Wow, I made Floyd's blueberry and cream cheese braids today (started them yesterday) and they are AMAZING! I did one by the book and made the other with a smear of the cream cheese filling sprinkled with chocolate chips, YUMMY! In case you haven't come across his post here is a link:
I highly recommend trying it. One note, my oven cooks a little fast because it has a convection option so this bread only needed about 25 minutes. Here are some pictures of the process:
The braids before going into the oven, the large one is blueberry:
The braids right out of the oven, it was really hard to wait 30 mins before cutting:
I have been having so much success with my new Peter Reinhart book, Artisan Breads Every Day. I have made the lean bread and the results are wonderful! Chewy and crusty and FULL of holes. Today I tried the baguettes and after watching many you tube videos figured out how to shape them. Here they are:
They are still hot but I hope they taste as good as they look! I will update with some crumb...
I started last night with an experimental poolish, 1/8 tsp yeast 1 cup AP flour and 1 C water. This morning I added that to 5 C flour, 2 tsp yeast (proofed with sugar and 1 C water) and 1TBS salt. I mixed by hand and started kneading and after ten mins this is what I had:
So I posted it in the photos forum with a plea for help and figured out that I added a whole cup too much flour! It was a dry, dry dough, tearing when I pushed on it and not sticking to itself whatsoever.
So in a desperate effort to save my overnight investment I put it in the cuisinart with about 2/3 C water and let it spin. It mixed in well and I kneaded it for a few more minutes, this is what I had then:
Much better but I still had some doubts. I let it rise for about 4 hrs total, folding every once and a while, cut it in two and let the boules proof for about 30 mins. Next time I will proof for an hour and see what happens! I baked them and oh my did they turn out well! Crusty and chewy and moist and full of flavor. The best crumb yet!
Oh man am I happy with these! I loosely used a recipe my mom gave me over the phone years ago. I used less salt and minimal flour. For the first time I felt worthy enough to share with my neighbor/friends! I feel like I'm onto something here :)
Back to work today after a wonderful vacation. I started with the usual poolish last night but for today I wanted a slow rising dough that I could leave all day. I used the usual KAF recipe for baguettes but added a total of 1 tsp yeast including the poolish and half of the salt. This is what I found when I got home 7 hrs later:
Luckily my husband was able to fold it for me mid-day :) I formed two small boules and baked them on a stone with steam. Yummy!
I was watching these beauties actively springing in the oven when I realized that I forgot to add the salt! No wonder they were so active. I used my pizza stone for the first time and got beautiful, crunchy crusts. In leu of a peal I sprinkled corn meal on pieces of parchment paper and slid them onto the stone which was already in the oven. It worked like a charm! I steamed the oven with about a cup of water which was poured into a hot roasting pan on the bottom. Look at that bubble!
They smell wonderful and actually don't taste that bad. I wouldn't say cardboard but just a little flat. Great with salted butter!
I think for my next batch I will do half the salt and see what happens. My current recipe calls for two teaspoons so I will try one and see if they look like this. More tomorrow, thanks for reading. Molly
I started with a poolish last night and today made another batch of KAF baguettes in boule form. I spent the morning reading blogs and watching videos on TFL and learned a lot. This time I headed some advise earned from my last blog and kept the dough very wet, handled it very gently, folded and stretched the dough every 45 min or so during the first rise and added steam to my oven. What a difference! They are tender, crusty and chewy all at the same time! Thank you to every one for the advise, I feel like I am well on my way already thanks to this site. Next up, eight hour exam tomorrow, baguettes on Wednesday!
Day 2 of my year to master bread making. OK, maybe not "master" but at least get a firm grasp on bread making. I was the lucky recipient of a cuisinart this holiday and have decided to make good use of it. My mother is what I would call a master of the dough but she has years and years of experience. As a 30 year old, newly-wed, fourth year medical student I figure now is the time to start!
These loaves are from the King Arthur Baking book recipe for baguettes, as you can see I am sticking to the boulle until I can get other things right, namely the sponge, or crumb of my loaf. So far everything comes out looking beautiful and tasting nice but looking like sandwich bread on the inside. These are my second attempt and they are made with a poolish and autolysing step. The flavor is much more developed but the crumb leaves much to be desired. Next attempt will be after I sit for step 2 of the board exams, an eight hour exam I have in two days. Any suggestions about developing the crumb are more than welcome! I am excited to have found this wonderful resource to help me along the way. Thanks for reading, Molly
