/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Every time I see a bread thread it takes me one step closer to buying a stand mixer that I've been considering for a while.

Soon I'll give in, soon...

Your bread looks very tasty, even boring white bread is awesome when made fresh at home.

From a while back. I'm going to try some baguettes later this week I think. Kinda shit at forming them, but we'll see how it goes

>>4241647

ciabatta? looks good to me.

I'm on a low carb diet right now, but here are the breads I baked during the holiday season. Lets start with Pita bread! my dad is from Israel, so this was one of his requests.

some more

An olive loaf.

Last pic. This is how I get the heat where I want it. Hope you guys enjoyed!

>>4241654
Yeah it is, thanks holmes

These all look great to me, guys.

I love fresh pita, but I can never seem to make it right. If I get the oven hot enough to puff the dough up so there's a nice pocket in the middle, then it ends up being too hard and I lose the softness of good pita. Oh well, something to strive for, I suppose.

>>4241680
Do you bake in a traditional oven? Brick lined? Baking stone? Your crust always looks divine, I'm wondering how you pull it off

>>4241686
I use a baking stone in the lowest rack position of my oven. Underneath it I place a cast iron pan. I heat my oven to 550F (+ convection) with stone and pan in it, and let it sit at temp for about 30 minutes to an hour to allow everything to get ripping hot.

When I'm ready to bake, I put the dough on the stone, and put about 2 cups of boiling water in the cast iron pan. I close the oven quickly, and drop the temp to 475F (+ convection) after 2 minutes. Then I just make sure to bake the loaves long enough to reach that dark golden brown.

>>4241637
i found one at goodwill like a week ago, i'm on my 5th loaf now.

>>4241709
how do you get your bread to rise so well?

My yeast is alive and well, but it seems whenever i put my bread in the oven it doesn't rise up much and I end up with a dense crumb.

>>4241709
Hm, I'll give the water pan trick a shot then, thanks.

>>4241733
There are a few tricks to getting a good oven spring.

1. Make sure to work enough gluten into the dough. Gluten supports a rapid oven spring and stabilizes it.
2. Make sure not to use any fat in your dough recipe. Fat is more surface active than protein, and will move to the interface of air/dough more rapidly. Unfortunately, fat cannot form intermolecular bonds, so you don't get any volume stabilization.
3. A more highly hydrated dough will rise more than a drier dough due to increased steam production.
4. Don't over or underproof your dough. Underproofing won't allow sufficient seed air bubble formation. Without seed bubbles, there is no cavity into which steam and gasses can be injected, thereby reducing dough expansion. Overproofing will weaken the structure of your dough and increase the likelihood of collapse during baking.

>>4241746
Thats likely what I'm doing wrong. I've been doing a no-knead recipe that worked well in the past but i've been avoiding kneading as much as possible and letting it 'proof' kinda over night.

>>4241746

FF,

Do you knead by hand or with a kitchenaid?

Tell me, do you generally mix, proof an hour, knead, proof an hour, and knead again? Or only one knead?

Ever mix, stretch and pull, then do the overnight fermentation in the fridge?

Any sugar in your dough? Any favorite flours (despite your name, hahah)? How much yeast do you like to use to, say, 500g of flour? And salt?

Do you turn the loaf at all in the oven?

I'm sure you're asked this all the time, but how do you get those flour lines?

Your loaves are gorgeous, I would be honored to have you bless me with a response.

Cheers

P.S. - Newbie baker, but I have eaten nothing but my own bread this month, so I'm getting better and better.

>>4241766
I use a KitchenAid for small batches, and a Hobart A200 for big batches.

In general, I mix once, bulk ferment (or bulk retard then bulk ferment), preshape, bench rest, shape, proof, slash, bake, eat.

Stretching and pulling is great for high hydration doughs. When I do knead by hand, the stretch and fold method is my method of choice. Often I'll do multiple stretch & fold and rests. I bulk retard in the fridge regularly.

No sugar in my dough. I tend to like 80% bread flour, 20% whole wheat/whole grain in my breads. That 20% can be rye, spelt, kamut, etc. I am a big rye fan, but the others are also great.

