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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Well Bread
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
As there seems to be mileage in discussing bread, herewith the relevant posts from the Enquiries thread
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
... I might also get a bread machine at some point but am not sure whether it does work out cheaper to make your own.
In my experience, it does - very much so. As I've said elsewhere on the Ship, our bread-machine is used at least once a week, usually to make French sticks.
In the supermarket they'd cost about $2 - $3 each; a 10kg bag of flour, which costs less than $10, will make about 45 (working out at less than 22¢ per loaf). That's quite a saving - and IMHO they're much nicer than shop-bought ones, and freeze beautifully. And making them is fun - the machine does the hard work and you get the therapeutic rolling-and-shaping bit.
Win-win. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I'm still surprised that baguettes cost so much where you are. You can get quite long ones for about 75p here.
I'm quite happy to forego the kneading, rolling and shaping and leave that to them wot likes it ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
What's the best way of avoiding mould with homemade bread, by the way? Freezer, I suppose (though I don't have one as such).
quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
I find that homemade bread is vastly less likely to go mouldy than shop-bought bread. The exception to this is when I use a bread mix, which I find very interesting. It will go stale more quickly than shop bread though. If I was more organised I would slice it all and then freeze it in convenient batches. I'm not though, so I eat it fresh for two days and then toast it after that.
I haven't costed it, but I think my homemade bread costs roughly the same as shop-bought for a similar type of loaf. The big difference, though, is in the taste. After getting used to homemade bread I find anything else tasteless and boring - and that's for white bread, never mind the more adventurous loaves.
I have a Panasonic breadmaker and can't praise it highly enough. If I'm going to be around I tend to use the dough cycle and do the final rising and baking in my own tin, but that really is personal preference and nothing to do with the performance of the breadmaker.
quote:
Originally posted by lily pad:
I also use the dough cycle the most. For me, the main cost of making my own bread is the electricity for the oven. It doesn't take long to bake but every time I heat up the oven just for bread I wonder if I could have planned better. Baguettes in the stores here are at least $3 and a regular loaf of bread is often more.
I buy the yeast in a large package and keep it in the freezer. The yeast itself was one of the biggest expenses before I started doing this.
As far as keeping it fresh goes, all of my bread is sliced and put right into the freezer as soon as it is cool. If I didn't do this, I would eat a loaf before I knew what I was doing!
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
With a homemade loaf I tend to put some effort into using all of it, so once past the sandwiches/toast stages, there's soaking it in ketchup and Worcester and adding it to meat loaf: mixing with mince and seasoning for burgers: dicing into croutons and frying up with bacon to go over a salad: crumbing it and mixing with parmesan as a savoury topping for fish or macaroni cheese: mixing it with lentils and cheese and chili for spicy veggie bake thing. The other w/end I even made proper schnitzel with oven dried breadcrumbs. Oh, and bread pudding.
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Bread flour is typically £1.50 for 1.5k. Yeast is £1 for 6 x 7g sachets, and I would expect to get 2 to 3 loaves from each sachet.
So I think my home-made loaf costs roughly 50p.
Other advantages are of course taste and variety - olive, cheese, seeded, brown, wholemeal, brioche etc - and the smell wafting through the house.
That's expensive, roughly $3 in devalued Cdn money. I bought 10 kg of unbleached Canadian flour yesterday for $10. Which is about £5. Our all purpose flour has high gluten; all of it is bread flour. (I buy yeast in 250g jars. )
If you're patient, you can make bread with minimal yeast and minimal kneading or other working, stirring mostly. I baked yesterday (Sunday), 3 loaves from 1/2 tsp of yeast, started on Thursday (half whole wheat, with some ground flax, porridge oats, a bit of sea salt, you don't need any sugar if you've more time). Also made a focaccia with thyme and rosemarie.
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I'm sure I could bulk buy flour (and yeast) more cheaply. But I have neither the storage space nor the demand.
(My mother - who baked almost daily - kept flour in a large plastic bin under the stairs. The mice gnawed their way in. Which is probably also why I only keep a few kg and it's on the topmost shelf of the tallest cupboard).
