I am trying to find a recp that includes red or Hab pepers, black beans, corn in a round loaf style.  I was told it was a spicy Guatamalan pepper bread but I can not find it anywhere.  I was only visiting the area and can't go back to ask...Have any of you any idea how to make this?  It is super hot and I love it!

Hi,

I just took the two loafs out of the oven and though I followed P.R.´s instructions to the letter (and I am not an absolute beginner...) the bread turned out almost as flat as pita bread!!!

My husband's comment that a pita that took two days to bake must be a very special kind of pita only adds to my frustration.... :) Any ideas what I did wrong?????

Thanks

Has anyone tried making some of Farine's fermented fruit ciabatta?  I tried a batch last week and hade a great time making some fermented apple juice, but it still didn't impart very much apple flavor to the ciabatta.  I'm wondering if anyone has experience making a stronger fruit ferment.  Here's how my apple hooch looks now:

I let it go for around 5 days, used most of the liquid, then refreshed it with more water and sugar.  After another three days, it has gotten so bubbly that I have to open the bottles slowly.  I put it in the fridge to slow down co2 production.  But I never added yeast to it, just sugar and water.  Here are my adventures with making it, and there is more here on my blog on the ciabatta itself (just scroll down for pics and description).

Thanks to Farine for the great idea.  Now I have ideas bubbling up in my head for more fruit breads.

-Peter

Hello all! I'm working with the Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day Master Recipe...It rose very well on the first ferment and continued to rise huge overnight in the fridge. Today I took it out and cut 1 lb. of dough off, shaped it, and left it for the 40 min recommended rest before baking. The finished product was a tiny little bread loaf, very gummy and chewy, that had risen none that I could see. I took it out at *203 F. I was expecting a big around bread fully fluffed up.

Dissapointed by the size and finished bread rise, I now have a 2 lb. chunk resting in a basket. After 1 1/2 hours it still has not risen. I followed every instruction in the book to a Tee,....but my cold dough just won't rise. Can anyone give me more information on getting cold dough to rise? Thanks

I am making my first batch of 5 minute a day Artisan bread tonite. On the master recipe, the book walks you through mixing the dough and the first rise of 2 hours, but skips to "take the dough out of the fridge the next day".

I can't figure out a couple of thing... First, after the initial 2 hour rise on day one do you punch the dough down and then stick in the fridge? 2nd, once in the fridge for storage, do you snap the lid onto your container or leave it slightly cracked open? Thank you very much for any help

It doesn't seem to matter if I make a sourdough loaf or yeasted loaf,  I try to maintain a certain amount of holes which I succeed at, but what I can't do is achieve that result from a freestanding loaf.  Unless I contain my loaves in a preheated cast iron pan (lid on - then off) I cannot get a boule to stand on its own nor can I seem to shape a baguette.

I resist adding more flour since I prefer the holey texture.  My breads are always tasty - just pretty flat unless I put them in a container of some sort.

HELP!

susie

Baked this one this past weekend and one of my favorites so far! Not just the taste, which is complex and fragrant, but also the look of it. After continuous adjustment in my methods, I finally get a crust and crumb I am pleased with:

My other Hamelman effort was less than successful though, my 2nd try at the Horst Bandel Pumpernickle failed again. The first time I suspected I kept the dough too dry (overcorrecting after reading about the "too wet" problem), so this time I increased water, the dough felt similar to me as the 100% rye I made earlier. It rose OK during proofing, but didn't fill the pullman pan during the bake. It didn't exactly fall, just didn't grow any. I am rather puzzle about this one, I checked and checked my measurements (including the pan size), and this bread is very time consuming to try again, and again, and again! Sigh, but I am obsessed, I am getting more rye berries today so I will give it another shot this weekend, maybe even wetter? Or maybe I should mix/knead the high gluten flour with water first before adding the massive amount of rye flour/soaker?

Another one I want to try next is his cheese bread. However, I want to eliminate the instant yest in the forumla to make it 100% sourdough since I plan to give it an overnight cold proofing, anyone has tried it before?

Hi,

On a recent trip to Paris, one bread that I really really loved was the 'Petit épeautre' bread from Eric Kayser's boulangerie. I understand that this is a kind of sourdough spelt bread; I'm wondering if anyone here is familiar with this bread and has a recipe for something similar or at least a guess what makes this bread so incredibly delicious.

