See.... bread has rules. Do this, don't do that, Can't you read the recipe? Also see.... this grumpy old man isn't at home following a formula, which baking recipes are. I just like knowing how it works, and then going my own way.
Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes the chickens are eating particularly well that day. Ocassionally, even the chickens give me the side eye as they stalk away.
But lately, I'm beginning to get the hang of this bread thing, to some degree. A little bit. Maybe a smidgen.
The reason why bakers use 'formulas' instead of recipes is that bread, cakes, cookies... things like that... are honest to God science. To get X, one must combine G, S, K, and Z in exactly right sequence, under the right circumstances, and apply heat in exactly the right amount for exactly the right time. Even then, the smallest variable can change everything. (I struggle with this, as I am a little more classically trained in baking. I love a formula and the precision. The first time I watched him bake, I almost stroked out and my eyeball twitched for a whole day! I will also give credit where credit is due, when it comes to bread, he wins! I cannot compete there. His bread is excellent! It is just never the same! LOL)
One day the bread is perfect, and the next it's too dense and won't rise properly. The difference? The humidity changed. Yup, I'm talking the moisture in the air, which you have almost zero control over, can change the outcome of your baking procedure.
An experienced baker (Read that as operational VooDoo) can take these factors into account. Me? Naww..... I just wing it.
Lately, I've settled on a basic combination of ingredients as a starting point for my bread. I'll share, but if you blow the windows out of your kitchen, I don't want to hear about it.
- Four cups of Occident flour, plus spare for working
- Two cups of warm water
- 1.5 tablespoons of Red Star yeast
- 1 teaspoon of sea salt
- 2 tablespoons of honey.
- 2 tablespoons of butter for greasing things
Firstus, I use a Kitchaid mixer with a dough hook. You don't need to, but I prefer it. You can just use a bowl and your (washed) grubby paws to do this. I end up paws in anyway, so....
In my mixer, I dump in all 2 cups of warm water. Warm to the touch, but NOT hot. Too hot kills the yeast, and too cool makes it rise slowly. Just.... warm on your wrist. I use tap water, but we have a well. If the house was on city water, I'd probably use bottled for this.
Into the water, add the honey. I eyeball mine, but it's roughly two tablespoons. Then the yeast. Turn on the mixer a notch or so, and let it stir for a few moments to blend the yeast in.
Next, two cups of the flour. Set it to stir again, maybe on speed 3, for about 30 seconds, and then shut it off. Set your timer for 15 minutes and walk away. Leave....it....alone. Go away and do something else. Don't even glance at it, in case you frighten the yeast demons away.
When the timer goes to beeping, you should have a nice bubbly 'sponge' started. That will be yeast coming alive and mating like mad in the mix. This creates CO2, which bubbles out.
Dump in the other two cups of flour, along with the salt, and start your mixer on '1', so it doesn't go *POOF* and fling flour across the walls. In about 30 seconds you can rev that baby up to 3 and lock the head down. Set your timer for 6 minutes and kind of keep an eye on it so it doesn't walk off the counter.
Now, what will happen is a nice, moist, and sticky dough. if you wish a stronger and denser bread, you can add up to another 1/2 cup of flour if you wish. This will make the dough tougher, drier, and pull away from the bowl walls into a ball.
6 minutes is up? Turn the mixer off, flip up the motor, and take off the hook. You will need to scrape the dough ball off the hook and into the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a floured smooth counter, and sprinkle it with more flour.
Begin working the dough by flattening it, and folding the top third and the bottem third into the middle. Pull the long ends into the middle as well. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and do the same. Sprinkle with flour as needed to keep it from sticking too bad. A dough knife is VERY handy at this point, to scrape it off the counter and back into the dough ball.
Do this for 2 or 3 minutes. The dough will be elastic, springy, and get tougher as you go. That's the gluten building, a good thing.
Now, you could have just let the mixer do this last part, but my bread is very noticeably better when I finish the kneading by hand.