I turn the loaf 180 degrees halfway through the bake for even coloration on the loaf.

The flour lines are from the bannetons in which I proof my bread.

Thanks for the kind words. Post some photos of your bread!

>>4241780

Awesome. Tell me about your cuts. It seems like I can never go deep enough-- look at this loaf and you will see that my cut healed up before the big spring and it cracked from the top to the side.

I'll tell you about my process, maybe you could critique it.

500g flour, a big pinch of salt, a few teaspoons of yeast, and eyeballing the water to where it's a wet but not battery mass. I preheat my oven to 550degF just like you, and let the mix rise for an hour on top with a shower cap over the bowl. Then I go into the kitchenaid for 10 minutes of kneading on high. I have to add quite a bit of flour to keep it from sticking in the bowl. Then I give it another rise and another knead. Shape, slash, bake on the stone and the ol' water on the oven floor. Now, I really have no idea what kind of kneading is proper. I've experimented with different kneading times but I still can't get the big holes in the loaf I want so badly. The loaf in the picture actually only rose once, was kneaded, then went right in. I wanted to see what would happen. Maybe if you could throw some light on the basic white bread, but not just any white bread, the kind with nice, big air pockets.

>>4241796

Nice big air pockets are usually from letting it rise for a long time, then, not over working the dough you gently reshape and let rise once more.

I baked this 2 days ago.

Boy is it hard to consume right now.

I'm going to shit logs.

>>4242221

good god i can't wait for /ck/ to get a janitor to clean out the children.

>>4242238
What..?

>>4242221
Your bread appears to be a cake.

Regular poster in bread threads here. I bought my very first banneton today and I'm going to break it in in a few hours. I'll update with pictures later.

>>4242245
That's because I made it flat to try something new.

Baked this earlier this week.

>>4241796
I'm going to be honest with you. Cuts are a bitch. I'd say only 80% of my cuts actually work out. The other 20% collapse or end up not releasing enough tension during the oven spring so that the loaf cracks in some way.

Kneading before you bake is probably your biggest mistake. You want to let the seed air bubbles form during the proofing process. Keep things simple at first: knead the dough to windowpane, bulk ferment it, shape it (making sure to get lots of good surface tension in the dough), proof it until 1.5x-1.75x in size, then slash it and bake it with steam. If you want to have the cut "bloom", then you need to slash at a shallow angle to the surface of the loaf, and about 1/4" deep. If you want the cut to just open up (like my loaf at the beginning of this thread did), then you want to do a cut that is perpendicular to the surface of the loaf. Too many slashes and there won't be enough oven spring to go around to open them all up. Too few slashes and it won't be enough to relieve the stress caused by oven spring and the loaf will either be dense or will crack.

Hope that helps.

This thread is full of delicious. Bread bakers, you are awesome.

>>4242221
I don't know what you were going for with that bread, so please don't be offended, but that looks like a very delicious focaccia to me. The crumb structure is dead on to what I think an idea focaccia is.

>>4242247
Do it.

>>4242249
Nice slash pattern.

Made these recently.
1. Whole wheat with seeds
2. Manitoba wheat
3. While rye and whole wheat mixed.

>>4242317
Yeah I haven't been doing many loaves at all, probably 5-6 in total.

I wanted to see what happened if you baked it flat in a pan.

How deep did you make the cut for that loaf? I'm trying to stay at 5mm.

>>4242333
Wheat loaf

>>4241625
I wish. My kitchen has been under construction since December and I really wanna bake something but I don't even have a stove :(

>>4242335
About 1/4", so a little over 6mm.

>>4242358
You can make a lot of delicious bread in a grill, if set up properly. You can also steam breads, and they often turn out beautifully. Steamed brioche is a personal favorite.

>>4241625
>Here's some super boring white bread that I baked tonight
you're the worst kind of person. the worst kind.

