Bread Baking Results - 2015
Listed below are the breads that I baked during the fourth year of my bread baking journey.
1/11/2015 Loaves #75 and #76
Tartine Country Bread
I went back to one of my favorite breads - the Tartine Country Bread, made with the simplest of ingredients (sourdough starter, flour, water, and salt). I baked a small boule and a larger boule - the small one (pictured above) turned out very good, but the larger one stuck slightly to the banneton and caused deformation when transferred to the dutch oven. The small Boule had good oven spring. while the larger would did not - possible reasons:
1 - the smaller boule was a much tighter package when shaped
2 - the larger boule continued to proof (perhaps too long ?) while the first boule was being baked.
The crumb of the small boule was nice and soft.
1 - the smaller boule was a much tighter package when shaped
2 - the larger boule continued to proof (perhaps too long ?) while the first boule was being baked.
The crumb of the small boule was nice and soft.
1/13/2015 Loaves #77 and #78
Ciabatta
For my 66th birthday, Roxie asked what I would enjoy having for dinner. I chose to have Roxie make Spaghetti and I also offered to make some bread to go with the spaghetti. Betsy, Lucas, & Jasper had given me a great book from Peter Reinhart ("The Bread Baker's Apprentice") as a Christmas gift. So I decided to try to bake a loaf of bread that would go well with Italian food and that was based on a recipe from this book. I chose to bake one of Reinhart's ciabatta recipes, based on a poolish preferment. The loaf tasted good but was far too dense - I believe the poor crumb consistency was due to me manhandling the dough between the fermentation and the final rise, and causing it to deflate too much. In any event, one of the loaves (in picture above) sort of resembled the desired slipper shape (use your imagination please).
1/26/2015 Loaves #79 and #80
Tartine Country Bread
We were running out of bread and I had just finished multiple feedings of my sourdough starter. Consequently, I decided to bake some bread based on the sourdough starter - what else, other than the tried and true Tartine Country Bread. It turned out decent, but without quite the oven spring I experienced with the same bread on Jan-11-2015.
2/1/2015 Loaf #81
Garlic Parmesan Beer Quick Bread
It's a little strange even describing this bread. This hardly qualifies as baked bread, but I decided to enter it here anyway - just for the fun of it. Roxie got me a Beer Bread Mix as a Christmas gift - pretty simple process which took all of 3 minutes before baking:
1) preheat oven
2) mix 12 oz beer with prepackaged mix
3) move to a baking container
4) bake
1) preheat oven
2) mix 12 oz beer with prepackaged mix
3) move to a baking container
4) bake
2/9/2015 Loaves #82 and #83
Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread
Although this is a relatively expensive bread to bake (due to the walnuts), it is a very nice bread that we both enjoy. The day before I baked this bread, Elaine Witter, preparing to move out of her house, uncovered some toys & books that she wanted to give to our grandkids. She put these in a Trader Joe's shopping bag that I committed to return to her. As a result, I returned the Trader Joe's shopping bag today with a loaf of the Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread that I baked today. Elaine's sister and husband were in town, so I gave her a large loaf - hopefully they enjoyed it.
2/10/2015 Loaf #84
Filled Semolina Crispbread
2/17/2015 Loaves #85 and #86
Tassajara Oatmeal Bread
Since we ran out of home-made bread, I decided to bake something that I could do without worrying about bringing the sourdough starter out of the frig, feeding it, and waiting a couple of days before it would be ready to use. As a result, I decided to bake a bread that was based on using dry yeast as a leaven. I turned to Edward Espe Brown's "The Tassajara Bread Book" and made his version of Oatmeal Bread. Brown's technique is relatively quick and produces nice results. We had it first as toast and liked it a great deal. We then had it as untoasted bread in a sandwich and enjoyed this style also.
3/17/2015 Loaves #87 and #88
Tassajara Oatmeal Bread
Once again, we were in need of some bread so I decided to bake the Tassajara Oatmeal Bread, based on Edward Espe Brown's "The Tassajara Bread Book". Curiously, even though I used the identical ingredients and same procedure using the same oven, the loaves were lighter in color than the same bread made a month earlier. The only explanation I have is that I might have baked the earlier loaves on a higher oven rack and perhaps slightly longer. In any event, it tastes really good on a sandwich with mayo, beef, & cheese. It seemed quite dense to me of toast, although Roxie really liked it that way.
3/17/2015 Loaves #89 and #90
Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread
This same day, I baked some Tassajara Oatmeal Bread, but was really interested in also baking my old standby, Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread. So, I did both. We were planning an early birthday celebration for Chris at her parent's house the next day, so I decided that we'd add a loaf of this bread to Chris's birthday package - according to Mike, she really likes this particular bread. IT wasn't really my best effort at this bread, but it turned out 'ok' - just barely good enough to share. I over-proofed it and, as a result, it collapsed a bit when I slashed it prior to putting it in the oven. In any event, we kept one loaf and gave the other to Chris.
4/27/2015 Loaves #91 and #92
Tartine Country Bread
I went back to one of my favorite breads - the Tartine Country Bread, made with the simplest of ingredients (sourdough starter, flour, water, and salt). I typically do all mixing, fermentation, shaping, proofing, and baking on the same day. This time, I did the mixing, fermentation, and shaping one day - but after about 45 minutes of proofing, I retarded the proofing by placing it in the refrigerator overnight - then the next morning, I took it out the frig, let it come to room temperature while proofing for another hour and then baking. I often overproof my dough - the procedure I did this time around didn't result in overproofing and I experienced a very nice amount of oven spring.
