Any bread nerds here

[Daradon]

I have a simple recipe FOR (or to be used with) bread that some people may enjoy trying with their loaves (or a store bought loaf).

It's a simple garlic bread that is crispy and not too greasy.

I usually use a french loaf or baguette, but I'm sure many of these on this thread can be used too. I know sourdough also gives it a nice contrast of flavors.

Cut your loaf (or the amount you want) into 1"-1 1/4" thick slices.

Cover with margarine or butter on one side. Make sure it is even and covers the bread.

Dust with garlic powder (not garlic salt) on buttered side. More if you really like garlic.

Cover with Parmesan cheese.

Set oven to broil and let er rip when ready. Wont take long, keep an eye on it. 4-7 minutes usually. You are looking for a nice golden brown color.

And there you go. Super simple and super tasty. You can add other spices to taste if you are so inclined. Oregano or 'Italian seasoning' always works.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

bump

anyone use sourdough starter? Can it be used in place of yeast in any bread recipe, and if so, in what amounts, assuming a well fed, and growing starter

I made some more sourdough bread today so I kept track of the amounts that I used. I had wanted to make just one large oblong loaf but ended up with a bit more dough than required so I made a small round loaf as well that was about 6 inches in diameter.

So then the amounts that I used will make one large oblong loaf and one small round loaf....or two average sized oblong loaves.

Peasant Style Sourdough Bread

1 1/2 cups active sourdough starter, fully refreshed
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3/4 cup dark rye flour
1 1/4 cups best for bread multigrain mix
2 + cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 Tbsp molasses
1 1/2 Tbsp gluten
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
2 scant tsp salt
2 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds

1 Put the starter, water, rye and multigrain flours, honey, molasses, oil, salt, gluten, and 1 cup all-purpose flour in the bowl of a stand mixer that has been equipped with a bread hook and combine at medium-low speed. Beat for 2 minutes, or until the ingredients are combined well. The dough will still be very shaggy looking at this stage.

Add the second cup of AP flour and continue to mix at medium-low speed until the flour is incorporated. Beat for 2 minutes. You will now have to make a judgement call if the dough requires more flour or not. The dough should be starting to leave the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still sticky, add more flour in 1 Tbsp increments, just until the dough starts to leave the bottom of the bowl. The dough won't completely clear the bottom of the bowl but it should not be puddling in the bottom of the bowl either.

Look at the 4th picture in post #84...that is the type of dough we are trying to achieve. The dough won't look quite that smooth because I made a peasant style bread with whole grains and seeds in it...but you are trying to get a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl and starts to leave the bottom of the bowl while still sticking to the bottom just a bit.

Knead the dough for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and beat for a minute, just until combined.

2 Shape the dough into a ball and put in a lightly greased or sprayed bowl, turning to coat. Cover with saran and proof in a warm place free of drafts for 45 minutes to an hour. The dough will not be doubled at this stage but should have increased in size by about one third to one half.

I do the initial proof of my bread dough in my oven. My oven has a proof cycle that maintains the temperature at 100F and it took 45 minutes for my dough to proof this much. Now the conditions at your house could be different than mine so the first proofing time can vary. Proofing times can and will vary according to the conditions under which you are making your bread.

3 Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape as desired. As I mentioned previously, I made both a large oblong loaf and a smaller round loaf. I would suggest that you divide the dough in half and make two medium sized oblong loaves.

Now I was taking this bread to a function in the evening so I wanted to make my sourdough bread in one of my banneton baskets. Most people will not have one of these baskets so just shape the loaves normally and put them on a piece of parchment paper that is on a pizza peel. If you don't have a pizza peel, invert a cookie sheet, put the parchment paper on the bottom of the cookie sheet, and the shaped loaves on top the parchment paper. If you have bread baskets that are about the size of an oblong loaf of bread, you can line the baskets with parchment paper and put the shaped loaves in there to proof.


This is the banneton basket that I used. It is about 3 1/2 x 10 inches in size. When I initially got this banneton basket, I very lightly coated it with a bit of cooking spray and then sprinkled the inside with flour. Now all I have to do when I use this basket is sprinkle it with some rice flour before I place the dough in the basket. Rice flour does not have gluten so the dough will not stick to the basket.


I shaped my dough into an oblong loaf and placed it in the rice flour lined basket, seam side up. I put mine in the basket seam side up because I will be inverting the loaf later on. If you are not inverting the dough later on, you will put your loaf seam side down on the parchment paper.