>>4241637
you don't need a standmixer to start making bread. try a no knead recipe


>>4241664
looks good. i really didn't want to have to buy a dutch oven, but i might cave and get one so i can use that method. i'll have to see if i can find any on clearance at marshalls

>>4242398
how about "you don't need a stand mixer because you are a stand mixer"

>>4242238
go fuck yourself

>>4242335
like i said in your other thread, that bread just looks like it didn't have enough time to rise before you put it in the oven

>>4242371
do you have a lame? i just use a straight razor. works much better than any sharp or serrated knife i've used

>>4242420
I do have a lame. The wife gave it to me as a gift a number of years back. It's a wood handle with a flat metal rod sticking out of the end of it. I just slap on a DE razor blade (which I use to shave, anyway), and I get about 8-10 bake cycles out of it before I have to replace it.

>>4242420
Ah yes, thread died before I made my second bread. I have no pictures though. But I let them rest for 4-5 hours.

Turned out great.

I literally just began my bread adventure today

I'm not sure if this is out of place, but I could definitely use some quality tips or sites. Googling has mostly turned up very generic, throw 4 ingredients into a bowl, let rise for half an hour, bake at 375 recipes.

>>4242738
i've recommended this a few times:
http://www.breadtopia.com/cooks-illustrated-almost-no-knead/

i use the sandwich loaf recipe near the bottom. very easy to make

I've been making small unleavened breads in the morning for breakfast..... mashed banana and cinnamon inside, or applesauce and blueberries. Good stuff, really dense, lots of flavour.

I just can't be bothered to make a normal loaf and I don't have all the shit to do it anyways. Too much time.

>>4242775
what, like banana bread?

fuck

at least it peels off quite easily

>>4242791
>>4242799
The fuck you do, nigga?

>>4242791
that's one wet ass dough

Someone gimme a good site for rustic, tasty bread

at least the crumb was decent but what a fucking train wreck.

>>4242789
Sort of, I guess? Just flour and water and mashed banana and cinnamon all mixed.

I fiddled around with a chocolate chip cookie recipe to add Sriracha to it. I think I need to play around with it some more; the cookies came out kinda puffy and with an almost cake-like texture on the inside. Taste pretty good though. The burn is slight but noticeable, and the overall taste isn't too sweet or too spicy. But here's the recipe I've got so far. I used actual maple syrup for this, not that Mrs. Buttersworth nonsense. The dough is super runny, so I recommend spooning the dough onto the cookie sheet directly. Also, you'll get a ton of cookies out of this. I ended up with nearly 5 dozen. I'll have to play around with the recipe when I make the next batch.

>>4241662
Where is the hummus?

>>4242988
>I fiddled around with a chocolate chip cookie recipe to add Sriracha to it.
Why even?

>>4242791
>>4242799
Yeah, it happens to all of us the first time we use a banneton. Lining a banneton with flour is really not enough to prevent sticking. Try a 50/50 mix of rice flour and wheat flour, or corn meal and wheat flour. That might work better for you. Works like a charm for me.

>>4242988
Can't say that sounds particularly attractive to me, but different strokes for different folks. If you don't like the cake-like texture, back off on the flour and don't work the dough as much, or add more egg.

>>4243174
A friend asked if I could make it work. So I tried. I like spicy chocolate, so this is just a step up.

>>4243229
I'll keep that in mind for the next batch, thanks!

>>4242988
will make these for the BF sometime soon, thanks Anon

>>4243264
aaaaand i just had an even better idea, get this anon

take yet basic cookie recipe and add/replace
2 lindt chili dark chocolate bars, rough chopped
1 tbspn chili powder
4 tbspn cocoa powder

what do you think, would it be awesome?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUuKstAWof4

>>4243285
Madness. What are you, some kind of try hard avant-garde hipster type?

I didn't take any pictures of recent standard breads I've done, but here's a sweet bread I did:

Earl Grey Sticky Buns; think cinnamon rolls, but with bergmont orange zest instead of cinnamon (bergmont is the flavor in earl grey tea) and black tea instead of water in the dough.

Turned out really tasty

>>4242335

Care to share your recipe for this brother?
I've been trying to bake bread recently but it keeps turning out really crumbly. What am I doing wrong?

>>4244084
Looks killer to me, as always. Sticky buns almost never turn out poorly, and bergamot is a pretty wonderful flavor. I have a friend who's father is a master chocolatier who makes some absolutely stunning earl grey chocolates.

