tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-362214042024-03-13T07:53:01.152-07:00100 Loaves of Bread100 Loaves of Bread a Year, plus pondering on baking.Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-32654023803456313992007-12-12T15:18:00.000-08:002007-12-12T15:20:04.596-08:00Building an ovenMy dreams of building my own bread oven have been rekindled, with the focus on it being a portable oven on a trailer, and possibly even electric depending on what my research brings up (I know, strange but trying to keep a wood fired oven at a constant temp sounds like a PITA). So here's a <a href="http://forum.caswellplating.com/archive/index.php/f-18.html">link</a> to an oven building forum to research later.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-30712152020990215062007-12-09T17:58:00.000-08:002007-12-09T19:03:00.232-08:00A random bread search on Google lead me to <a href="http://www.food-management.com/article/13354">this web page article</a>.<br /><br />I'll be back to baking tomorrow, this week has been busy and the loaves I've tried to bake ended up forgotten during bench proofing, making for one slack, sucky loaf and another dried out that I just tossed without baking. I owe someone a loaf of whole wheat, if for no other reason than my son just busted one of her tree ornaments today.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-86438581236854545062007-12-06T16:00:00.000-08:002007-12-06T16:02:09.530-08:00Bread without salt.Someone asked me about Tuscan bread, which is apparently a Florence, Italy specialty. My quick research seems to indicate it's a saltless bread, used with foods that provide most of the flavor. A NYT article about it can be found <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE2DF143BF934A25753C1A964948260&sec=travel&spon=&pagewanted=2">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-72140075049131528142007-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:002007-12-04T14:57:32.958-08:00Baker's Mark from a silicone baking mat<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/2086928649/" title="bakersmark1.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2255/2086928649_e51445db01_t.jpg" width="100" height="92" alt="bakersmark1.jpg" /></a><br /><br />I did a quick prototype baker's mark from a silicone baking mat that I didn't care for (much prefer the baking parchment). The results were promising. A friend that does scrapbooking is going to experiment and see if she has something that can cut the lettering neater.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-20250945412249767522007-12-03T21:40:00.001-08:002007-12-03T21:49:31.222-08:00parchment paper delight...<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/2080361621/" title="parchmentpaper by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2277/2080361621_5d8ff2808f_m.jpg" alt="parchmentpaper" height="240" width="237" /></a> You may notice an odd angle in this picture, that's because it was taken my my 6 year old. Recently I ordered more parchment paper online, which I had done before but this time I sought out an entire package of 500 full sheet pan sized sheets, which fit a standard home sheet pan when torn in half. Prices for the exact same package ranged from $44 delivered to over $109, depending on where you looked. I ended up getting mine from <a href="http://www.trulythefinest.com/prodDetail.cfm/18402">here</a> because they had the best price including shipping. So now I have a massive package of huge sheets of baking parchment, which should last me over a year even with my vast amounts of baking. They work real well when I bake on a stone in the oven, no sticking at all and easy dismount from the peel. It also keeps cheese from dripping onto the stone if you work carefully.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-18085699900158745352007-11-30T20:45:00.000-08:002007-11-30T20:59:45.080-08:00Baker's MarksI ran across a link about baker's marks, used to identify the baker that created the loaf in medieval times. Like a moth to a flame, I'm feeling the need to create my own. The writer of the article had theirs made out of silver, I'm thinking that I'll try ceramics for my first try. Clay and a glaze just might do the job.<br /><br />Here is the link.<br />http://whirlwind-design.com/madbaker/marks.html<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-91650434174151672762007-11-29T17:58:00.001-08:002007-11-29T18:00:01.832-08:00Fridge Bread, Loaf 2Sorry, no pictures of the second loaf. I proofed it for about 2 hours, so it spread out a bit. The loaf didn't taste bad, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. I think part of what works about the method is that the cold dough holds it's shape better. I'll try it again sometime, with some wheat and high gluten flour for the loaf, to see if I can make something with a bit more fluff.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-2690319527797266652007-11-29T11:08:00.000-08:002007-11-29T11:11:33.002-08:00Commerical Focaccia Dough Articlehttp://www.food-management.com/article/13353/?SW=focaccia%C2%A0<br /><br />An article about how to make a huge amount of focaccia bread. I've never made more than 15 lbs of dough at one time.