To shape oblong loaves, I start by first gently patting the dough into a rectangle that is about the length of my pan or in this case, basket. Then I kind of fold in the two top corners and start to tightly roll up the dough, pinching the seam and ends together when done. Then I roll the log of dough a bit to smooth it out and place it in the pan or basket. The dough should be rolled fairly tightly so that air is not trapped inside the dough. If air is trapped inside, you will end up with big holes in your baked bread.

Cover the dough with saran and let proof for 60 to 90 minutes, until about doubled in size. I proofed mine for half the time in the oven on the proof cycle. Then I had to take it out of the oven and let it finish proofing on my kitchen counter because at that point in time, it was time to preheat my oven. My large loaf took almost 90 minutes to fully proof. I will remind you again that proofing times can and will vary so don't panic if your dough does not rise in the exact same time as mine did.

4 Put a bread stone(s) on the middle oven shelf and preheat the oven to 400F. Put a baking pan on the bottom shelf of the oven.



5 When the loaves have doubled in size, it is time to slash them, spritz them, and bake them. Now I used my banneton basket so I had to invert my proofed loaf first. Unless you also used a banneton basket, you will not have to invert the loaf. You will only have to slash and spritz the proofed loaves and then bake them.


My loaf is fully proofed and has doubled in size.


Dough made from sourdough starter will rise the same as dough made with bought yeast. This is how much my dough has risen above the top of my banneton basket.


I put a piece of parchment paper on top of my pizza peel and inverted my proofed loaf onto the parchment paper.


I slashed my loaf with a sharp serrated knife and then I spritzed it with water. You can slash the dough any way that you like. If you have never slashed dough before, I would recommend two or three diagonal slashes instead of the pattern I used here. As I mentioned before, I was taking this loaf to a function and when I do that, I put a little more detail into how I slash my loaves.

6 I bake this bread on the parchment paper which goes on top of the bread stone. Just pull the parchment paper and loaf off the pizza peel or cookie sheet directly onto the bread stone. Immediately put some boiling water or ice cubes in the pan on the bottom shelf of the oven. Close the oven door and bake the bread for 30 t0 45 minutes, rotating half way during baking time. The loaf should be golden brown in color and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. If you have an instant read thermometer, it should register between 190F and 200F when fully baked. I basted mine lightly with an egg wash halfway during baking. For the egg wash, beat an egg with 3 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp oil.

7 This is what my loaf looked like as it came out of the oven. This was a large loaf and needed about 45 minutes total baking time. If you make two smaller loaves, you will have to adjust the baking time.


This loaf was about 14 inches long, 3 1/2 inches high, and 5 1/2 to 6 inches wide.


Inside crumb of the loaf.


Close up of the crumb.


Note 1: When I say active sourdough starter that has been fully refreshed, that means the starter has been recently fed and it will double its size in about 2 hours. If your sourdough has not been fed for awhile or if it has been refrigerated, it must be brought to room temperature and fed before it is used. The process must be repeated if necessary until the starter is very bubbly and doubles its size in 2 hours. To refresh or feed my sourdough starter, I add 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup lukewarm water, and 1 scant tsp honey. Then I stir the ingredients until roughly combined. The starter does not have to be mixed until it is smooth like a cake batter. Sometimes I feed my starter with all-purpose flour, sometimes I feed it with whole-wheat flour, and sometimes I feed it with a combination of the two flours.

Note 2: I said I used 2+ cups all-purpose flour. That is an estimate. When I added the second cup, the dough started to clear the sides of the bowl of my stand mixer but it was still sticking quite a bit to the bottom of the bowl. I added more flour 1 Tbsp at a time until it started to clear the bottom of the bowl but was still tacky yet not sticky. I used maybe 1/3 cup more flour. Keep in mind that was the amount of flour I needed based on the type of flours I used, the starter I used, and on the conditions in my kitchen. You might need less flour, you might need more flour. When making bread, one rarely uses the exact amount of flour specified in the recipe. The amount of flour used is always negotiable.

Note 3: How to judge if dough is sticky or tacky


When you press your hand in sticky dough, it sticks and stretches. When it releases, your hand is still covered in a lot of dough. This is fine for soft doughs like Ciabatta but not for the sourdough bread I am making.


When you press your hand in tacky dough, the dough still sticks, but it easily releases without leaving much if any dough on your hand. This is what we are looking for to make this sourdough bread.

