Bread Baking Results - 2022
Listed below are the breads that I baked during the eleventh year of my bread baking journey.
1/10/2022 Loaves #347, #348, & #349
Emmanuel's Sourdough
Once again, I had a big lapse since the last time I baked bread. This time it was almost 2 months (instead of 3 months before that). In any event, the sourdough starter refreshed nicely and I was able to bake 3 loaves of sourdough. This time, I let the dough proof for about 3 hours before stabalizing it in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour before baking. It had nice oven spring and the brumb opened up rather well. We cut into one loaf that night and popped the other 2 loaves in the freezer for later.
2/26/2022 Loaf #350
Dill & White Cheddar Sourdough
I decided to spend a little mote time checking out Emilie Raffa’s book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’ and found myself disappointed that I had not really pursued any of her recipes/procedures. It’s really a very nice book and the material is presented in a very easy-to-understand manner.
Looking to bake something other than straight sourdough, her description of the Dill & White Cheddar Sourdough sounded interesting. Her procedure spanned two days, but concluded with an early-morning bake - enough time to permit the bread to cool down and serve for lunch!
The dough was very moist, but manageable. I couldn’t find any fresh dill, so I substituted a dill paste - that seemed to work ok. I didn’t achieve a great deal of oven spring and wonder if that had to do with the incoporation of a significant amount of grated cheese. The taste was very good, with neither the dill nor the cheese being too strong and dominating the flavor.
Looking to bake something other than straight sourdough, her description of the Dill & White Cheddar Sourdough sounded interesting. Her procedure spanned two days, but concluded with an early-morning bake - enough time to permit the bread to cool down and serve for lunch!
The dough was very moist, but manageable. I couldn’t find any fresh dill, so I substituted a dill paste - that seemed to work ok. I didn’t achieve a great deal of oven spring and wonder if that had to do with the incoporation of a significant amount of grated cheese. The taste was very good, with neither the dill nor the cheese being too strong and dominating the flavor.
2/26/2022 Loaves #351, #352, & #353
Emmanuel's Sourdough
I was baking a new sourdough-flavored bread based on a recipe from Emilie Raffa and decided to stick with a single loaf since I wanted to make sure we liked it before baking multiple loaves. Since I had awakened the sourdough starter and had baking planned, I decided to also bake 3 loaves of tried and true Emmanuel’s Sourdough. Thanks
Coincidentally, we were planning to go to one of Teagan’s Drama Club’s plays (Mary Poppins), so decided to use that get-together to hand off a fresh loaf of bread as part of a celebration for Teagan’s hard work in preparing for the play.
Coincidentally, we were planning to go to one of Teagan’s Drama Club’s plays (Mary Poppins), so decided to use that get-together to hand off a fresh loaf of bread as part of a celebration for Teagan’s hard work in preparing for the play.
3/10/2022 Loaf #354
Sesame Semolina Sourdough
Having enjoyed the limited number of breads that I’ve made based on Emilie Raffa’s book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’, I decided to try a few more. Since I was going to have my sourdough starter out and wanted to experiment with a few of Emilie’s recipes, I decided to try 4 different sourdough recipes from her book. The first one I tried was this Golden Sesame Semolina.
It turned out nice, but didn’t have quite the oven spring I had hoped for. The semolina didn’t lend a dominate taste, but the sesame seed coating certainly did.
As I was following Emilie’s suggested procedure, I ended up at a place of concern. After placing the dough upside down and rolling in the sesame seeds, her suggestion was to take the dough and put it smooth side down in a proofing container. The dough was too damp and loose to get safely off of the seeded towel, so I ended up just putting the seeded towel with dough into the proofing container. I’m not sure this is what she had in mind, but it seemed to work ok.
Also, I cut short Emilie’s recommended baking time as I noticed the bottom becoming very dark and the internal; temperature had reached 208*F. The bread seemed a tad undercooked, so next time I’ll let it go a little longer in the oven.
It turned out nice, but didn’t have quite the oven spring I had hoped for. The semolina didn’t lend a dominate taste, but the sesame seed coating certainly did.
As I was following Emilie’s suggested procedure, I ended up at a place of concern. After placing the dough upside down and rolling in the sesame seeds, her suggestion was to take the dough and put it smooth side down in a proofing container. The dough was too damp and loose to get safely off of the seeded towel, so I ended up just putting the seeded towel with dough into the proofing container. I’m not sure this is what she had in mind, but it seemed to work ok.
