My First loaf of 2011
I only had 4 hrs to do the bread and I made kinda like no knead bread. I measured the flower and the water (300gr for bread flour and 210gr of water, 1/4 tsp of yeast and 1 tsp of salt and sugar) but the dough was not wet enough like I wanted to. So I add some more warm water, I really don't know how much I put, but the dough got really wet, almost like a pancake butter. Anyway, I let it rest covered for like 3 1/2 hrs and then I had quite a hard time trying to fold the dough, but with the used of flower and dough scraper I managed. I had some friends coming over for diner so I only let it rest for like 30 minutes while the pot was getting hot in the oven. I cooked it covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for 12 minutes. The bread needed to have been cooked for a bit longer, but diner was ready and I had to get it out of the oven and sliced it while still pretty hot. Nevertheless, bread was very good and the crumb was a bit undone to me, but still much better than most bread than you can buy in the stores. Over all, pretty happy. Attached is the picture of it.
Norman.
That looks great, Norman.
Since folks seemed to enjoy posting their last loaves of the previous year, how about we turn this into a thread for first loaves of the new year?
My sourdough is out of the fridge and doing it's final proof, should be ready to bake in about an hour. Will add pics when the bake is done.
Done!
Russian Almond Braid.
Nice thread and fun to see, Floyd!
Best Wishes for 2011 and a Great Year of Baking, to all 'The Fresh Loafers"
Sylvia
Would you share the recipe for this magnificent piece of art? These are just beautiful and I LOVE almonds!
for the kind post! The recipe is on my at http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21401/almond-russian-braid-new-year ..
Sylvia
I still have a lot to learn, but it will be nice to see the new breads of 2011, warm, right out of the oven. Please, includes pics, I love to see what people makes. I say to myself, someday I'll make one just like that. Happy new year to all of you and all the best.
Norman.
Norman, you might find that allowing your bread to rest on a cooling rack for an hour before you cut it will improve it's texture. Cutting into a loaf freshly removed from the oven can expose the "not yet done" portions of the dough that often stabilize while the loaf rests. Of course, it's always possible that you underbaked it ... but without the resting cool down period you'll never know.
When your guests arrive, hand them a beer and keep all the menu items warm until the bread cools. With the time for fellowship and a finished loaf it's a win/win situation.
But, I started kind of late and it was well past nine when I brought the food on the table and I had to slice the bread. Next time I'll be better prepare. Thank you
Norman.
was an absolute winner - it lasted barely 3 days: Hamelman's 5-Grain Sourdough with Rye Sourdough.
I made only one loaf, because I didn't know how I would like it. Next time I will definitely make two and freeze one.
I made the rye starter with the 3-step method (earlier side by side tests with another Hamelman bread had shown a significant difference in taste compared to a rye starter fermented at the same temperature).
This bread is excellent with both, cold cuts and jam, or just with some Irish butter.
Karin
Yours looks lovely!
I've been making this bread at least twice a month since I bought the Hamelman book several years ago. It has so many good things in it I think you could live on it - I live alone & manage to eat a whole loaf in a week it is so delicious. Patsy
My first bake this year was a Pizza with ingredients (sausage, pesto and dough) prepared in 2010. Kind of a New Year Straddle Pie.
Glenn
Hello, Larry's Cheese Bread is so good (His post is here.)
I made Larry's bread again, for friends and family, on New Year's Day.
Wishing everyone happiness and success with baking in 2011!
from breadsong
Here's my first bake of 2011... My usual 10% rye sourdough. This was for my friend Sarah's birthday this past weekend. It's about 1kg.
Happy New Year!
Tim
a beautiful bread! I want one too! hahaha. Do you cook this bread on a pizza stone or in a dutch oven? I like to know the recipe if you could, thanks you!
Norman
I just use a regular oven with 2 pizza stones (rectangular). One on the bottom shelf, and one on the very top shelf, along with a pan filled with hot water and lava rocks... I'll try to post some stuff tonight if I'm not too wiped from work...
Tim
Norman,
Here's the recipe: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21436/first-loaf-2011
Tim
I'm going to copy and paste on my recipe file. Thanks again.
Norman.
The first bake of 2011 for me was making my wife Marie's 100% Spelt loaf. The last two times I made it the loaves didn't turn out very well....at all! This one I'm happy with though, and so is Marie.
Hi Franko A very nice loaf for the Mrs.! I hope to try making your bread sometime soon. - from breadsong
Hi breadsong,
This is a very flavourful loaf, with the toasted seeds and oatmeal soaker, but you have to watch the ferment and final rise carefully. It moves quite a bit quicker than a normal wheat based formula. Thanks for your comment!
Franko
So you finally succeeded with your 100% spelt loaf. It sure looks very tasty!