>>4241796
try kneading for 2 minutes on 1st, 8 minutes on second. Dont go to third. This is when you're combining ingredients, not prebake. You want to let it rest and rise after this. then shape, then proof, then bake.

I've had really good results this way.

Try cutting with a wet knife, too.

I've backed a few white breads at home, but whenever i do, i must not be letting them rise enough or im doing something wrong, because they never rise in the oven, and they always come out Really dense and LOTS of little bobbles, FF your's look amazing and after going though the thread i did get lots of help but i want to know, how do you get your loaves to have even colour all the way around
also
1. i want to start making things other then just white breads but i don't know what is ok to put into breads
2. I never know when to stop kneading, i have no knead by hand (will get a stand mixxer as soon as i can) what should i look for to let me know its been kneaded the right about
3. with yeast to you buy a dry active yeast or do you have your own living(happy) yeast stored somewhere that you pull dosages out of to use when baking
4. is that white stuff just flour?
5. got any sites to check out to help improve/teach basic skills (shaping cutting est.)

again you're great and your stuff look really tasty, thanks for the help if you give it to me

>>4244251
flour yeast water salt, past that, whatever the fuck you want as long as it'll rise. Dont add cinnamon or salt directly to yeast, they both kill it.

You cant really overknead by hand, so around 8-10 minutes and you should be good.

Dry active is fine, compressed can only be bought in huge amounts, which is really impractical for the home baker. They're used at different amounts, depending on the yeast though, just as a forewarning.

How long are homebaked bread good for?
Do you share the bread with family/friends?

I kind of want to get into baking bread, but it's way too much for me to eat alone. I'll probably only be able to make a small batch every one or two weeks since I don't eat that much bread to begin with.

>>4244329
You can freeze bread. You can cut the bread into either sections or slices and then freeze what you don't need. It's not as great as fresh bread but it works. I've found that if you defrost it outside the fridge it doesn't get soggy.

As for how long fresh breads last, it depends on the bread. I would generally say about a week, though.

>>4244251
Thanks for the kind words. My loaves get even color all the way around because I use an oven with convection, because I rotate them halfway through the baking process, and because I ensure sufficient spacing between the loaves when they are baking. Now, to address your other concerns:

1. Anything is okay. Give it a try. If you don't like it, don't do it again. I've made plenty of strange breads. So long as the predominant fraction is wheat flour with water, yeast, and salt, you can get away with a lot of wild shit.
2. Kneading to windowpane is a common stopping point with artisan loaves. If you aren't going for the artisan loaf thing, then you'll have to adjust your kneading to suit the application. For example, i wouldn't knead a brioche to death because I don't want a chewy crust.
3. I have both.
4. Yes, just flour.
5. There's a forum called thefreshloaf that has a TON of great information on it. There are also plenty of great YouTube videos available. Just be wary of all the silly shit people do with bread. Making it should be, for the most part, remarkably simple. There are variations to the theme, but it should really revolve around the same core steps: mix, ferment, shape, proof, bake.

>>4244329
I generally find my bread to be too stale for enjoyment by the 4th day after I bake it. The wife will continue to eat it for a day or so after that.

I sell a lot of the bread I make.

FF, will you make a simple breadmaking guide?

Just like all of your basic tips together?

Unless one already exists, I would be forever grateful

>>4244329
I slice and freeze my bread the day I make it and it defrosts fine

>>4244379
>>4244379
>>4244379
>>4244379
this

i'm always one fucking aspect away from a great loaf. every time i change something another part goes to shit.

>>4244379
or have a good shop friend do it, that be great to

>>4244379
>>4244420
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJGqSC2RpD8

>>4244468
I love living in the future

>>4244106
100% flour, 66% lukewarm water, 0.5/2% yeast depending on what I feel like, some teaspoons of salt.

I bloom the yeast with the water, adding some sugar and flour.

Mix it all together, I knead till the dough has a soft structure, split it if want several loaves. Let it rest for an hour. Then I proof them in something for another 2-3hours.

The most difficult part is to clean everything up once you're done.

I can't eat gluten or yeast (among other things) for health reasons; made pic related recently as it's me-safe and it was (predictably) awful.

