January 1, 2010 - 8:48am
Pretty loaves
If I do say so myself. The first bake of the new year got off to a good start.
We are going to my brother's for dinner tonight and I made these to take with us. I used "my" standard French bread formula but wanted a more dramatic presentation than my normal small rolls.
Share
Almost too pretty to cut into. Nice job
Great job! Love the crust! How big are these two? Al
Each loaf had 15 ounces of dough. It is 67% hydration and I used half the flour and water to make an biga which I ferment overnight.
The bread went over well at our dinner. Everyone ate lots of it.
These are beautiful! Would you mind sharing your recipe?
Mix together 9 ounces flour, 6 ounces cool water and 1/16 teaspoon of instant yeast. Knead for 2-3 minutes and put back into the mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit 8-10 hours at 68-70 degrees.
Dump that dough out on the counter and put 6 ounces of warm water in the bowl. Cut up the old dough into 8-10 pieces and add it back to the water and slosh it around a little with your spoon. Add 9 ounces of flour, a teaspoon of instant yeast and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.
Knead until smooth and elastic or until you get tired. Put dough in the now oiled bowl, cover and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 68-70 degrees. I take it out and fold it once, whenever I remember. I have neglected this step and it didn't seem to make much difference.
Divide and shape however you want. Let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Bake at 450 degrees with some steam.
This amount of dough also makes six very nice rolls, just right for two people to share one for dinner.
Thank You so much for taking the time to share this recipe. I have wanted a "food scale" for making bread for a long time, but I've never bought one. The picture of your beautiful bread, inspires me and now I want to buy that scale, but I have no idea how to tell the difference between a good scale and a bad scale for making bread? I saw one at Wal-Mart the other day for about 25 dollars and I almost bought it, but I wasn't sure if it was the right kind. I don't want to spend a lot of money for something that a 25 dollar scale can do. I apologize for being so naive about this subject.
Is this the one you looked at?
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11090896&sourceid=1500000000000003260370&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=11090896
It looks like the same item.
You can pay twice that price for a food scale, some of which do some fancy nutritional calculations etc., but for the price of the WalMart item you've found, I think you'd be perfectly happy with that one if all you need to do is weight ingredients in a formula or recipe.
Gambatte!
Thank You so much for the helpful advice.