I've tried to do a post on this a few times before, but always gave up when I couldn't figure out how much information to include about any step in the process. This time I figure I'll just put down a couple recipes and a few tips and answer any questions as they come. Also note that these recipes are by weight, not volume.
Mise en place, it works, bitches!
The first bread is a basic, lean, french style dough. It's incredibly easy to make and doesn't even require kneading. Ive gotten good results with both bread flour and AP flour and use it for dinner rolls, baguettes, pizza, or cheesy bread. Since it's a lean dough it doesn't have much of a shelf life and will become hard as stone after a day or so.
500g flour
10g kosher salt
10g dry active yeast (if you have instant yeast you can cut this down to 3 or 4g)
350g water
Measure and combine your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add water. Stir until there's nothing dry left. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Optionally you can let it rise at room temperature for four hours or so, but you'll want to use less yeast-- maybe only 3 or 4 grams.
Once risen, carefully remove the dough from the bowl and dump onto a floured work surface. The idea here is to remove as little gas as possible from the dough. This this helps form a rustic crumb with large irregular holes. Obviously it's a non-issue if you're making pizza.
From here on out I'll assume you aren't making pizza. You're on your own if you are.
Next shape the dough. This is intentionally vague because I have no idea what you're trying to do. Here's a pretty good video demonstrating a couple basic techniques:
[video]http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5821/shaping-dough-video[/video]
Put the shaped dough on some parchment paper (which makes transferring it to the oven much easier) and loosely cover it with something. Sometimes I'll use plastic wrap, sometimes a damp kitchen towel (lint free, and don't use fabric softener unless you want your food to taste like it), or, if the dough is small enough, I'll just cover it with the mixing bowl.
This is a good time to turn on your oven. Set it as high as you can. This is 500-550 on most house ovens I've seen. Get your stone or baking sheet in there as well. Once the oven is preheated let the dough rest for another 15-30 minutes.
Slash your loaves if that part of your plan and transfer to the oven. Take a handful of ice cubes and toss them on the floor of the oven. The moisture helps improve the texture of the crust.
Baking time can vary depending on the size and shape of the bread, but I guess if there's a guideline here it's that "moar brown mean moar bettar." Even the smallest rolls will probably need at least 10 minutes.
When done transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let it sit for at least 10 mins or so. Conventional wisdom is that you're supposed to let the bread cool off completely before cutting into it, but this bread is absolutely wonderful fresh from the oven with a little cheese or butter.
I'll post info for making a sandwich bread later on today.
Mise en place, it works, bitches!
The first bread is a basic, lean, french style dough. It's incredibly easy to make and doesn't even require kneading. Ive gotten good results with both bread flour and AP flour and use it for dinner rolls, baguettes, pizza, or cheesy bread. Since it's a lean dough it doesn't have much of a shelf life and will become hard as stone after a day or so.
500g flour
10g kosher salt
10g dry active yeast (if you have instant yeast you can cut this down to 3 or 4g)
350g water
Measure and combine your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add water. Stir until there's nothing dry left. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Optionally you can let it rise at room temperature for four hours or so, but you'll want to use less yeast-- maybe only 3 or 4 grams.
Once risen, carefully remove the dough from the bowl and dump onto a floured work surface. The idea here is to remove as little gas as possible from the dough. This this helps form a rustic crumb with large irregular holes. Obviously it's a non-issue if you're making pizza.
From here on out I'll assume you aren't making pizza. You're on your own if you are.
Next shape the dough. This is intentionally vague because I have no idea what you're trying to do. Here's a pretty good video demonstrating a couple basic techniques:
[video]http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5821/shaping-dough-video[/video]
Put the shaped dough on some parchment paper (which makes transferring it to the oven much easier) and loosely cover it with something. Sometimes I'll use plastic wrap, sometimes a damp kitchen towel (lint free, and don't use fabric softener unless you want your food to taste like it), or, if the dough is small enough, I'll just cover it with the mixing bowl.
This is a good time to turn on your oven. Set it as high as you can. This is 500-550 on most house ovens I've seen. Get your stone or baking sheet in there as well. Once the oven is preheated let the dough rest for another 15-30 minutes.
Slash your loaves if that part of your plan and transfer to the oven. Take a handful of ice cubes and toss them on the floor of the oven. The moisture helps improve the texture of the crust.
Baking time can vary depending on the size and shape of the bread, but I guess if there's a guideline here it's that "moar brown mean moar bettar." Even the smallest rolls will probably need at least 10 minutes.
When done transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let it sit for at least 10 mins or so. Conventional wisdom is that you're supposed to let the bread cool off completely before cutting into it, but this bread is absolutely wonderful fresh from the oven with a little cheese or butter.
I'll post info for making a sandwich bread later on today.
for this thread
