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Anyone baking their own bread?

9K views 53 replies 30 participants last post by  flybill 
#1 ·
Just wondering if there are any other bakers out there. At our house we haven't eaten store bought bread for years and were shocked recently to find how much a loaf cost in the store. A fine sourdough that we used to often find on sale 2 loaves for $2.50 was selling for $3.62 a loaf! A convincing case can really be made for baking your own at those prices. A five pound bag of flour usually runs around $3.50. Move up to a 25# or 50# bag and the price drops significantly. A typical loaf will require around a pound of flour so it is obvious that for the price of a loaf in the store you can make 5 loaves at home. And they will be better bread. Read the label on the next loaf of bread you buy and try to determine what some of that stuff is and why it is needed.

Good bread needs just 4 ingredients-flour, water, yeast and salt. How you manage those 4 ingredients determines how the bread will taste and that is the joy of building your own. We start all of our breads the day before baking, a process that probably takes all of about two minutes. The biga, or pre ferment, is then left to work overnight and the next day flour is added to make the finished dough. It is dead simple, very enjoyable and maddenly delicious. During the summer when I am mostly outside I don't have time to work on artisan breads so I make a quick and simple No Knead Sourdough that I sometimes ferment for up to 2 days. By then the dough smells like beer and the resulting bread is rustic, crunchy on the outside and soft in the center. Guest love it and are amazed at how little work is actually involved.

Now that shorter days are keeping me inside longer I have time to work on my main interest which is french bread. It requires a little more attention but the loaves are beautiful with a crisp crust and a soft creamy crumb. Excellent with cheese and a decent red wine. I am just a beginner having only baked seriously for about 3 years now but I get some stunning successes at times and occasionally a complete flop.

When the long dark evenings start to get to you get out in that kitchen and shape up a few loaves of bread. The house will smell great and the family will think you are a hero. No machinery is needed, no "breadmaker", no mixer, just a good hot oven with an accurate thermometer and a timer are about the only tools required. Every human comes with two of the best breadmakers in the world attached to the end of his arms. Put 'em to use, you'll love the results.

Ive
 
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#30 ·
Just wondering if there are any other bakers out there. At our house we haven't eaten store bought bread for years and were shocked recently to find how much a loaf cost in the store. A fine sourdough that we used to often find on sale 2 loaves for $2.50 was selling for $3.62 a loaf! A convincing case can really be made for baking your own at those prices. A five pound bag of flour usually runs around $3.50. Move up to a 25# or 50# bag and the price drops significantly. A typical loaf will require around a pound of flour so it is obvious that for the price of a loaf in the store you can make 5 loaves at home. And they will be better bread. Read the label on the next loaf of bread you buy and try to determine what some of that stuff is and why it is needed.

Good bread needs just 4 ingredients-flour, water, yeast and salt. How you manage those 4 ingredients determines how the bread will taste and that is the joy of building your own. We start all of our breads the day before baking, a process that probably takes all of about two minutes. The biga, or pre ferment, is then left to work overnight and the next day flour is added to make the finished dough. It is dead simple, very enjoyable and maddenly delicious. During the summer when I am mostly outside I don't have time to work on artisan breads so I make a quick and simple No Knead Sourdough that I sometimes ferment for up to 2 days. By then the dough smells like beer and the resulting bread is rustic, crunchy on the outside and soft in the center. Guest love it and are amazed at how little work is actually involved.

Now that shorter days are keeping me inside longer I have time to work on my main interest which is french bread. It requires a little more attention but the loaves are beautiful with a crisp crust and a soft creamy crumb. Excellent with cheese and a decent red wine. I am just a beginner having only baked seriously for about 3 years now but I get some stunning successes at times and occasionally a complete flop.

When the long dark evenings start to get to you get out in that kitchen and shape up a few loaves of bread. The house will smell great and the family will think you are a hero. No machinery is needed, no "breadmaker", no mixer, just a good hot oven with an accurate thermometer and a timer are about the only tools required. Every human comes with two of the best breadmakers in the world attached to the end of his arms. Put 'em to use, you'll love the results.

Ive
Thanks for the inspiration. I will be starting today!
 