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-70096898293019334572007-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:002007-11-28T15:27:03.896-08:00Fridge Bread Loaf One<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/2069756932/" title="fridgebread1 by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2069756932_4347672599_m.jpg" width="240" height="189" alt="fridgebread1" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/2069756938/" title="fridgebread2 by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2069756938_6f5eb54e90_m.jpg" width="240" height="203" alt="fridgebread2" /></a><br /><br />The first loaf turned out pretty good, although a bit denser than I usually do my bread. I think that the fridge bread has some more experimentation in it. I have one more loaf to make later, which I will proof longer to see how that works. After that, it's playing with different types of flour and proof times. I admit, I like the convenience.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-66607153961294051452007-11-23T20:01:00.000-08:002007-11-26T09:02:55.700-08:00another no knead breadThis is an archive of an article in a Buffalo paper, for a style of no knead bread I may play with at some point.<br /><br />http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:oHCyd5T79TMJ:www.buffalonews.com/340/story/191149.html+Buffalo+News,+no+knead+bread&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us<br /><br />Essentially (after I halved and converted it to weight measurements) 1 lb flour, 2 teaspoons yeast, 1.5 teaspoons salt, and 12 oz (1.5 cups) water, mix with a spoon (will be about the consistency of biscuit dough), proof 2-3 hours, then fridge. When ready to bake, pull off a hunk (about half what I made, since I halved it and it's supposed to make about 4 loaves at full recipe volume), lightly flour and form into a ball, proof 40 minutes at room temp, bake on a pizza stone at 450 for 30 minutes. <br /><br />I've made the dough, tonight I'll actually bake it. It says that it's good for 2 weeks in the fridge.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-36609321598956840432007-11-12T18:55:00.000-08:002007-11-12T19:01:45.569-08:005 lb loaf.From June 2007, multiple posts from my personal journal leading up to the making of the 5 lb loaf.<br /><br />I'm also going to attempt a single 5 lb loaf probably tomorrow, which requires the two batches of preferment increased from Alton Brown's recipe by 50% (or just a third batch, now that I do the math. Whatever.) But the preferment will go into two separate 2.5 lb batches of dough (the max my mixer can handle without emotional trauma) which I will combine into a single lump for proofing and shaping. I'll probably use my pizza stone for it since it may be wider than my sheet pans, so a parchment covered pizza peel will by the oven delivery system. It may actually fit on a cookie sheet, but I can't mentally calculate the second proof diameter. Bake time should be interesting, good thing I have a probe thermometer to check interior temp, and I suspect I'll have to use foil to stop crust browning towards the end. Those huge slices should make kickass panini sandwiches.<br /><br />Someone on www.thefreshloaf.com pointed to the site <a href="http://www.breadtopia.com/">http://www.breadtopia.com/</a>, so I checked it out and decided to dive into no knead bread just one more time. There is something very zen about the idea of just stirring the dough and letting time do the work for you, but my luck with no knead has been mediocre at best.<br /><br />A big premise of the no knead, besides more hydration and a long room temp first rise (18 hours), is baking it in a heavy covered dish for a hard crust. For the fun of it I just made up two batches, which were going to be rye but I ran out of wheat flour without realizing it, so rye it is. One will be made in a covered container (enamel stock pot, they call for cast iron dutch oven but I don't have one) the other I'll bake on a cookie sheet just to see what the difference is. If nothing else, the dough has a nice feel to it after mixing it up.<br /><br />Tomorrow I'll also be doing my 5 lb bread loaf experiment, which should be interesting. It'll be twice the size of my biggest loaves to date.<br /><br />The no knead dough is looking wonderful. I think the problem with my earlier attempts may have been too much hydration, and a lack of a tougher grain (whole wheat or rye) for structure. It's supposed to have an 18 hour rise so I'll be messing with it around and after dinner tonight. At least I won't be doing stuff with it at 2am again.<br /><br />I'll work on the 5 lb loaf after Pari goes to camp today, so that I don't throw off my timing and need to do something during pickup time. if nothing else, this loaf will make a groovy picture and awsome paninis, assuming I give it enough structure and it holds upright enough.<br /><br />Part of me wonders if I could build a really long oven to make super long loaves, but I think that would be a quest just to see what it would take rather than actually doing it. Googling "how to make an electric oven" should give me an idea. If I knew of 6 foot long insulated tube that could be turned into an oven with heating elements at minimal cost, then I'd have to start building plans, but so far I am coming up with zip. Besides, I'd have to have custom loaf pans made, unless they make 6 foot loaf pans (great, now I'll have to look that up on ebay.)