Making Bread


 
What's your recipe, Tony?

I find that mixing in some whole wheat flours helps quite a bit, and there's always other additions (seeds, fruits, nuts) you can make, too. If your formula is all white flour, it'll lack some flavor.

My weekly loaves have 30% whole grains: Hard Red Spring wheat, Durum and Rye.
 
Tony-Chicago said:
A few simple no kneads. Using the dutch oven at 450 or so.

Last one was:
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Yeast
Salt
Plain flour
Click to expand...
That's a good, basic recipe, Tony, and really a good place to get other things down (like texture, process, kneading/folding, etc.) Flavor-wise, that's just always going to be a bit on the bland side due to the fact that it is all white flour. You could consider subbing 1/4 cup of your white flour with some good whole wheat flour on the next batch just to see. Note that if you do this, your dough may be more thirsty than normal, so you might need another 1/8 cup water or so.

Also, the amount of salt you put in can affect the "blandness" of your bread. I do all of my formulas by weight, and I put in 2% salt (per weight of the flour in the recipe.) You could try increasing your salt amount just a touch as well to see if that changes anything for you.

Have fun with it now that you know what the dough should look/feel like.

R
 
Tony-Chicago said:
A few simple no kneads. Using the dutch oven at 450 or so.

Last one was:
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Yeast
Salt
Plain flour
Click to expand...
All purpose Flour or Bread Flour? I prefer Bread Flour
Are you using table salt (iodized)? Try Kosher or Pink Salt
I don't see sugar or honey in your list, I like honey in mine
 
If you want to use just these ingredients, you can increase the flavor and alter the texture, by making the bread in 2 parts over a 2 day period. The 2 parts are called a Biga, and a Soaker.

1) The Soaker involves half of your flour Half of the water and all of the salt.
Mix together, cover with loose plastic wrap and leave at room temp. for 12-24 hours.

2) The Biga involves the other half of the flour water and 1/4 of the Yeast. Mix and Knead.
Let rest 5 minutes and then knead a second time. It will be sticky.
Put the Biga in a bowl and cover tightly and place in the fridge for 8 hours up to 3 days.

This slow alteration of the Biga and Soaker, amplifies the natural flavor of the flour.
As suggested by Rich, changing out some of the white flour for whole wheat or spelt flour will greatly increase flavor.

2 hours before mixing the final dough, warm the Biga at room temperature. Chop both into small pieces and combine the Biga and Soaker and add remaining 3/4 of the Yeast, 2 tb of honey or 3 of sugar (to help the yeast)

Mix and then dust with flour to knead 4-5 minutes adding as much flour as you need. Cover and rest 5 minutes.

Knead another 1-3 minutes, Put in a bowl loosely cover and rest at room temperature for an hour or until 1 1/2 times its size

Pan it, bake it eat it. This LONG process will change both the flavor and texture.

Not simple but highly professional (even competative) way to bake bread. Common in Europe.
 
Love sourdough. Olives and stuff too. i need to get other flours. Even the salt would help a lot. Was scared to put too much in cause it effects yeast. I think 2 percent salt would double the recipe i used. Sounds good.
 
Just pulled this loaf out of the oven. As always, smelling fresh bread and knowing it needs to cool for an hour or more before cutting into it is torture. This loaf got better spring in the oven than others from this recipe. I let the Kitchenaid do two rounds of stretching and folding, a half hour apart, and then transferred to a parchment lined bowl to proof, so no final shaping. Appears to have worked well. (3.5 cups AP flour, 1 1/4 cup water, 1 TBSP Kosher Salt & 2 cups active sourdough starter.)
[
https://flic.kr/p/2n5e1Ms
]
 
Last edited:
Bob Bailey said:
Just pulled this loaf out of the oven. As always, smelling fresh bread and knowing it needs to cool for an hour or more before cutting into it is torture. This loaf got better spring in the oven than others from this recipe. I let the Kitchenaid do two rounds of stretching and folding, a half hour apart, and then transferred to a parchment lined bowl to proof, so no final shaping. Appears to have worked well. (3.5 cups AP flour, 1 1/4 cup water, 1 TBSP Kosher Salt & 2 cups active sourdough starter.)
[
https://flic.kr/p/2n5e1Ms
]
Click to expand...
After a nap decided to make a patty melt with some of the fresh sourdough. Chopped and caramelized a medium onion, fried up some 80/20 toasted 2 slices w/mayo and topped with Velveeta and burger sauce. MMMMMMMMMMMMM!
 
Within a minute of pulling bread from the oven it is being sliced, buttered and eaten by my wife and self. I do not wait. Fresh, hot bread is just too good.
 
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