#32 ·
Here's a recipe for Focaccia Bread that I make in my Dutch oven
2 Cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
¼ cup olive oil
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup yellow onion finely diced
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
¼ cup olive oil with 3 to 4 cloves of garlic in it
Combine water and yeast. Add the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar to the water and combine. Knead in the onion and rosemary. Spread the dough in a greased Dutch oven and let proof.
Brush top of dough with some of the olive-oil garlic mixture. Bake in a 12-inch Dutch oven with 8 to 10 coals underneath and 14 to 16 on top for 35 to 45 minutes (it will take longer if you start with a cold oven, I recommend preheating). During the last 5 minutes of baking, brush the top of the load with more of the olive oil garlic mixture.
Bread should be golden brown and give a hollow sound when thumped. Remove bread from the oven and serve with butter, garlic butter, roasted garlic or olive oil garlic mixture.

GBeeman
 
#33 ·
These were sure good tonight and you don't even need an oven:

Homemade English muffins:

18 muffins (approximately)
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1/3 whole wheat 2/3 white)
1 teaspoon salt
Directions

  1. Warm the milk to room temperature or a little warmer and add half the sugar and the salt, In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and the other half of the sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, butter and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Gradually add the rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
  3. Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or what ever you have. Sprinkle cornmeal on the surface you plan to raise them on and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
  4. Heat a lightly greased fry pan or ??? Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. If the temperature is right they should just slightly brown, Always eat one while it's hot. A little butter and jam will really get it going. Allow to cool completely if you plan to put them in plastic bags.

Ken
 
#36 ·
Growing up, my best friends mother made bread 3 or more days a week. Tim and his brother and I would go through the first loaf in minutes. It was a honey wheat and the best bread I ever tasted. I've lusted after "Betty Lou Bread" ever since.
I used to make bread by hand, and will agree it is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I still have the giant yellow bread bowl but don't have the time anymore, even though I cook every day. I shun many kitchen gadgets but about 14 years ago picked up a bread machine (a Zojirushi if you care). Almost immediately I found a honey wheat recipe and guess what, almost identical in taste as Betty Lou's. It's all I make and takes me 5 minutes to fire up a loaf and go on about my business. Four hours later, fresh bread that my family (& friends) rave over. Made a loaf this morning before the commute, so the girls could have fresh warm bread for lunch. I'm a convert.
 
G
#38 ·
Trapper, where did you get the baking trays for the ciabatta bread? I pretty much got the french bread wired this winter and would like to try some ciabatta for a change. Being such a soft dough that tray seems like it would be ideal.

Ive
I bought mine in a specialty shop in nearby Helena, MT. They are called perforated French bread pans.

I did a search and found them on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metal...r_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1366293922&sr=1-3

Trapper
 
#40 ·
I used to make Italian bread that I learned from my mom as well as clasic white and wheat bread for sandwiches until I went gluten-free for health reasons. I searched ofr almost a year to find a decent GF store bought or home made bread until I found one. Manini's Miracolo flour mix. Super easy recipe to follow and makes a bread that is closer in taste and texture to a good rustic bread than any other GF I've tried. I'm making 2-3 loaves per week now.
 
#41 ·
Well took me awhile, but this thread spurred me on to make my own bread.

Before the Huskies game I made two loafs of Honey Whole Wheat. Turned out okay and taste great.

I tried two different pans - one glass and one aluminum. I found the glass pan worked better. Anybody else use glass pans?

Stew

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 
G
#42 ·
For reasons unknown to me (I'm not a chemist or metallurgist) raw aluminum and yeast are not a happy couple. If you store your sour dough starter in aluminum it doesn't seem to grow very well. Glass or plastic works much better. It won't kill the yeast, but it seems to retard it. Consequently, I do my best to keep my dough away from aluminum. I have found that if the aluminum pan is coated, it's ok.

If you're making any whole wheat bread and you don't put any high gluten flour in with it, it's likely to be pretty dense. If you're happy with the taste but want it less dense, add some "made for bread" flour.

Trapper
 
#43 ·
Aluminum pans are great. For storing screws. They are rectangular and reasonably deep and offer enough surface area so you can easily paw through them looking for just the right screw plus their shape lends itself well to storing on a shelf or in a cabinet. They have no place in our kitchen.

