/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>6273096
recipe pt. 2

Knead dough thoroughly 8-10 minutes. I used a technique of rolling the mass up into a ball, flattening it out with firm pressure through the heels of my hands, and rolling it up again.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and oil the top of the dough lightly to help hold in moisture, and cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap.

IMPORTANT: the bowl with the dough must go in a warm place--like the top of your stove, with the oven set to 220-250 F., in order for the yeast to grow and make the bread rise. Let it rise at least an hour and a half, and depending on ambient temperatures, more time may be needed--in the kitchen I used it took two and a half hours to rise fully. It needs to rise to at least double its apparent original size.

Punch the dough down, cut the dough into two equal masses, and put them into two 9" bread pans. Or a 9" pie pan, if you prefer the French "boule" style loaf. Bake 35 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Bread will be golden brown on top and sound hollow if you tap it with your fingertip when it's done.

>>6273098
additional notes:

Kneading the dough is best done on a surface covered lightly with flour. I put some waxed paper on the countertop, sprinkled a bit of flour on it, and that seemed to work.

Even on top of the stove, the heated bowl was heating unevenly, so I turned the bowl 180 degrees ever 90 minutes and turned the rising dough over every hour.

I think it came out pretty good. Fresh warm bread is a very fine thing to have in winter.

>>6273104
Oh. "Punching the dough down" means just that. You will need to press your knuckles into the risen dough to make it vent excess yeasty-smelling CO2 vapors before splitting the mass in half to bake in the two pans. It will make a "pffffffft" sound as you press it down and the gases vent.

so can we say that this is a bread general thread?
whenever I try to bake bread it always turns out really hard, how do I make the soft, spongy loaf that you buy in the supermarket? is it because I'm not kneeding it enough? putting oil in the bowl and on top of the dough before letting it rise is new to me,I'll try that next time

>>6273172
Well, we can try.

How much does the dough rise before you punch it down and put it in the pan to bake it?

Are you making a yeast bread or a baking-powder bread?

How warm is the place where you're letting the dough rise? 90-100 F. seems to be optimum, much more than that and the yeast can die, much less and it won't want to grow.

How long do you knead the bread before you put it in the bowl to rise? I kneaded this batch ten minutes, and used a timer.

>>6273226
I'd say about 50% bigger than what it was before? usually less
it definitely feels like it's softer after rising
also, I don't knead it much after rising, just enough to get the shape I want

yeast bread

my kitchen is about 70 F, I don't have a stove or counter on top of my oven

never timed, but I'd say about 5 minutes give or take

That's nice for a first try OP.

Did this the other day.

>>6273240
ah, the dough needs to rise to at least double its original apparent size before you "punch it down" and bake it. At least double, if not more.

The dough definitely needs to be in a covered bowl in a warm place in order to rise properly and completely. Do you have a cabinet or shelves above your oven or stove? 90-100 F., maybe a little more, but not much more, yeast dies around 130 F. and its growth is fastest around 100.

Knead the dough more before you put it away to rise. Use a timer.

This is my advice, anyway.

>>6273274
yeah, I do, is it a big deal if I just leave it at room temp and just wait longer?
I'll try this today, and I'll kneed it for 10 minutes

>>6273273
That looks really good. Is that whole wheat bread? And is it 2whole2control?

>>6273285
Yeast really does need to be warm to "come to life" from the powder in the packets and grow and make the bread rise. It's got to be in a warm place. 90-100 is good, 110 is okay, 120 is getting not so good, 130 and it dies. Can you wrap an electric blanket around it, maybe? Just make sure there's saran wrap on top of the bowl to keep out lint.

And yes, just about every recipe I see says to knead the dough 7-10 minutes.

Oh. Are you using all-purpose flour, or some other kind of flour?

>>6273096
This is OC from an anon who posted here in the past. Idk if he still posts here, but I've been following his recipe for over a year now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJGqSC2RpD8&feature=youtu.be

>>6273285
https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html

tl;dr version: yeast for baking (as opposed to yeast for brewing) is very fussy about temperature, and you might even want to get a cheap kitchen thermometer.

>>6273316
Different guy, but it regularly get 90-100 in spring and summer here. Would it hurt the bread to let it raise outside?

>>6273350
If it's that warm outside, that's perfect for yeast.

It might get a little uncomfortable inside the kitchen while the bread is baking, though, even with air conditioning running.

>>6273316
sorry for the late reply, my oven's lowest setting is just under 50C, I left it there to rise

and I thought the wrap was to keep out bugs, I left the bowl open in the oven, is that bad?