<br /><br />5 lbs of dough are made and in the cold oven with a hot pan of water for it's first proof, which should take about 2-3 hours (hard to tell with that much dough sometimes). So I'll check it after lunch to see if it's ready for shaping into a bigass boule loaf.<br /><br />And the no knead rye loaves continue to...sit there and wait until I do something with them this evening. It takes so long, I almost feel like I should give the two batches of dough a deck of cards to keep themselves entertained while they proof.<br /><br />I must say, 5 lbs of dough isn't that difficult to lift, but it's almost more than a handful to shape. The loaf is formed and on it's second proof, in about 40 minutes I'll preheat the oven and 15 minutes after that I'll bake.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/644945206/" title="fivepoundloaf.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/644945206_4e030b2517_m.jpg" width="240" height="195" alt="fivepoundloaf.jpg" /></a><br /><br />So here it is, five pounds of dough turned into a single huge loaf of bread. I think it's the single largest loaf I've ever made, and couldn't do any bigger without a different pan (maybe a huge lasagna pan). When I checked it after 45 minutes with a probe it was about 15-20 degrees below target temp so I covered it in foil to stop more browning of the crust and gave it another 10 minutes, which worked fine. I was able to wrestle it through my slicing machine enough to get huge slices to make 3 panini sandwiches for dinner.<br /><br />The loaf was Alton Browns Very Basic Bread recipe x3, with whole wheat for the preferment, the remaining flour half bread and half high gluten, and 3-4 tablespoons flax meal.<br /><br />I decided that this was too much of a hard act to follow, so screw the no knead bread. That glop just landed in the trash.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-86178903641808281062007-11-12T18:50:00.001-08:002007-11-12T18:50:53.599-08:00From June 2007.<br /><br />You know, when it's past midnight and I still have 35 minutes left on the bread's second proof before baking, I say to myself, "Marz told you yesterday she needed something for a potluck. Maybe you should'a started that challah dough around 6pm, not 9pm."<br /><br />But I got to experiment. One I added both some cocoa powder and about 3 oz of melted semisweet chips to, the other I put in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and raisins. And for shorter baking time I did 5 half pound loaves of each rather than a single 2.5 lb loaf each, which reduces baking time from 40-50 minutes to about 20 minutes. And I'll be baking at a slightly higher temp for the smaller loaves, so the outsides brown better. Last time I baked at the big loaf temp, but with the shorter baking time the outside was a bit lacking and slightly sticky, so the small loaves clung together.<br /><br />At some point I should see how hard it would be to bake a single 5 lb boule loaf. Maybe I'll plan that for later this week when the challah is all gone.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-1820919672621931112007-11-12T18:47:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:49:32.864-08:00Purple challah twist braidFrom June 2007<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/623214972/" title="purplechallahtwist.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/623214972_57d02bbde7_m.jpg" width="114" height="240" alt="purplechallahtwist.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Just for the fun of it, I made a loaf of challah with some purple yam powder. It adds nothing to the flavor, but does make the dough purple. I did two half batches of dough, one purple, after proofing I divided each half of the dough into 3 strands, paired them up with opposing colors and twisted them together to form 3 bicolored ropes, then braided those together to make the loaf. The result tastes just like any other challah loaf, but looks real cool inside.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-78558616858575921112007-11-12T18:43:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:45:28.199-08:00Chocolate challahAgain, from June 2007<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/572781925/" title="chocolatechallah.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1010/572781925_3ad5c79a30_m.jpg" width="205" height="240" alt="chocolatechallah.jpg" /></a><br /><br />For some fun I added a bit of powdered cocoa and some semisweet chips to my standard challah recipe. Besides being a bit more messy to knead after the first proof, it turned out pretty good. Maybe it could be a little sweeter. I'll play with it again someday. The kids sure did like it.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-12954489324285935072007-11-12T18:39:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:43:14.528-08:00flatbread stuffAgain, from June 2007<br /><br />Interesting,while making flatbread for tonight's dinner I decided that instead of stretching out the last two like I do pizza dough and most of my flatbreads, I'd just smush them flat with my fingertips and see what happens. They inflated like balloons, and I have just discovered how to make hollow pita. I'll play around with it later and post pics when I have controllable results.