Is it cheating?
I purchased a 1lb lump of dough for 79c at the supermarket. Let it defrost in the refrigerator for 2 days. Set it on the counter to warm up for about 12 hours. I have baked my own bread only a few times but this one did not get that soft punch-down effect even though it did rise quite nicely. I kneaded it a few times anyway even through it was a tight wad in itself.
Just the previous day, I heard of a neat way to have a morning wake-up to warm bread and tried it as follows:
At about midnight or so, heat the oven to its max for about a half hour after coming to temperature to charge the pizza stone. Place the dough in and immediately turn off the oven. Wake up the next morning to a nice loaf of warm fresh bread. Your guests will think you got up at 4am to bake.....
It was the best, tough crust, soft center, flavorful bread I had ever cooked. It was still not the flavor I am trying to get in my other discussion here, but I am very happy with it just the same.
I would have thought that the oven would be too warm, but it sounds like it worked nicely, at least for the rise. Maybe the high heat is intended to kill the yeast over time so it does not rise too much?
I have never baked bread that way, nor have I ever purchased frozen dough. I am curious what it is made with - is it just flour, water, salt and yeast? Or do they load it up with chemicals like most baked goods at the grocery store?
Of course, you have more control over the flavor of a loaf if you make the dough yourself, but 79 cents for a great tasting loaf of bread is pretty darned good.
It is just that, flour, water, yeast and salt. Nothing else. It is made locally at a bakery and sold at grocery stores. The dough doubled in size in the refrigerator, again on the counter and again in the oven.
It does have a very short shelf life though. Gone within 1/2 hour.
I am thinking I can knead in stuff like Cinnamon and raisins, maybe some malt barley syrup, how about frozen lumps of butter, garlic, onions (but not all in the same loaf).
To get into the spirit of making bread, I could throw flour all over the kitchen for effect, no?
You can always take a cup of walnuts, roast them until browned, and knead them into the dough. I am not sure how it will work in this dough, but can tell you that it came out awesome in my country loaf.
I don't know enough about adding frozen lumps of butter and what impact that would have. But it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Roasted walnuts. Or roasted garlic. That seems like the stuff to add to dough. Cinnamon seems like something you would add before mixing the dough but this is based solely on my whimsical musings. Google or the search box may yield more reliable responses.
For now, if I keep on using pre-made dough, I figure I can kneed in Cinnamon/Sugar, Raisins and not worry about it being distributed as I think I would like pockets of flavor instead of a homogeny.
Granted, walnuts and raisins might be easier if in the mix but....
Wads of butter would also give pockets. I wonder if I did a split top and buttered the top before baking.
;-)
Traditionally, raisins cinnamon and sugar are rolled into bread doughs to form a swirl, rather than being uniformly incorporated. Easy peasy. Have read that cinnamon and some other spices can inhibit yeast; dunno how true this is but suspect it's a good idea to keep these extras from mixing in with the raw dough. Blending the cinnamon and sugar with softened (not frozen) butter before rolling it in might also help in this regard. Incidentally, my raisin rye bagels always turn out smaller than the plainer ones, even though I use the same amount of dough in all. Surprises me because raisins harbor yeast; would have though they'd improve the rise but instead just weighed everything down, I guess.
Happy baking, Emerogork.
The Raisin/Cinnamon/sugar worked but there was not enough cinnamon and sugar. I am almost wondering that when I do another sweet loaf if I could knead it with confectioners sugar instead of flour.
For my 3rd loaf I minced two onions and kneaded them in. Too many onion, too much moisture. The outer crust was good but the inner was mush. I wonder if onion flakes will be better. I figure they will reconstitute the same way the raisins did.
Hmmm, garlic next?
Apples & Cinnamon?