>>6273347
oh damn, I guess I should take it out of the oven then, I don't really have any other way of keeping it warm though, other than keeping it outside (it's ~70 F rn, windy) or
>open oven
>put bowl on open glass door of oven
>leave oven open and on at ~100C

Why didn't you honk it to help the dough rise? Other than that it sounds good.

>>6273370
ahh shit, now I have undercooked bread
looks like just the very top was affected though, so I'll try rekneading it later and baking it properly or maybe I'll let it rise some more, because it apparently didn't finish

>>6273372
I didn't want to put an airhorn in the oven

>>6273379
You don't honk it in the oven, silly. You honk when rising.

>>6273390
I was the guy that tried to let it rise in the oven on low

this is how it turned out, the very center is still undercooked
didn't turn out too hard though, so that's good
how do I avoid it cracking from rising in the oven? do I have to make it flat before I bake it or does it have something to do with the preparation?

>2015
>Kneading bread
>Not baking in a dutch oven

>sugar in bread dough
>bread without a brown crust
>fermentation taking less than 6 hours

>>6273576
>I like all of my bread to have the exact same shape and texture.

>>6273692
>Cast iron comes in only one shape
>It's impossible to change the flour/meal used
> Seeds, bran, flakes, cornmeal, etc. aren't a thing

>>6273172
You need to let it proof longer. Give the bread more time than you think is necessary before deflating/putting in the oven.

just made this loaf of sourdough

sourdough crumb

>>6273895

It's a little darker than I would have like to see and I could almost forgive your sour nigger loaf after that crumb shot but really bro, you need to step up your oven temp game and adjust your cook times.

>>6273713
Yeah! There's round, larger round, smaller round, the possibilities are endless. I'll give you the different flours though, you can at least do that. Throwing some seeds on top is hardly going to change the crumb though.

>>6273895
what is the white on the crust?

>>6274117
not that guy, but it could be flour. I bake bread in a lightly oiled pan dusted with flour, which makes it less apt to stick to the pan. And some people prefer to put flour on their hands and on top of the dough before handling the dough, as it makes the dough much less sticky, especially during kneading.

So, my guess is that it's flour. Do I win something?

>>6274090
There's round and oval and that's about it. You can't make baguettes, braids or anything fancy like that in cast iron, no.
But changing the meal/flour ratio and types does change the crumb. More meal means a denser bread. You can also use eggs, (scalded!) milk, enzymes vital wheat gluten and fats to change the texture of the crumb. Malt and burnt sugar can be used to change the flavour. You could also use a sourdough starter instead of yeast.

>>6274117
flour. i use a cane proofing basket with flour in it.

>>6274023
i really like the flavor of the darker crust. i baked at 475 in a dutch oven. 30 minutes with the lid on and about 10 more with it off.

>>6274221

Naw bro, dark crusts are bitter and have a dry charcoal like consistency with the mouth feel of sandy dirt. You should really be shooting for a blond exterior color, blue eyes are optional but just insist on bread purity. By introducing steam into your oven it's easier to achieve a moist and slightly chewy texture in your crust, bro.

>>6274239
it depends on how dark you take it. i think the slightly bitter flavors in a dark crust complement the acidity of the sourdough really well. ken forkish has the right idea.

>>6274254

DUDE...ain't no body got time for dark crust on white bread, it's a GD abomination and unnatural. Now I could understand if you were making some pumpernickel or a dark rye where you were working with some black on black action. Srs'ly you coal burner, don't put that darky crust all up in my white bread basket.

also, instead of an egg wash which makes the bread darker than I'd like as well, I stick with a 50/50 water and clarified butter wash to keep it smooth and white.

>>6274270
i don't use any wash. just flour, water and salt. sometimes i'll add some nuts or seeds but that's it. and it's not all white, it has some whole wheat and some whole grain rye in there as well.

>>6274287

You sick fuck, stop posting your interracial flour breads on here, it's a GD blue board.

>>6274023
>>6274239
>>6274270

BEHEAD ALL WHO INSULT DARK CRUST
MAXIMAL MAILLARD REACTION IS THE ONLY WAY

>>6274316
this.

well--Maillard reaction that gets overdone overoxidizes the sugars and becomes too dark, and bitter--like burnt toast. But moderate Maillard reaction is tasty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

Read up guys. Food chemistry is a science now. Understanding how things work and why they work the way they do can make you a better cook and baker.

>>6273341

I'm still here.