We bake bread at least twice a week and have for many years. Norpro pans are the gold standard as far as I can tell. They are dimpled steel and non stick. Bread bakes evenly all around instead of blond on the bottom and brown on top.

No-knead sourdough is baked in a cast iron dutch oven and french bread is baked in the perforated double cradle that I believe Trapper turned me onto. Glass is certainly the lesser of two evils compared to aluminum but it is a dish rather than a pan and as such it takes longer to heat when first presented to the oven. Steel transfers heat much faster and contributes to the oven spring the bread needs to reach it's full shape quickly and helps the bread to brown more evenly.

Ive

Incidentally, probably the best bread of all is baked with no pan but on a pizza stone or hearth. Just be sure the stone is at maximum temp before the bread goes on. I usually preheat for about an hour before baking.
 
G
#44 ·
Ive - I have no aluminum pans either. They are cheaper and lighter, but leave anything tomato based in them overnight and it will eat pinholes in it. I tried cooking with an aluminum Dutch Oven once. (The outfitter thought they weighed less for packing) It was awful. The bread was near burnt on one side and near goo on the other side. To be fair it was in a fairly stiff cool breeze but my cast DOs never did that.

I'm glad you like the perforated baking pans. Toss some semolina on them before putting the dough in them for a crunchier crust. I do that with my Ciabbata bread.

Do you know why aluminum retards yeast?

Trapper
 
#45 ·
Ive - I have no aluminum pans either. They are cheaper and lighter, but leave anything tomato based in them overnight and it will eat pinholes in it. I tried cooking with an aluminum Dutch Oven once. (The outfitter thought they weighed less for packing) It was awful. The bread was near burnt on one side and near goo on the other side. To be fair it was in a fairly stiff cool breeze but my cast DOs never did that.

I'm glad you like the perforated baking pans. Toss some semolina on them before putting the dough in them for a crunchier crust. I do that with my Ciabbata bread.

Do you know why aluminum retards yeast?

Trapper
I bet it's a chemical reaction. Most aluminum really don't have a patina. So bet there's something in the aluminum that hinders it's process. No idea, but I know growing up my grandparents never used metal to make dough or starters. Always was glass or clay. My one Grandma used to make her own hard clay pots to store the sourdough starter in. But don't recall them using any metal for their bread products, except their baking pans. And if memory serves me, my one Grandma always had cast iron baking pans. Her bundt pan weighed a TON.

Oh, I'm all with you on the aluminum DO. I will say, they are SUPER light. My 12" hard anodized DO weighs just under 5#, where my 12" CI DO weighs just over 20#. Nice on float trips. Usually toss two in the box and use as a multi use pan. But, you're right, sucks for heat retention. Heats up fast, cools off faster. Get a good wind and you better have a damned good wind block.
 
#46 ·
We did the bread maker thing back when those were the rage. Use to buy quality component in Puyallup...Dottie's I think? Experimented with various recipe's and found a few we like. Over time, my wife just didn't like the fuss and muss of making and cleaning. Also, it seemed we could never make some of the types we liked most well in the bread maker. These days, the only breads my wife makes are rolls and a really great pizza dough....we love making homemade pizza's...usually don't in the warmer months...time to start again :cool:.
 
#49 ·
It's been awhile since we talked bread and I thought I might submit an update. I have been baking a lot this winter and am getting some really fine results. So I'll share my recipe for No Knead sourdough in a Dutch Oven. The oven is a Lodge 6 qt model with a flat bottom. The recipe is simplicity itself-it is how the various steps are taken that makes the difference. Start with 13.5 ounces of a good flour. King Arthur bread flour is outstanding and Bob's Red Mill seems to be equally as good. To the flour add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. That is not a misprint-1/4 tsp is all you need. Whisk well and mix in 10 ounces of water-preferably without chlorine. This should result in a dry course mixture that seems like it needs more water. Mix until all the flour is absorbed by the water but don't add more water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put aside for 12-18 hours.

