Bread [Recipes]

2007 Aug 9
I'm going to break my bread virginity this weekend... I am going to experiment with baking bread, from scratch... I've made the breadmachine stuff, and it's ok, but not exactly what I want. I want something rustic, closer to Art-is-in breads... does anyone have a good rustic bread recipe?

2007 Aug 12
Your post reminded me of a bread forum we had here this past winter: www.ottawafoodies.com
It was my first attempt at completely homeade bread too! Loved it. Not what I'd call 'Art-is-in bread' but definitely rustic, IMO. Please share what you attempt!

2007 Aug 12
I haven't eaten Art-Is-In breads, however I did find a recipe on finecooking.com - which is the website of my absolutely fave cooking magazine. Looks fairly rustic... www.taunton.com

2007 Aug 12
Oh - crap - I just realized that recipe uses a bread machine. Sigh. I'll keep looking. It does look good though...

2007 Aug 13
We don't have to throw out the dough with the bathwater HOT ;-) Decent bread can be made from the breakmaker if you just use dough mode. Even better if you just let it mix, (It's essentially a cheap Kitchenaid mixer at this point) and pull the dough out to rise elsewhere (on a wood cutting board?). It takes away the tedius first mix, but still lets you knead the dough by hand (important for good consistency.. not that I need to tell you..) and spend all your time perfecting those french braids and wheat sheaves patterns...

2007 Aug 13
Hoho! So I baked a jalapeno cilantro cornmeal bread ring on the weekend. Probably not the best choice for a beginning baker like myself... it turned out ok, but didn't rise as much as I would have liked... it wasn't a complete pancake, but not as fluffy as I would have liked... definitely very tasty, excellent with a sharp cheddar, and would probably be very tasty grilled with some chili or stew... I'm going to try a sourdough and a no-knead dough recipe this weekend.

2007 Aug 13
To duplicate the artisan breads such as art-is-in, you need a lot of patience and probably a sourdough-style starter. If you don't know what a "poolish" is, you won't duplicate art-is-in! ;-)

There are tonnes of good resources for bread baking. For a flavour of what to expect, you could skim through postings in the alt.bread.recipes Usenet forum: groups.google.com

I've always been daunted by the process of making really good bread. Worrying about humidity and babysitting a poolish that needs attention every few hours over a weekend sort of scares me. If you succeed, you'll be a ray of hope for us underachieving bread lovers. Let us know how it turns out!

Incidentally, the nice robust crust on many artisan breads is usually formed with a steam oven. Some people have had success doing this at home with water-filled pie plates or by pouring boiling water over hot bricks. I tried a method once where you poke a pinhole into a pie plate and position it over a pan containing a hot brick. Then you pour boiling water into the pie plate and let it dribble onto the brick. All this while being sure not to spill water on the window of your oven (lest it crack). It didn't seem to make much difference in the crust. Probably the best method is to just use a spray bottle filled with water to mist your bread every 10 minutes during baking.

As for Art-Is-In, I don't know their secrets but I suspect they brush their bread with oil or butter and sprinkle salt on it. Even their white baguette is a bit focaccia-like that way.

2007 Aug 14
Chimi, sometimes if you want Art bread, but your ingredients don't want to rise, you can add some extra gluten to the mix. The non wheat grains don't contain as much (correct me Foodies?) as our fine northern grown Durham Semolina. If you live in the USA (or read the American instructions for your breadmaker) it is often recommended to use 'breakmaker' flour which is just normal flour with gluten added. This is because wheat grown in the USA (because it's warmer etc) has less gluten, which is what lends elasticity to the dough, which makes proper yeast based rising possible. Anyone else ever use gluten to help puff up their fancy breads?

2007 Aug 14
Ooh thanks for the tips Pete, maybe I'll add some gluten to the mix.

Ahh poolish, there are many names for what you're referring to and probably just as many different methods to create a starter... I'm going to experiment! It's so cheap to make bread that experimenting is easy to do... it's just time consuming!

An with Art-is-in, there is definitely some oil/salt mixture being added to the crust... I experimented with a cornmeal olive oil crust with one of my loaves... definitely similar to art-is-in...

Oh, and I used a water bath in the oven, it helped develop a nice crust! Spraying the oven with water halfway through baking is good as well, from what I've heard...

2010 Jun 28
Was there a thread on no-knead bread? This is all I could find.

Anyway, note to self - try this :

suziethefoodie.blogspot.com

I still have not tried no need bread.

2010 Jun 29
If you're really interested in baking bread I highly recommend The Bread Bible. You'll be an expert in no time.

www.amazon.ca

2010 Jun 29
i've tried no-knead bread twice and was unhappy with the results each time. i found the crust too dense/thick. it didn't rise enough to use for sandwich bread. the crust was too tough to eat on its own, so we had to have it with soup to soften it up. i think i used mark bittman's recipe both times.

2010 Jun 29
I would definitely agree with the recommendation of the The Bread Bible. If you want to read a bit more about it I would suggest the blog:breadbasketcase.blogspot.com/. The author bakes all the breads in the book over the course of a year. It is a very funny read too, so start at the beginning.

I also have done the no-knead bread and it was OK. I didn't follow it exactly and did leave it to rise longer than was suggested which helped with the texture. The crust was very thick on my version as well and my kids didn't like it. They rarely turn down homemade bread.

I think some of the differences I incorporated were from Rose Levy Beranbaum's website www.realbakingwithrose.com (she is the author of The Bread Bible). There is tons of info on the forums section.

2010 Jun 29
I have been trying to make breads, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I used baking with Julia (most libraries carry it). When I tried to capture yeast from the air, it bubbled for 3 days, but died on the fourth. The experimenting is fun. I make the starter /sponge using dry yeast. I like to use less yeast than commercial baking as I think it gives the bread a better flavor.
A bread site for amateur bakers is www.thefreshloaf.com It was an interesting site.