is being at the moment - occasionally switching itself off halfway through the cooking time. We've got someone coming to look at it on Wednesday, fingers crossed they can fix it.

T42 · « **Reply #801 on:** 28 November, 2022, 08:14:23 am »

Panettone looks like a good idea rather than Christmas cake - only slightly illicit compared to a sugar-bomb Dundee cake.

MrsT has had bread dough with the starter in it moping about the house since yesterday morning and only rising microscopically since we're not overheating the place. The oven has a proving setting but it packed up years ago. Muggins here only thought of looking at the microwave 20 minutes ago, and now the loaf is revolving gently and being hissed at for an hour.

While I'm Hero of the Moment I'll drop a word re panettone in her lug-hole before the shine wears off.

Tim Hall · « **Reply #802 on:** 28 November, 2022, 09:07:24 am »

Loads of bready things this weekend.

Standard white sourdough loaf
Some sourdough rools. 76% hydration (I thnk) plus a glug or two of olive oil.
Bagels, three of which got gobbled up, three part baked and frozen as part my Christmas bagel experiment.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #803 on:** 28 November, 2022, 10:32:08 am »

Is a Christmas bagel experiment strictly kosher?

T42 · « **Reply #804 on:** 28 November, 2022, 11:08:53 am »

MrsT's loaf turned out...

Maybe it was too cold too long yesterday. Well, in the absence of an Edam it might serve as a door-stop: the crust sounds like wood when you tap it. I must inventory my teeth again.

citoyen · « **Reply #805 on:** 28 November, 2022, 04:47:58 pm »

I've got a loaf on the go at the moment which has been proving since Friday and isn't yet ready to bake. Patience is a virtue on these occasions.

To be fair, I too have trouble rising when it's cold.

citoyen · « **Reply #806 on:** 03 December, 2022, 03:25:21 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 28 November, 2022, 04:47:58 pm

I've got a loaf on the go at the moment which has been proving since Friday and isn't yet ready to bake. Patience is a virtue on these occasions.

To be fair, I too have trouble rising when it's cold.

Turns out that four days’ fermentation does wonders for flavour. Mostly managed to hold its shape too. I’m calling it a triumph.

Slave To The Viking · « **Reply #807 on:** 05 December, 2022, 04:46:27 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 28 November, 2022, 10:32:08 am

Is a Christmas bagel experiment strictly kosher?

I've always been quite a fan of making bacon and sausage sandwiches out of bagels. Not at Christmas, specifically - I practice a refusal to recognise religious observances all year round.

hellymedic · « **Reply #808 on:** 12 December, 2022, 10:42:07 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 28 November, 2022, 10:32:08 am

Is a Christmas bagel experiment strictly kosher?

Jews eat beigels/bagels most of the year (except Passover).
They are Kosher until you eat them with bacon.

You vont us to STARVE because it's Christmas???

citoyen · « **Reply #809 on:** 19 December, 2022, 11:05:25 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 21 November, 2022, 03:27:04 pm

My Christmas baking will be panettone...

Or not.

It's a disaster so far. I can't get the starter active enough because it's been so cold. It needs to be really vigorous because the dough is so heavily enriched. I've got a batch of first-stage dough currently fermenting but after the best part of 24 hours it's still not showing much sign of life.

Was hoping to have one ready to take in for the last day in the office tomorrow to share with my colleagues but that ain't happening. Just as well I didn't tell them to expect it!

Feanor · « **Reply #810 on:** 19 December, 2022, 11:30:49 am »

I binned my levain before heading away on a Great Adventure some 12 weeks ago.

So I'm now on Day 5 of a brand new starter.
It's fairly vigorous, but I've been keeping it nice and warm in an airing cupboard overnight when it's been getting quite cold here.

Planning first sourdough loaf tomorrow!
(I've been on yeasted bread for the last few days, which is actually still pretty good.)

Ham · « **Reply #811 on:** 09 January, 2023, 10:17:57 am »

Well that WAS interesting.

Apropos of my cheese making shenanigans, I used the whey to make bread. While the difference in flavour for wholemeal was small but noticeable, the flavour of the white was brought up to faux sourdough level by the acidity in the whey.

While the phaffage and phun involved in cheesemaking is not repaid by savings, having whey to make bread with is deffo a worthwhile bonus, and reason enough to indulge in future cheese options.

Legs · « **Reply #812 on:** 09 January, 2023, 10:25:33 am »

Quote from: citoyen on 21 November, 2022, 03:27:04 pm

My Christmas baking will be panettone...

It probably amounts to sacrilege on this thread, but I tried a panettone recipe in my ancient breadmaker yesterday, and, although it came out as definitely not-panettone, it was very delicious. Staled incredibly quickly, but easily revived by a quick razz in the microwave!

Tim Hall · « **Reply #813 on:** 09 January, 2023, 10:27:26 am »

Got a bit slapdash with my last two loaves, resulting in mis shapen lumps that collpased in the oven . Concentrated a bit more this time and proved for a little longer. Pleased with this:

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #814 on:** 12 January, 2023, 08:41:48 am »

I am finding something odd happening when I make bread.