Once it has set overnight it will appear bubbly and smell like a really good beer. Turn it out on a floured board and shape into a roughly shaped rectangle, cover it and let it set for at least 5 minutes. Then fold it in 3 sections lengthwise and then fold the 3 layers in half. At this point I use parchment paper in a bowl and drop the dough in and cover it with a towel. After rising for an hour and a half or more I put the DO in the oven at 450 degrees. When the oven has heated for 30 minutes I lift the paper with the dough out of it's bowl and drop the whole thing in the DO. There will be some wrinkles in the paper but heat and steam will take care of those as it bakes. Bake for 30 minutes and then remove the lid and let the top brown for a few more minutes. Pay attention at this point and don't let the bread get too dark on top. Turn the loaf out on a rack until cool and add butter. You're done.

I have only recently discovered saf instant yeast. It is available on Amazon for under $8.oo/pound. I had read rave reviews about this stuff and now I can add to them. It is better than any yeast I have ever used. I bought a pound and put half of it in a sealed jar in the fridge and froze the other half. At one half teaspoon per loaf it should last indefinitely.

Some observations: The 13.5 ounces of flour is based on 3 cups of 4.5 ounces each. Different companies assign different weights to their all purpose flour from 4 ounces to 4.8 ounces. For all my baking I weigh out 4.5 ounces per cup and stick with it to set a baseline. A measured cup instead of a weighed cup can be as much as 5.5 ounces and really screw up the program. Areas of high humidity result in heavier flour and the container the flour is stored in should be airtight. Good ingredients make good bread. A months old bag of Gold Meadow is going to make crappy bread, a fresh bag of King Arthur will deliver some great flavor. Same with yeast-if it is old the loaf will be short and dense with little oven spring.

Another thing I have noticed watching the many videos on No Knead bread is the copious use of flour to manipulate the dough once it is turned out. I handle my dough with wet hands instead of applying flour to my hands to keep the dough from sticking. I tried the flour technique originally but didn't like the results. Using water makes a more moist loaf with a crackling crust.

Finally, many folks like to eat warm bread. Nothing wrong with that but in my experience bread doesn't develop it's complete flavor until it has reached room temperature. Sometimes it smells so good I just can't wait. You shouldn't have to be reminded but in case there is a noob reading this-NEVER put bread in the refrigerator. It freezes beautifully but refrigeration makes it hard and dry.

Give this a try. Some butter, cheese and a good red wine will make just an outstanding snack. A few tries and you will get a rhythm and feel for it. For around a buck a loaf it will shame the stuff the supermarket sells.
 
#50 ·
This thread is 7 years old now but 'tis the season to trot it out again. With the shorter days and longer evenings I am spending more time in the kitchen and baking about twice each week. I reread the entire thread to see if anything much has changed in 7 years but not much has. My no-knead recipe has stabilized at 15 ounces of flour and 10 ounces of water. It makes what appears to be a very dry shaggy dough but 18-24 hours later it is perfectly hydrated. The DO is no longer in use and I now bake everything in the Norpro baking pans. I'll be 80 on my next birthday and lifting that 450 degree Dutch oven in and out of my regular oven is no longer fun. My Norpro pans in a 430 degree oven produce perfect repeatable results in 28 minutes. Your oven may vary.

It takes about 10 minutes to weigh out and mix 2 loaves and that is pretty much the extent of any labor. After about 18 hours I turn it out on a lightly floured board and let it rest for 15-20 minutes after which I shape it into a rough rectangle and drop it it the pans. Cover the pans with plastic wrap with some olive oil or PAM and let rise for an hour or so. About 30 minutes before time to bake turn on the oven and let it get to temp. Bake, cool, eat.

This bread makes about the best croutons you have ever tasted. If you have some that is getting stale slice it about 1/2'' thick then cut off all the crust and make 1/2'' square cubes out of it. In a bowl drizzle it with EV olive oil and garlic salt, maybe a little oregano, mix to coat. Bake on a large tray at 350 until the cubes brown up nicely. The results are good enough to be eaten as snacks even without the salad.
 
#54 ·
Love this thread about BREAD!! I think I'll make some today. Would be easier if I still had my Kitchen aide but oh well, a little work never killed anyone....
 
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