Bread recipes and Tips

[CoM]

After posting a recipe this morning for White Bread I did a search to see what other threads there were here on bread. I could not find many. Maybe I searched wrong.

 

I thought it might be a good thread to start or redo as we all are trying to become more self sufficient and bread making will be a must.

 

I hope all you bakers will offer your tips.

 

Below are some very helpful tips for making bread by hand that I have learned along the way:

 

Invest in a digital scale- A cup of flour can vary greatly depending on how one scoops it out. Fluffing the flour & gently spooning into a cup is closer to the true measurement and varies greatly with a cup that is packed into a measuring cup. I usually measure 4.25 oz on my scale for 1 cup. This may be a little shy but it gives some room for the extra flour that is added when kneading. You always want a slightly sticky dough and to much flour makes very dense bread!

 

Use an instant read thermometer- Many recipes simply say add so much warm water. If the water or milk is to hot it will kill the yeast. The ideal temp should be about 110 degrees.

 

Salt- Always add salt to your recipe after the flour has been added. salt can kill the yeast if it comes in direct contact with it.

 

Whole wheat- many people do not like whole wheat bread. Start using your wheat berry supply by adding 1/3 whole wheat flour to 2/3 bread flour in recipe. Then increase up to 1/2 whole wheat, then up to 3/4 to all whole wheat.

 

ALWAYS add the whole wheat flour in mixed recipes first as it takes more kneading for it to absorb the liquids. I knead all recipes with any whole wheat in it about 12 minutes as compared to 6-7 minutes for white flour recipes.

 

Honey- You can substite honey for sugar in recipes. If you have honey that is fermented and don't know what to do with it, use it in bread and you won't even taste the difference. It comes out great. Afterall, in sour dough breads that's what you are using, fermented sour dough starter.

 

Honey does not go bad. Fermented honey is honey that has to much moisture in it. You can also make mead out of it. Honey can also crystalize. Just set jar in a pot of boiling water to remelt and it will be fine.

 

Bread enhancers- Bread enhancers are simply absorbic acid. A cheap replacement is Vit C. Just crush Vit C tabs well and add to dry ingredients. I use one 500 ml tablet to each cup of flour.

 

Vital wheat glutten- Vital wheat glutten can be purchased in the flour section of your grocery store. It adds more gluten to your wheat bread recipes making them more lofty.

 

Baking loaf pans- There are many types. I personally prefer the stoneware pans that Pampered Chef sell because it mimicks baking bread in a stone oven but there are many good pans available that are not stoneware.

 

If you want taller loaves choose a smaller pan.

 

 

Eggs- Recipes that add eggs produce a nice soft chewy bread

[HazelStone]

Or, if you plan ahead a bit, you can save yourself the kneading, extra gluten, and enhancers and go this route:

 

Easy, no-knead crusty bread via Mother Earth News and New York Times.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2...ead.aspx?page=2

 

For the broadband impaired, the article describes the process. For those blessed with decent internet connections, Mark Bittman did a video showing the process, hosted by the NYT.

 

I love a loaf that's crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. This works with straight white bread flour as well as with whole wheat. There is a world class bakery near me, and frankly, this recipe closely compares to their stuff.

[serendipity]

Thank you for all the tips, CoM!

 

And HazelStone that recipe sounds interesting too. I should give it a try.

 

I remember Amy D.'s Tightwad Gazette books had a Cuban Bread Recipe that was pretty easy, too; another cheater recipe. I will try to find it.

[CoM]

I have tried the NYT No Knead bread as well as the ones on Bredtopia.com. I didn't care for them to much but I have not tried any variations on them.

[HazelStone]

I have tried the NYT No Knead bread as well as the ones on Bredtopia.com. I didn't care for them to much but I have not tried any variations on them.

 

Did you try with all-purpose flour, or bread flour? All-purpose flour is fine for cookies and cakes but using it for bread as the main ingredient has never worked well for me.

[CoM]

I did use bread flour.