Also, I cut short Emilie’s recommended baking time as I noticed the bottom becoming very dark and the internal; temperature had reached 208*F. The bread seemed a tad undercooked, so next time I’ll let it go a little longer in the oven.
3/11/2022 Loaf #355
Sourdough Dinner Rolls
Having enjoyed the limited number of breads that I’ve made based on Emilie Raffa’s book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’, I decided to try a few more. Since I was going to have my sourdough starter out and wanted to experiment with a few of Emilie’s recipes, I decided to try 4 different sourdough recipes from her book. The second one I tried were these Basket Rolls.
They turned out ok, but I noticed the semolina flur coating didn’t really stick very well. Next time I might lightly spray the surface and using a sift to apply the slur coating.
When I made these, I ended up with 8 dinner rolls. The crust was very nice and the rolls were tasty. We had a couple with dinner and popped the rest in the freezer.
They turned out ok, but I noticed the semolina flur coating didn’t really stick very well. Next time I might lightly spray the surface and using a sift to apply the slur coating.
When I made these, I ended up with 8 dinner rolls. The crust was very nice and the rolls were tasty. We had a couple with dinner and popped the rest in the freezer.
3/12/2022 Loaf #356
Sourdough Bagels
Having enjoyed the limited number of breads that I’ve made based on Emilie Raffa’s book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’, I decided to try a few more. Since I was going to have my sourdough starter out and wanted to experiment with a few of Emilie’s recipes, I decided to try 4 different sourdough recipes from her book. The third one I tried were these Bagels.
They turned out better than I anticipated. Emilie’s process for making these was easy to understand. I only used two types of seeds for toppings (sesame seeds and chia seeds). Next time, I might try some special Bagel topping seasoning.
One thing I like about making these bagels is the ability to prep the dough the day before and then get up early to actually bake them. Then they would be ready for breakfast or lunch with a special bagel spread.
When I made these, I ended up with 8 bagels. If I would have collected the left-over dough and re-rolled, I might have been able to get 1-2 more bagels out of it. We had a couple for breakfast and popped the rest in the freezer.
They turned out better than I anticipated. Emilie’s process for making these was easy to understand. I only used two types of seeds for toppings (sesame seeds and chia seeds). Next time, I might try some special Bagel topping seasoning.
One thing I like about making these bagels is the ability to prep the dough the day before and then get up early to actually bake them. Then they would be ready for breakfast or lunch with a special bagel spread.
When I made these, I ended up with 8 bagels. If I would have collected the left-over dough and re-rolled, I might have been able to get 1-2 more bagels out of it. We had a couple for breakfast and popped the rest in the freezer.
3/13/2022 Loaf #357
Sourdough English Muffins
Having enjoyed the limited number of breads that I’ve made based on Emilie Raffa’s book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’, I decided to try a few more. Since I was going to have my sourdough starter out and wanted to experiment with a few of Emilie’s recipes, I decided to try 4 different sourdough recipes from her book. The fourth one I tried were these English Muffins.
They turned out much better than I had anticipated. They were not quite as thick and light as commercial English Muffins, but they were still quite acceptable and tasty.
As was the case with the bagels that I made the day before, you prep the dough the day before and then get up early to actually bake them. Then they would be ready for breakfast or lunch.
When I made these, I ended up with 10 muffins. We had a couple for breakfast/lunch and popped the rest in the freezer.
They turned out much better than I had anticipated. They were not quite as thick and light as commercial English Muffins, but they were still quite acceptable and tasty.
As was the case with the bagels that I made the day before, you prep the dough the day before and then get up early to actually bake them. Then they would be ready for breakfast or lunch.
When I made these, I ended up with 10 muffins. We had a couple for breakfast/lunch and popped the rest in the freezer.
3/14/2022 Loaf #358
Cornbread
We had company coming for dinner (Mike & Deb Kauffman) and decided that cornbread would be a nice addition to the meal. We had a bag of Yellow Cornmeal gifted to us by Cynthia Wong (owner of Life Raft Treats). The Yellow Cornmeal was from Geechie Boy Mill in Edisto Island, SC. The cornmeal bag had a quick and easy recipe for cornbread that I followed and the results turned out really good.