Do you guys know of any breads that might possibly be able to be adapted to exclude the above (inb4 HERESY)? Was thinking of trying to find some flatbreads recipes to experiment with.

>>4244547
There is no such thing as a gluten allergy. You're just a giant attention whore.

in b4 fake ceiliac buttrage

Made this a couple of weeks ago.

I just got me some wheat bran and I'm playing with it. So far I've made one loaf, a pizza crust, and bran muffins. Everything has come out soft, pliable, delicious, moist... I love this stuff. Best impluse buy I've made in a while.

>>4244557
There's no such thing as allergy, it's just an excuse for picky eaters.

>>4244567
There's no such thing as drowning, it's just an excuse for picky breathers.

>>4244571
Theses no such things as falling it's just an excuse for picky flyers

>>4243285
I'm slightly confused as how you would go about adding/replacing things. Are you looking to make a chocolate chocolate chip cookie with spicy chocolate? You try making it, and post results.

>>4244379
If the video doesn't help, let me know and I'll give you a quick rundown here.

>>4244420
It's a process, to be sure. I've made (and continue to make) many bad loaves in the pursuit of what's good and what works. My suggestions would be pick a really basic formulation, like 100% flour, 62% water, 0.8% yeast, and 3.0% salt. You can alter the flour makeup by adding different whole wheats or whole grain flours to the bread flour. You can also alter the hydration. Start by making only those alterations while keeping everything else constant, and see how things change. It will give you a better idea of how different things work.

Sometimes baking bread can be like chasing a moving target, because variables like original flour hydration and ambient humidity and temperature can make a big difference. Baking, as whole, is more scientific than cooking, but I think learning to bake by feel is infinitely more flexible than baking by formula. Start looking for signs that the dough is doing what it's supposed to do at each step.

>>4244547
I am not a gluten-free expert. I have, however, seen what looks to be like some semi-successful attempts at making gluten-free bread. I know the folks over at Ideas in Food were working on a gluten-free flour base that they called the Iif Flour. I don't know whatever came of that. You might also try perusing your local book retailer for some well-reviewed gluten-free cookbooks. I'm sure they'll have something that is far more successful than whatever I can throw together in my head.

>>4244565
I make bread impulse buys all the time when I go to the local pretentious dickbag markets here in Los Angeles. The bulk whole grain sections always stimulate my thinking, and I end up walking away with a bunch of weird stuff. I have some quinoa flakes and quinoa flour to try using at some point in the next couple weeks.

Here's a chocolate and almond torte I made for valentines day, meant to glaze it with ganache but I was stupid and forgot to buy enough chocolate for it.

>>4244953
>>4241625
Does it have to be bread that this thread is about..?

If not, this is the latest.

>>4244953
I wish I liked sweet things more, since they're a lot of fun to make. About once per year I go crazy and make 200-300 filled chocolates. Then I give them all away.

>>4244962
There's nothing wrong with pizza. I make more pizza than I do bread.

>>4244979
>>4244991
Looking good.

>>4244547
Okome pan(Komeko pan)

=rice pan
Gluten-free

How do I know if I can use steam with my oven or not? I have my manual here but neither the warranty section nor the safety instructions say anything about it.

Also, my oven has a proofing function. Would I put in my dough for the same amount of time in there as I would for a room temperature proof?

>>4245049
Those look great to me for being rice-flour based. I wonder what the flavor and crumb are like.

>>4245081
Your oven can handle steam. If you can braise things in the oven, you can use steam during the bake process. Of course, you need to be careful not to drop water on to any glass that you have in your oven door, so please use some caution, and, of course, it's all at your own risk.

That's cool that your oven has a proofing function. Before using it, I would just use an oven therm to check the temp and make sure it's not too hot. I actually prefer to bulk ferment and proof at a lower temp to slow things down and allow the enzymes in the dough sufficient time to do their work.

>>4243229
how big is the loaf pan you used for those? they look huge

>>4245098
Thanks. I'm making baguettes, do you have any preferred method of steaming for them (or in general)? I was thinking i'll just put in an old 13x9 metal baking dish during preheating, and pour in water when I put in the shaped dough.

