| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| sqrl |
Posted - Jul 11 2005 : 12:09:58 PM
I understand it takes years to finally make good bread. I like to ask a lot of questions when I'm learning something. I've been baking bread now for a couple of years on and off. We started out making sour dough with a wild yeast starter and that is really hard to work with and you don't find many recipes that work with wild yeast. Now after a little while of not baking I've starting up again. I bake every weekend, always trying something a little different. This weekend I use the mixer to knead the dough and the dough came out beautiful but my problem is really the rising. I get a good first rising in the bowl. But when I shape it and get it into the oven it doesn't rise much. I get a pretty dense bread, I mostly make buns. It's not too bad but I'm striving for a nice fluffy whole wheat bread.
Any suggestions?
Blessed Be
www.sqrlbee.com |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| junebug |
Posted - Oct 14 2005 : 1:41:27 PM
Thanks Tania, maybe this will help Melissa out some? Hey Sqrl, let us know if the tips above make a difference, good luck!
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| Tatiana |
Posted - Oct 13 2005 : 4:42:41 PM
Hi farmgirls:
I went to a master bread baking class a few years ago. Here are a few tricks. First of all make sure you watch that last cup of flour especially with whole wheat bread. If you add to much you will have your own shot put. Whole wheat bread should be slightly sticky so don't be tempted to add to much. Also make sure you rise it long enough.
If you through a few ice cubes in the oven when you go to bake the bread and will help to keep it moist so that it can still expand in the first few minutes of baking.
Salt retards yeast growth as well as acid (greek olives) so add it last so the yeast gets going. Add the salt with the dry ingredients.
While you are raising bread you can occaisionally mist it with water to keep them moist. I found if I want bread in a hurry, I can leave it in the car sitting in the sunshine. Just make sure to watch it carefully or you will have a Lucy situation!
I found a new type of wheat that you might want to look for at health food store or where ever you buy your wheat it is called Hard Montana White Wheat. The white wheat had a much more mild flavor than the usual hard wheat. It makes really yummy bread that the kids can hardly tell is whole wheat. It smells awesome while you are grinding it too. Unfortunately it is more expensive but well worth it!!
Tania in Boise
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| junebug |
Posted - Oct 13 2005 : 1:16:57 PM
Melissa, I'm sure it's something simple, maybe being at sea level has something to do with it? The sea air?? LOL Keep trying and maybe someone here has a idea? And hey, as long as the bread your making is edible it's not a total loss?? LOL Cheers!
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| sqrl |
Posted - Oct 13 2005 : 08:32:57 AM
Sue I'm at sea level, I'm only about 1 1/2 miles from the beach. I feel like I should take some kind bread workshop or something. Hang out with some people who know how to bake the bread that I'm striving for, watch what their doing.
Blessed Be
www.sqrlbee.com www.sisterhood.sqrlbee.com
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| mountainmama |
Posted - Oct 12 2005 : 8:15:27 PM
OK, girlie! I want that recipe! I forgot to tell you today that I'm cooking breakfast for the Yanceys, who are coming in on the early train from Nevada. I'm making breakfast burritos because it's fast and easy, but how yummy a breakfast bread would be! I should be in bed asleep now....instead of in bed surfing and chatting!~ |
| KJD |
Posted - Oct 12 2005 : 5:12:07 PM
I made Brioche yesterday from a La Madeleine Christmas book. So delicious, for breakfast with butter and tonight with roast chicken and vegetables. I love freshly baked bread! |
| junebug |
Posted - Oct 12 2005 : 4:13:23 PM
Melissa, what's your alitude there in Arcata? Sometimes it does make a differnce in rising and baking in general?
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| sqrl |
Posted - Oct 12 2005 : 12:59:15 PM
I'm still having some troubles with my bread. I feel like I have a good understanding of yeast and how to take care of it. I takw pretty good care of the dough, letting it raise and kneeding if enough like somewhere around 10 minutes before letting it raise. And it doubles in volume, it does get a good raise before putting it in the oven. But I still get a dense bread. Now I'm working in almost all whole wheat flour, so I thought may be that was the problem so I cut it in half and it was definitley lighter but still pretty dense. I went from a recipe that did turn out pretty good but it had oil and eggs in it. The eggs are no big problem but for me, I try not heat oil ( it's not very good from ya, it oxidizes quickly after heating it) Anyway my point is that I have had some pretty good bread thats just flour, yeast, water and may be some honey. I was thinking may be I could try making bread with just white flour and going from there, may be it's all the wheat flour making it dense. I bread I make is OK but not what I want. I keep trying every weekend eventually I'll get to the bread I want.
Blessed Be
www.sqrlbee.com www.sisterhood.sqrlbee.com
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| greyghost |
Posted - Oct 12 2005 : 10:07:42 AM
Hey Girls!
I'm copying down your bread recipes today to try out. I made my basic white bread last night, accidentally had the water too hot so I killed half the yeast (oops) but it still rose and turned out all right, just not as fluffy as I normally have it!