4/26/2022 Loaves #359 and #360
Baguettes
We had company coming for dinner (Tom Sudek) and Roxie planned to make some stuffed shells. She thought some bread might be a good addition to the meal. Not wanting to drive into town for a single loaf of bread, I decided to bake some baguettes.
I ended up using a procedure that I’ve not used before. But having confidence in Jeffrey Hamelman’s description, I went with his procedure. I split his ‘At Home’ recipe in half and baked 2 baguettes. The dough was very wet and, in hindsight, I should have introduced more flour during the mixing process.
I placed both pieces of dough on the same well-cornmealed peel. One of the pieces of dough slid off nicely, but the second one didn’t. As the first piece of dough hit the hot stone in the oven, I couldn’t pull it back. In moviung it further off, the second piece of dough caught up and landed in a mis-shaped clump. I tried to reshape it on the stone, but with only modest success. The second baguette was so wierdly shaped that I didn’t capture a photo of it.
Anyway, the baguette tasted good.
I ended up using a procedure that I’ve not used before. But having confidence in Jeffrey Hamelman’s description, I went with his procedure. I split his ‘At Home’ recipe in half and baked 2 baguettes. The dough was very wet and, in hindsight, I should have introduced more flour during the mixing process.
I placed both pieces of dough on the same well-cornmealed peel. One of the pieces of dough slid off nicely, but the second one didn’t. As the first piece of dough hit the hot stone in the oven, I couldn’t pull it back. In moviung it further off, the second piece of dough caught up and landed in a mis-shaped clump. I tried to reshape it on the stone, but with only modest success. The second baguette was so wierdly shaped that I didn’t capture a photo of it.
Anyway, the baguette tasted good.
4/28/2022 Loaf #361
Beer Bread
I saw an Instagram post that was intreguing - a bread that was very quick and easy to make and where beer was substituted for water as the liquid infgredient.
I decided to try this out and indeed is was quick and easy. I brought the beer to room temperatrure (using the microwave) before adding it to the mixture. It called for 350ml of beer, which is 1-1/2 cups or 11.5oz. I ended up baking the bread for 40+ mijutes instead of the suggested 30 minutes.
The dough was really nice to work with and the bread turned out pretty good.
I decided to try this out and indeed is was quick and easy. I brought the beer to room temperatrure (using the microwave) before adding it to the mixture. It called for 350ml of beer, which is 1-1/2 cups or 11.5oz. I ended up baking the bread for 40+ mijutes instead of the suggested 30 minutes.
The dough was really nice to work with and the bread turned out pretty good.
5/27/2022 Loaves #362 and #363
Forkish Saturday White Bread
We were at the lake for Memorial Day weekend, with Betsy & Jasper, along with Mike, Chris, Teagan, & Owen coming - and we had no bread - I was without my sourdough starter (it was still in PA), so decided to go with Ken Forkish’s yeast-based white bread. It’s a simple and quick recipe. I baked two loaves, one in a dutch oven combo cooker and the other on a pizza stone. Once again, I had trouble sliding the one dough ball off of the pizza peel and onto the stone. I coaxed it off with a dough blade, which resulted in a plop of poorly formed dough onto the pizza stone. As expected, that loaf turned out quite wierd looking. The one in the dutch oven looked more normal. They both tasted good.
7/18/2022 Loaves #364, #365, & #366
Emmanuel's Sourdough
It’s nearing time for our annual Smith Family Vacation at Keuka Lake. Since bread always seems to be in demand during this week, I decided to bake 3 loaves of sourdough. Once baked and cooled down, I popped all 3 loaves into the freezer.
10/25/2022 Loaves #367, #368, & #369
Emmanuel's Sourdough
Realizing that my sourdough starter had been ignored for quite a while, I decided I better get it out of the refrigerator and feed it a few times. After confirming that it was robust enough to use for baking, I decided to do just that. So, I baked 3 loaves of Emmanuel’s Sourdough. Coincidentally, later that day, I made arrangements to get together the next night with some friends we hadn’t seen in over 2 years (Ron & Ann Kreidler). Several years ago, Ann had given me a large bowl that I regularly use to mix my bread dough. As a belated ‘thank you’, I gave one of the sourdough loaves to Ron & Ann when we met the next night. The second loaf was cut into the next day and the third loaf was popped in the freezer for later use.