Bread

[mattjnz]

Hello everyone! I'm new here But I was wondering if anyone here likes homemade/traditional/artisan bread? I love it and was wondering if anyone has some recipes that they really like or whatever. I think making bread is so fun! Lol

--Matt

 

[GoldyCat]

Check out the Recipe Exchange Group in the Social Groups. I believe there is at least one thread on bread recipes.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I make yeast rolls for some holidays; but nothing fancy really.  The recipe came from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  I do love fresh bakery or home made bread! YUM!

 

[Winchester]

I love to bake bread; I just love everything about making bread. Kneading the dough is so relaxing for me; the whole process is relaxing for me.

In addition to the Bread thread in the Recipe Exchange that GoldyCat mentioned and linked for you, I have a couple books for you to check out:

The Bread Baker's Apprentice (Peter Reinhart) - This is such a great bread book; I worked my way through this book a couple years ago, making every recipe. Reinhart starts out with a good explanation of bread making. He explains kneading and the "windowpane", which is essentially what your dough should look like when you're done kneading. He has recipes for ciabattas, for bagels, for challah, French bread, Italian bread, rye breads, and even sourdough breads. And foccacia. The Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche is outstanding! Just outstanding!  The Vienna Bread is just wonderful, too. And try the Pane Siciliano, with its S-shape; that was the first bread I tried from the book and it's just delicious. Many of his recipes take longer than one day to make; you create the dough and let it rise in the fridge overnight. Some of the recipes use a barm, some use a sponge, and some use barley malt as an ingredient (and now? I always have barley malt in my fridge). From him, I learned that a cool rise is so much better than the warm rise; the flavors get to mingle a bit during the rise and you get a better bread overall.

Brother Juniper's Bread Book (Peter Reinhart) - published before the Bread Baker's Apprentice, but then updated after. Try his Struan recipe; it's just delicious.

Secrets of a Jewish Baker (George Greenstein) - Excellent recipes!! Try the Semolina Bread and the sourdough breads. I haven't worked my way through this book like I did with the Bread Baker's Apprentice, but it's truly a good book. I think so. Lizzie, from TCS, recommended it to me and I'm so glad she did.

And while you're working on yeast dough, try Reinhart's American Pie, too. It's pretty much everything you need to know about making pizza, both with recipes for doughs and for sauces and such, too. Reinhart's method is the only way I make pizza dough now.

Even if you're an accomplished bread baker, you will learn something from these books. I'm sure your local library has them. If not, there's always Amazon. And eBay. If you love to make bread, and you don't already have these books, you won't be sorry you bought them.

 

[mattjnz]

@GoldyCat, Thanks I'll be sure to check that part of the forum out! I didn't even know we had such a place haha

@MoochNNoodles, You can always trust the Wise and Venerable Betty Crocker

@Winchester, Thanks for the book suggestions! I'll definitely be ordering 'The Break Baker's Apprentice' once I get some money The Vienna Bread sounds to die for! I think I'll also order 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking' as I've read good things about it -- I'll let you all know if there are any exceptional recipes from it once I own it and have some time to try it some things in it

 

[Winchester]

Thanks for the link to the Artisan Bread book! I keep looking at this book, but haven't bought it (yet). It's gotten some excellent reviews. Thanks!

 

[pushylady]

That Bread Baker's Apprentice book sounded so good that I just placed a hold on it at my library!

 

[Winchester]

That Bread Baker's Apprentice book sounded so good that I just placed a hold on it at my library!

You won't be sorry! 

 

[pushylady]

Well I've been reading that Apprentice book for about a week now. Very interesting, and a little overwhelming too. I haven't actually worked up to making any of the bread yet, but I'm learning lots.

 

[Winchester]

Well I've been reading that Apprentice book for about a week now. Very interesting, and a little overwhelming too. I haven't actually worked up to making any of the bread yet, but I'm learning lots.

It's truly an interesting book and I learned so much about yeast dough from reading how he does things. Are you going to try any of the recipes?

 

[pushylady]

I am going to try some recipes for sure. Right now though the book is drying in front of the register as I over-watered one of plants and came back to find water all over the table and book. It's a library book too!

 

[nerdrock]

My SO and I are in the process of cutting out as much processed food as we can from our diet. We make our own bread, pasta, sauces, etc for the most part.

My favourite bread book is one that was mentioned above, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day. It's great and makes it extremely easy to have fresh bread whenever you need it. As you get more comfortable, you can play with the recipes more and more. One of my favourite "regular" breads in it is the Oat Flour Bread, tastes great and is full of fibre. Other than that one, my other favourites are the free form loaves, I hate using bread pans - I have to remember what each one is made of, how it cooks, etc and it's just a pain for me. The pizza stone was the best thing I bought, prior to getting it I was just using a cookie sheet. It worked fine, but the quality is much better with the stone. I don't have a pizza peel, I just put cornmeal on a cutting board and use that. You have to get a bit closer to the stone/oven, but as long as you're careful it does the trick.

 

[Winchester]

OK, you've convinced me, Nerdrock....off to Amazon for Artisan Bread. Thanks for the link, MattJnz!

I agree with you about the stone. I keep one on the bottom shelf of my oven at all times. When I know I'm going to be using it, I just bring it up to the oven rack I'm going to be using and preheat the oven for about an hour or so. Til the dough hits that preheated stone, it's really hot. I use the stone for pizza and for baking bread. Gosh I don't remember when the last time was that I actually used a bread pan; most of my loaves are free-form, too. I especially like to braid bread..... I think it looks so pretty when it's baked.

Rick bought me a pizza peel a few years back. It was worth it as we have some kind of pizza almost every week.

 

[Winchester]

I am going to try some recipes for sure. Right now though the book is drying in front of the register as I over-watered one of plants and came back to find water all over the table and book. It's a library book too!

Oh no! That could be ugly! Good luck getting it dried out!