Bread Thread

[DDD Dad 14376]

[Post Oak 20349]

1 hour ago, DDD Dad said:

If you want it more sour let it retard in the fridge for at least 24 hours after proofing and shaping.

Good to know.  Thanks. 

[CycleTex87 2991]

My first attempt at sourdough:

[DDD Dad 14376]

Looks good. Where’s the money shot?

[AustinMT 952]

On 8/9/2020 at 7:36 PM, DDD Dad said:

Looks good. Where’s the money shot?

[AustinMT 952]

Double post

Edited August 25, 2020 by AustinMT

[CycleTex87 2991]

8 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

Looks good. Where’s the money shot?

Really nice crumb inside.  It went well for the first attempt.  Began cultivating my starter about 2 weeks ago  

Edited August 25, 2020 by CycleTex87

[SurlyORama 164]

Got me a small, 1/2lb Pullman loaf pan. Got tired of making big loaves and having to freeze parts of them since my wife and son aren’t the biggest homemade bread fans (I know). 

Have used it a few times so far to make sourdough discard sandwich bread, and love it. Something about the “Borg Bread Cube” is satisfying to me, and the way that the loaf ends up soft, but not too airy makes the toast just excellent. 
 

Here I show a breakfast egg sandwich I made that was awesome (forgive Kraft single, was all I had at the time. But it did FIT the bread perfectly at least).
 

 

[Hank_Hill 19001]

Slices of American were made for E&C sandwiches. Don’t apologize 

[DDD Dad 14376]

So I thought I would give these a try to go with ribs and sausage tonight. No yeast added. Sourdough. OMG. These are awesome.

[CycleTex87 2991]

This is my 5th or 6th iteration on sourdough bread.  It's gotten pretty consistently good IMO.

[Armybrat 41016]

Back when we would go to Romano’s Macaroni Grill once a year, we really liked their table Rosemary bread. Mrs. Brat found the house recipe a couple of months ago and baked two loaves that turned out great. She is in the process of baking another two today.

 

 

Now to let it rise for an hour & a half...

Edited July 21, 2021 by Armybrat

[Armybrat 41016]

They have risen...

 

 

They are baked and delicious dipped in peppered EV olive oil.
Not a bad effort, since it was her first attempt at baking bread in the small Breville countertop oven. (the big kitchen gas stove has been malfunctioning and will be replaced this week)

Edited July 21, 2021 by Armybrat

[dcbc 14570]

Resurrecting this thread. Easy "artisan" bread.

[dcbc 14570]

Came out well.

[dcbc 14570]

Bumping this thread from the depths.

[WhatTheBuck 28842]

I’ve been meaning to post this since December. A couple of things, mainly this is about a monumental brain cramp. I thought I’d share so you don’t have to experiment for yourself. I was making banana nut bread. Have you ever wondered what happens if you use baking powder when the recipe calls for baking soda? Well, here you go.

First with baking soda, how they’re supposed to look:

Now with baking powder instead of baking soda:

I have no idea how I made that mistake. I’ve used that recipe many times, although it had been awhile. I had bananas in the freezer that I needed to clear out to make space. I reviewed the recipe. What’s really crazy is that I had baking soda. I actually went to the store and bought baking powder. If I had ever used baking powder to make banana nut bread before, I would’ve had some on hand. But that didn’t sink in. I still followed the recipe and used baking powder anyway when the recipe clearly called for baking soda. My only guess is by that point I had them switched in my head and wasn’t reading package labels. The Arm & Hammer box was powder and the Clabber Girl can was soda. That’s my only guess.

It still tasted fine and I ate it all. But it was a little more dense and as you can see it didn’t brown up as well. The loaves with baking powder also took a few minutes longer to finish in the oven.

One other thing: that was my first time baking them in tin cans like my mom used to do. Have you ever done that? I grew up having banana nut bread that way at home. It’s nice for me because I can throw a loaf in the freezer so I don’t eat it all right away. My mom used to give extra loaves to neighbors. I’d have to make a double batch before I did that. This stuff goes fast. If I wasn’t careful I could eat a whole loaf in one sitting.

 

[dcbc 14570]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

One other thing: that was my first time baking them in tin cans like my mom used to do. Have you ever done that?

