The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

1, 2, 3, success! FINALLY

sunnspot9's picture
sunnspot9

1, 2, 3, success! FINALLY

Hello All,

I am happy to say that I have produced 2 successful loaves now!  I am sorry to say-- No thanks to the book I bought to get me going. I bought a book and decided I would bake one recipe till I got really good at it and then move on to others, I am now thinking that the recipe was flawed, because after much frustration with it I decided to try the 1,2,3 method, AND bought another book- The Bread Bible, Beranbaum, and used the cooking instructions she provided for some of her recipes, the result:

 

And the next loaf (which I overbrowned a bit but doesnt tast burnt and is still moist)

I am SO happy! Nice texture, moist, and most importantly, Finished. I was very frustrated by my repeated failed attempts, angry in fact because the more time I spent here on this website, the more I began to see flaws with the instruction of the book, I think one should make sure one's recipes will work before you sell them to eager beginners.  On the other hand, I am SO thankful for this website and for all the help I have received from other members, if not for this site and the info and people here I probably would have given up. Now I can make bread and SHARE it with others! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Very nice!  Congrats!

BobS's picture
BobS

Glad you stuck with it.

 

b

cranbo's picture
cranbo

Wonderful news! The last (crumb) photo looks especially good. 

sunnspot9's picture
sunnspot9

Thanks Floydm BobS and cranbo!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

you!  Persistence is a characteristic that will never fail you.   Now it's on to new horizons. 

Happy baking.

sunnspot9's picture
sunnspot9

I must say that I only tried two recipes, but still, I believe there are problems.

The book is called "the art of baking with natural yeast"

Recipe- I have cut it in half because I only wanted one loaf, I tried this several times unsuccessfully

1/4 C starter (instructed by the book tomaintain with this ratio: 1C water and 1C heaping flour)

1 1/4 C lukewarm water

1 tsp salt

1/8 C honey

1/8 C molasses

3 1/2 - 4 C whole wheat bread flour

Paraphrase insturctions: combine wet ingredients in mixer, add 7c flour, add more till it cleans sides, machine knead till windowpane test, then hand knead a few times, place in pregreased bowl, turn to coat, cover and rise 6-12 hours.  Then shape and let rise 2 - 2 1/2 hrs. Bake at 375' for 25 minutes or until internal temp is 180'

If one is not a beginner, one could make adjustments based on one's experience, but being a beginner, I had no experience to fall back on.