October 9, 2023 - 11:10am
Receipe for holiday gift bread (for mailing)?
Hello, this wonderful site has such a breadth of knowledge, can you lend some recipe ideas for a humble home baker whose only bread baking experience is with no-knead breads? I do have access to a KitchAid stand mixer (though I've never used one).
I'd like to mail loaves of cranberry-walnut (or another festive combination) no-knead bread to family and friends around the USA this holiday season. I'll wrap the cooled loaves in plastic bags, then brown bread bags, and mail them same day USPS 2-day shipping.
I've read on this site.that all-white flour breads don't travel well. Should I add 1/2 cup of wheat flour to 2 1/2 cups white bread flour?
RECIPE IDEAS AND GENERAL SUGGESTIONS WELCOME AND MUCH APPRECIATED! Thank you!
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Typically lean doughs (no milk, eggs, or fat) do not store well. Enriched doughs (ones with milk, eggs, or fat) stay nicer longer. If it's a lean sour dough that's a different animal.
For cranberry-walnut I'd use Peter Reinhart's Cranberry Celebration bread. I did a google and found many recipes. It's also in his Bread Bakers Apprentice, which is a great book. The toasted walnuts make it look like a whole grain bread and I find the look very appealing. It's my go to winter table bread.
Stay away from the Kitchen Aid! That's my advice anyways. There's no need to use one. If you really get into bread baking down the line you'll probably want something else. Stretch and fold technique is the next thing you'll want to learn. https://www.sourdoughhome.com/stretch-and-fold/ . It is an excellent way to develop the dough to learn how it changes. Side note - that's how I got started. No Knead breads, stretch and folds, and then beyond.
Happy Baking!
G. Marie, thank you very much for the advice. I'll have to hone my currently-nonexistent stretch and fold skills. Also, thank you for the link, and for the recipe suggestion!
that tastes great and keeps well, making it an excellent gift to send across the country. Developing the dough thoroughly and using a special sourdough called CLAS are the keys to its success. Check it out to see if it's something you can try.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68298/20210517-school-clas-wholegrain-cranberry-walnut-bread
Feel free to ask if you have any questions.
Yippee
P.S. I usually freeze the bread overnight and then send it while it's still frozen the next day. I wrap the bread in paper towels to absorb any moisture from defrost.
Yipee, thank you for taking the time to answer. While I'd like to think I could adopt your delicious-looking recipe before having to mail the bread in time for the holidays, I'm afraid my learning curve is vertical, so I'll have to use a dumbed-down recipe (I'm going to be mailing 25 loaves). But I'm going to save your recipe for when my skills improve. And thank you for the tip of freezing the bread ahead of mailing.
I also have a "white" version, and it only takes 24 hrs to make CLAS, with no skills required.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64005/20200514-clas-cranberry-walnut-bread
Yippee
Yipee, your bread looks amazing! (If I mailed my family bread that looks like that they'd assume I bought it at a high-end bakery.)