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Just to add, I have been maddened into putting on a loaf myself - a light rye, which I haven't tried before. Will report back.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well, bread. I'm quite impressed with my new bread machine so far for producing a light, airy and completely edible loaf done to my own specifications. It even slices thinly without disintegrating.
This is a vast improvement on my homemade attempts which could easily have been entered for Small Dense Brick of the Year Contest.
I'll be experimenting with some of the more attractive-sounding bread recipes in the book that came with it. They take quite some time but might be just the thing for a rainy Sunday afternoon while I get on with something else.
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I have had great success with the Mark Bittman no knead bread recipe. It takes a little planning ahead, because it proofs for up to 18 hours, but I defy you to make anything so wonderfully crusty without the benefit of a stone oven.
(And good luck with the rye. I have tried modifications of the above recipe that involve rye, and it always turns into a sticky, gooey mess on the front end and a slightly underdone loaf on the back end. Let me know if you have any tricks.)
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
We use our bread machine all the time. The ingredient cost of a 600g loaf is about 61p plus something for electricity. It's a similar price to a supermarket freshly baked loaf (which is a 20 mile round trip from here), and cheaper than an artisan baker. The dough cycle also gets used for rolls, buns and pizza dough.
It's just what we are used to, but people who are not often comment on how nice it is. I can set a loaf going in about the same time as it takes to prepare couple of hot drinks in the microwave.
Mind you what we eat is what my mother's mother would have called 'loaf', and the other day I made by hand what she knew as bread.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
(And good luck with the rye. I have tried modifications of the above recipe that involve rye, and it always turns into a sticky, gooey mess on the front end and a slightly underdone loaf on the back end. Let me know if you have any tricks.)
Looks ok; maybe a bit lumpier on top but a good size and no sign of goo. I notice the recipe calls for about two and a half times the amount of yeast and double the salt and sugar. See how it tastes tomorrow.
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Bread making is a long time practice for me, about 25 years or so. I bake every week all of the bread and other wheaten things we eat. I used to post and read regularly at thefreshloaf.com which is a good resource. Some of you may enjoy having a look. They are rather obsessive (in my view) about weighing everything. I go by standard method and don't fuss so much. The key points for me are: don't be in a hurry, mix up just some of the flour with all of the yeast and water, and use that as a starter which may go for 1-3 days.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Interesting point about weighing versus cup-measures, NP.
As a transplanted Brit, I thought I'd never get used to the North American habit of measuring everything in cups, especially butter* - how do you know you haven't got any gaps? However, I've never used anything else for bread-making, and find that cup measures work perfectly well.
* OK, I know it's marked on the butter-paper, but the principle still puzzles me. ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I find that I make less of a mess baking by weight (just put a big bowl on the scale and pour or spoon ingredients slowly), and I don't have to worry about a packed cup of flour being a lot more than a sifted cup. Bread is still good if I use volume, though.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Mmmm. Bit chewy as you might expect, but a nice pumpernickel flavour.
A lot better than a rye stick I bought the other week which could have qualified as Dwarf Bread.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
Madame makes our bread, using a machine. It's very convenient to put the ingredients in, and set it to be ready at a particular time. she does do her own shaping and bakes in the oven and not the machine. We do have our favourites, the one she's making a lot now being a sourdough rye with honey and beer which we got from a friend. She leaves the dough 3 days to get properly sour, but to keep it safe does not use milk in the starter dough, A couple of tablespoons of milk powder in the main dough attends to that.
She has some proper silicone measures for quarter, third, half and full cups as well as several dozen measuring spoons. Butter is easy enough by cup - you put water in to a mark, then add the right amount of butter.
Rye dough is always sticky. Soy flour makes a good and nostalgic loaf. Worth a try if you can get it and use it as a substitute for wholemeal or rye.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I love making bread. Am I the only one who kneads it the old-fashioned way with their fair hand?
