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Surprisingly, the sweet potato didn't gave as much sweetness as i expected. But it actually helped tenderize the dough and really keeps it moist. The bread came out soft and nice (without added fat), and didn't go dry even in the fridge after more than a day.

Perhaps later on, i might experiment with yam, avocados, zuchinni, carrots & ...parsnips?? :P

Howdy all,

I've been lurking around this website for about a week and decided to join in. I'm an occasional bread baker who would like to improve my loaves. I got into it because my sons have nut/sesame seed allergies. This meant my wife and I could not trust a normal bakery for good rustic bread because there is no way to be assured that the bread didn't get cross-contaminated with sesame seeds or nut products. Still, my wife and I still really love the occasional crusty loaf, so I started to make some bread (I average baking about twice a month).

We are really busy because we have triplet boys (collective age of 27 years old, look at my white hairs!), so I've had to tweak my protocol for baking bread to be as casual and flexible as possible. So, I thought that I'd submit to all of you what I do for feedback, suggestions, comments, etc.

I do love the taste of bread done with a preferment (a biga) and a slow rise, but with our busy schedule, I needed a way to do this with great flexibility. So...

I mix/knead a bread dough (I use the autolyse technique too) using instant yeast, bread flour, salt, and COLD water in a Kitchenaide mixer. I then put it in a lightly oiled stainless steel mixing bowl, cover with plastic and stick it into the refrigerator for a slow, cold first rise (usually about 18-24 hrs).

The next day, I take it out of the refrigerator, fold the dough (which when cold is somewhat stiff), put the dough into a new lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic and then put the whole thing into a weakly warmed oven (Turned on oven for about 1 min, turn it off and then leave the light on -- my oven gets to around 90 F) and wait for about 1-1/2 hr to 2 hrs.

By then, the dough is slowly warmed to around room temperature (maybe slightly warmer) and undergoes a 2nd rise. I then shape my loaves and let proof. After proofing, I do the normal stuff -- slash, wet, bake.

The bread is pretty good (my wife loves it). I bet if I folded it more often it would rise higher in the oven, but as a trade off in my actual hands-on time, it works for me. It has a faintly sour taste (which I happen to like) and the crumb is somewhat irregular but not extremely open like some of the photos I've seen on this website (though my hydration level may help to explain that, I've been hovering around 65-68% for hydration level)

So, what do you think?

Mr. Peabody

I was just playing with some ingredients on Sunday afternoon, and this is what I came out with - it wasn't perfect, but is probably my favorite breakfast/dessert bread that I've made to date.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups water (80-85 degrees)
1.5 cups freshly brewed coffee (allowed to cool to 80-85 degrees)
.5 cup whole milk
1.25 cups chocolate chips
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1.5 cups all purpose flour
2-5 cups bread flour (enough to give a good dough consistency - slightly tacky, but not wet)
1 packet instant yeast
1 tablespoon finely ground sea salt

Combine the water & the yeast in a small bowl.

Combine the coffee, milk, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, & all purpose flour in a large bowl. Once combined, add 1.5 cups of bread flour along with the water/yeast mixture, and combine completely.

Slowly add more flour to dough until it moist and tacky, but pulls into a ball (I begin by adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time, and then taper the addition when it's getting close to the correct consistency)

Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes. Return to a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and allow to rise at room temperature for 90 minutes.

Punch down dough and divide into 2 equal pieces. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Form dough into desired shape and allow to rise for 60 minutes. Put dough into oven and cook for 30-40 minutes until the top is a dark brown.

Allow to cool on rack for 45 minutes before cutting.

I have made this dough into rounds with great success - it should work in a pan too, but I have not tried it this way. Do not place dough directly on a baking stone - use parchment paper to cover or the chocolate chips will melt all over your stone

If you try this bread and have any comments, please e-mail me - I would love to know how it turned out for you!