Note 4: If you don't have a stand mixer, this bread can of course be made by hand. I would suggest using a hand mixer in the initial stages of mixing the dough, until it can no longer handle the batter. Then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand, adding extra flour only as required. It will take a good 10 to 12 minutes to make this dough if you don't have a stand mixer.

To add the sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flatten the kneaded dough into a rectangle, sprinkle with some of the seeds, roll up, and gently knead for a few turns to mix in the seeds. Repeat two or three more times until all of the seeds are fully incorporated.

[Canada 02]

^ so I followed the recipe on the link (http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread/),
and made a very tasty sourdough. The only problem was the bread was maybe 1.5-2 inches thick. How do I get more of a rise? My starter is like a runny pancake batter, and the dough was pretty sticky. I also knead by hand as I don't have a kitchen aid or other mixer

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

^ so I followed the recipe on the link (http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread/),
and made a very tasty sourdough. The only problem was the bread was maybe 1.5-2 inches thick. How do I get more of a rise? My starter is like a runny pancake batter, and the dough was pretty sticky. I also knead by hand as I don't have a kitchen aid or other mixer

I made bread from that recipe about 2 weeks ago, just to see how it would compare to what I do, and have notes on it, will try to post later today or sometime in the coming week.

Yes, I found the dough a bit wet as well and will detail what I did to correct matters.

My sourdough is like pancake batter but is not runny. I will try to take a picture next time I refresh it, so you can get an idea of the consistency that mine is. That is not to say that yours is not the right consistency as you can have your sourdough whatever consistency or hydration that you prefer. All I am saying is the consistency can affect the final product you make from the recipe. The runnier your starter is, the wetter your final dough will be, and that in turn implies that your final loaf will be prone to spread sideways more.

Take ciabatta for instance. You basically do not knead ciabatta dough as it is too wet. Instead you go through the process of folding the dough.

And what is the shape of the final product?

Kinda flat?

and about 2 inches tall?

Making the dough by hand won't affect the final shape of the product but the amounts of the various ingredients will. I found the dough from that site was a bit too wet and I suspect that is the problem with the size and height of your loaf.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

^ so I followed the recipe on the link (http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread/),
and made a very tasty sourdough. The only problem was the bread was maybe 1.5-2 inches thick. How do I get more of a rise? My starter is like a runny pancake batter, and the dough was pretty sticky. I also knead by hand as I don't have a kitchen aid or other mixer

So here are my results and comments about the sourdough featured at that link. I wanted to see how my starter would work with that recipe and made the bread a couple of weeks ago.


I mixed up the ingredients for the sponge as per the recipe. The recipe said to leave the sponge for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours. I left mine for 3 hours and at that point, it had risen somewhat, it had bubbles on the surface, and it looked like it was ready to be used.


Then I added the rest of the ingredients as per the recipe and kneaded the dough at a medium low speed for 6 to 8 minutes. The dough had cleared the sides of the bowl very nicely but still seemed too tacky when looking at it.


I tested the dough with my fingers and still thought it was too tacky but decided to let it be for now and see what it would be like after the next proof. I like to follow a recipe pretty closely when I am trying it for the first time.


I thought the dough would be sticky and hard to shape into a ball so I coated an area of my kitchen counter with cooking spray and then dumped the dough on top the sprayed area. The dough was somewhat loose but it never spread all over the place either so I decided to continue on and not modify the dough at this stage.


I was able to shape the dough into a ball without much difficulty. However, the dough, even though it was very soft, took a good 3 hours to double in size before I could go on to the next stage of shaping the loaf.


When I turned the proofed dough out and started to shape the loaf, I knew for sure the dough needed more flour. The loaf was not keeping its shape and was spreading sideways almost immediately. I patted the dough down, sprinkled it with 1 to 2 Tbsp flour, and kneaded the flour in by hand, repeating that process until I felt the dough was the right consistency. I added about 1/3 cup more flour. Then when I reshaped the dough into a loaf, it seemed like it was strong enough to hold its shape. This is how the loaf looked when I felt the dough had enough flour so the loaf would hold its shape.


I did not want to add more flour and end up with a dense loaf but I was still worried it would spread sideways, so I decided to make a couche and let the loaf go through its final proofing that way. I put a piece of parchment paper on top my pizza peel, put the loaf on top the paper, and then rolled up hand towels and placed them on each side to control which way the loaf was going to rise. Then I covered the loaf and let it go through its final rise or proof.

