The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

We 3 gmas baked together

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

We 3 gmas baked together

 This week we baked Potato Dill bread from Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery, page 89. We had a great time making this dough, it was easy to mix and has a silky, nice texture to it.  The slow proofing (retarding) was alright since our guru sister Barb timed it out the easy way... Sunday a.m. mix and retard in fridge til evening...then separate, rest, shape and retard overnight in fridge... then leave out in the morning to reach 62-65 and bake! Whalla...  the first pictures here are Helen's loaves... starting with her dough.   

then we see her loaves all ready for their overnight chill.

and then her great finished product... I think Nancy Silverton would be proud of my sister.

then there is this great crumb shot... she really likes the bread and will be making this one again and again.

Our beloved Lucy spent the night in my sister Barb's "summer room" which has stayed a beautiful 35 degrees for weeks... perfect for a nice leisurely retard... but with Lucy showing up, the silly room dropped to 3 degrees... do you know that 3 degrees FREEZES baskets of bread dough... yeah, it does.... 

 they turned out beautiful, but took a long time getting up to the requested 62 degrees, once brought inside.... She says the crumb is a little dense but the taste is good.

While waiting for those rounds, Barb made these great "Cottage Cheese and Dill" loaves... in loaf pans, since her baskets were full of frozen rounds... they turned out awesome... 

Her husband pronounced them deeelicious... and that is what it is all about! Very good bread many loaves over in Washington!

 I made mine in the football shapes that Nancy Silverton recommended... my slashing is too perpendicular... and the loaves don't look as brown in the above picture...made sure they were 205 degrees, tastewise,  they are very good.  

The author says that the sandwiches made with tuna... are awesome with this bread and my husband agrees with that statement!

. Nice toasty loaves that look sourdoughy and beautiful.  The crumb seems a lot denser than Helen's with her nice big holes... ah... I will achieve those some day.  

We keep striving to learn more and more and we keep having fun, 

                                               

It is Barb's turn to pick the bake for next week...    

We had fun doing this one, whenever we do a Silverton, we get to visit for a few more days since her breads tend to be more 2 or 3 day breads... loving the baking together and sharing our results.  Getting close to Valentine's Day... and my challenge of the rose loaf... aaccckkk!

See you here, happy baking,

Diane

 

MANNA's picture
MANNA

Helen's loafs look amazing. How is she baking them in the oven. Cast-iron cooker, steam-meathod??? does she bake one at a time or all 3 together?

hanseata's picture
hanseata

and pretty scoring on the boule.

Karin

gmabaking2's picture
gmabaking2

Thanks for the compliment. I baked all 3 loaves on the same stone. I have a large rectangular stone and they fit with room to grow.  I sprayed the oven three times in the first five minutes per the recipe and was pleased to see that it worked. This was a fun bake, as always with my sisters. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Nancy Silverton's recipes.  They always come out so good!  This one is no exception. Just beautiful inside and out.  What nice baking.  I feel like the last 2 times I've been picking on Diane and I don't mean to and I know it's not her fault.  There is something wrong with her oven for the loaves to be coming out that pale when they hit 205 F on the inside.  Either the top element is burned out or her oven is way off in temperature or her instant read thermometer is wrong. - bu8t a gummy crumb would point to that.  I hate to see her work so hard and do everything right and have the bake go haywire on the pale pale side because of a bad oven. 

I say we need to get to the bottom of this with an oven thermometer and check it out to make sure the elements top and bottom go red when turned on.  Those beautifully shaped batards deserve to be blistered and baked boldly brown like Pip's he showed off yesterday.

I thought the rose bake was for Easter?  I was planning on making it with colored Easter eggs?  Now it's a Valentine's Day bake and it will  have to be a pink heart !  My apprentice will go crazy trying to figure out a pink rose bakein the shape of a heart :-)  I'm still in - what recipe are we going to use for the base?

Nice baking GMA's  

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I have broad shoulders! I am wondering about all those temperature elements too... I think the instant thermometer is okay... it works fine on my yogurts and cheeses... so next checking the oven temp... the top of my door seems a bit loose.. but the upper and lower elements both get red hot... don't know if red hot equals accurate... will get an oven thermometer to check it out... had one, but the lense got so dark I couldn't read it so I tossed it.  Maybe we did say Easter... but since I am having "shoulder replacement" surgery the 12th of February... I thought our Monday bake on the 11th would be a good time... In case I am convalescing through March... I haven't cleared that schedule with my sisters yet... think they will read it here? ;-) I was thinking that tomato basil would be good... but I am open to suggestions. What do you think?

Diane 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

you pick it and we'll try to bake it, but you know my apprentice is tough to get to follow any directions -  except eat and sleep!  You deserve better from your oven.  Good luck with that shoulder surgery! n You are more brave than I am. 

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

I agree, you pick it and we'll try to bake it! A rose in the shape of a heart....well okay but remember my rose turned into a turban for King's Cake. Who knows what a rose/heart could become (I am resisting starting in about "A rose by any other name..." There are lots of traditional Easter Breads that we can bake later in the month. We haven't ever explored the no-knead of Leahy's fame. Never fear, we will have bread, for "Senza il pane tutto diventa orphano" ----Without bread, everyone is an orphan.*

In solidarity with your shoulder rehab, our various apprentices will have to learn to depend on mixers and no-knead recipes for a month. Ah, just like the old days before taking up the pursuit/hobby/addiction/ to making Artisan bread.

*From Carol Field's The Italian Baker

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

My vote is to use the tomato basil bread formula from Breadsong's post in "A Christmas Rose" for the bake on February 11th... that should get a standing ovation ... and be a great treat for folks to eat if they come to see me when I have the surgery! LOL.

Diane

MANNA's picture
MANNA

Inspired by your bakes and having the proper leftovers from dinner this week. I decided to make this bread also. I had to leave mine on the counter overnight since the 3 degree temps here keep fermentation slow this time of year.

gmabaking's picture
gmabaking

are just beautiful. I hope to learn to leave bread in oven long enough to come close to that burnished gold that you achieved.