Baking Bread - a little help.

[3irty1]

Just keep mixing. That rough looking dough is undermixed. Wet or dough with a sheen on it is over mixed. Give it 12 minutes in the mixer on medium and see how smooth that is. With high protein dough you may have to stop the mixer and push the dough down if it climbs the hook too high.

[pbmax]

I think if you send me some streudel, I stand a good chance to identify the problem by taste. Just to be sure, send a large batch.

[Patler]

I think if you send me some streudel, I stand a good chance to identify the problem by taste. Just to be sure, send a large batch.

My wife was once a member of a young wives organization (this was a long, long time ago!) when we lived in a place that had an "Apple Festival" in the fall. Organizations set up booths and sold "apple things" to raise money. My wife had served my streudel at one of their meetings and the ladies decided to sell it by the slice at the festival that year. Our kitchen had two ovens, so about 15 ladies and I spent an entire day baking. I think we made about 20 of them. They sold out the next day in only a couple hours and they had to close their booth early. It was a two day festival, so that afternoon and evening we baked a few more for the following day.

Just me and a houseful of ladies baking. They soon forgot I was a man in their group, and I think I got to see the inner workings of an all female group. It was an interesting couple days! I overheard conversations between our kitchen, dining room and sun porch as the work went on that, except for the higher pitched voices and laughs, could have come from a bunch of guys sitting at a bar.

[Little Whiskey]

strudel or kringle?

[Patler]

strudel

[Iron Mike]

My wife was once a member of a young wives organization (this was a long, long time ago!) when we lived in a place that had an "Apple Festival" in the fall.

Small world. A long, long time ago, I would have been watching a parade at an "Apple Festival" in the fall, where my GF at the time was contesting for the "Apple Queen."



Her Mom was most likely home baking stuff with sourdough starter called "Herman."

[MichiganPackerFan]

While 31 as always describes methods SO well, I don't know how much I can add, so I'll just share what I do. I use a KitchenAid. Start with a sponge (at least in theory - half the time, i will add extra yeast in the beginning rather than allowing it to multiply properly). The first cup of flour is bread flower and whisked directly into the warmed water (ALWAYS FILTERED), honey, olive oil, butter (sometimes) salt and yeast. I'll either let that sit for half a day or add the aforementioned additional yeast. When I'm ready to go, I fold in the next flour (all purpose, plus a half to a cup of rye or wheat) with a rubber spatula until I know that when I turn the mixer on, I won't be covered in flour. After that I mix on low, but build quickly to medium just until I can stretch into the bakers windowpane. I have had a little trouble with having to much flour, but when all is said and done, the KitchenAid pulls it into a consistent, nicely kneaded mass which cleanly pulls from the bowl. A couple turns on the counter to shape it and then back into the bowl to rise for a couple of hours, then prepped for baking and allowed to rise a final time. Pizza crusts have been similar but with more liquid and half of the water being substituted out for pilsner.

[swede]

Small world. A long, long time ago, I would have been watching a parade at an "Apple Festival" in the fall, where my GF at the time was contesting for the "Apple Queen."



Her Mom was most likely home baking stuff with sourdough starter called "Herman."

LaCrescent is that little town in Minnesota hanging on to the limestone bluffs above the Mississippi, is it not?

As a boy I loved looking at that little farm deep in a valley between the two lanes of I 90 just beyond LaCrescent, wondering how they got in and out.

[Guiness]

LOL at your description of making a purchase, pbmax.

You wouldn't just happen to be an engineer, would you? It sounds like a very familiar process, and is pretty much guaranteed to drive my artsy girlfriend mad!

[Guiness]

Patler - interesting history behind your bread recipes. I'd like to be the first to ask you to pass some of them along! If you're, willing to, pm me and I'll give you an e-mail address.

I bake my own bread as well, and like to experiment with recipes, although I will admit that I do it primarily with a breadmaker.

One great addition to bread is some spent grain from brewing. If you know a homebrewer who does all-grain batches, a couple of tablespoons of his used grain adds a very nice malted flavour to a loaf of bread.

[pbmax]

LOL at your description of making a purchase, pbmax.

You wouldn't just happen to be an engineer, would you? It sounds like a very familiar process, and is pretty much guaranteed to drive my artsy girlfriend mad!

Not an engineer by degree or job description, but by temperament? Quite possibly.

My wife thinks its a symptom of indecision. I say its a bulwark against regret.

[Patler]

Patler - interesting history behind your bread recipes. I'd like to be the first to ask you to pass some of them along! If you're, willing to, pm me and I'll give you an e-mail address.

Sorry! I neglected to reply! No qualms about sharing:

Nothing special about the basic white bread dough recipe (yeast, water, milk sugar, shortening salt, egg, flour), which I then use for both apple streudel and cinnamon bread. I pull (not roll) the dough out, cover with butter (too much, but man is it good!), apple slices (I like MacIntosh), cinnamon and sugar; roll it up and bake. For cinnamon bread I divide the dough in thirds, pull each out, cover with a little butter, cinnamon and sugar; roll each separately, then braid the three rolls into a loaf. The original loaf recipe had a molasses and butter based glaze, but I have never used it much because everyone seemed to like the plain cinnamon bread. Or, instead of a braided loaf, I make one roll, slice it and make individual cinnamon rolls.

I have a bun recipe that my family really likes, which also came from my Grandmother:

1/2 C warm water + 2 packages dry yeast (this is converted from the original cake yeast amount, which I have lost)
1 1/4 C scalded milk (from the old days when we used whole, unpasteurized milk)
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp. salt
6 1/2 C flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup melted shortening
2 eggs

Combine, knead and raise like any dough. Form into buns and bake. I cross the top with a knife before baking.



N.B. - I haven't baked bread since my last frustrating session that prompted me to start this thread; but I have some ideas to try with my stand mixer, at least. I might try this weekend and report.

[Guiness]

Thanks Patler.

The yeast packets are 1/4oz? I buy the jars, so need to measure it.

Scalded milk is interesting, I've never used it for bread. Do you pay attention to the temperature you bring it to? I make my own yogurt, and scald the milk, it makes it come out thicker. I use a thermometer and bring it up to 180C. When I eyeballed it, I inevitably brought it to a boil and it foamed over.

[Patler]

Thanks Patler.

The yeast packets are 1/4oz? I buy the jars, so need to measure it.

Scalded milk is interesting, I've never used it for bread. Do you pay attention to the temperature you bring it to? I make my own yogurt, and scald the milk, it makes it come out thicker. I use a thermometer and bring it up to 180C. When I eyeballed it, I inevitably brought it to a boil and it foamed over.

Ya, the standard yeast packages. I don't use them either because I also use the bulk yeast in jars, 2+ tsp.

Honestly, I don't scald the milk anymore, just warm it a bit to take the chill off it. When we used whole, unpasteurized milk on the farm we scalded it always for bread recipes. The story I was told was that some bacteria in the milk could kill yeast, or at least slow the rise time. Scalding was by sight, when it steamed and just began to form a skin (which we removed). We tried to not let it come to a boil.

[Zool]

What difference, if any, would you use in making a pizza dough?