You could certainly use a floured cotton or linen tea towel instead of the parchment paper, but I like the disposability factor and ease of use of parchment paper. Using parchment paper also makes the process of transferring the final loaf to the oven much easier. By the way, if you don’t have a pizza peel, invert a cookie sheet and put the parchment on top of the bottom of the cookie sheet and proceed from there.


It took almost 4 hours for the loaf to double in size. If you compare the two pictures, you can see that the loaf did expand quite a bit both in height and length.


I removed the towels so I could slash the loaf. It spread sideways a bit when the towels were removed but certainly not significantly. It also held its shape when the loaf was slashed so I was satisfied with the consistency of the dough. Maybe I could have added 2 Tbsp more flour.


Next I baked the bread but I never baked mine at 450F as the recipe suggested. That temperature seems too hot for the Calgary area when I have previously baked bread at that temperature. I baked mine at 425F for 15 minutes and then turned the temperature down to 400F and finished baking the loaf at that temperature. My total baking time was about 35 to 40 minutes. It got nice oven spring and turned out well. Oh, I did bake it on a bread stone that was preheated along with the oven.


This is what the crumb of the final baked loaf looked like. The crust was fine and you can see that both the thickness of the crust and the color of the crust is uniform over the whole loaf. The bread tasted fine and had good sourdough taste. However, I never felt that this bread had the chewy texture that I normally get with my sourdough bread nor did it have the chewy texture that one would associate with San Francisco sourdough bread.

Anyhow, the process took me a whole day and in the end I never got better results than baking sourdough bread with my own recipes and method. Now as I have mentioned before, all starters are different and behave differently so perhaps the long process was due to the starter that I used. I guess it depends on what gives you the best results for the time and effort you are willing to put in.


This is the crumb of some of my peasant sourdough bread that I baked recently. Can you see that this bread looks much chewier than the photo above? Can you see that the strands of dough have sort of stretched but are still bonded together? Can you see that this crumb just looks more elastic overall?

[redforever]

These braids are classified as a "sweet" bread, although they certainly do not have the amounts of butter and sugar associated with a sweet bread that cinnamon buns would be made from. The final product has far fewer calories as well as the recipe calls for only 1 egg, 2 Tbsp butter, and 2 Tbsp honey for two braids of bread.

These loaves also contain some whole-wheat flour, an ingredient that is not common for sweet breads. However, these braids turn out just as moist and tender because they have natural fruit in them. The recipe can be made with applesauce, mashed bananas, or cooked and pureed pumpkin. The recipe also lends itself to a variety of dried fruits, nuts, and spices. Just go with what your favorite combinations are. I always recommend to try a new recipe almost as written the first time and then make your personal adjustments from there.

These braids are nice just sliced as they are or toasted and then served with perhaps a bit of butter or cream cheese. You can also use the bread from these braids to make your favorite bread pudding. Just cut and cube the braids and substitute them for whatever bread your recipe calls for.

I made the pumpkin version of this recipe after Thanksgiving when I had left over pumpkin and I just made the applesauce version of this bread.

Banana Wholewheat Braid



Bread

1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 to 3 Tbsp honey
3/4 Tbsp yeast
1 large egg, room temperature, beaten
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 to 2 ripe bananas, mashed or pureed, about 1 cup
1 to 2 tsp cardamom
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 3/4 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose bread flour
3/4 cup each of raisins and chopped dates
1/2 cup toasted pecans or almonds (optional)

Topping

1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 Put the yeast, water, and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a kneading hook. Stir to dissolve and proof until frothy.
2 Add the whole-wheat flour, egg, salt, butter, banana, cardamom, and half of the all-purpose flour. Beat until smooth. Slowly add more all-purpose flour until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Knead until smooth and elastic.
The dough should still be somewhat tacky.
3 Add the raisins, dates, and nuts if using and knead until thoroughly combined. Shape the dough into a ball, put in a lightly greased or sprayed bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with saran and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 60 to 90 minutes.
4 Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 375F.
5 Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal pieces. Cover one of the pieces of dough with saran (to prevent a skin from forming) and divide the other one into three equal pieces. Roll each of the three pieces of dough into a log that is 12 to 21 inches long. If you want fatter braids, roll the dough into shorter lengths. If you want longer braids, roll the dough into longer lengths. Transfer 3 of the pieces of dough to the baking sheet and braid to form a loaf. Pinch the ends together and tuck under. Repeat with the covered piece of dough. Cover the braids and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.
6 Baste the risen braids with whole milk or creamo. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the braids. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until done. Shorter fatter braids will take longer to bake than longer thinner braids.