How hot is too hot? So I know after I put in the thermometer

>>4244329
i add vinegar to mine, which i feel makes it last longer. make sure to cover the cut end so it doesn't stale.

>>4245049
those are cute little sons of bitches

>>4245103
5x10"

>>4245120
I pour 1-2 cups boiling water into a cast iron pan that is on the floor of the oven and has been preheating the entire time.

Proofing temp is usually low 80s, with lots of humidity. The problem with proofing in the oven is that it cannot be preheated while you're doing that.

I'm making this http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8242/anis-boabsa039s-baguettes

do I wait for the yeast to get bubbly in the water, and then mix in the rest? Or just slap it all together from the start

>>4245600
Depends on the kind of yeast you're using. If it's active dry, you want to let it bloom in warm water first. If it's instant, you can just put it all together.

The wife demanded pizza for dinner, so I threw together a super quick dough.

This pizza is mozz, goat cheese, and pine nuts.

>>4246623
Here's another one. This one was mozz, goat cheese, and sausage.

>>4246629
And here's a quick baguette I made with some of the leftover dough.

>>4246631
And a closer shot of the crust.

Baguettes are a bitch.

>>4246623

Do you ever jizz into your wifes food without telling her?

I would.

>>4246671
Not OP but I'm toying with the idea myself. I've joked with her about it, testing the waters and I don't think she'd freak out - that is, if I even tell her when I do it.

>>4246671
The wife doesn't have an issue with swallowing, so I can't say tricking her into eaten my seed is that attractive to me.

>>4246847
Well mine doesn't care for giving blowies but she likes my cum so I think this'll work out.

Gonna make some chocolate bread rolls once the dough is done rising. I've never made bread before but this recipe looked really easy, I can't wait to see how they turn out.

>>4246671
>>4246834
>>4246847
>>4246857

It has been said that, late at night, /ck/ becomes /b/.

How do I make bread?

>>4246847
I'm so disappointed in you...

>>4246862
Me again, the chocolate rolls turned out awesome.

>>4247024
mix flour with water then slap the shit out of it

>>4248231
You forgot yeast. Without yeast, you'll only be able to make some sort of flatbread.

>>4245600 Here.

I think my yeast died. I've had the yeast for about 5 months and I'm not sure if yeast can "expire", but there was absolutely no rise in my bread at any point in the recipe.

1 hour rest after knead? None
21 hours in fridge? None
1 hour room temp rest? None
45min oven proofing? None
10min 460ºF convection + 10min 480, all with steam? None

I think I should have let the yeast get bubbly in the original mixture with the water before putting in the flour. The bread was dense as a brick, grey, and undercooked while being dry on the outside. Also, the scoring was fucked up because after proofing, the surface would drag on with the knife.

help

>>4248410
If you slap it hard enough for long enough you might eventually get the wild yeast to cultivate and or also poison yourself.

>>4249072
Are you using instant yeast? The recipe calls for approximately 0.1% yeast, which is a very low number. Active dry may just be too slow to meet the timing suggested by the recipe. Try bumping up to 0.5%, and you'll probably get more positive results.

I wish I liked bread more... but alas, I skip it when I can.

>>4244560
looks like an image from an electron microscope

I baked a mushroom tart with a butter crust, it was/is delicious.

>>4251437

whatever that is, it looks amazing.

/ck/ should be proud of you.

>>4249072
Every recipe using yeast I've used says to mix to the instant yeast with sugar and warm water, then wait for it to get frothy. I don't think old yeast is too much of a problem as long as the packet was well sealed, I used a pack that had a best before date of 2009 just a few days ago and it turned out fine.

>>4251461
/ck/ is never proud of anyone, ever.

>>4252211
I'm proud of you, Anon...

>>4251437

Dat julienne. Too bad it looks like. Well, I'll spare you the verbose description of what it looks like.

Naw, seriously, if it wasn't what I thought it was I'd eat it.

>>4253357
Shut the fuck up!

I forgot to put salt in my bread. It was all sour in the worst way imaginable. Duck food now.

>>4253382

You seem to be upset. Was it something I said?