The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Greetings from NE Ohio

JoeV's picture
JoeV

Greetings from NE Ohio

According to my account, I joined up here 1 year and 10 hours ago, so I have to appologize for hanging around with my mouth shut. I've been baking bread for a whisker over one year, and I'm becoming a disciple of Peter Reinhart.  Hopefully I can take my baking to a new level by your example and Peter's BBA. Help yourself to a loaf of Italian on me...

 

 

I made 24 loaves last Friday for two events at church, along with some Honey Whole Wheat loaves and HWW sandwich rolls. I do this on 3/4 sheet pans in a cheapo 30" oven, 4 loaves at a time or 20 rolls per sheet pan.

 

 

Joe

 

 

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

Joe, "welcome" longtime lurker and new poster!  I'm in NEO, too (I live in Stow and work in Cleveland).  I'm at work right now, so I can't see your pics, but I can't wait to get home and check them out!

Phyl

JoeV's picture
JoeV

Thanks for the welcome, Phyl. I live in Mentor, but my son works down your way in Copley. Here's a little seeded rye to whet your appetite...

 

 

 

Joe

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

are you ambitious!! I can't imagine making that much in one day. YIKES! Welcome to TFL and please be sure to share some more of your baking.

Betty

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

Joe, what amazing looking loaves!  The next time you bake for the church, I'm sure you could make 25 loaves instead of 24.  I wouldn't mind a trip to Copley or Mentor.....

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

You have been busy!  I love Italian bread..I'll just help myself to the one on the top right! Your loaves are beautiful....

 Thanks, Joe

Sylvia

SulaBlue's picture
SulaBlue

All so perfectly shaped, and evenly scored!

 

I'm curious, though, why it seems that you cut the ends off the loafs in the second picture before bagging?

Maverick's picture
Maverick

If I had to venture a guess I would say each is bagged as half a loaf, so it only looks like the ends are cut off. I am sure the OP will verify/correct this, but that is what it looks like to me.

ques2008's picture
ques2008

wow, thought you might be in the bread business, but how nice that you give a bit of your time and a lot of your bread to your church.  wish i was a parishioner in your neck of the woods.  bet your bread is one of many reasons people attend sunday service (just kidding). :)

 

Aprea's picture
Aprea

Great work!  May I ask you where you get your bags?  That may sound like a stupid question.  Also, could you share your recipe for your honey wheat rolls?  They look very enticing!

 

Thank you!  Anna

swtgran's picture
swtgran

Wow, I think I need to go to break bread with you at your next church function.  That bread looks amazing.  I just moved to Brimfield from Munroe Falls, so we are practically neighbors with Phyl and you.  Welcome.  Terry

JoeV's picture
JoeV

Thanks for all the nice welcoming comments. Let me say that that was the most bread I ever baked in one day. I committed to bake bread for a men's renwal dinner (10 loaves of Italian) which I knew the date of, and the bake sale was promised 15 loaves, but the date was not finalized. As luck would have it, both fell on the same date, so I just took the day off work (I own a Handyman business) and started baking at 6 a.m., and finished around 5 p.m.I also bought a third 3/4 sheet pan, and by keeping double dough batches (4 loaves) at around 1/2 hour increments, I simply plodded mindlessly through the day and stuck with it till it was done. While I really enjoy baking, I must admit that by the end of the day I was worn out, and this exercise made me realize I don't want to do this every day...it's a hobby, and nothing more.

The wheat bread was baked in 12-3/4" commercial bread pans, and I cut the loaves in half. I do this for our church bake sales, because we have a lot of seniors who like fresh bread, but a full size loaf would be too much for them, particularly the ones who live alone. So some of my bread gets cut into half loaves jsut for these folks. Regardless, every loaf gets sold because of the great homemade flavor and no preservatives other than Kosher salt, butter or olive oil, depending on the recipe.

I bought 1,000 15" bread bags from Bauer Supply in Mentor Ohio for around $26, and have used half of them in the past year. I recently found 18" bread bags in 100 packs for $2.95 from an Amish bulk food store in Middlefield, Ohio (B&R Bulk Foods, 16099 Nauvoo Road, 440-632-5584, Mon-Wed 8-5, Fri 8-7, Sat 8-4, closed Thursday and Sunday.). They also carry bulk flours and corn meal at ridiculous prices. I can't recall exactly, but I believe they carry no less that 8-10 DIFFERENT flours, and can special order anything the big mills provide. They will bag any volume of their stock flours, so you can get 1# or up to 25# in a heavy poly bag. I get 25# bags of Montana Sapphire that I use for all of my breads from B&R for about $.49 per pound, which is $2.50 less than a 25# bag in the grocery store. It's worth the 30 mile trip just to chat with the owners. The first time I visited the store, I was overwhelmed by all the different flours on the shelves, so I asked the owner what flour the Amish community use for their bread, and he said the Montana Sapphire. From the first loaf I made, I was sold on this flour for all of my bread.

I have a website at www.flyfishohio.us where I have begun to archive my recipes so I can share them with others. I'm still uploading some recipes, so be patient and they will eventually all be there. Feel free to share the recipes with others if you like them. The Italian and honey whole wheat are there now, so enjoy them.

 

Joe

Aprea's picture
Aprea

Thank you for all of the info - I really admire your work.  Good luck....and happy baking!

photojess's picture
photojess

congrats on a really busy day, and a beautiful outcome.  They will surely be pleased.  Nice work...I really like the looks of the seeded rye too.  Is that recipe on here somewhere?  Thanks

JoeV's picture
JoeV

The recipe for that rye is on my website for the taking. Enjoy!

 

Joe

swtgran's picture
swtgran

Joe, thanks for the info on the bulk food store. I generally get my Sapphire flour from an Amish bulk food store near Hartville. We camp at Punderson a lot and usually drive over to Middlefield and stop at Mesopatamia to go to the general store there. Terry