I've been popping in and out for quite a while now, asking for and receiving the best information available anywhere. Thought it was about time I introduced myself and explain why I have developed such an obsession with baking.
Today I baked up the Whole Wheat bread recipe in Hamelman's book using White Wheat instead of bread flour, and Wildflower Honey. (A bit more than the recipe called for, a little less than double) then let it proof in the fridge for 48 hours. I got a super-sour loaf that was a bit dense with no real oven rise. Still, the flavor is great, with a touch of molasses. Yum. Anyone else played with retarding for extended times to get really sour breads?
If at first you don't succeed, as the old saying goes, try, try again. I made soft breadsticks last week with all-purpose flour and they turned out great. Today, I tried with wholewheat 2 1/2 cups and all-purpose 1 cup. I think I should have let the wheat flour soak for a while because it didn't absorb the water the way the all-purposed did, and I was afraid to add too much more flour. It's in the pan rising (I hope) at the moment, Is my thinking off base, or should I do a soaker? Thanks.
Carol
I have been making bagels for a while, I have noticed that the sufrace of the bagels are comming out for lack of a better term bumpy, the surface is not smooth but thay taste great no one complains, just wondering if this is from not enough surface tension (I shape them into a ball and poke thumb thru the middle) or is this from not kneading enough. or just the nature of homemade bagels, they seem to be like that before even before they are boiled. My loal bagel shop makes them from scratch but they have a smooth surface.
I just ordered about 8# of Italian 00 flour. This flour is milled in Naples Italy, and should be good quality. I read that 00 is just a standard for the grind of flour. Any flour could receive this "00" if it were milled fine enough. ...but supposedly the brand I ordered is suitable for pizza.
Any good ideas on dough preparation and formulas using this flour for pizza?
I've learned that most our bread and all-purpose flour contains malted barley flour, and that this is food for the yeast? correct me if I'm wrong.......what would we do if our flour didn't contain this malted flour? I live in the U.S.
Does most the flour in the world contain malted barley flour.....I guess I'm asking if the special European flours...the French flours for bread, and the Italian OO flour used for pizza and such.
How does this change a recipe?
A friend of mine has an allergy and she has been baking her own irish soda loaves for a few months. She thinks though that using a breadmachine would save her time and is looking to buy one. She asked me for advice, on using sourdough in the breadmachine (which i would be providing). My first thoughts on this is that it is known to be hard to use sourdough ONLY (no yeast etc) in the breadmachine and that she would be better off doing quickbreads with baking soda.
What are YOUR experiences? I have no breadmachine and prefer to make dough by hand anyways.....
I was given some great new Italian Sausage bu a new local vendor, so a great excuse to make Peter Reinhart's Casatiello fron the BBA book. Really a nice change. It was wonderful.
Here is some crumb detail