So I checked out Techniques and Recipes, read it cover to cover, and chose this as my fist recipe.  I'm looking for something that will be relatively straightforward to produce, adaptable for most any meal I might prepare, but also flavorful enough to be eaten on its own or as a sandwich; this recipe seemed a likely candidate.  I built the 100% poolish last night and by this morning it had doubled and smelled wonderful.  I assembled the bread from that point as directed, using an autolyse and keeping mixing time to a minimum.  Thus far all has gone well except for the consistency of the dough: it is completely unshapeable.  Folds have been difficult as the dough just wants to blob out, and absolutely require use of a scraper.  Forget shaping; I'd be left with the worlds largest tortilla.  Fortunately I have several pans that together will hold the dough volume so I will have bread tonight.  Still smells great.  Anyway, I found a couple other threads referencing this recipe, both of which made it clear that their authors made the dough at significantly lower hydration than the recipe in the book I have before me (p. 111 gives it as 69%).  Any thoughts?

EDIT:

So it's now several hours later, the bread is out of the oven and cooled.  It is without a doubt my best effort thus far, although yhere is certainly room for improvement.  I baked for the first 20 min at 375, then upped it to 425 until I got 210 on my thermometer.  The crust is perfect to my taste: crispy but not hard or too thick, chewy, lightly golden.  The crumb seems like it could have baked longer (a common theme in my breads) but it's not doughy and has a wonderful flavor.  It should stand just fine up to my slicer for sandwich bread!

Hey Freshloafers,

Long time no post.  Just wanted to share with you a recipe that I have been working on.  I have been on baking hiatus since summer as it was too hot to turn on the oven...  This is my 3rd try in the past few weeks to bake something that is edible...  Lemme know what you think and if the recipe works for you.

Cheers,

Tim

Test Loaf #3 (Pugliese) - 10/4/09
Ingredients:
1000g AP Flour
800g Water
200g Scrap Dough
24g Kosher Salt
½ tsp Active Dry Yeast

Tools:
Digital Scale
Large Metal Mixing Bowl
Wooden Mixing Spoon
Plastic Scraper
2 Baking Stones
Flipping Board
Linen Couche
4+liter plastic container with cover
Olive Oil
Old beat up sheet pan placed at bottom of oven for steaming
Oven thermometer
Instant read thermometer

A few days before starting:
Make some 50%-60% hydration scrap dough, let ferment at room temperature for a few hours and refrigerate until ready to use. You can also make a biga. I use a whole wheat/rye mix/AP flour scrap dough...

Day 1 - Start at 10:30pm
Weigh out all ingredients using a digital scale.
Add yeast to scrap dough and dissolve with some water. After scrap dough is dissolved, add remainder of water.
Place AP Flour in large mixing bowl and slowly add the water/yeast/scrap dough mixture and mix until a shaggy dough forms, cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
After rest, knead dough with plastic scraper and slowly add salt and knead until salt is dissolved. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
After rest, turn dough out onto well floured surface and turn dough using stretch and fold method. Repeat 3 times at 20 minute intervals.
After last turn, which should be about midnight, place dough into lightly oiled plastic container, cover, and let rise overnight on countertop until 9:30am the next morning.

Day 2 - 9:30am
**Note: This recipe makes 3 loaves that weigh approx 580g after baking. Also, I am using 2 baking stones, 1 placed on the 2nd rack from the bottom, and 1 placed on the 2nd rack from the top.
Turn dough out onto well floured surface and divide into 3 equal portions. Shape dough by gently stretching out into a rectangle. Take one corner and fold towards you past center of the rectangle, turn 90 degrees and repeat 3 more times. Place seam side down on a floured couche. Repeat for the remaining 2 loaves, cover and let proof for 45 to 60 minutes.

Place sheet pan on bottom of oven, place the 2 baking stones in oven as above and turn oven on to 500F with using the convection bake function. Place oven thermometer on top stone.

When loaves are proofed, impression barely remains after poked with a floured finger, and oven reaches 500F, take oven thermometer out, using a flipping board (loaves will go onto stone seam side up), place 2 loaves directly onto top stone, and 1 loaf onto bottom stone, and them immediately place ½ cup of water onto baking sheet at bottom of oven, and close. Wait 1 minute and place another ½ cup of water on the baking sheet at bottom of oven and close. Bake for 20 minutes at 500F, rotate and shift loaves on top stone to bottom stone, and from bottom stone to 15 minutes, and lower oven to 425F. Loaves are done when the internal temperature at center reaches 210F. Let loaves cool completely before cutting, about 2 hours...

Link to photos in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108965&id=510844475&l=a97991a734