Newbie from Arkansas, Howdee
Being a transplant from Los Angeles, CA, I'm now an Arkie. Sheesh! Did I say that?
I have a younger brother living here and thought I'd spend a little time with him, so to speak. Being retired, as of this past January, I now have all the time in the world on my hands to visit and to COOK.
No more getting up at 6 am to get ready for work by 8 or having to go to bed at 10 pm to get up at 6. I now go to bed and get up when I want to! (I love retirement...)
Anyway, here's a loaf of bread I just made a couple hours ago and indulged myself in a great grilled cheese sandwich. This bread recipe of mine makes a super light loaf of bread. It's unbelievably fluffy. It comes from and old bread machine recipe I altered and am now trying to adopt it to 'normal' bread making. (I no longer own a bread machine and don't have room for one in my little retirement apartment.)
If you look closely, you'll notice the top has sunken down a bit but it hasn't hurt the taste any. Although, this first adoption isn't perfect, it's still as delicious as ever.
Any comments on the 'caved' in top?
Rick
Welcome Rick, Make sure you check out this thread.
Allan
You almost let this loaf overproof! Next time get it into the oven 30 minutes sooner. Must be that Ozark heat speeding up fermentation.
Is that Whole Wheat?
Mini
Hi Mini,
It's my own concoction of a 100% honey wheat bread recipe I've modified. (It isn't even close to the original recipe anymore.) I just don't like the taste of 100% whole wheat bread. It's too bitter for my tastes so I've added white flour to it to 'tone' it down a bit and it's come out softer and lighter then, 'Wonder White Bread'. LOL
I think I'm on to something here. It's fantastic. I'm still in the process of 'tweaking' it, though.
I believe the sunken top is caused from a lack of flour. My original recipe was made in a bread machine and now I'm using a bread pan which as a bit larger so, my raising time was judged on how much it rose and not on how long it rose for. It needs to raise above the rim about an inch and I don't think I used enough flour for it to do that properly. Hence; Sunken top...
Does all that make any since?
I call it, '50/50 Honey Wheat Bread for Sandwiches'.
Anyway, to answer your question, it's a 50/50 mix by measure and not by weight.
I'll post the recipe for all to try as soon as I'm happy with it.
Rick
So for the amount of flour, I believe it rose too much and looks like it was taller when it went into the oven. You're saying with a little more flour, you will get the height you want. I'm thinking if the loaf goes into the oven sooner, the loaf will get more oven spring and rise higher too.
The question: Is it worth finding out before adding more flour and changing the recipe?
Sounds good 50/50 with honey. Keep at it! :)
Mini
It has before. I converted a white bread recipe over to sourdough awhile back and it, too, had the same problem so I increased the flour content and it worked.
Went from 2 1/2 cups flour to 3 cups flour with that one. (Still tweakin' it too, btw)
This one calls for 3 cups flour. I'm gonna try 3 1/2 cups in a day or two.
I also noticed that it really didn't 'fill' the pan all that well after shaping. Looked a bit sparse laying there.
I do believe I've tried to 'stretch' to little into to much... LOL
I'll post the results with pix later this week...
Rick