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-66551081249126682772007-11-12T18:35:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:39:24.508-08:00flatbread pizzaAgain I'm updating this blog with ones from my personal journal. From June 2007, flatbread pizza.<br /><br />Ok, I'm playing around with the flatbread recipe to make small pizzas for our lunch in a few hours. Step 1, take the recipe and play around with it. I eliminated the baking powder and reduced the rediculous amount of yeast from a tablespoon to a teaspoon. I suspect that whomever made the recipe had dead yeast and couldnt get it to rise well. Since I'm going for pizza I left out the powdered milk but added in a teaspoon of dried basil. I also did a preferment for some flavor, and high gluten yeast which makes good pizza crust. So far, this is what I have.<br /><br />Flatbread Pizza Dough<br /><br />Preferment (proof 24 hours in the fridge)<br />5 oz bread flour<br />12 oz water<br />2 teaspoons sugar/honey<br />1/4 teaspoon yeast<br /><br />In a bowl, mix<br />13 oz high gluten flour<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />1 teaspoon yeast<br />1 teaspoon dried basil<br />1/4 cup olive oil<br /><br />Add in preferment, turn on dough hook for about 5 minutes. Put dough into an oiled bowl in a cold oven with a pan of hot water, set timer for 2 hours.<br /><br />That is where I stand now. The preferment soaking up the water overnight and it being cold allows for a more cohesive dough than the same day flatbread recipe, an interesting variation already.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/536231387/" title="flatbreadpizza.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/536231387_2945b7b81f_m.jpg" width="154" height="240" alt="flatbreadpizza.jpg" /></a> This turned out even better than I thought. Using the dough in my previous post, I divided it into two equal portions, half going back into the fridge for use tomorrow. The other half I quartered, each piece being about 3.5 oz. I rolled them into a round lump, flattened them, and covered while preheating the oven to 550. When the oven was heated, I stretched the dough out into a disc, 2 per baking sheet (the peel was just for the photograph). Top with a bit of sauce, cheese and pepperoni, bake 5 minutes until the edges are browned. There was adequate oven spring, and good taste.<br /><br />My Basic Pizza Sauce<br />8 oz can tomato sauce<br />1.5 teaspoons sugar<br />1.5 teaspoons basil<br />1/2 teaspoon oregano<br />1/4 teaspoon pepper<br />1.5 teaspoon dried onion flakes<br />2 cloves garlic, minced<br /><br />Mix and use to top pizza. it's a good default recipe with handy ingredients I usually have onhand.<br /><br />Next time I'll either bake them on a pizza stone for the 5 minutes or give it an extra minute so the bottom is browned a touch more. When baking at 550, the difference between done and burnt is 1 minute or less.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-82780650095876202042007-11-12T18:15:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:18:46.517-08:00flatbread bakingI'm catching up on posts that I made to my personal blog about baking but started neglecting this blog. So here's a flatbread post and picture from June 2007.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ratmanphotos/527002865/" title="amarathflatbread.jpg by ratmanphotos, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1160/527002865_a4ec84570d_m.jpg" width="240" height="184" alt="amarathflatbread.jpg" /></a><br /><br />This weekend I played around with flatbread. Basic recipe as follows<br /><br />18 oz bread flour<br />4 Tablespoons powdered milk<br />4 Tablespoons sugar<br />4 Tablespoons oil<br />1 Tablespoon yeast<br />1 Tablespoon Baking powder<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />1 1\2 cups water<br /><br />Dump into a mixer, turn on the dough hook for about 5-8 minutes until thoroughly blended into a wet dough. Spoon out into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour (I put it in the oven with a bowl of hot water). After first rise, dump onto a floured surface and knead a bit, divide into 8 equal portions. Now is a good time to turn the oven to 550 (remove the water bowl if you used one), with the oven racks either centered or spaced for 2 sheet pans. Roll the dough into 8 balls and let rest for about 10-15 minutes (the amount of time it takes for my oven to preheat.) Press/roll the dough into flat discs about 6-8 inches across, and fit 2 per sheet pan. Bake for about 4-5 minutes, if doing two sheet pans at once you'll need to rotate them after 2 minutes. They go from almost done to brown quickly, so watch them closely. After baking the first batch, remove them from the sheets and put the second batch on, being careful not to burn yourself (I have enough sheet pans to do all of them on different sheets, but who wants to wash 4 cookie sheets.) Using baking parchment makes it easy to unpan them.<br /><br />These are great with gyro meat, dipped in hummus or even with pizza toppings. I must admit, these are my first real successful flatbreads, and I've made batches using amaranth flour as 25% of the total flour, but regular bread flour works great.