This was my question.  Pretty great idea.  It's kind of like the muffin tops on Seinfeld.

[WhatTheBuck 28842]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

This was my question.  Pretty great idea.  It's kind of like the muffin tops on Seinfeld.

And the crunchy top really is the best part. 

[WhatTheBuck 28842]

More banana nut bread now that I got the baking powder fuckup and the baking in cans things out of the way. The subject of using overripe bananas for banana bread came up in the Stupid Wives thread and I was in the mood so I documented the process. I’ve been eating more bananas lately and had to buy extras just so some could get overripe. Here’s what they looked like before going into the freezer:

My recipe calls for 1 cup of mashed banana. Three regular size bananas yields a little more than that. You might get by with two large bananas or it might take four small ones. Normally my bananas might sit in the freezer for months but I was in a hurry. These spent six days in the freezer then thawed in the fridge for two days. They looked like this:

Peeled they looked like this, be sure to save the juices:

There’s nothing wrong if the bananas have aged a lot more than that and are mostly brown. As they ripen the starches break down into sugars and they get sweeter. When you freeze them the ice crystals puncture the cell walls and make them mushy. That’s a critical step. When I was in school I worked at a bakery and we didn’t have time to let them get overripe before throwing the bananas in the freezer. We froze them by the bucketful and let them age that way. But for home use it’s easy to just keep a bag in the freezer and throw your overripe bananas in there whenever they’ve sat out too long. My recipe also calls for buttermilk but you can substitute sour milk instead. It’s a good use for that too.

I mashed the bananas with a pastry blender:

Then gave them several pulses with the immersion blender to smooth it out:

I didn’t really need to take a picture of the batter but I figured what the hell:

Put it in buttered cans:

Bake for 45 min at 350 and voila:

It doesn’t matter what recipe you use but you’ve got to freeze your bananas and if anything you want them darker than what I’ve shown here. That’s really all I wanted to show. I just include the rest for good measure. This stuff rocks.

 

 

[NOMAAA 1696]

great thread.

[WhatTheBuck 28842]

The last time I made banana nut bread, I let the bananas get a little more ripe. I could have let them go longer. That’s okay.

And check this out. I started thinking about date nut bread. I thought my mom had a recipe but I couldn’t find one. I figure I could just modify her recipe for banana nut bread. But I searched online to see what I could find and came across this: “Grandma’s Date Nut Loaves — Baked in Cans.”

https://cookingwithcarlee.com/grandmas-date-nut-loaves-baked-in-cans/

[sith_horn 2407]

On 2/19/2023 at 11:28 PM, WhatTheBuck said:

 I had bananas in the freezer that I needed to clear out to make space. I reviewed the recipe. What’s really crazy is that I had baking soda. I actually went to the store and bought baking powder. If I had ever used baking powder to make banana nut bread before, I would’ve had some on hand. But that didn’t sink in. I still followed the recipe and used baking powder anyway when the recipe clearly called for baking soda. My only guess is by that point I had them switched in my head and wasn’t reading package labels. The Arm & Hammer box was powder and the Clabber Girl can was soda. That’s my only guess.

It still tasted fine and I ate it all. But it was a little more dense and as you can see it didn’t brown up as well. The loaves with baking powder also took a few minutes longer to finish in the oven.

You could have gotten the same degree of leavening with baking powder, but it takes more. The substitution isn't one-to-one. There are still some subtle differences in their end result though. Baking powder is baking soda mixed with cream of tartar and some binding starch, and cream of tartar is the acid to react with the baking soda as opposed to buttermilk in your case.

I've been cooking banana bread of late as well using baking soda, milk and lemon juice instead of buttermilk.

IMO the reaction baking soda makes with buttermilk, lemon juice or vinegar tends to be a little stronger or more "violent" than baking powder indicated in the "breaks" you see in the top of whatever you're baking be it banana bread, cornbread, or whatever. Whereas baking powder seems to be a little more even or regulated in it's reaction.

[CycleTex87 2991]

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  Fourth loaf I think.  It’s a little denser than I like but the method is very simple and quick as far as the work required. I’m going to keep working on my techniques.