Homebaked Loaf of Bread

[flower]

We need a recipies thread.
Baking bread isnt really about the house....and unless its a pizza oven woodfired one...then I dont know how it fits into the garden either.
My qvestchun: How do you make that loaf with the stretchy doughy bubbles of air through it?
Is it a soda bread?
Do you add extra dried yeast?
Do you use SR flour instead or as well as?
Anybody?
The breads I've been baking lately are dense heavy loaves///I want a fluffy aireated one....does anybody have the key?

BTW: I'm thinking hand made......not machine.

[Mister Noodle]

You're thinking of those italian loaves, almost glassy in the middle. Damn, I miss those.

High gluten flour is the key. You might be able to track some down if you manage to find an italian / mediterranean deli / drygoods store, or failing that, use ordinary flour and add gluten flour to it. You can get gluten flour in healthfood shops, also look in the healthfood aisle in coles.

The second thing is a truly excessive amount of kneading. Dough hooks would be a really good thing here, becuase you're looking at a good hour of hand kneading.

The third thing is long (all day, even overnight) proving times, typically with a small amount of yeast, in a cool, even cold environment.

There's probably a trick to the fat / water content as well, but I'm not sure what to aim for in that department.

Play around with it - and if you produce anything passable, let me know how you did it!

Hope this helps...

[flower]

I'm all up for the experiment.
I'll check out this cealiacs-nightmare-flour...so far have used spelt and organic.
Kneading...hmmmm...might be better than doing free weights for those bingo wings..(whatever they might be.....)
Small amount of yeast and cooler relax time?? Thats interesting; I would have thought extra yeast was the go for that aerobar look.
Back to the baking board.
Let you know how the next bun in the over goes...so to speak.

[Mister Noodle]

In order for the bubbles to get big, the CO2 has to accumulate a lot, and the millions of tiny bubbles have to coalesce into hundreds of big ones - thus the extended time.

However, you don't want more than the normal amount of CO2 produced, or you'll get that over-puffy texture and that sour, winey overproved flavour - so you just want to produce the same amount, over a much longer time.

That's my understanding, anyway.

You possibly want a somewhat wetter dough than you'd normally use, as well.

*wonders where his copy of Jane Grigson went*

[lexi'smum]

But there is a recipe section isnt there?? :confused:

[Vespera]

Ciabatta bread has lots of holes in it so maybe you could follow this recipe in regards to rising times and yeast etc

ciabatta bread recipe

Ingredients:
. 350g plain flour
. 1/4 teaspoon easy blend yeast
. 200ml warm water
. olive oil
. 300ml warm water
. 1 tablespoon olive oil
. 5 tablespoons warm milk
. 500g plain flour
. 1 teaspoon easy blend yeast
. 1 tablespoon salt
. cornmeal to dust

Method:
. Add yeast to sifted flour and slowly mix in the water. Beat for five minutes.
Place in a bowl and brush with olive oil. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until tripled in size (5-24 hours). Now chill.

. Stir the warm water, milk and olive oil into the chilled mixture. Slowly add this mixture to the flour, adding the yeast and salt.

. Using either a food processor or those at the end of your wrists, form into a dough and then knead on a floured surface until springy. Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.

. Divide into four and stretch dough into rectangles, pressing flat with your knuckles. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 220°C. Heat baking sheets in oven. Dust baking
sheets with cornmeal and place dough on top.

. Bake 25 minutes, sprinkling with water three times during the first
10 minutes.

[flower]

Thanks vespera...I will give that a go. The long proving time might just make the difference.
Bake to the baking board...in all my spare time......*rolleyes*.

[wattle]

I think it's all in the flour..... flower.

Alternatively - you could go to the bakery?

[flower]

"Bakeries"..Dear Wattle in the Midlands of the boonies is a frightful concept...and driving an hour and a half to fleece the 'Great Bread Wagon' is really not a delight.
I need to crack the code and have it appear in my kitchen before my very eyes and be the envy of all the other girls in the local.....
(Must remember to have fan blowing in the direction of said town during that baking bread smell time....)

[wattle]

Move house?

[wattle]

Put a 75w globe inside your loaf....... that should make it lighter. :laughing:

[flower]

Here's an update for those who have lost sleep wondering.
Tried the ciabatta recipe yesterday. The yeast was left for 2 days....it rose brilliantly. But the loaf itself was still a dense texture.
I'm not getting that elastic thing happening.
I think now it might be in the kneading. I suspect one has to knead for days? Weeks?
Months?
I have another recipe to try.....one handed down the generations.
Will do that next.

[Pixie]

Just buy it flower.....sooo much easier :D

[wattle]

I think it's strictly on a knead to know basis :laughing:

[wattle]

It can't be helped, the elastic eventually goes. :laughing:

[Pixie]

so witty so early :D

[wattle]

Ah well, it happens when you RISE early. :laughing:

[Mikeswifey]

Maybe just buy a bread maker. It does all the work for you and there are so many types of breads you can make. They are not very expensive these days.

[Funkychicken]

And this is where I am jumping in. I have a breadmaker and have starting using it solely as I am so over the whole bread/preservative added issues. What I do need is some new bread machine bread recipes. Ones that will mwke light and fluffy bread-not the heavy, lovely with soup type, but ones that will do as we enter spring. So, who has these recipes????:chef:

[flower]

You lot are soooo helpful!!
NOW: How about those recipes??

[Funkychicken]

C'mon, we are talking to you!!:D

[Mikeswifey]

Mum just gave me her bread making machine last night and it came with a book full of recipes.

I am unwell at the moment, been sick all night, but later on I will write down some of them. They look very basic and so yummy.

Rhiannon