Keeping Bread tasty

[GinBoy2]

One of the secrets of baking is to weigh everything. Use a good set of scales and before pre shaping your rolls cut the dough up to 90g each, that should make them a more consistent size.

Yeah I think I am coming to the conclusion that you are right with weighing the dough. No matter how hard I try to eyeball it, and 'think' I got them equal never works

[phutoie2]

Exbikey, if the bread is hard, look at bumping the water content up. "The wetter the better" is a well known bakers comment on dough structure.

For 500g of flour you are looking at 310ml of water which is about 62% hydration. For baguettes I use 325-340 ml. If you use fat in your recipe, butter or oil this will effect the dough as well. Stay away from sugar in normal bread and with the modern instant yeasts you do not need warm water. My water temp is never greater than 18c. Watch the internal temp of your dough, warm dough gives awful tasting bread

No higher than 26c, in the warm months here I often put my dough in the fridge.

Take your time too, allow at least 2 hours for fermentation, 25 mins rest, and 1 hour proof. If you want crusty bread get a water sprayer and coat the dough in water before going in the oven. Like the German guy who posted here, bakers have their secrets, I have mine, passed on by my folks, bakers in Yorkshire. Good luck, happy baking.

[exbikey]

Exbikey, if the bread is hard, look at bumping the water content up. "The wetter the better" is a well known bakers comment on dough structure.

For 500g of flour you are looking at 310ml of water which is about 62% hydration. For baguettes I use 325-340 ml. If you use fat in your recipe, butter or oil this will effect the dough as well. Stay away from sugar in normal bread and with the modern instant yeasts you do not need warm water. My water temp is never greater than 18c. Watch the internal temp of your dough, warm dough gives awful tasting bread

No higher than 26c, in the warm months here I often put my dough in the fridge.

Take your time too, allow at least 2 hours for fermentation, 25 mins rest, and 1 hour proof. If you want crusty bread get a water sprayer and coat the dough in water before going in the oven. Like the German guy who posted here, bakers have their secrets, I have mine, passed on by my folks, bakers in Yorkshire. Good luck, happy baking.

Many thanks for that, I'll have another go sometime this week.

Some great bakers in Gods Country, which part are your folks in?

[wanna3030]

Hi and this is mine home made German Bread ..........hmmmmmmm......... have a look :-)

[Turkleton]

I use to bake this "No knead bread by Jim Lahey"

I usually increase the amount of ingredients, so every baked loaf weights ~1100gr.

I also replace 10% of wheat with rye flour.

My new baking oven is now big enough for two loafs at one time.

After baking, I let it cool down, slice it on the machine, put it in these air-tight "zip bags" and than into the freezer.

Best bread I've ever eaten here in Thailand.

[tolsti]

What do you cook it in?.. Pyrex? cast Iron? Enamel?

[Turkleton]

What do you cook it in?.. Pyrex? cast Iron? Enamel?

Nope.

Simple, cheap stainless steel pots with lids.

I think, Makro sells them as "Indian pots" (can attach a photo later if necessary)

I preheat them within the baking oven, than put the dough (together with baking paper) into it, sprinkle some sesame or cereals over it, done.

220° degrees Celsius for the first 10 minutes, than 180-200°.

Remove the lid after 20-30 minutes (depending on how dark you want the crust).

[AyG]

I don't often make bread, but I was inspired to do so by this topic. So, yesterday I made the best loaf I've ever made. Nice, even crumb, thick crust, great taste. It's also very easy:

680 ml lukewarm water

650 g bread flour

255 g wholemeal flour

15 g salt

15 g instant yeast.

Put everything in a big bowl. Stir it all together. Leave covered for 2 hours. (The dough will be quite wet and sticky.)

Put it in the fridge for a further 2 hours (or longer, up to 7 days according to the recipe. The longer you leave it the more sourdough-y it'll taste.)

Take a third of the dough, shape it, put it on a tray lined with baking parchment, and sprinkle the top with flour. Leave it for an hour to come to room temperature.

Put a shallow baking tray in the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 230 C.

Tip a mugful of water into the baking tray (to create steam), and put the loaf in to cook for 30 minutes.

That's all there is to it: no fuss, no kneading. And I still have 2/3rds of the dough left for two more loaves over the next few days.

[Kenny202]

Dario, those rolls look delicious. I just can't seem to get it right. Would you be willing to share your recipe and baking methods. Thank you.

Fairly simple, with one pre-condition: you need a baking oven with a ventilator. And a dough mixer,

What you need for delicious bread buns:

600 g of bread >>> instead you can also use 500 g bread flour and 100 g of rye flour

8 g of yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar

25-30 g of butter >>> makes THE taste difference!

375 ml of warm water

Sieve the flour. In a bowl putt the flour, make a whole in the middle and pour the warm water, the yeast, the salt and the sugar and mix. Add the melted butter. Make a firm dough and cover it with a plastic and over the plastic a towel. Let it rise for at least an hour. The dough must have at least doubled in size.

When risen enough, take it on a flat surface and knead it a couple of times. If you want buns like me, cut the dough in six pieces and form the buns. Put them on a buttered tray and let them rise 1-2 hours, again under a plastic and towel on top..

Preheat the oven at 150º and put the buns in the middle. If your oven has a ventilator, put that on. Bake the buns 20-23 minutes at the same 150º. Check for yourself how brown you want them. Once they're cooled down you can put them in the freezer. Enjoy! You'll love them.

Years back I used to buy bread ( quite nice) at our Big C in Surin, but no need anymore, I like our selfmade buns much better. Good luck!

you said you need a dough maker, I assume you mean a mixer with dough hook? U use a mixer or hand knead?