Here's my recipe for basic white bread:
6-7 cups white, unbleached flour
3tbsp sugar
1tbsp salt
4 1/2 tsp yeast
2 tbsp butter (optional, but I like it)
2 1/4 cups very warm water
Mix 3c flour, sugar, salt, butter and yeast in large bowl. Add 2 1/4 cups very warm water, blend together (I do not use a mixer, I just use a fork). add flour by the cup until dough is enough to handle. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes (adding flour) until it is smooth and slightly springy. Place in a large greased bowl (I use either olive oil or even butter) and let rise, covered, one hour. Cut dough in half, work each half on floured surface until shaped wide as your bread pans are long (or a little longer) roll dough, tuck ends under, and place in greased breadpans (2), cover and let rise for 30-40 minutes. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes. Upon removal, brush loaves lightly with butter or olive oil. |
| Eileen |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 10:55:22 AM
Lynn I had to laugh! I have had bread turn out that way one time too. Took the dog a long time to eat it up. Tough dry , hard and did not rise. Would have thought I had forgotten the yeast but it rose the first rising and the second rising too but fell in the oven. It was my first attempt at making bread with freshly milled hand ground whole spelt flour. I have since learned a lot of tricks like the ones Aunt Jenny shared. With Spelt it needs less liquid in the mix and also a couple of tablespoons of tapioca flour works wonders.
Aunt Jenny, I still use a hand mill for my grain and it is a slow process. My daughter got a better mill and hers grinds twice as fast as mine. I am envious. Still do not want to go the way of the electric mill but have often thought that there must be a way to hook it up to my stationary bike and gear it up. Get my knees exercised while grinding my wheat.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| greyghost |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 10:29:28 AM
Aunt Jenny - that isn't always true.
My mother tells me when she was learning to make bread not long after she and my dad got married the bread came out so hard my dad and his friend used it as a football in the backyard.
She was not happy. |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 09:02:59 AM
Always remember while you are learning that the worst homemade bread is still better than the best storebought bread!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things |
| prairiemaid |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 06:20:28 AM
quote:
Originally posted by sqrl
I get a good first rising in the bowl. But when I shape it and get it into the oven it doesn't rise much. I get a pretty dense bread, I mostly make buns.
Hi sqrl, sorry for the quote but by your wording I was wondering if you were allowing your buns to rise on the counter before you put them in the oven to bake?
I don't think it takes years to make good bread either. I guess it depends how often you attempt to make bread, lol. Once you understand the basics with yeast and learn how it should feel, it's pretty easy. I'd say find a good basic recipe, get good at that then try some new or fancy recipes. |
| Horseyrider |
Posted - Aug 31 2005 : 04:32:21 AM
sqrl, it doesn't have to take years to learn to make good bread. It helps, because you develop the judgment through experience. But it doesn't have to be that way.
A book that explains all the whys and options and the science behind it is "Bernard Clayton's Book of Breads," an excellent bread book that was my teacher and resource for many years. The breads are delicious, and the instruction is outstanding.
As for your denser breads right now, after baking year round for almost thirty years, I can tell you that home baked bread is always denser in the summer than in the winter. Has something to do with the humidity, I guess. Is your house air conditioned? I've never had air conditioning, and my breads are always this way in the summer. Once the cooler weather comes, the breads get lighter and rise better again.
For these denser breads, I decided to not fight it. I'd add a bit of potato flour (about a quarter cup) to my regular recipe, slice it thin, and make super crunchy delicious toast. |
| junebug |
Posted - Aug 30 2005 : 12:23:15 PM
Forgot the links, sorry, thinking about the bread I guess???
www.breadrecipe.com
www.breadnet.net
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| junebug |
Posted - Aug 30 2005 : 12:22:00 PM
Oh my!!!! Now you got me wanting to bake some bread......I'm a bread baker too, love to try new and different recipes. I buy my flours from the health food store where I can get it cheaper than the store, only 89 cents a pound for whole wheat, and you can buy as much or as little. Altitude has alot to do with bread baking or you could of just got ahold of some old flour. Check out a couple of my favorite sites for bread baking. Won't be long, fall and winter are my bread baking seasons....Enjoy!
Sisterhood of the Traveling Art and Apron...
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
| Julia |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 9:10:59 PM
Melissa,check out the book "Nancy Silverton's Bread's from the La Brea Bakery". She uses sourdough starter in all her breads and the recipes I have tried are wonderful.
Never heard of the lemon juice before, can't wait to try it.
A friend just bought a grinder and I get to use it. Have done wheat, rice and oatmeal. It is so great. I was given gallon size cans of wheat berries from someone who left the Mormon church and was getting rid of their food stock pile. I won't need to by wheat flour for a while.
There is a silly quote I like about bread making that is very true -
" The bread in de oven, match the spirit in de cook. If one don't rise de other won't either."
"The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take joy!" Fr.Giovanni |
| Jana |
Posted - Aug 29 2005 : 8:25:37 PM
I'd rise it in the pan a second time before baking. Once in the oven you can't expect much.