Note: The bananas should be ripe, but not black and overly soft.

For more variations of this bread, see the two suggestions below.

a) Substitute 1 cup unsweetened applesauce for the mashed bananas. Peel and coarsely grate two medium-sized apples and add to the dough. Use cranberries, raisins, or cherries for the dried fruits or a combination of your liking. Slivered almonds are nice with apples but you can use any nuts of your choice or you can leave them out. Either cardamom or cinnamon (or a combination) works well with apples. Add the dried fruit and nuts when the dough is almost finished kneading.

b) Substitute 1 cup pureed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) for the mashed bananas. Use raisins or a combination of raisins and chopped dates or figs for the dried fruit. Pecans are a nice choice for nuts. Cinnamon is a good spice to use with pumpkin. Pureed pumpkin does not have as much natural sugar as bananas or apples so double or triple the amount of honey called for in the recipe. Canned pumpkin does not have as much moisture as bananas or applesauce either so you probably will not need as much flour. Add the dried fruits and nuts when the dough is almost finished kneading.

************************************************** *************

This is the applesauce version of the braided bread.


The dough is still a bit tacky but is starting to leave the sides of the bowl. I added the dried fruits and nuts at this stage. I chose to add 2 tsp cinnamon to the dough as well as raisins and cranberries but no nuts. You can see the raw apple bits in the dough and should be able to tell that it was coarsely grated. It does not need to be finely grated as there is already applesauce in the dough.


I added the raisins and cranberries and a bit more flour and kneaded the dough just until the dried fruits were incorporated. I used the amount of flour that the recipe called for and this is how my dough looked. Sweet doughs will always look and feel a bit more tacky than regular bread doughs but they still should not be sticky.


I shaped the dough into a ball, covered the bowl with saran, and let it rise in my oven (set on the proof cycle) until almost doubled in size.


This is my dough when it was about doubled in size. My dough took a little over an hour to get to this stage.


I turned the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divided it roughly in half.


I worked with one piece of dough at a time and kept the other piece covered with saran so a skin would not form on it. I divided the piece of dough that I was working with into three equal sized pieces.


Then I rolled the three pieces of dough into 21-inch long logs. The logs can be anywhere from 15 to 21 inches in length. You can make long thin braids of bread or you can make shorter fat braids of bread. The bread will taste the same in the end but the shorter fatter braids will take a bit longer to bake.


Next I lined my baking sheet with parchment paper. My baking sheets are very large so I can easily get two braids on one sheet. If your baking sheets are on the small side, you will need to use two baking sheets.

Transfer the three logs of dough to the baking sheet and braid them into a loaf. I prefer to start braiding my loaves from the middle, working to each end, but you can also start braiding at one end and work your way to the other end.


Once the braids are completed, cover them loosely with saran or food safe plastic and proof in a warm, draft free place until almost doubled in size. My braids took about half an hour to fully proof.


My braids are fully proofed now. I basted them with milk and sprinkled them with the sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon topping.


Now the braids have been basted and sprinkled and are ready to go in the oven.


My braids have just come out of the oven. I baked them for about 35 to 40 minutes, rotating them front to back halfway
through the baking time. Baking times will vary depending on how long or short your braids are.

Note: If you are baking your braids on two baking sheets, you will need to rotate the baking sheets top to bottom shelf,
as well as front to back halfway through the baking time.


I cooled the braids for about 30 minutes and then sliced them. This is what the bread looks like inside.


This is a close up of the crumb of the braids made from the applesauce version of the recipe.

************************************************** ***************

Here are the braids made from the pumpkin version of the recipe. I made these braids shorter and fatter than the braids made with apples.

I used 2 tsp cinnamon and 5 Tbsp honey in the dough and added pecans, raisins, and chopped figs. I made the dough following the master recipe above.


The loaves have been proofed, basted with milk, and sprinkled with the sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom topping. They are ready to go into the oven to bake.


The braids took about 45 to 50 minutes to bake. They have just come out of the oven. I let them cool for half an hour and then sliced them.


This is what the final bread and its crumb looked like. You can see that the pumpkin version was quite different in color.

[Baxter Renegade]

All bread should be made from 1 part bread, 1 part chocolate, 1 part beer, 3 parts sex, 4 parts cocaine, 8 parts baking soda.

BTW Cool thread