5/17/2015 Loaves #93 and #94
Tartine Country Bread
Once again, I went back to one of my favorite breads - the Tartine Country Bread, made with the simplest of ingredients (sourdough starter, flour, water, and salt). I typically do all mixing, fermentation, shaping, proofing, and baking on the same day. As I had done the previous time I baked this particular bread, I did the mixing, fermentation, and shaping one day - but after about 45 minutes of proofing, I retarded the proofing by placing it in the refrigerator overnight - then the next morning, I took it out the frig, let it come to room temperature while proofing for another hour and then baking. Nice results!
5/28/2015 Loaves #95 and #96
Tartine Country Bread
I went with the Tartine Country bread again, and once again, I did the mixing, fermentation, and shaping one day - but after about 45 minutes of proofing, I retarded the proofing by placing it in the refrigerator overnight - then the next morning, I took it out the frig, let it come to room temperature while proofing for another hour and then baking. Nice results!
11/3/2015 Loaves #97 and #98
Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread
Betsy & Jasper were in town; Roxie's Mom was in town; Mike, Chris, Teagan, & Owen were coming over for dinner; we were having spaghetti; and Roxie needed some bread. So I baked one of our favorites - Tartine Walnut Sourdough Bread. As I've been doing lately, I proofed the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking and, once again, had good oven spring. The bread tasted very good. We ate a good bit at dinner; Mike & Chris took some home and Betsy took some home - a day after baking and enjoying some with dinner a second night, we ended up with only 3 slices left. I guess I better bake some more!
11/24/2015 Loaf #99
Spelt Sandwich Bread
Lucas & Betsy gave me a bag of Organic Spelt Flour that they purchased but were unable to use due to Lucas' wheat allergy. Since I told them I could use it, I decided I better keep my word.
It's a rather quick bread to make (about 4 hours from start to finish) and had a reasonably nice taste. I had my first piece toasted (very good) and my 2nd piece as part of a tuna sandwich (this was ok too).
It's a rather quick bread to make (about 4 hours from start to finish) and had a reasonably nice taste. I had my first piece toasted (very good) and my 2nd piece as part of a tuna sandwich (this was ok too).
11/25/2016 Loaves #100 & #101
Tartine Country Bread
I went with the Tartine Country Bread again, with plans to serve with dinner the night before Thanksgiving dinner - Mike/Chris/Teagan/Owen & Lucas/Betsy/Jasper joined us for dinner. Once again, I did the mixing, fermentation, and shaping one day - but after about 45 minutes of proofing, I retarded the proofing by placing it in the refrigerator overnight - then the next morning, I took it out the frig, let it come to room temperature while proofing for another hour and then baking. Very nice oven spring!
An interesting side story with this particular effort -- I actually intended to bake this bread the day before, but had a little problem along the way - I was using a 6 quart plastic container for the dough rising process - I had placed the container in the oven on the 'Proof' setting - through a rather unusual set of steps & circumstances, I managed to somehow remove & then return the plastic container to the oven while changing the oven setting from 'Proof' to 'Bake' @ a high temperature - I didn't notice the oversight until too late (plastic was melting & running down into the dough) - hence, why this bread was delayed a day!! :-)
An interesting side story with this particular effort -- I actually intended to bake this bread the day before, but had a little problem along the way - I was using a 6 quart plastic container for the dough rising process - I had placed the container in the oven on the 'Proof' setting - through a rather unusual set of steps & circumstances, I managed to somehow remove & then return the plastic container to the oven while changing the oven setting from 'Proof' to 'Bake' @ a high temperature - I didn't notice the oversight until too late (plastic was melting & running down into the dough) - hence, why this bread was delayed a day!! :-)
11/26/2015 'Loaf' #102
Cheddar Biscuits
Well, this isn't technically a bread, but it was fun to bake & eat anyway.
Looking for something that might go with Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to try some biscuits and ended up going with these Cheddar Biscuits. They turned out fairly good and were especially enjoyed by Teagan, Jasper, & Owen.
Looking for something that might go with Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to try some biscuits and ended up going with these Cheddar Biscuits. They turned out fairly good and were especially enjoyed by Teagan, Jasper, & Owen.
12/29/2015 Loaves #103 & #104
Forks Sandwich Loaf
For Christmas 2015, my Secret Santa (Chris) got me an oblong brotform. After I opened it, I promised her that I would give her the first loaf of bread that was proofed in this new oblong brotform. I also received a new bread baking book ('Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast' - by Ken Forkish) for Christmas 2015 from Mother-in-Law, Lillian. So, using both new gifts, I baked a sandwich loaf based on Ken Fornish's technique & formula ('The Saturday White Bread'. slightly modified to include some whole wheat flour) and proofed one of the two loaves in the new oblong brotform. I proofed the second loaf in one of my round brotforms. The oblong loaf was baked freeform on a pizza stone, while the round loaf was baked in a dutch oven combo cooker. I baked both at the same time, but ended up overtaking the round loaf to the point that it was burned on the bottom.