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-88125873780342456172007-11-07T13:52:00.000-08:002007-11-07T13:53:13.299-08:00video linkhttp://www.chow.com/stories/10791<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-31866777713098606032007-06-10T19:35:00.001-07:002007-06-10T19:40:03.465-07:00Challah breakfast rollsAs part of my ongoing quest to bake for the Lawrence Farmer's Market at some point, I decided to come up with a sweet breakfast roll. This has to meet a few criteria, including taste, texture the next morning, ease of packaging and eating, and no more difficult to make than any other bread I do. So I did up a simple challah dough (I think I called it Challah #2, it has 3 eggs in the recipe and 17 oz flour), divided it into 8 quarter pound rolls after the first proof, and after the second proof I squished about half flat to see how they do after baking. I did the egg glaze, then sprinkled them with brown sugar and cinnamon. The results were good, I'll see how they are tomorrow and try again soon with a slight modification to the recipe, and I'll mix the brown sugar with the egg glaze next time to see how well it covers the rolls. I'll also try both baking right after the first rise much like I do the flatbreads, and see how the challah does when formed like a flatbread but allowed to rise. <br /><br />I'm liking this project, it's yummy.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-61307801073692099692007-06-02T17:41:00.001-07:002007-06-02T17:44:44.445-07:00Bulk Baking part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_qhiqQdfqczc/RmIOlTeqw5I/AAAAAAAAAEg/nUXYOne1eVk/s1600-h/bulkbaking1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_qhiqQdfqczc/RmIOlTeqw5I/AAAAAAAAAEg/nUXYOne1eVk/s320/bulkbaking1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5071632164419453842" border="0" /></a>My experiment with bulk baking went pretty well, I was able to fit 5 one pound loaves on a single baking sheet, although I'll only do 4 in the future so they have better shapes and less contact with the ones beside them. Two went to neighbors, two to my mother in law today, and the last was breakfast, toasted with a bit of spread and peach preserves along with the last of the goose eggs made into an omelet.<br /><br />The next bulk baking experiment will be to see if 8 half pound loaves fit comfortably on a single baking sheet, and to test baking times.<br /><br />If anyone was curious, the bread was a bit of wheat flour mixed with regular bread flour and high gluten flour for fluff, and flax meal tossed in for flavor, texture and aesthetics.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-12311343154230176582007-06-01T09:48:00.000-07:002007-06-01T09:52:09.984-07:00Flatbread, test #1Yesterday I tried the following flatbread recipe, I think I got it off www.thefreshloaf.com but haven't re-found it yet.<br /><br />Makes 12 flat Bread<br /><br />500 g flour,unbleached,whole wheat,or a mixture of the two<br />4 Tablespoons powdered milk<br />4 Tablespoons sugar<br />4 Tablespoons oil<br />1 Tablespoon yeast<br />1 Tablespoon Baking powder<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />1 1\2 cups water<br /><br />1)place all ingredients in the bowl of mixer ,beat 10 minutes to make a soft dough.<br /><br />2)cover,let rise in warm place until doubled in size ,about 1 hour.<br /><br />3)Divide dough into 12 pieces. Roll each to a 20 cm round.<br /><br />4) preheat the oven to 550 degrees. i do not have a baking stone,so i use the grill pan<br /><br />5) Bake for 1 minute per side.<br /><br />6)Open the oven and place the flat Bread on the hot baking surface. They should be puffy after 1 minute.<br /><br />It was a very soft, sticky dough, but it rose nicely and made some tasty flatbread (which we ate with gyro meat). No pics, my bad. I baked then on a pizza stone, which was more trouble than it's worth and doesn't create very neat loaves when you have to pretty much fling it onto a hot stone. So next time I'll try shaping and baking them on cookie sheets.<br /><br />Right now I'm working on a quantity experiment, 5 lbs of dough have been mixed in my Electrolux Mixer and I'm going to see how many loaves that can form on a standard cookie sheet for baking together.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-20598902198097762802007-05-30T22:04:00.000-07:002007-05-30T22:10:30.338-07:00The Rye is released...I made 2 kinds of rye bread, same recipe but one I used the rye flour for the preferment, the other I used regular bread flour for the preferment. I made 4 mini boules from each, differentiated them by one slash for regular and two for rye preferment, and they went to a couple different households. Preliminary feedback (my wife) said that the rye preferment doesn't taste as strongly of rye, which would make sense if it got broken down during the prefermentation. Which would be sad, because rye preferment lends more structure than if the rye flour is added later. <br /><br />While I wait for two households outside my own to give me feedback, I'm working on a quantity over quality study, seeing how many loaves I can bake at once on the average cookie sheet. In prep for this I made a simple preferment which is 3 times that of Alton Brown's basic bread recipe, which alone calls for 1 lb of flour. So all told I will have about 5-6 lbs of dough to make into probably mini-boules, which range about 7 oz on average when I quarter a single batch of dough that takes 1 lb of flour. I'm looking forward to this one, because it will be plenty of bread to give away for no apparent reason other than I wanted to see how many fit on a pan.