Baking badly for years and it's time to try learn doing it right
I'm a pretty decent cook, but my baking breads are always sub-par.
They're usually dry and hard, or airy without any taste or character. I seem to follow recipes but it doesn't turn out right. I realise that some things simply can't be made properly without a woodfired oven (eg. pizza oven, tandoor), but surely some breads made at home can taste as good as a bakery. My idea of a good bread is one so nice when you taste it out of the oven that you can't stop eating it even though it's without any topping.
In Adelaide, Australia I find it hard to find a good bakery outside ethnic neighbourhoods, and I don't have transport to get there. Most bakeries are large franchises making breads that lack the fresh taste you get from bread straight out of the oven. I think most Australians are unaware of what good bread is like because it's not in our culture, eg. we don't have outdoor tandoors at bus stops from where bread literally comes from the oven to your hand, or French laws governing bread standards, or cold Scandinavian winters where dark rye breads are made and eaten daily. Supermarket 'square' bread is the norm here, and even the 'artisan bread' of the major supermarkets is made in Ireland then shipped to Australia and baked months later, and it's around $5 a piece!
I usually use generic 'no frills' plain flour, instant yeast, and tap water. I've purchased bread flour in the past but it made no difference. Sourdough starter has never even bubbled for me, and I think it's because of the tap water (bottled water's expensive here- nearly $1 a liter/$4 a gallon). Is it essential to buy fresh yeast and mineral water to make good bread?
If I owned a house the first thing I'd instal is a pizza oven. There I'd make Central Asian flat breads, Lebanese breads, pizzas, ciabatta, panna di casa, Naan and more. Until that time I'm stuck with an electric oven and so far, poor quality 'bread'.
Welcome!
You do have some challenges, but I think you can work around them.
The chloramine (chloride) in the water will kill the yeast. Use a simple activated charcoal water filter to remote it.
I would look up Ken Lahey's No Knead process and give it a try. Baking dutch oven is a simple way to help counter some of the issues with unreliable ovens, and the long fermentation builds flavor and gluten without kneading.
Alternatively, a pizza stone and a hardware "cloche" oven will do the trick if you happen to not have a cast iron dutch oven to use.:
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/steam/
Oh, and a scale is an absolute MUST to baking bread. Measuring cups will just not cut it.
Where are you getting your flour from? I found aldi flour to be useless for bread but coles brand is actually pretty good and much more affordable than the specialty bread flour like Laucke.
Try just boiling the jug let it cool and use that and your yeast should be ok.
I totally agree about Aussie bread and i'm sure you'll find enough tips and new things to try and master in this forum that will eventually be much better than you can buy, welcome.
Thanks for the tip Macca, I'll let the water boil and rest for 24 hours next time. I buy Coles plain flour and Woolworths Homebrand plain flour. I use Adelaide tap water.
Have you had success making sourdough using Coles/Woolworths flour and tap water? Instructions online always say to use organic flour and mineral water. My starter never works and I wonder if it's because of the generic non-organic flour and tap water I used.
brand flour when I run out of my usual Defiance brand bread flour, have a look at my last blog post all the loaves and buns I've baked this week used coles flour.
I haven't had a problem with tap water for sourdough, but sure your water would be different to Brisbanes.
Steve.
...might be the best way to improve. Write down all the problems you've identified then work your way through the list typing in keywords as you go. For example, chlorine+water+starter turns up pages of threads. Some are useful, some are not but if you use the wisdom of crowds approach you'll find the majority is (usually) right. Same for plain (all-purpose) flour v bread flour and so on.
But the main things most of us as beginners had to learn was the correct use of time & temperature. At every stage of the process. Get them right and you're halfway there already.
Oh, and don't be too ambitious. There are some fabulous but advanced recipes on this site. Master some simple ones first. A 123 Sourdough recipe is a great place to start.
And, using a search engine, here's a great link I've just found (so thanks for making me look). It's from Shipton Mills, a UK organic miller, and sums up beautifully what I was talking about:
Dough - The 4 T’s
Until I began using the Jim Lahey no-knead method, I too, never baked a decent loaf. There are scores of youtube videos and articles on this method which just uses regular flour and water -- oh and a little bit of yeast. It is virtually foolproof. From Lahey's recipe I started experimenting with sourdough, which was a total failure at first UNTIL I stopped trying to develop my own sourdough and invested in King Arthur Flour sourdough starter (Cost about $3 USD). That was 7 years ago and I've made hundreds of loaves ever since. I now use sourdough exclusively and knead my dough but that's just me. I haven't bought store-bought bread or yeast, for that matter, for the last five years.
All of these folks echo some of the knowledge I have accumulated being part of this online community. It is an amazing resource, I hope you get hooked like the rest of us on baking bread.
Near the top of the page, there is a tab called "Lessons"--advantages are that the lessons are very good, and that they are free! You might want to read through the lessons to see if some of your questions are addressed there.
The people here are so very helpful and nice (well, we do get a not-very-nice poster every once in a great while) and herein there is great wisdom and experience. I'm not a frequent poster, but I read tons here.
(Edit to correct typo)
than you can buy at the bakeries. Chlorine is no problem. i don't like to boil it out since that also de oxygenates the water too and does who knows what else. All you have to do is let it sit out for 24 hours on the counter and poof - no chlorine.
Sourdough starters are a snap as well. Just follow Debra Wink's Pineapple juice method using a whole grain flour -use search,
No need for a WFO for pizza or bread. You can make both just as well in the oven.
Welcome and happy baking
Chloramine, which most but not all water districts use now, does not diffuse into the air like pure chlorine. Just ask any aquarium shop about how many fish that "let it sit for 24hrs" advice kills.
Filtering, or adding another chemical (not a good idea) to drive it out of solution is the only way to get rid of it.
the Handbook either. The tab for that just to the right of "Lessons". It's also very useful. Another easy no-knead bread you might want to look up is a "Grant Loaf".
I use ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to neutralize chloramine. Just keep a big container of water and dissolve a vitamin C tablet in it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ascorbic+acid+chloramine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I'd never before heard about using ascorbic acid to counteract chlorine and chloramine. Good stuff to know.
Thank you!
Paul
Makes the water acidic tho. Too much, and you retard the yeast.
Hey guys im just here reading comments and its worth reading. Thanks!