skeptic7
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Mike;
Your last bread looks like it has measles! What is the purpose of docking the dough? Do you think the flavor or the texture will change by tomorrow? I've notice that on some wheat breads, that breads which seem too soft are stiffer the next day, and crusts soften as they absorb moisture from the inside of the bread.I got it.
I remember using a Joy of Cooking recipe that called for fresh yeast cakes. At that time, probably mid 70s, I bought them in the grocery store. This was for a very rich pastry. I haven't seen them recently.
Aaron, Thanks for the link. I like the almost recipes for sourdough bread found at that website. I wish I was around when the bread came out of the oven.
There is an article from NPR about failed Sourdough starters. Its amusing
I made a lucky guess. I feel so guilty eating waffles because it takes more oil than pancakes to cook them and then you can add so much butter at the table.
ItalianCook;
My introduction to sponges came from "From a Baker's Kitchen", and after that I read everything I could, and probably got it wrong. However here is an easy example from my basic English Muffin recipe with 1/3 whole wheat.
Ingredients
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 2/3 cup white flour
1 tsp yeast
1 cup water -- room temperature
1/2 cup milk -- scalded
1 tsp salt
3 tablespoons butter.Dissolve the yeast into the water. Mix in the whole wheat flour. This will form a batter. Cover and leave it alone until it is light and bubbly. This is the sponge part. It also lets the bran in the whole wheat flour absorb liquid and become soft before kneading
Mix in the milk. Mix the salt into one cup of white flour and blend it in. Mix or knead in enough additional flour to form a stiff dough. Let rise a little.
Knead in the butter and enough flour to make it manageable. Knead the dough until fully kneaded.
Divide dough into 9 parts and put in greased English muffin rings. Let rise until fluffy and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or 400 degrees for 10 minutes.I make all my bread by hand and a number of the waiting steps are there to make kneading easier, like letting the dough rest before kneading in the butter
I think everyone is just using too much yeast. I've been doing the sponge method of bread making since I found out about it, and so I use only 1 teaspoon of yeast for a batch, whether that batch is 4 cups of flour for a batch of English Muffins, or 8 cups for Hot Cross buns, or 3 cups of flour for a normal size loaf of bread. I keep my yeast in the freezer and am just now using up the cup of yeast I bought years ago. I did just buy a 2 lb package of yeast when I was panicced at the flour and yeast shortage last month. This is going to last me for the next decade.
I love looking at someone doing that, but if I tried it in my kitchen, I'd get flour all over the place. Would it be worth the resulting mess? I was impressed at how smooth the dough was at the end, when at the beginning it seemed too wet to handle.
Missed it
Of the last three large grocery stores, two were nearly completely out of flour, and one only had Gold Medal AP flour. Now today I've been to a fourth grocery store and it had KAF self rising flour, and storebrand white and storebrand whole wheat. I grabbed a bag of the whole wheat -- Does anyone know how this might differ from KAF whole wheat? I've been using KAF whole wheat since I decided to start baking with whole wheat flour. In fact I've been using KA flour for nearly two decades -- soon after someone recommended KAF 200th Anniversary cookbook.
I answered correctly because I know so many good recipes.
My yeast probably wasn't freeze dried, when I opened the package it was in normal granules. The way it was packed made me think it was a solid block. I guess all the air was removed from the package and it was such a solid shape. I put it in little ziplock bags, in 1/2 cup per bag. I told my neighborhood facebook group that I had extra yeast and gave about 6 bags away. The rest are in my freezer. I actually didn't need any more yeast, I still have some of my original bag left after all the Easter baking.
I was at grocery stores the last couple of days and no one had any flour. I used to find KAF flour at both those stores.
BakerAunt;
I was making a point of buying Tupperware at thrift stores in the early Spring. These were handy for Hot Cross Bun deliveries, although I had to put a number of the Ziploc semi reusable boxes for that purpose too. The lids tend to crack with age or with cold or with exposure to too much sunlight. I needed boxes with enough depth to accomodate the Hot Cross buns and frosting. I used to give out the buns unfrosted and then I found some of my friends couldn't/wouldn't make appropriate crosses.The pictures of bread hanging from rafters looked so interesting. I guess dust and mice would have been a problem. Can you recommend an easy recipe? Is there a whole wheat version?
I read about Crispbreads on Wikipedia. I didn't realize that they had so much history behind them. They seem to be the land based equivalent of hard tack.
BakerAunt, could you get your husband to rig up a pole so you can hang them in your living room?
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