The bakers' thread

[Reynard]

Well!

While I was hopeful of a good result, this bread is phenomenal; the crust, the flavour, I haven’t baked anything better than this.

A few years ago we had a lovely holiday in Sant’ Agnello, Sorrento, and the hotel had fresh breads every morning from the local panificio. I had a particular favourite which I would gorge on every day and, ever since returning, I have searched for a recipe that would reproduce the flavour, colour and the thin, chewy crust of that loaf.

I think I’ve finally found it.

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This was only an experiment so I used half quantities, that’s why it’s such a small boule.
Next week I will do the full sized version but will bake it in my pullman tin with the lid.

Roll on next weekend!

I made one rather than my usual everyday loaf.

Good job I watch the dough, not the clock, as the damn thing decided to gallop away rather merrily...

I do everything in the mixing bowl, degassing with a spatula, simply to avoid all the mess in transferring, and only pouring the dough into a very well-floured banneton for the final proof.

Mine is currently cooling. Will go nicely with minestrone soup for lunch tomorrow.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Dad was expecting to cook dinner. He rushed me to use the kitchen early so we ended up having an early dinner...

I had absolute zero confidence in myself and dad probably had less than zero but this lot was gone in less than 30mins so it was an amazing achievement.

First ever pasta bake with lean mince, peppers, mushrooms and an onion. chedder, mozzarella & a dusting of Parmesan when fresh out of the oven.

It was missing a cheese or white sauce in between though.

My next bake is a lasagne so im stepping up my comfort level.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Used the left over ingredients from a failed lasagne and made pasta bake #2 'creamy edition'

Pretty much a 'half lasagne'-- used up the rest of the sauces and followed a suggestion to have a few slices of Emmental cheese with a thick layer of white sauce in the middle and some at the top. It was good!

 

[figbat]

I made a batch of overnight ‘pizza’ dough (600g flour) knowing I had a BBQ today, but not quite sure what to do with it. I toyed with making individual flatbreads or a large focaccia but in the end went with two large flatbreads (as big as our oven will accommodate) and cut them into pieces for sharing.

They turned out lovely - baked ahead of time then wrapped in foil and kept warm - this also helps soften them rather than being crusty.

 

[MntnMan62]

Made my first loaf of bread today. Sourdough. Didn’t rise enough but it tastes great.

 

[Poacher]

Made my first loaf of bread today. Sourdough. Didn’t rise enough but it tastes great.

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Straight in with a sourdough! Total respect!

 

[MntnMan62]

Straight in with a sourdough! Total respect!

Ok, I did cheat a little bit. A neighbor gave us some starter. So we've been feeding the starter for months now. My wife has always made the bread but this time around I decided it was time for me to see how it's done. So, I definitely had a little help.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Asking for advice for a friend ( well, Mrs Tenkaykev )
I've had a Panasonic bread maker for a few years and have been mostly very pleased with the results. It's encouraged me to experiment with the recipes provided with the machine and I've been trying out baking bread without using the machine.
Now Mrs Tenkaykev has taken an interest and likes to bake, usually all by hand but occasionally using the machine. Her loaves tend to be a bit "compact " is the best way of putting it. I'm posting a photo of the latest effort, complete with the recipe and would be grateful for any advice on improving the final product.
First the recipe that she used:

500g flour in the ratio 70/30 strong wholemeal / strong white
350ml warm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast ( Doves Farm )
1 teaspoon molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons good quality oil
1 teaspoon Marmite
1/2 teaspoon Ascorbic Acid

Here's the result: This one was made in the bread machine, but a hand made loaf came out very similar

 

[Reynard]

The higher the amount of wholemeal flour in a loaf, the more compact it will be - nature of the beast. That's because the husks of the grain cut the strands of gluten, which means the dough can't expand quite as much as one made from white flour, as it's not as elastic.

Only way around that is to drop the amount of wholemeal in the loaf - most of my loaves are around 30% wholegrain, which I find is a good compromise. There's no hard and fast rule really, just play around with the ratio of flour till you get something that works.

 

[Tenkaykev]

The higher the amount of wholemeal flour in a loaf, the more compact it will be - nature of the beast. That's because the husks of the grain cut the strands of gluten, which means the dough can't expand quite as much as one made from white flour, as it's not as elastic.

Only way around that is to drop the amount of wholemeal in the loaf - most of my loaves are around 30% wholegrain, which I find is a good compromise. There's no hard and fast rule really, just play around with the ratio of flour till you get something that works.

Many thanks, I’ll pass that on 👍

 

[IaninSheffield]

Asking for advice for a friend ( well, Mrs Tenkaykev )
I've had a Panasonic bread maker for a few years and have been mostly very pleased with the results. It's encouraged me to experiment with the recipes provided with the machine and I've been trying out baking bread without using the machine.
Now Mrs Tenkaykev has taken an interest and likes to bake, usually all by hand but occasionally using the machine. Her loaves tend to be a bit "compact " is the best way of putting it. I'm posting a photo of the latest effort, complete with the recipe and would be grateful for any advice on improving the final product.

Agree with @Reynard's point about wholemeal/white flour ratio. Taking that a stage further, how do loaves with no wholemeal flour come out of the machine? If they're also somewhat 'compact', then some part of the machine's cycle might be sub-optimal and either not fully developing the gluten, or not allowing long enough for a good rise.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Agree with @Reynard's point about wholemeal/white flour ratio. Taking that a stage further, how do loaves with no wholemeal flour come out of the machine? If they're also somewhat 'compact', then some part of the machine's cycle might be sub-optimal and either not fully developing the gluten, or not allowing long enough for a good rise.

If I use all white flour then they are often too large and “airy” in texture, especially near the top crust.

 

[IaninSheffield]

If I use all white flour then they are often too large and “airy” in texture, especially near the top crust.

Cor blimey! That's going to take some unpicking! Maybe the machine's default rising time is too long, but that won't help with a dough with too much wholemeal, for the reasons Reynard set out.
It's going to take some experimentation to find the ideal proportions of ingredients to make the breads you like ... plenty of bread to enjoy during the process though. Even a less than perfect homemade loaf is better than many supermarket breads.

Hand making is definitely the way to go though. This young feller-me-lad is a bit brash (for an old codger like me), but he definitely knows his bread and I've learned quite a bit from his vids. His YT portfolio is quite extensive, but this trio is a helpful starter
View: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL23nszfeBoFn7qw_SrSJtIJSula87n46v

 

[Reynard]

The other option is to let the machine take care of the elbow grease side of things, and do the rest by hand.

One of the best lessons I learned was to watch the dough and not the clock. A machine is only as good as its programming, but yeast is a living organism, sensitive to temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure, and even the same recipe can behave differently on different days.

 

[mistyoptic]

Asking for advice for a friend ( well, Mrs Tenkaykev )
I've had a Panasonic bread maker for a few years and have been mostly very pleased with the results. It's encouraged me to experiment with the recipes provided with the machine and I've been trying out baking bread without using the machine.
Now Mrs Tenkaykev has taken an interest and likes to bake, usually all by hand but occasionally using the machine. Her loaves tend to be a bit "compact " is the best way of putting it. I'm posting a photo of the latest effort, complete with the recipe and would be grateful for any advice on improving the final product.
First the recipe that she used:

500g flour in the ratio 70/30 strong wholemeal / strong white
350ml warm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast ( Doves Farm )
1 teaspoon molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons good quality oil
1 teaspoon Marmite
1/2 teaspoon Ascorbic Acid

Here's the result: This one was made in the bread machine, but a hand made loaf came out very similar


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Not used to seeing bread recipes with no salt. Are you relying on the Marmite for salt provision?