The Conquest of Bread, or: The Bread Thread

[Zukunftsmusik]

I'm looking for good recipes and tips on baking bread. I have some books with some information and I'll try to bake some bread the following weekend, cause it's cheaper (probably?) and better (definitely) than what you get in the store.

I'll begin with bread based on yeast, but I think I'll look into sour dough after some practice. I'll just experiment with tastes and different kinds of grains etc from time to time and try to find a mix I find tasty and so on.

I believe my cooking and baking skills are pretty good, but this is the first time I've done bread baking seriously, so all kinds of tips or recipes etc would be helpful. I hope people will share their knowledge and experience in this thread, not only to help me but to inspire anyone else who looks into this or will in the future.

Thanks in advance!

[GiantMonkeyMan]

I've got a comrade who adds some chili peppers, sundried tomatos or olives to make flavoured bread. Can't really give you much practical advice about making decent bread because the only thing I've ever made has been crappy flat bread that tasted good when still warm but kinda shit cold.

[Creative Destruction]

i've had great success with King Arthur Flour's Whole Wheat Bread:

kingarthurflour dot com/recipes/classic-100-whole-wheat-bread-recipe

that was what i used up until my wife asked me to start doing gluten-free stuff. and now i'm trying to learn how to make gluten-free bread, which feels like an entirely different ball game. gluten-free "dough" is so goddamn finnicky.

[Creative Destruction]

by far, though, my favorite thing to make is tortillas. :grin: easy, cheap, tasty. way better than store bought stuff unless you actually go to a tortilleria.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I'm a big fan of making variations on quickbread with whatever random food is kicking around. Basically, anything tastes better baked into bread. Also, if there's a can of beer around, it makes the whole business really easy.

I've had some great homemade sourdough, but one has to be pretty responsible. I've also seen some people let their starters turn into disgusting bowls of mold.

[Taters]

How about a nice rustic loaf.

http://judyskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/02/americas-test-kitchen-rustic-almost-no.html

very easy to do. All you really need is a dutch oven (preferably enameled).
A tasty variation is adding a few ounces of cheddar and some pickled sliced jalapenos, substituting the vinegar with the pickle juice the jalapenos were in.


I've also seen some people let their starters turn into disgusting bowls of mold.

Guilty. D:

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/08/my-new-favorite-sourdough/ For more involved breads. complex flavor, good chew, etc.

Holy shit, i love bread, you guiz

[Zukunftsmusik]

I'm a big fan of making variations on quickbread with whatever random food is kicking around. Basically, anything tastes better baked into bread.

Quickbread?



Also, if there's a can of beer around, it makes the whole business really easy.

How?

[Creative Destruction]

yeah, quickbreads are like cornbread, banana bread, etc. breads that don't use yeast.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Quickbread?

Well:


yeah, quickbreads are like cornbread, banana bread, etc. breads that don't use yeast.


How?

I tend to wing it, because, due to habit, I almost never measure anything while making quickbread. Basically, it usually just means substituting out water for beer. You put the beer in very last, have to be careful not to over mix it, and throw it in the oven/the pan right away. Yup.

[Quail]

I have a breadmaker so I just chuck ingredients into it. I really like making tomato bread by adding ketchup, garlic and basil. (Sounds weird to add ketchup to bread but it seems to work better than tomato purée.)

[synthesis]

Porters and stouts (especially of the chocolate variety) make for the best bread, in my opinion. I've had beer bread with those that literally tasted like there was still had alcohol in it and it was still good.

[RedAnarchist]

I once made Irish soda bread (another type of quick bread) at high school. Can't remember much more than that, though.

[tanklv]

My neighbor has a great recipe for bread with beer - the beer evidently makes it "sweeter".

My sis gave me a great banana bread recipe that uses buttermilk.

I'll have to post them when I can find them - I made them and they turned out great (instead of the construction material the last time I tried to make bread!)

Found out that you can "bake" greener bananas in the oven to "blacken them" and they're supposed to turn out as good as letting them "blacken" for a few days.

I'll have to post my grandma's Ukrainian Paska (Easter bread) - a rich yellow dough that is sweet with raisens). Great to eat direct, naturally, but even better as a basis for French Toast!

It's late and I need to get some sleep, so I'll post it later...

[Zukunftsmusik]

I've baked a couple of times now, first time I cheated with partially using a mix from the store (I know, I know :o), and it turned out good. Second time I used regular flour and did kind of a synthesis of different recipes and tips I've picked up. But the result was not so good. Taste-wise I like it, but it was completely flat and doughy inside. I baked the breads for at least 50 minutes and the crust was getting darker and darker, so I had to take them out. I also used more yeast than last time, but they still collapsed completely. Anyone who knows what might have gone wrong?

More (fine) flour, maybe? To deal with the doughy-ness, at least.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

I've baked a couple of times now, first time I cheated with partially using a mix from the store (I know, I know :o), and it turned out good. Second time I used regular flour and did kind of a synthesis of different recipes and tips I've picked up. But the result was not so good. Taste-wise I like it, but it was completely flat and doughy inside. I baked the breads for at least 50 minutes and the crust was getting darker and darker, so I had to take them out. I also used more yeast than last time, but they still collapsed completely. Anyone who knows what might have gone wrong?

More (fine) flour, maybe? To deal with the doughy-ness, at least.
Sounds like you might need to leave it to breathe and rise before you put it in the oven. Maybe you didn't add enough yeast? You inspired me to try my own hand at properly making bread and that shit's happened to me as well and it's fucking soul destroying lol. Still ate it all with soup. :)

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

I'll have to post my grandma's Ukrainian Paska (Easter bread) - a rich yellow dough that is sweet with raisens). Great to eat direct, naturally, but even better as a basis for French Toast!
Okay, that definitely sounds good!

[Zukunftsmusik]

Sounds like you might need to leave it to breathe and rise before you put it in the oven. Maybe you didn't add enough yeast? You inspired me to try my own hand at properly making bread and that shit's happened to me as well and it's fucking soul destroying lol. Still ate it all with soup. :)

I'm pretty sure I used enough yeast, it did rise for an hour and to double size (at least, I'd say). Can the dough rise too much or for too long?

Good to see that this thread was inspiring! :D I also ate my bread, it was especially good to toast it. That way you covered the doughiness a little.

[skitty]

If you want to try primitive, here's something I made when canoeing out in the middle of nowhere in Ontario. Can't remember the details; but we used a pan in a reflector oven by a fire, checked for done with a piece of straw and maybe threw raisins in.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/04/04/baking-in-the-wild-how-to-make-bannock-bread/

[skitty]

This is the way my family in KY made corn bread, since the dawn of time:
2 cups white cornmeal(self-rising now, with teaspoon or two baking powder earlier)
2 eggs
buttermilk (enough to make it like a thick milkshake, give or take)
Hot, sizzling greased cast iron(http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-159-21&va=iron+corn+stick+molds

Then you smother the corn stick in butter!:)

[laoch na phoblacht]

soda bread is a nice and simple one to make