Once you have kneaded the dough a while, butter (or oil) your hands, pick up the dough, and shape it into a ball while making sure to grease 'er up all round. Dump it into the large greased bowl you had waiting..... um..... you did have one waiting, right?
Cover the bowl with saran wrap or aluminum foil pretty tightly, and set in a warm spot to rise. This will take from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on stuff.... and things.... but mostly stuff.
What we are looking for is the dough to double. No matter how long that takes, that's the goal.
While the dough is rising, I get my Dutch oven buttered up real heavy on the inside, including the lid. I also begin heating the oven. When it comes time for 450 degree heat, I don't want to wait.
When the dough has doubled, scrape it from the bowl back onto the floured surface, and repeat that kneading thing for about a minute. Don't go crazy, just flatten, fold, turn, and repeat. Once that's done, form it into a fairly smooth ball and toss it into that Dutch oven. Put the lid on, and set it back in a warm spot for it's second rise.
Meanwhile, go ahead and set that oven at the full 450 degrees. The second rise won't take long; Usually about 20-30 minutes for me. Probably enough time to clean up the equipment, do some dishes, and pour another cup of coffee.
When the dough has roughly doubled again, and is filling maybe 3/4ths of the dutch oven, go ahead and slide it into the hot oven. Lid on and all. Set your timer for 45 minutes, and WALK AWAY.
Don't open the oven to check, because there's nothing to see but an old Dutch oven in there.
Have a cooling rack ready for when that timer goes off. On the beep, shut off the oven and carefully pull out the rocket-hot Dutch oven. Set the lid someplace safe, and with lots of safe padding on your hands just flip it over and dump the loaf onto the rack. Carefully set aside the iron, and then (hands still padded) turn the loaf top up on the cooling rack.
No matter how good it looks, leave it alone. The inside of that loaf is around 200 degrees and it's cooking process is still finishing. Just set the timer for 30 minutes, and WALK AWAY. When it goes Bingly Bingly Beep.... the bread is all yours.
Now, this is a base model. Options are unlimited.
Want bigger holes in the structure? More like an English muffin? Make the dough come out wetter, and do the initial (and only) rise right in the dutch oven. Have the oven hot, and when the dough doubles.... in it goes. Same procedure otherwise.
This style bread makes wonderful toast the next morning, and really good French toast as well.
Do you like a richer and softer bread? In the initial mix, right before the second load of flour goes in, add two large eggs and another 1/4 cup of flour. Otherwise, follow the original procedure.
The eggs add more leavening, and the yokes supply moisture, flavor, and color.
The outcome will be a more golden colored loaf with a very tender structure. It doesn't work well for sandwiches, but then again it will be eaten up so fast there won't be any for sandwiches anyway.
The shape of the loaf, and the dimples on top, come from the Dutch oven. The loaf may, or may not, hit the lid. It may, or may not, push it off a little. I haven't found it to make a difference except in final appearance. The flavor is outstanding either way.
Going from the base recipe, you are free to experiment. I will add in oat bran from get go, or maybe melted butter, or maybe whole rolled oats, or even crushed peanuts. It's wide open, and results can be surprising. I love me a good surprise!
Why the Dutch oven? It makes bake time much more forgiving, to start with . Baked open, a loaf that is done one moment may be dried out 2 minutes later. The internal temp shoots up very fast in the last few minutes of baking, and if you are not using the Dutch oven I recommend using a remote sensing meat thermometer with a audible warning when desired temp is reached.
The Dutch oven also retains the steam baking out of the dough, giving us a wonderfully chewy and flavorful crust.
Try this if you like. It helps if you have, as we do, a flock of chickens that will gladly convert failed loaves into tasty eggs.
Try walnuts and dried cranberries, it makes for a very tasty breakfast treat. Soak both before adding to the dough.
ReplyDeleteNext thing if you pre ferment 1/2 the dough overnight or longer in the fridge it approximates a sourdough flavor.