Personally I find the whole pleasure of making bread to be in the tactile process of the kneading and mixing. For this reason I don’t really see the point of a bread machine.
I like bread to be fairly dense. Our main objection to the bread you buy here is that it’s full of holes. I suspect that a lot of crappy supermarket bread is only proved once.
My homemade bread never lasts long enough to worry about it going bad ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) .
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I go through phases of making my own, but on the whole we're buying less and making what we eat.
I make my own baguettes, croissants and everyday bread mainly because it tastes better: croissant dough I prepare in batches and then freeze. The most important thing to remember is to let it come to proper room temperature before baking - cooking straight from the freezer produces something cakey and vile.
I do buy rye bread, which is wonderful toasted (yea, really) with a poached egg and asparagus on top.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I love making bread. Am I the only one who kneads it the old-fashioned way with their fair hand?
Personally I find the whole pleasure of making bread to be in the tactile process of the kneading and mixing. For this reason I don’t really see the point of a bread machine.
Some people love this part of the process, and I could see how you’d find it more satisfying, but I found it a drag, and these days my hands would ache too much. The tiny little kneading blade in the machine does a far better job than I ever would, and is happy to do that while I get on with something else.
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Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
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Posted
We are on to our 4th bread machine now. Last one lasted 3 1/2 years.
We have pita in the freezer but apart from that make all our own bread. Although Dear Partner has almost stopped eating bread the past few months so I make just dough cycle with 3 cups of flour and out of that I make 2 darling little loaves (25 cm X 10 cm) which I bake in the oven after the final rise.
Current fave is to use sesame oil and honey; adding 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and glaze with maple syrup...
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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I love making bread. Am I the only one who kneads it the old-fashioned way with their fair hand?
.
The fair hands are a bit rubbish these days: they have to be condomed in vinyl gloves for any culinary activity.
The problem I always found was this mythical 'warm place' in which to prove the dough. My house doesn't have one of those, especially in winter.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
For ordinary bread I use a 40 year old Kenwood mixer with a dough hook. I've tried using my own (fair?) hands and the results aren't as good.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
My bread making days have been over for a while. Another with painful hands, here. However, when my dear son-in-law got very sick a couple of months ago, I made (hand kneaded) bread and cooked a batch of chicken soup (yummy) for him. He devoured the bread first thing. It was the first thing he had eaten for days. It's so gratifying to make something for someone that is enjoyed and appreciated!
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
If you use all the water, all of the yeast and enough flour to make a thick soup, kneading isn't required. Stir x100 in the same directio, which helps gluten and protein to not get its molecules all smashed, but remain in long chains. Make it thick enough only so you can stir it. Leave on the kitchen counter for 1 to several days, covered. It will rise and fall. This is called various thing: a poolish, biga, prefermeng, which are both ethnic and how soupy it is.
When you are ready to mix in the rest just all progressively until the dough isn't sticky. You can use a rolling pin and roll and fold, which is described in various ways on the 'net.
You don't need a warm place for rising in bulk. Cover and leave it somewhere. I often put it into the fridge if allofasudden I realize won't have time for 1 to 4 days. Which merely slows it down.
Then shape, let rise and bake. I bake with from a cold oven now. Putting a pan of water in the bottom of oven. Then dial up the heat. The oven goes from cold to hot - 475°F, 250°C - in about 20 mins. Then turn down to 325/160 or off or another 20 mins. This gives a nice dark crust.
Commercial bread isn't kneaded. It is often shaken instead. Which changes the internal molecular structure.
(I curl in winter. Our skip is manager of a local flour mill and our lead is a grain guy at the univ. )
[ 17. May 2016, 13:42: Message edited by: no prophet's flag is set so... ]
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I'm with Ariel on the kneading process: the machine does it better than I could, and as I have quite small hands, I'd find it very hard work (I find my hands get quite achy just rubbing butter into flour to make dumplings).
