Staff of life
We were running out of bread, and I didn't feel like going inside the store, and curbside delivery slots are a week or more out, so I made some easy bread. This isn't artisanal bread with my neighbor's tasty natural yeast, and I didn't fire up the outdoor oven, either. It's just the easiest possible indoor-oven bread with commercial yeast, flour, water, and salt. No kneading, just 5 minutes on a dough hook in a mixer to start, then about two minutes of work separated by 3 waiting periods. Start to finish, maybe 6-7 hours. It bakes at 450 degrees for 30 minutes or so, in a dutch oven with a lid, but you take the lid off to finish it. When the internal temperature gets close to 200 degrees, it's done.
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9 comments:
Looks great! I do a lot of baking.
Looks fabulous!
My husband has been making bread using the book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. No dough hook so he makes it by hand. The bread is wonderful. For a while we couldn't find flour locally (we can now) and we still can't find yeast. So we ordered lots of all-purpose flour and bread flour and yeast from King Arthur. No word that it's shipped yet but we're hopeful.
In the meantime, we've been looking into making starter. I found this one using rye flour:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/
Then today I found one that starts with dried fruit:
https://twitter.com/shoelaces3/status/1244252079041974272
And there's always soda bread - we have lots of baking soda.
My neighbor uses a starter. It's slightly more finicky, but the improvement in flavor is amazing. All you can say for the loaf I made with commercial yeast is that it's incredibly easy. There's nothing wrong with how it tastes, it's just much more bland and neutral. The texture is good, and the crust is appealing. But if commercial yeast is hard to find, a starter is the way to go. I was nursing one along last fall, which gave a good flavor but was struggling to rise, maybe because I was trying to use whole wheat flour, always a challenge. I didn't really enjoy having to tend it to it every 2-3 days. Finally I let it go long enough that it got an off-taste, and I gave it up.
The ideal starter arrangement is to have a neighbor who periodically wants to give it away.
I knead by hand because I like to do, and I also use commercial yeast instead of a starter. I could get a starter; they're as easy as setting a pan of water and some sort of sugar outside for a while. Wild yeast is everywhere. But I don't like the sour flavors you get. When making beer, which is similar to bread in most respects, you boil the stuff precisely to kill the yeasts that are already in it. You want to control the flavor by putting in the yeast you want.
Still, if the internet or online ordering goes down and supermarkets were to close... well, I could still make bread.
Sourdough Starter: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/PrintRecipe?RID-5759&ra...
Basically 4 oz (1 cup) Whole Rye or whole wheat mixed with 4 oz (1/2 c) unchlorinated room temp water. Whisk with fork as you are incorporating wild yeast out of the air. Loosely cover and let sit for 24 hours on countertop.
Day 2: You may or may not see any activity. Discard half and repeat the first step with 4 oz flour, 4 oz water, only now start using All Purpose flour.
Days 3, 4, and 5, feed (the steps above) twice a day. Should be a nice, strong starter by day 5 or so. When it is, make bread.
Posted by Tex99's neighbor who lurks
Hi, Tex's neighbor.
Reading about keeping starter going made me think that it is like a pet, say a goldfish that needs its water changed and a little fresh food every few days. Of course, that's also what I thought about my cell phone when I first got it.
It's nice to learn that Tex's neighbor is reading. Feel free to comment occasionally if you'd like; we have rules here to ensure a respectful environment.
And my N who L also has kindly offered to give me starter, but for now I'm doing it the lazy way. Maybe next week. Her bread really has an outstanding flavor and, since it's used with white flour for the loaves, also gets a good rise. Still, it's not as much like falling off a log as using commercial yeast.
I have been going easy on bread making because I haven't seen any flour in the stores for 3 weeks. My lazy approach to making bread is to put the bread ingredients- commercial yeast- into a bread machine. After an hour to hour and a half in the machine(depending on my mood), I pick off a piece of dough, flatten it out w a rolling pin w corn meal to prevent sticking, and cook flat bread on a skillet.
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