Once a week I'm making 2 loaves of that Ken Forkish everyday type bread that Feanor mentioned a while back.
I weigh all the ingredients into 2 separate bowls and do all the steps at the same time, except they get baked an hour apart. They are proved overnight in the fridge so it's unlikely to be that extra hour making any difference.

The mixing/proving bowls are 2 different sizes (they stack inside each other). When I bake the loaves (in a dutch oven) often one of them is taller than the other. From what I can see it usually seems to be the dough from the smaller mixing bowl that ends up being taller.
It seems a bit counterintuitive to me, but would the dough in the larger bowl be rising less because it's got much more room to slack off and flow in the bottom of the bowl (so less surface tension if you like)?

Ham · « **Reply #815 on:** 19 January, 2023, 07:35:06 pm »

I baked again using whey (I'd frozen it after the cheese making) and it really does make a great white loaf, but it got me thinking.

Baking with milk is fairly standard for a nice, rich, bread. Buttermilk works great too, scones, bread, Limmonyk. Has anyone ever experimented with Yoghurt ? It's an obvious next step

JonBuoy · « **Reply #816 on:** 19 January, 2023, 08:05:48 pm »

Naan recipes tend to use yoghurt.

Flite · « **Reply #817 on:** 20 January, 2023, 08:04:17 am »

Yes I've use yogurt in flatbreads.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #818 on:** 19 February, 2023, 09:32:15 pm »

Some years ago we had a breadmaking machine commit suicide by jumping off the worktop in the middle of the night. Ever since then I've been very careful to make sure that it's a long way from the edge when I set it off and we've had no more trouble.

Until this evening. I decided on a whim to use it to make some Chelsea bun dough. I set it off quite a while back and then fell asleep in a chair. A few minutes ago I went and checked it. It was still on the surface, but had turned 180° and had the flex wound round it. It had pushed the electronic scales to the edge of the surface and they were hanging off. Fortunately no damage done, but a bit worrying.

I'm a bit surprised it did that as the dough recipe only allows for 260g flour and 100ml water. I clearly don't understand the science of bread maker inertia - or otherwise.

Kim · « **Reply #819 on:** 19 February, 2023, 11:59:41 pm »

Psychomagnotheric yeast? Was there any music playing at the time?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jgqEWSFNwxA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/jgqEWSFNwxA&rel=1</a>
https://youtu.be/jgqEWSFNwxA

Wowbagger · « **Reply #820 on:** 20 February, 2023, 12:39:03 am »

The Chelsea Buns are Very Good. But they are not the sort of thing that someone intent on losing weight should make.

citoyen · « **Reply #821 on:** 20 February, 2023, 11:13:58 am »

Quote from: Legs on 09 January, 2023, 10:25:33 am

Quote from: citoyen on 21 November, 2022, 03:27:04 pm
My Christmas baking will be panettone...
It probably amounts to sacrilege on this thread, but I tried a panettone recipe in my ancient breadmaker yesterday, and, although it came out as definitely not-panettone, it was very delicious. Staled incredibly quickly, but easily revived by a quick razz in the microwave!

Somewhat belated update: the panettone never happened. The dough just never got going. I think it was partly down to being too cold and partly down to the starter being a bit sluggish from me being a bit slack with the feeding regime.

And then I completely killed it off... it had been in the oven on the warming setting in a bid to get it going, but then my wife came to make dinner and turned the oven on to preheat without checking if there was anything inside. Oops!

So I need to make a new starter, but I've not got round to it yet. Been making do with ordinary yeasted loaves for the last month or so. Which is fine for now.

Tim Hall · « **Reply #822 on:** 27 March, 2023, 09:52:07 pm »

As mentioned in the Gregg's Hot Cross Buns thread I thought I'd have a go at sourdough hot cross buns.

Unsurprisingly there are many many recipes on teh intarwebs, so it took a bit of time to find one that resembled my standard loaf method, such as this:

https://homegrownhappiness.com/sourdough-hotcross-buns/

First effort out of was baked this evening. Time constraints meant it had two lots of fridge based proving, which didn't seem to harm the final product. Next time I'll put a bit more fruit in and up the spice a touch.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #823 on:** 27 March, 2023, 10:05:13 pm »

I have decided that home made bread makes shit toast.
For the record, I don't like toast the way most other people seem to like it. I don't want it to be as dry as Ulrikakaka's crispbread and to shatter into a million tiny crumbs when you bite into it. I like my toast to be like warm golden bread. Which is not what happens when I toast my bread.

Feanor · « **Reply #824 on:** 27 March, 2023, 10:20:53 pm »

I like my toast like that too, and yes, home-made sourdough can be a bit challenging.
But it can and does make the most excellent toast.

Firstly, it can only be cut into fairly thick slices: that's not to everyone's taste. The middle will only get a Bit Warm when the outside begins to toast.

When it's fresh, you really can't toast it. When put in a toaster, the crumb has too much moisture and doesn't toast. But the crust just burns.
But when it's a couple of days old, it's much more toastable as it has dried out a bit.

I often use it for breakfast things like kejriwal, and find that toasting it on a hot griddle over the hob works much better than a toaster.