And Firenze, you're not alone: in winter the Warm Place is a figment of the imagination chez Piglet too. What I usually do is set the loaves, covered with a dish-towel, on the stove-top and turn the oven on to pre-heat, and that seems to give them the warmth they need.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
This is essentially what I do, in terms of just letting a little yeast do all of the work over a longer period of time. I use a slightly different baking strategy- my recipe calls for putting an enamel or cast iron dutch oven with lid in the oven while it pre-heats to 500. Bread goes in the dutch oven covered for a half hour, then finishes with the lid off for 15-20 minutes. Crackling, crusty, chewy bread that would have cost you $5.00 at the store.
(I do enjoy hand kneading my own pizza crust, though. I suppose the no-knead method would work for that too, but pizza is usually something that I throw together on Friday night with little planning ahead.)
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
At my house, it’s actually easier to find a warm place in the winter. We have a shelf directly above the radiator which works admirably.
Failing that, the oven at a VERY low heat (25°) also does a pretty good job, although it expends more electricity.
My fair hands are rather well muscled on account of playing the cello since the age of seven.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
A rellie's ex was a base player - suggest he do anything in the kitchen and he would rear back going 'Hot things! Sharp things!'
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Honest Ron Bacardi
Shipmate
# 38
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Posted
Fan ovens are good for proving, provided your model has a thermostat that lets you do that. The energy cost is almost zero when compared with the actual baking.
A true sourdough uses a co-ferment of yeast with a lactobacillus, which is what makes it sour. An extra-long ferment often gets you halfway there but it's not quite the same result. Making your own co-ferment starter isn't difficult - plenty of tips online. Once you get it going, you just keep it in the fridge, and feed it up before using again.
My own favourite DIY bread is ciabatta (and ciabatta-type rolls), which use the biga-process outlined by no prophet. The rolls work insanely well as hamburger rolls, so much so that you'll never want to look at another of those pseudo-brioche things they normally fob you off with.
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Anglo-Cthulhic
Posts: 4857 | From: the corridors of Pah! | Registered: May 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
If you use all the water, all of the yeast and enough flour to make a thick soup, kneading isn't required. Stir x100 in the same directio, which helps gluten and protein to not get its molecules all smashed, but remain in long chains. Make it thick enough only so you can stir it. Leave on the kitchen counter for 1 to several days, covered. It will rise and fall. This is called various thing: a poolish, biga, prefermeng, which are both ethnic and how soupy it is.
That puts me in mind of "Herman the German", which was doing the rounds at our office a few years ago. Herman was certainly one of the more active cultures. It made a rather moist and distinctly beery sort of sourdough cake, but was still quite good.
[ 17. May 2016, 17:14: Message edited by: Ariel ]
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I see I did a typo "preferment" is the word I meant.
(I'm not a fan of sour dough in general.)
Re pizza dough=yes. We have an argument in our house about everything from whether it's acceptable to add herbs and chili flakes to the crust, to temp to bake at, whether it can be rectangular on a cookie sheet or must be round on a pizza pan (we don't have a stone, which would make this disagreement even worse), to how much cheese and what varieties are acceptable. --the solution is that one person makes a pizza for supper and the other compliments it. (Not arguing over pizza and never hanging wallpaper together again have kept us friends for 36 years.)
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I think I may be about to have my first French stick failure; I had put all the ingredients except the yeast in, to discover that I really didn't have quite enough yeast. I normally use a little less than the amount in the recipe anyway, and have never had any trouble, but losing another quarter-teaspoon or so will, I suspect, tip it past a Critical Point.
The dough felt like shoe-leather when I was rolling it, so I'm not setting my hopes very high.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
Hope it's not too late to join in here.... I make my own bread, kneeding it by hand although I have a machine that sits in a corner gathering dust. I prefer the texture of the hand kneaded bread I make as well as having a loaf without a hole in the bottom.
I don't use heat at all for proving, even in the winter when my house is roughly 17 deg C - for each proving I just leave the dough for a few hours until it has reached the required volume. I think this slowness helps achieve a lighter texture than a quick proving.
