How to make some serious bread!

[GearNut]

All this talk about making your own bread has me really interested, and hungry too!
Now I gotta go figure out how the oven works.
Could anybody tell me what "folding in the butter" means?
I have no idea how to cook unless it comes out of a box and goes into the microwave.

 

[Toadmund]

Xseler, I have been using honey like the recipe says, I like the idea of using honey.
Blackstrap molasses is not as sweet as regular molasses, I think it adds more flavour than sweetness.

And gearnut, I am not sure of folding in the butter, I have just been melting my butter into my original warm water that I start the yeast in.

If I wanted to add oats to my mix, would I just add more water to the mix?

(Oh, and I edited my last post to say that I've used 1/4 cup Blackstrap molasses for two loaves)

 

[Toadmund]

Need to be careful in adding too much sweetner --- it does funky things to the yeast action........the dough may have a higher tendency to 'fall' when you put it in the oven. The yeast goes to town on the extra sugar, but the protein content in the flour can't compensate for the extra gases (air bubbles). It can't hold the air bubbles together.

Good luck!!

I had the top of my bread sort of 'rip', the tops sort of separated from the bottom on one side by about 20mm top to bottom, and 5mm deep, and had the appearance of stretched elastic bands.
But the bread turned out fine regardless.

Is that what you mean?

This only happened for the first time since I upped the blacksrap molasses.

 

[xseler]

Garlic/dill today.............sure smells good in this house!!

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

I just thought folding in the butter may be that you are best not to stir it normally in. Instead using a rubber spatula to slice though and twist the spatula and give 1/2 stir. Then repeat that process over til you get the desired mix.

I think this is so that the butter is not absorbed unevenly. If you stir normally it would most likely absorb into the flour mixture very quickly and not disperse around all of the mixture.

This is just my best guess. I know from folding in beaten egg whites to waffle batter. It is done that way but more for the reason that the waffle batter egg white bubbles are less deflated before they are hitting the iron.

Most all my breads that I make I only use a table spoon or two of light olive oil. I usually just try a recipe exact as it says first and then after that just modify it to how I would possibly like it better. I'm not to much for the rich breads. Substituting for oil or butter with apple sauce can work in brownies and cakes, never tried with breads though. Maybe banana bread next time I make I'll give that a try.

MT

 

[xseler]

Jalapeno/Cheese today. 3 loaves of awesomeness!

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Punch the dough down and roll out for Blueberries are in season!

MT

 

[xseler]

Punch the dough down and roll out for Blueberries are in season!

MT

Something new to try........I like it!!!

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

I just used the recipe for pizza dough but sprinkled a very small amount of sugar with the blueberries inside and very light dusting of sugar on the outside.

I already know how much shortening and sugar is usually used on confectioneries and that was not what I was aiming for. It took a few months in a bakery to find that eating as much as you like without fee, but only while working, not to take home (that was 50% off) was only so good for so long.

My version of the usual treat still has the carbs, but everything in moderation.

MT

 

[xseler]

I've done the same thing with pepperoni or bacon and cheese, but never fruit. I'm gonna try it in the near future!

 

[xseler]

Made plain hotdog buns this morning for my grilled brats........

Letting some Italian loaves rise as I type! It's probably a good thing that my job requires a lot of walking!!

 

[KenX]

Punch the dough down and roll out for Blueberries are in season!

MT

That looks extremely edible.

 

[xseler]

I'm trying some Shock*Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat beer for my liquid bread ingredient today.........we'll see how it turns out. Could be interesting, for sure!

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

I finally figured out how to use the pizza stone and pizza peel. I got to watch the next pizza to take out of the oven pictures soon.

I made ham and pineapple (Hawaiian Style) and ham and oyster mushroom. I'm not really sure how I like using oyster mushrooms on pizza, but that is what I am trying.


MT

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

When I take the pizza off the stone with the peel, I put it on my make shift cooling rack so the bottom does not get soggy. Just transfer to cutting board to cut and immediately put back on cooling rack.

The bottom got a real nice browning and the thick crust cooked through. I preheated the stone to 425 for 20 minutes for first pizza to cook, then just 10 minutes for the next one. I have two stones, but the oven is not good for but 1/3 up on the oven rack. One level only can be used that is optimal or stuff does not cook right, under ore over cooks. One pizza at a time. For the 2nd pizza I just left the dough sit with out anything on it till the first pizza came out of the oven. Otherwise the weight of the stuff might sink the dough since I had to wait for the first pizza to be done.

 

[xseler]

Home made pie is the best!!

Looks wonderfully tasty!

 

[mapbike]

dang all this bread stuff is making me hungry.... I really like home built bread....gonna have to throw me some together when I get the time now.

Map

 

[KenX]

dang all this bread stuff is making me hungry.... I really like home built bread....gonna have to throw me some together when I get the time now.

Map

Have any of you looked up the manna machine in the Bible? It pretty well describes how to make one. You remember manna pretty well fell from heaven to feed the Israelis. As I understand it it used the Arc of the Covenant as a power source. The Arc of the Covenant has been described in some of my reading as a nuclear power source. Anyway you can do an image search on Google and it will give you a picture of what this machine looked like and you can do further investigation to see how it worked.

 

[truckd]

Man can I P/M you with my address for shipping of the Pizza Oh! Peperoni

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

All Peperoni, too spicy for weak stomach of mine, but salami goes real good with mushrooms. Those oyster mushrooms were OK, but won't use them on pizza again. They are chewy and probably best with seafood dishes.

I got crimini mushrooms and I see what they are like with salami or ham on a pizza.

I also was going with the thicker crust which I'll still do, but a slightly different process. Instead of a rise in the bowl, punch down & rest, then rise second time and then place topping I'll do this different. I'll omit the second rising all together as the recipe says that came with the pizza stone. This will be more dense and a bit different, but still the amount of mass of the dough will be the same (fairly thick crust).

MT

Pizza stones are a way to have a preheated surface with a lot of heat transfer capability. Heck there is no pan, just goes on the stone with either corn meal or rice flour to keep from sticking. I like rice flour best, and these are not prone to burning like regular wheat flour that will not work well.