Karin
Thanks Karin,
So far I'm 50% successful with this bread out of the four times I've made it. The last time it was worth a darn was the very first time I made it and posted on it.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20057/loaf-my-wifefinally
It just ferments and rises so quickly it's took me by surprise the second time I made it, and the third time I let the spelt poolish become overripe. I've gotten so used to the long slow rises of levain style breads for myself, that a bread fermenting and rising in less than two hours kind of throws me. I've tweaked the formula a bit from the original in that I've increased the toasted seed percentage to 25% and added some non diastatic malt powder at .8% to round the flavour out a bit. This loaf has a more balanced taste than the original and Marie is quite happy with it, so I'll stop tweaking at this point.
All the best Karin!
Franko
Franko! What a wonderful Spelt! Your wife should be pleased. My family is nagging for bread now, it has become an addiction!
Thanks Khalid!
Marie is quite happy with this one compared to the two previous disasters I baked for her. The first bread turned out so well that I got a little overconfident with the next two mixes and paid the price.
I think your family is lucky to have such a fine baker as yourself to nag for more bread, but look after your back first. How is it feeling these days?
Franko
I didn't get around to baking anything more than corn bread until today, when I worked from home and baked a couple of loaves of Hamelman's Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread.
I actually forgot to mix in the cinnamon, so I mixed it up with some sugar and rolled it in in a swirl. We'll see how it came out once it cools a little bit.
I'm usually not too much into sweet breads - I mean real breads, not cakes - but these could really tempt me.
Karin
Not as pretty as some of those wonderful sweet breads posted here, but tender and satisfying just the same.
Click thumbnail to enlarge - then click on the enlarged image for full screen.
Is beautiful, I like how you arrange the fruits with the bread, it looks great. Did you study photography?
Norman
Thank you; that's a nice compliment. My background in photography is primarily in crime scene investigative photographic evidence collection (back when we used Speedgraphic 4X5 cameras - http://www.sheldonbrown.com/org/cameras/speed-graphic4x5.html) and later some 35mm work with my Minolta gear and medium format with my Hasselblad (http://visualarts.mit.edu/downloads/manuals/camera_hasselblad.pdf) in sports and similar types of action subjects. The only thing I have at the moment is a little digital camera but no light box or other accessories so the results are fairly mundane. Still, if a picture is worth a thousand words, the fact that the picture isn't of professional grade isn't really that important.
Oh how I miss the days when .....
What cool job you used to have. Maybe now you can make an almanac with pictures of different breads for each month.
Norman.
This is about 30% whole wheat sourdough with added flax and oat flakes. Crust turned out quite good - and sang as it cooled! Not something that happens too often in the humidity here. Left it ferment overnight, and got an excellent, lightly sour flavour out of it.
@ Franko: Thanks for asking, well it comes and goes. I found out that i have exacerbated by lower back ache last year when i labored kitchen tiles to my appartment. I should take it easy from now on.
Just pulled a toasty 1-2-3 loaf out of the oven! 200g rye sour (starter) 400g water and 550g AP flour and 50g dried walnut rye altus and after autolyse, 11g salt. Oh yes, when I spread out the dough to add salt I did it on 40g hemp seeds rolling up the whole thing and kneading in the salt and seeds.
I wish one day I can cook bread like you. That is too nice, better looking than the ones in any bakery. Can you share your recipe? Thank you.
Norman.
I can almost smell this scrumptious loaf, Nice job Mini. I couldn't make something that large (there's only two of us) but I intend to use your formula reduced to 1/3 of what you indicate you used and see if I can come close to this one.
What's your "take it out of the oven" internal temperature for this one?
These are the new buns (baos) I made this New Year. I usually bake bread but I want to try Chinese steam buns. I just had some BBQ pork leftover, so I made the Char Sui bao and Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom bao. I used two different dough recipes and to find out which have the best dough. I love the chicken and shiitake mushroom filling, the bao (dough) is OK. I like the Char Siu Bao dough better and the pork filling need some improvement. I think I did a good job for the first timer to make Chinese baos. I ate four baos for lunch, they are good.
chao Sui Bao
Sorry, how to delete this doube posting.
These are the new buns (baos) I made this New Year. I usually bake bread but I want to try Chinese steam buns. I just had some BBQ pork leftover, so I made the Char Sui bao and Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom bao. I used two different dough recipes and to find out which have the best dough. I love the chicken and shiitake mushroom filling, the bao (dough) is OK. I like the Char Siu Bao dough better and the pork filling need some improvement. I think I did a good job for the first timer to make Chinese baos. I ate four baos for lunch, they are good.
It was an accident...
...but we ate it anyway. :o)
Jitka