Jana |
| ByHzGrace |
Posted - Aug 28 2005 : 7:34:51 PM
I'm Ellen and I'm a breadaholic!
Gets easier with every confession! Love finding more like me and the chatter!One of my fondest comfort foods came from my Granny. It is sliced juicy red ripe tomatoes slathered with gobs of mayo on homemade white bread.
My Granny’s perfect white bread
1 package of yeast softened in ¼ cup of warm water with a pinch of sugar. Combine 2 cups of scalded hot milk with 3 Tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 3 tablespoons of butter.Cool to lukewarm. Stir in 2 cups of sifted flour. Add yeast/water mixture and continue mixing. Add 4 more cups of sifted flour one cup at a time. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl.Cover with a towel and leave in warm spot for about an hour until dough doubles. Punch down and knead out on a floured surface until smooth about 1 minute.Don’t over do this kneading. Cut dough into 2 portions and shape into loaves. Place in buttered loaf pans.Cover again to rise until double about 45 minutes. If you wait too long the bread will sink and be hard.Bake in a 400degree oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and when bread has cooled a little remove from pans and cool on wire racks. MMMMM enjoy |
| JoyIowa |
Posted - Jul 17 2005 : 7:54:42 PM
Alee,
If finances are a problem, try to find a restaurant supply house that has a cash and carry. They let little guys in too. I get 50# of 100% WW flour for just under $10. Lots better than 4# for 2.98 at the grocery store. It always has a mill date and the place I go, keeps it in the freezer! I split with my brother and sister, so 50# lasts us about 3 weeks. I don't even put it in the fridge except in the ugly heat of winter.
Everyone else:
My recipe for WW bread:
(This is somewhat heavier than boughten white bread, but much less dense than most ww.)
In a LG bowl combine
2 1/2 cups room temp milk or water (water makes the loaf a bit crummy, but tastes the same for less $)
4 t. yeast,
2 T honey,
2T oil (canola, safflower, olive[esp good when adding basil, oregano, and thyme to the liquids]whatever is handy)
1 t. sea salt or raw salt
Mix completely with a big whisk.
Add two cups ww flour and whisk again for about 2 minutes.
Let this set until bubbly. (about 10 minutes)
On your kneading surface dump 5 more cups of ww flour. Make a well in the center. Take your bench scraper in one hand. (AKA piece of plastic cut from a 5 qt pail cover roughly in the shape of a kidney table.)
Pour the mixture out into the middle of the pile of flour and try to contain it with the bench scraper, by lifting flour from the edges to the center of the liquid. (Same motion as folding in egg whites.)
Repeat this until the dough is able to be handled. Then knead for about 8-10 minutes until the dough is satiny and smooth. (It will still be just a little sticky.) Lay it back down on the flour and cover with a clean dishtowel. Take another small towel and soak it with HOT water. Wring to almost dry and lay around the dough. Let rise about an hour. (Although in this heat and humidity, mine has been raising in about 15 minutes!) Press down. Shape, raise again and bake 425 for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!
I think letting the dough form its own gluten by whisking and leaving it to sit a bit before weighting it down combine to make a lighter loaf. Personally, bring on the heavy, hearty, earthy stuff for me. However at my house I am outnumbered. Oh well, at least they're eating vegetarian 3 days a week now!
Peace,
Joy
Have a great day everyone.
To live without farm life is merely existing, to live with farm life is living life to it very last experience. |
| greyghost |
Posted - Jul 17 2005 : 7:32:26 PM
I guess I had better perfect that asiago bread recipe, eh? It's close to how I want it, but I'm still tinkering. When I get it just so, we can have that bread-baking party? :) |
| Kim |
Posted - Jul 16 2005 : 10:31:55 AM
Oh, Panera makes an asiago cheese bread and bagels. Yours sounds so much better Lynn!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Jul 16 2005 : 10:09:15 AM
boy, Asiago cheese bread sounds so good!!!!!!!
You are all welcome to come for a bread baking slumber party!!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
| greyghost |
Posted - Jul 16 2005 : 08:22:02 AM
I'm with Kim. Aunt Jenny, can we come stay with you and learn all your tricks?
I bake my own white bread, sometimes an Italian bread with fresh herbs and sun-dried tomatoes in it, an Asiago cheese bread (yeah, we like Italian). I use the cheap unbleached flour or sometimes I mix it half & half with whole wheat flour. Anytime I've made bread with whole wheat it comes out HEAVY.
I just found a simple white bread recipe and stick with it for the base for my experiments and I haven't had much trouble. I find kneading the bread to be very therapeutic. I discovered you can treat it gently but firmly, or you can punch it and get out some frustration... and the bread still turns out great. :) I'll be happy to post the recipe - I know it all by heart by now but it's been four months since I had a kitchen and I'm afraid I'll miss something if I type it out here. The recipe, like the rest of my belongings, is in storage. |
| Kim |
Posted - Jul 16 2005 : 08:09:05 AM
Aunt Jenny, Can I come stay with you and learn all your tricks!!!!??? :)
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