For the Lunar New Year, aka. Chinese New Year, which was yesterday, i made a batch of steamed buns with sweet black sesame fillings. They were soft and fluffy, except for the age of my flour, which gave a yellowish tinge to it, i think. :)

Happy Year of the Dog!

So today I am pretending to camp in our living room with my three (almost four) year old son. At one point, while he is pretending to be a daddy, he turns to me and says "Now, I have to bake some bread and make some pizzas. You stay here and play with mommy and your sister for a few minutes" and marches off to the kitchen.

Doh!

Hey Guys,
Lucky me I am going to Paris in the spring of this year and I plan on hitting at least one of the bakeries/ patisseries I know of, that being Poilane. However, I want to know pf any others I should hit. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

Ryan

Sourdough photos:

Yum.

I had an unmitigated success with my sourdough starter today. Two round loaves of something resembling my rustic bread but with my starter instead of yeast.

I pulled the starter out and started feeding it every 12 hours beginning Thursday evening. During that time I kept it in my oven with the light on so that it was in a 80 to 90 degree environment. It seems to require that: without it, I don't even get a doubling in 24 hours. With it I get nearly a tripling in size in about 8 hours. We must keep our house too cold.

I made my final dough Saturday night and placed it in "the cold room," a poorly insulated room in our house that stays between 45 and 50 degrees this time of year. In the morning I gave it a fold and put it in the oven with the light on again to take the chill off. Gave it two hours, folded, two hours more, then shaped them. After a three and a half hour final rise I baked them. Amazing how much pop sourdough loaves get in the oven. They came out great.

Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement everyone, particularly Sourdolady. The continued effort paid off.

This recipe comes from "Home Baking-The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World" by Alford and Duguid. I don't know if this book is known on this board as I recently got involved with this site. It is available from chapters.ca and is well worth it. They have 3 excellent books that have 3 of my passions-food, travel, and photography.This is not the speediest bread to make,but it is great.

Portugese Mountain Rye

Poolish 1/2 cup warm water tiny pinch of yeast 1/2 cup unbleached flour

Give the poolish 24 hours at least.

Starter All of the poolish 1 cup water 2 cups dark rye flour Stir the water into the poolish and then add the flour. Mix well. I use a wisk to aerate it. Let it sit loosely covered overnight on the counter.

Bread

Next day, add 3 cups warm water to the starter and mix well in a large bowl. Sometimes, I just use my hands at this point, as it can be pretty tough using a spoon. I take a couple of cups of this mixture as a starter for my next batch. Keep it covered in the fridge and it lasts for a long time.

Add another 1 cup of water to the bowl and 4 tsp salt.Mix. Add 2-3 cups flour to this and add a touch more if you need it. It should still be sticky, but not goopy.

Here is the hard part for me. Knead it for 10 minutes-set the timer, no cheating here. It really does make a difference! You'll need to add more flour as you go, at least one cup, but add slowly.It should still have a definite stickiness if you want to get any rise.

Put the dough into a slightly oiled bowl and make sure it is evenly coated. Wrap it in plastc and set it into the fridge overnight.

Next morning, form 2 boules and let them come to room temperature, then let them rise, covered. They should not double, but maybe 40%. I'm always surprised how long this takes, so be patient as it'll take 4-6 hours at least. You may be able to speed this up by putting it in the oven with the light on, but I've never tried.

Make a few slashes before baking at 500 for 15 min, then 45-50 at 425. I rotate them at least once. The internal temp will be around 205 and the loaves will have a definite thump. Cool on racks-the first piece is a moment of heaven.

Continuing my bread exploration, i decided to try the Sweedish Rye aka Limpa recipe in the BBA.
The loaf was too big to fit in my rather..too small oven, so the loaf look like a snake tht've swallowed too many chickens. In fact, one end was falling a bit from my baking sheet (covered all of it in the photo though) :P.

I reduced the sugar content and used blackstrapp molasses instead. I regretted it. I should have added more sugar.
However, a touch of caraway seeds was added besides the other spices. That went well.