[Corgi Man]

Well, my slipper bread is out of the oven. I probably won't be able to show you the crumb till dinner time.

[ronbeaux]

I haven't tried the overnight plunge into the fridge yet so I will. Thanks!

[Michael Amos]

Last week was a bad week for me in the realm of bread baking. I lost two batches of dough to over rising. The first I saw coming, I had started the dough and was waiting on the first rise when suddenly we had a dozen things to do that I had not been aware of prior to starting the dough. I should have chucked it in the fridge but I convinced myself I could fit the dough in between all the other events. It was lost. The second batch really surprised me, I usually let me bread sit in the fridge for at least a day but it was pointed out to me that I wasn't letting the dough come to room temp long enough so I decided to attempt to skip the fridge, also I had blown the prior day's dough I also didn't have a day or two to let it sit. I got the dough made, let it rise, shaped it and set it in the pan and went downstairs to workout. I came back it it was clear that the dough was shot. I decided to call it a day for bread making.
This weekend I took another shot but kept myself close at hand, 15 ounces flour (8 whole wheat, 7 bread), 9 ounces water, 2 tsp yeast, a good squirt of honey and about a table spoon of butter and I got something pretty satisfactory. I had some as toast this morning and really enjoyed it. My wife would like me to tame the crust a bit, I like the little crunch it yields and I'm concerned I'll end up with something hard to slice if there's not crustiness to the crust. I'm going to try a little lower temp (350) for a bit longer (60 minutes) next time.

[kim shook]

Isn't it frustrating that one things go wrong, they seem to continue to go wrong. I'm convinced its God (the universe, whatever) telling us to slow down and pay attention. That slice looks pretty good to me, so I guess you DID!

[Dana]

It does look delish!!!

[Marlene]

It looks great! Congrats!

[Michael Amos]

Thanks, it was with some of the helpful tips I received here that I was able to improve my bread.
This loaf was especially pleasant because when I toasted it I caught that fresh baked bread scent all over again.

[ronbeaux]

I made the french bread from the recipe from the BBA book. My Bubba Keg is a handy gadget for baking! I used a clean drip pan below the grate and pizza stone. When it reached 475 I opened it up and poured a cup of water into the drip pan, placed the bread and shut the lid. I added a little more water about 1/2 way through and continued to bake until it looked good and the temp was 205 internal.





Next time I'll stager the cook so they don't grow to like each other so much.

[kim shook]

Lovely, Ron! Can we see a slice?

[ronbeaux]

Of course! Sorry.



And the bottom



I sent some with my neighbor to take to work last night and one of the guys there said the taste was excellant but I should have let it rise a little more before cooking it and to not use the instant yeast packets but the yeast in a jar instead.

Any comment on that? I haven't seen any jar yeast where I shop.

[Marlene]

I agree, that judging by the look, you could have let it rise a bit longer. How long did you let it rise and was the dough refrigerated prior to the second rise? And did you cut into it before it was cooled completely? That could account for some of the denseness I'm seeing in the pic.

However, I think the slashes were beautiful!

As for yeast in a jar vs a packet, I don't think it makes any difference. Fleichmann makes instant yeast both in packets and in jars. Yeast in jars should be kept in the fridge though after opening. I use a professional baker's yeast, SAF usually though. I occassionally see it in grocery stores, but mostly I order it from King Arthur Flour

[ronbeaux]

I followed the recipe and directions in BBA to the letter except for using a 50/50 mix of all purpose and bread flower. I used all bread flour for this one(KA.)

The pate fermentte was made the day before and I let it get 1 1/2 in size before shoving in the fridge all night. The next day I took it out and cut it up into small pieces and let it get to room temp before mixing it with the other batch of mix.

I let it double in size and then shaped it out and let it proof for another 1 1/2 hours before baking.

I'll check out that yeast. Thanks!

[ronbeaux]

It was still warm when I cut the loaves apart... Not hot, but warm.

[Marlene]

ronbeaux, on 15 August 2010 - 04:26 PM, said:

I followed the recipe and directions in BBA to the letter except for using a 50/50 mix of all purpose and bread flower. I used all bread flour for this one(KA.)

The pate fermentte was made the day before and I let it get 1 1/2 in size before shoving in the fridge all night. The next day I took it out and cut it up into small pieces and let it get to room temp before mixing it with the other batch of mix.

I let it double in size and then shaped it out and let it proof for another 1 1/2 hours before baking.

I'll check out that yeast. Thanks!

Hmmm, then it is possible your yeast is a bit stale, because all that sounds right. Did you test the temp of the bread before taking it out of the oven?

ronbeaux, on 15 August 2010 - 04:28 PM, said:

It was still warm when I cut the loaves apart... Not hot, but warm.

Ok, that could be what I'm seeing then. Cutting bread when it is warm really does compress the crumb.

[ronbeaux]

But. But. I was dying for a slice of hot bread with butter on it.............

You mean I have to wait? No way. This smelled too good.

[kim shook]

I'm with you on cutting hot bread, Ron - I can NEVER resist. Just use a really good serrated knife.

I'm with Marlene on the yeast question. If you are using supermarket yeast (and that's what I always use), I don't think that it matters whether you use the packets or jar. In fact, I suspect that the packets are fresher unless you bake bread a LOT. I just don't use enough yeast to justify buying the jars. I'd rather buy the three pack and know it's fresh.

[ronbeaux]

I guess it a toss up then on packets or jars. I bake so infrequently that either way I go I may end up with stale stuff.

[Marlene]

ronbeaux, on 15 August 2010 - 07:03 PM, said:

I guess it a toss up then on packets or jars. I bake so infrequently that either way I go I may end up with stale stuff.

There's nothing quite like bread warm from the oven, with the butter spread over it, slowly melting!