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-33762225429085166922007-05-27T22:11:00.000-07:002007-05-27T22:17:15.155-07:00The Great Rye ExperimentMy basic bread recipes are derived from Alton Brown's Very Basic Bread. My default ratio of flour is 1/3 each regular bread flour, high gluten flour, and whatever type of specialty flour defines the loaf (whole wheat, rye, etc). About an hour ago I started the Great Rye Experiment, where I did up preferments with 5 oz each of bread flour, high gluten flour, and rye flour. When they are aged a day or two I'll make loaves out of each, using the exact same recipe, except each will have a different flour within their loaf that was the preferment. The objective is to see if there is a taste and texture difference, and if so which one tastes best. My mini boules seem to bake fastest so I'll probably do them, which will also make it easier to pass them out to a couple different households for the great taste testing. <br /><br />One major ingredient I've forgotten in my recent rye loaves is caraway seeds, which defines the rye flavor for most people. I was so infatuated by my overnight room temp preferment that I left out a major ingredient. Silly me. <br /><br />So the experiment is started, preferments are fridged (I've pretty much established that fridged preferments are better than room temp preferments, which usually have a sour taste), and I'll do the baking Monday or Tuesday, depending on how my days end up playing out.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-57578397577780765002007-05-20T06:02:00.001-07:002007-05-20T06:07:58.871-07:00The Quest for Farmer's MarketI've been a stay at home dad for over 5 years. Over 3 years ago I started retailing cloth diapers from home, and made some hobby money that paid for my new digital cameras and other stuff. But the market has changed, there are now a ton more retailers and my main supplier has changed a couple of their rules that pretty much blew away the reason most of my customers came to me. Markets change, I can deal with that, but it was also the final straw that made me decide to get out of the cloth diaper retailing market. So what should I do once the stock is gone?<br /><br />Why, perhaps I could sell some of my bread at the Farmer's Market. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea or a bad idea, but the feasibility study for it involves baking lots of bread for taste testing. That has lead to the conclusion that fridged preferment makes much better bread than room temp preferment. I also realized that I'd been forgetting the caraway seed in my rye for awhile (silly me). <br /><br />So today's experiment (or tomorrow) is making a double batch of wheat, and seeing if halfing the salt makes a better loaf or not. Preferment was made last night, we'll see when I get it done today or tomorrow.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36221404.post-40660452497136626472007-04-09T15:29:00.000-07:002007-04-09T11:11:16.380-07:00Bread Triad....<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_qhiqQdfqczc/Rhlt8-wMW6I/AAAAAAAAAEY/CBLyCrSqo5Y/s1600-h/whitewheatrye.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_qhiqQdfqczc/Rhlt8-wMW6I/AAAAAAAAAEY/CBLyCrSqo5Y/s320/whitewheatrye.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051189351477435298" border="0" /></a><br />For a small experiment I decided to use 3 different types of flour as the preferment for Alton Brown's Basic Bread recipe. From left to right in the pics we have white, wheat and rye flour used. In the top pic are 3 preferments made from 5 ounces of whole wheat, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast and 10 oz water. I let them proof at room temp overnight, and you can see how the yeast fed more on the wheat and especially the rye.<br /><br />After an overnight proof I used high gluten flour (the recipe calls for 11 oz, but I used 10 because it gets a bit gummy with that much flour after an overnight proof) and 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Proof about 2 hours, shape and proof another hour before baking at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. <br /><br />The overnight room temp proofing of the preferment makes for a stronger flavor than an overnight or multi day fridge proofing, which I'll do in a side by side experiment later. The dough makes an excellent small loaf that weighs about a pound and a half, and fits into a 1 pound loaf pan (far as I can figure it's called that because it fits a loaf made with one pound of flour and doesn't count the liquid content.)<br /><br />Today I made some grilled cheese out of the bread, with excellent results.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Please visit at 100loaves.blogspot.com</div>Haroldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00792743389039249966noreply@blogger.com0