>>6273895
>>6274023

I love dark bakes. Keep on keeping on.

For those of us who are intrigued and want to experiment with whole wheat and whole grains, does anyone have any pointers?

Can you just substitute whole wheat flour for all purpose flour, or do the proportions have to change?

When the bread label says "whole grains," what is that, actually? Is it cracked whole wheat berries with the bran still on them? Where do you get it? Can you substitute it for a portion of the flour, or is it better just to sprinkle some on top?

Tell me your secrets, /ck/.

>>6275745
a whole grain is exactly what it says it is, the whole grain ground up. whole grains have the bran germ and endosperm all in it but white flour is just the endosperm. you can mix and match whatever flours you want but you have to keep in mind that whole grains absorb more water so you'll have to use a little extra water to achieve the same dough consistency.

>>6275769
ah. okay.

Where do you get them? I look around local supermarkets in the baking section. Whole wheat flour I can get, but anything more exotic than that or brown sugar isn't on the shelves of local supermarkets.

Made this in the morning, lads

>>6274117
flour? the bread here in bakeries often has flour on the crust.

I at some point heard that the bread you get in america is pretty shit, is that true? why would that be?

>>6278368
also I have rye flour here but no idea how to process this shit into a bread. do I have to add wheat flour to the dough?

>>6278380
You probably should add some wheat flour. 100% rye bread is usually quite dense. Depends what you are looking for.

>>6278414
sometimes I really crave this kind of bread, I think that it's a rye bread with whole spelt?
well I'll look up some recipes and just experiment, what can go wrong.

>>6278368
America is a big place. Lots of bakeries produce bread, large and small.

Some bread available to us is pretty shit. Some is not.

>>6278380
If you want. I usually just add some wheat gluten, knead the shit out of it, then let it ferment in the fridge for a few days to really let the flavour come through.

>>6278448
where I live we still have a lot of small bakeries instead of big franchises, even in bigger cities. though the amount of franchised bakeries is growing. and from what I read the majority of bread producers in america are now big bakeries instead of small, familiar ones.

>>6278451
alright, I'll try that out.

>>6278468
ah.
Well, there's "store brand" bread, or "generic." It is typically made to a price point, rather than a quality level, see image. At 98 cents a loaf, or thereabouts, it is not very good, but it is adequate to the purpose insofar as it provides a sanitary, and more or less digestible, handle by which to hold one's sandwich.

Better products exist, but cost more money.

It came out a bit dense, but it was kind of expected as it was 69%ish hydration dough. Flavor was good.

>>6278730
ofc I fucked up with uploading.

>>6278447
Rye bread is fucking amazing. Go make it at once!

Trust me, I'm from Denmark aka the land of rye bread.

>>6275517
Mind posting the recipe for this please?

>>6273096
lol guise i make suuuuuper pretty bread and throw it away when i'm done, it's sooo bad for you, ick!


~eat clean!~

>>6278753
well, I eat the bread from the picture I posted often. we have some really nice small bakeries here that make fantastic bread. but I am not sure I can manage to make it as lofty and good.

I'll definitely try to make some kind of rye bread with the flour I have though and post it what ever the outcome.

>>6278380
You can mix wheat with rye, it makes the bread lighter in color and softer in texture. However, i strongly recommend you to try baking a 100% rye loaf. Crispy rye bread fresh from the oven is one of the best things in the world, tastes amazing sliced thinly with butter. Also makes your kitchen smell good.

Here's my recipe, i use sourdough starter for some extra flavour and sour taste (here in finland, rye bread is traditionally made with a starter) but yeast works too. The cumin is also there for the flavour, half a teaspoon is enough.

>rye flour
>water
>sourdough starter/yeast
>oil
>salt
>cumin seeds

Mix 2 cups of water and rye flour until you get a runny batter. Add starter/yeast and leave it to ferment overnight. Then add salt, cumin and a tablespoon or two of oil. Add rye flour until you get a relatively firm dough, but leave it a bit sticky. Knead for 5-10 mins, shape, flour the loaf and leave to rise until doubled. Bake at 175c for 30min and 220 for 10-20 min until dark. Remember to create some steam into the oven during the first minutes, helps with the crust.

This recipe takes some time, but it is well worth the effort!

90% white 10% wholemeal sourdough from Jeffery Hamelman's book bread.

Bread gurus, could I make a rye bread with the following recipe?

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2009/12/01/the-crunchiest-crackliest-chewiest-lightest-easiest-bread-youll-ever-bake/