Last night was my second attempt at homemade pasta using home-milled flour. While my first attempt (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25340/experiments-pasta-milling-my-own-flour) was delicious, I tried a few new things based on comments there and reading elsewhere.

 I started out milling a 50/50 mix of durum wheat (14%) and hard white wheat (13%). After milling, I used a #30 mining pan (yes, as in 'gold mining.' It fits perfectly on 5 gallon buckets and large containers like the one shown) to sift out some of the bran, ending up with 85% extraction by weight. I ended up with a little more than 2 cups of flour.

Next, I medium-chopped three cloves of garlic and sauted them in a tablespoon of butter for 5 minutes or so, then added 6 oz of fresh spinach, sprinkled lightly with kosher salt, and cooked 3-4 minutes, until nicely wilted. Moved to a seive and let drain and cool a bit for 20 minutes.

After draining, I put the spinach/garlic mix into a blender, added two room-temperature eggs, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil (remember there's butter and salt from the spinach). Blended up, and poured into a well with the flour.

I worked this in with a fork until it became too much to stir. After ending up with an excessively wet dough last time, I was determined to sneak up on the proper hydration this time. I dumped the still-dry mixture onto my board, and began working in water by hand until it just came together.

After about 12 minutes of kneading, it came together into a nice dough that felt like Play-do. It wasn't at all sticky, nor was it noticably dry. I sprayed it with olive oil, put the lid on the container, and then went about my day. I got back to it four hours later. I put it on a lightly floured board, rolled it out to about the thickness of a pencil, and fired up the Atlas.

This time, I only had to add a tiny, tiny bit of flour to the sheets between setting 3 and 4, and they cut perfectly. They got to dry for right at an hour while I worked on everything else.

Here's the final dish. Toasted almond slivers, mushrooms, onions, garlic and green peas with shrimp. The pasta was cooked for around 4 minutes, then mixed in with everything for a couple of minutes in the pan. It had a great flavor, and was sooooo soft, almost like udon.

Ingredients 

• 3 cups (480 grams) bread flour
• 1 pack active yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp lukewarm water
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp melted salted butter
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped italian parsley

Directions

While it's not a bread recipe, it's a great way to use up stale bread, especially heels. Very little prep time, very yummy results. Excellent for winter nights. It's a spanish-inspired bread and garlic soup, Sopa de Ajo!

For 4-6 people you will need:

8 cups vegetable or chicken broth

as many whole eggs as you have people

a 1/2 cup of stale, cubed bread (I use cubes about 1.5 inches on a side, including crust)

8 cloves garlic 

1 T paprika (smoked is nice if you can find it)

2 T olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and slice the garlic thinly. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a stock pot or Dutch oven until the oil shimmers. Add the garlic and saute, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant, soft and just barely beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Add the paprika and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broth and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once the soup has reached a boil, turn it down to  a gentle simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Crack the eggs into the simmering broth -- you are going to poach them. Cook until the eggs have reached your desired level of done-ness (I like 'em hard, but that's not traditional -- really, I think poached softly is probably  more traditional). 

Divide the cubed stale bread between the bread bowls. Spoon a poached egg into each bowl, atop the bread cubes. Ladle the broth over the top and serve immediately. 

Makes a delicious, warming, comforting soup, and takes less than 15 minutes to prepare. 

Enjoy!

P.S. Mods, I know it's not strictly bread, but it's made with bread... please feel free to move to a more appropriate forum if one exists. thanks!

Question ohh sage bakers! 

If you want to make something with a garlic flare like that kick butt ciabatta bread recipe that is floating around, what is the best way to do it?

Chop up a few cloves of garlic and mince it and throw it in as you mix it up or go for powder?

Has anyone every experimented with raw garlic in bread and does it throw any of the rising or process?

Thanks all!

NG

South of Half Moon Bay on the California coast there's a market in Pescadero called Arcangeli's (Norm's) which is famous for it's artichoke bread.  It's pretty much amazing..

Now that I've been making all our bread from scratch, I'd love to try to make something similar to it..  I was wondering if anyone out there has given it a try..  It's a round moist garlic loaf which is studded with artichokes..  I'd even love to hear about a good garlic bread recipe..   I would say that this loaf is more moist than typical garlic bread I think of, probably because most are just french bread with garlic spread..   But it had a bit of an olive oil taste..  And the bag would actually have oily spots when you'd grab a hot loaf off their shelf.

Anyways, if anybody has a clone recipe or suggestions for a moist garlic bread I could do in a clay baker (LaCloche) that would be great!

Here's a link to the loaf..

http://www.normsmarket.com/store/artichoke-garlic-herb-p-846.html

Hi, I am roasting some beautiful cloves of garlic (the house smells wonderful) and I am also in the process of warming up my starter for a couple of loaves. I was thinking of crushing the roasted cloves and adding them to my bread during the last few minutes of kneading. Does this sound like a good plan?

Thanks, Maggie

Defeated by garlic sums it up.  Actually that is why I joined The Fresh Loaf - looking for advice from those more versed in garlic than myself.

My problem:  Roasted garlic bread that breaks apart as it rises, becoming worse during oven spring.  In the end I have a loaf that looks like a flat, craggy mess.  The tricky thing is that it doesn't always do this, even when all the conditions are the same.  Defeated... yes!

My recipe:  Though I won't be giving the exact recipe, being a bread baker by trade, I will give you a little idea of what I'm working with.  The base recipe is a tried and true one for me - a mixture of unbleached and whole wheat flours, sourdough starter, salt, yeast, and of course water.  I have used the base as is as well as with a variety of added flavorful ingredients.  In all other cases I get beautiful loaves.  It is when I add the roasted garlic (homemade and mashed) that the results turn ugly.

My question:  What is going wrong?  I have an inkling that maybe the garlic is acting as a bully towards the gluten development, but I'm really not sure.  Does garlic interfere with the development of gluten?  If so, what is the max amount that can be added to a loaf (mine is 1-1/2 lbs.)?  Any other ideas about what's going on?

Thank you in advance!

Procedure for preparing a few days worth of mild garlic  

What you need

30 minutes of free time

the desire for garlic

As much garlic as you want, probably 3 heads, Minimum 50 cloves recommended. If you are going to the effort, make it worth the effort

Olive oil

salt

a sharp knife

a frying pan

the top to a frying pan

a stove top,  BBQ, small thermonuclear device, or other controllable heat source

A spoon, or a fork, or chopsticks to stir the garlic in the frying pan

A preferred beverage

Optional: Bread & Cheese, maybe some jamon de jabugo 

If you prepare garlic , the accesories are probably available

Procedure Heat frying pan to "low to medium" heat, put in olive oil to  cover the bottom of the pan

Cut off the root end of each garlic clove.

Don't bother peeling

put the unpeeled garlic in the frying pan and cover it. Walk away to enjoy a cool refreshing beverage,

return occasionally to stir . The skins fall off with stirring. This is the equivalent of blanching tomatoes or peaches, but smells better. When all of the garlic is soft, they are done.  

Once cooled, add salt on the naked garlic. Or don't.   The result is good for everything from spreading on the good bread, to scrambled eggs, to spaghetti sauce, to any appropriate destination .   

What is the limit to the amount of fresh minced garlic I can put in a loaf of whole wheat bread. The loaf contains 4 1/2 cups of flour.  We love garlic but I seem to remember reading somewhere That too much and it won't come out right.

Gail