October 30, 2007 - 4:20pm
fresh bread or rolls for breakfast - how early??
Greetings -
I'd like to have something freshly baked for breakfast at 7:00.
Has anyone recipe suggestions that can be prepared (or pulled out of the fridge) and baked in short order that doesn't require that I get up much earlier than 6:00?
Thanks kindly.
- Richard
http://www.oldWithoutMoney.com
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Boy, that's tough. Even if you have a risen loaf in the frig., and you start with a cold oven, breads generally shouldn't be eaten until they have thoroughly cooled, which takes an hour or more, depending on the size and shape of the loaf.The closest I can come from breads in my repetoire would be Peter Reinhart's "pain a l'ancienne." It doesn't have a rising after the loaves are formed, and it cools quickly.How about a quick bread, e.g., banana nut bread, or muffins or popovers?
David
David -
Muffins, popovers or cinnamon buns would be fine.
Thanks for the Reinhart reference -- I'll check that one out.
I don't think I need start with a cold oven -- I believe that there's a timer
that I could use to have the oven at temperature when I get up.
The other thing that I was thinking -- if I used a very small amount of yeast
in the dough, and mixed with cool water at around midnight -- might I be able
to get away with a single slow rise (and have a room-temp dough in the a.m.)?
- Richard
www.oldwithoutmoney.com
Peter Reinhart's bagel recipe retards in the fridge overnight then goes straight into the boiling water. I make a batch of dough Friday nights then cook half Saturday morning and half Sunday morning. If you start the water boiling at 6, you can have fresh bagels by 7.
I would think any kind of roll would work. You could shape them in the evening and refrigerate until you get up in the morning. I would take them out and turn on the oven. They'll be closer to room temp by the time the oven is hot.
Most rolls, and perhaps some breads can be mostly baked at a low temp, then frozen until needed. I would think that if the frozen rolls were transferred from freezer to refrigerator in the evening, they would be ready to bake in the morning. The 2nd bake in the hot oven browns the rolls and heats them back up. You can find general directions in most bread books.
As a person who loves to bake but hates to clean up, I use this strategy for bread in the morning.
a. Bake lots of extra rolls one day, put them in the freezer, then wrap them in foil and reheat them the morning I want them.
b. Make lots of extra dough on one day, divide it into workable portions (1 pound works well), then put them into oiled ziplocs into the freezer. Take the dough out of the freezer the night before and put it on your counter (or in your fridge, depending on the temp), shape it in the morning or for pizza at night, or whatever. Let it proof (covered) for around 30 minutes, bake.
If you choose option b, between shaping and baking, you can sleep until six and take them out of the oven at 7.
mcs -
Thanks. Portions are the key, I think.
I happened to be up late last night, and decided to play with hydration, inspired by this week's reading of Suzanne Dunaway's No Need to Knead (tragically out of print, and used copies on Amazon now stoopid costly).
At midnight or so, I added 1 cup of starter to 2 cups of flour, and added about 2/3 cup of water. Give or take. And some salt. Kept adding flour 'til the dough became not entirely unmanageable. Wound up with about one pound of dough. Put it on a plastic cutting board and covered it with the mixing bowl. Crashed.
Woke up early, 5:45ish. Turned on the oven, & folded the dough.
Put the dough in when the oven hit 500. Spritzed every 2 min for the first 10 min.,
then lowered the oven to 450 for an additional 20 min. Wiped off the flour and did some budget reconciliation on the laptop for work. [After all, I've gotta buy more flour for the bread & gas for the oven!]
My better half was most enthusiastic about the results.
- Richard
www.oldwithoutmoney.com
Sounds like you were pulling the late shift, but it was worth it. If you'd like, I can post or send you a recipe that I use for pizza dough and rolls too that works pretty well for me.
-Mark
Mark -
Yes, if you'd be so kind.
Cheers,
- Richard
www.oldwithoutmoney.com
Makes a total of 4 lbs. of dough - perfect for pizza or rolls / bread
starter made up the night before:
204g all purpose flour
124g water
large pinch instant yeast
mix together, then knead for 5 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled (by lightly oiled I mean lightly sprayed with 'Pam') bowl and cover with saran wrap for 16 hrs or so.
In a larger bowl or saucepan, mix together:
1022g all purpose flour
578g water
1Tbsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
knead ingredients together until it forms a ball, then add your starter in chunks. If you're doing it by hand, knead for 10 minutes, if with a mixer knead for 6 minutes on low/med.
Place it all in a lightly oiled container for 60 minutes, then fold and place back in the bowl for another 60 minutes. After this time, you're ready to shape it for final proofing or divide it into portions for the freezer. Place your portions in lightly oiled ziplocs for the freezer. When you want them, take them out at night (for your breakfast) or in the morning (for your dinner). I usually shape and then proof them in a slightly warm oven with a pan of water to help them out. Take them out when it's time to preheat the oven. 4 ounce rolls bake at 450 for about 20 minutes and pizza bakes at 500-550 for 10 minutes. When they look done, they are done.
You can bake them on a pizza stone, double pan with parchment paper, or double pan with cornmeal.
I think that's it. If you have a scale, and you use these proportions, you should be real close. Of course you can also scale this recipe up or down. Good luck and get some sleep.
-Mark