I have a book of mouth watering Nordic baking recipes that I long to try out, but I'd eat the results too quickly, so I'm waiting until I have visitors to experiment on.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
A slow proving does wonders for the flavour as well as the texture.
Madame makes almost all our bread, baking a couple of times a week. The present favourite is a proper sourdough where the biga is left for 3 days, when the remaining ingredients are added and allowed to prove slowly. A little trick is not to use milk in the biga, but to add milk powder when making the dough; it becomes excessively sour and off-tasting if milk is used in the biga. At least in a Sydney summer climate. She uses a machine for the kneading but not the baking. That frees her time enormously.
Another favourite is a pagnotta, which goes into a cold oven. By making the dough in the machine, she can set the timer so that it's ready to bake when we get back from church. From the machine into an unglazed terracotta dish which has been soaking all morning, then into a cold oven turned to super-hot. By the time guests arrive, there's a marvellous scent of baking bread and a good loaf with a fantastic crust ready to serve.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
My under-yeasted bread actually didn't turn out too badly: it's certainly a bit heavier than usual, but perfectly edible.
Shan't get caught out like that again though (I hope).
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
This thread has inspired me to make a beer bread recipe I have.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
My under-yeasted bread actually didn't turn out too badly: it's certainly a bit heavier than usual, but perfectly edible.
Shan't get caught out like that again though (I hope).
OK for dipping in soup I expect. Bread has to be exceptionally heavy to be unsuitable for dunking.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I managed to screw up with a half packet of sundried tomato and parmesan bread mix by putting it in the breadmaker, adding half the quantity of water and extracting something that looked like the rubble from any Roman archaeological site of your choice. This is what happens when you halve an already halved quantity of water.
Ah well, live and learn. I'm going to attempt making homemade butter at some point in the near future, to go with the homemade bread. Should be an interesting experiment.
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
I have had great success with the Mark Bittman no knead bread recipe. It takes a little planning ahead, because it proofs for up to 18 hours, but I defy you to make anything so wonderfully crusty without the benefit of a stone oven.
I make this bread a lot, from the exact web page you have linked. It is undoubtedly the easiest, and probably the best, home-made bread I've had. HOWEVER, it never looks anything like the picture in the weblink, in terms of its internal structure.
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The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I'm going to attempt making homemade butter at some point in the near future...
When I was working in a restaurant, occasionally it would be my job to make the whipped cream. One time I was distracted and I made lovely sweet butter instead. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Hugal
Shipmate
# 2734
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Posted
I to prefer to make bread by hand if I am making it at home. I am a pastry chef/baker so at work use the relevant machines. However there is something to be said for feeling the dough change in your hands and watch it grow and change. It gives a connection with the loaf you don't get from using a bread maker, In a rush I will use my stand mixer to get things going but I prefer to cook in the oven, As you probably guessed I don't own a bread maker and have not been impressed with any my friends have used,
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I have never done this trick in these trousers before.
Posts: 1887 | From: london | Registered: Apr 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I have to say that having now made loaves at least weekly with my breadmaker for a few weeks now, the quality is quite a lot better than supermarket bread. It's light and enjoyably airy and it keeps fresh for a week without going stale and without mould, in or out of the fridge. This is a first. I could always rely on supermarket bread to turn within about 3-4 days.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Interesting to understand terminology differences place to place. Yeast is "proofed" in Canada to make sure it is alive and working. (Though it is so reliable, I haven't bothered for 2 decades.) Bread is "risen", twice. Once in in bulk and once after shaping. "Proved" means risen in the UK from what I gather on this thread. I usually do the first rising/proving overnight, in the fridge (5°C). This makes for bread that has a better texture, not crumbly and doesn't stale for 10 days.
I was given a scale 2 months ago on my birthday. Made 5, 600g loaves yesterday (weight before baking), and 12, 100g buns. I can see the scale gets things much more uniform. Though I add and mix by habit without formal measuring.
I use a mixer to get things started mixing. Have to finish by hand to get best results, yesterday in two batches in mixer and combined the 2 by hand.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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