Just made bread for the first time
 

I just made 2 loafs of bread for the first time today. I don't think I'll buy bread ever again! It's SO GOOD!!!!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Congratulations on your first effort. It looks like whole wheat?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Yep...50/50 split of White Wheat and standard white flour....it's so good. I'm giving one loaf to a buddy of mine. I picked up a bunch of bananas today to make banana nut bread next weekend.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

+10 on homemade bread! :ARMS1: I LOVE it. Especially the "brioche" varieties.
(btw, typed as I munch on a still-warm-from-the-oven homemade Starbucks Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie) :tongue_ma:
http://www.recipezaar.com/starbucks-...-cookie-383224

R.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I had planned on getting an electric grinder but have yet to do so. I used the manual grinder I bought...I don't think I'm going to bother with the electric one. It took me about 20 minutes to grind 4 cups of flour. My arms didn't hurt or anything like that so why bother?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

yummmmm
nothing like warm homemade bread!!!

My wife makes somme really good banana bread too.:biggrin:

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

So without any preservatives, how long can I expect this bread to keep? A week at best?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

in my house I would expect that bread to last one or two days

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Great!
Watch out it is habit forming...(learning that fact!)

Just started making sourdough bread myself
and will not go back to store bought bread again....

Congrats on your efforts...!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

After a week, it will be a bit stale and by a week and a half, probably moldy as well. If there's some question about consuming it before it goes bad, put some in a plastic bag and freeze it. It will keep for months that way. When you take it out of the freezer, it's best to let it defrost completely before unwrapping it. You don't want moisture condensing on the frozen loaf.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I usually make two loaves, once a week. That provides me with bread for the week. I have not had any turn moldy in that amount of time.

I let my loaves cool to room temperature, then I bag them in the bread bags that you'll find somewhere down on this page: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/bak..._set_pans.aspx

I use the smaller bags for most loaves. They would be perfect for the loaves you baked. I use the longer bags when I make French bread.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Last? A week? Are you kidding me? In this house, it wouldn't last 20 minutes.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Nice job Vector! They look great. Ive been meaning to bake a few loafs myself..

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Would you mind posting a link to a sourdough recipe you've used and like? I really like sourdough!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=423145

Not sure if his recipe is in there or not.

Your bread looks fabulous! Any left?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I used this Link to start out.

I used this site to make my starter and first Sourdough bread.
If you google sourdough you will get ton's of info.

It is not fast like using packaged yeast.

It took me a week to get my starter up and running!

Also making the bread is slow, it seem to take forever for the dough to rise.

If you punch the dough down twice and then a final rise, the whole process can take up to 12 hours or more!!

Note: If you only punch down the dough only once, the bread has a less sourdough taste.
Twice and it has a very strong flavor.

Hope this helps.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I gave one loaf to a friend of mine and kept one for myself. I only had 1 slice because we were sitting down to dinner. My wife spent half the day making a turkey dinner. We went to my inlaws for Thanksgiving and didn't have any turkey at home....wanted extra meat for sandwiches...and now I've got GOOD bread to make a sandwich with!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Congrats man. Something tells me this wont be your last!! Was that baked in a pan, or made in a bread machine?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Definitely won't be my last. Baked in a pan and made from scratch.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Good deal. Thats the best.

If I may, just a few constructive suggestions ;)

Next time you make it, try a mixture of 60% bread flour to 40% wheat. I know it doesnt sound like that would make a huge difference, but it just might. Its not that its necessarily BETTER or anything, just a suggestion for a different texture.

After you've panned your bread, "wash" it (brush on lightly) a little whole milk. This will help the top brown and krisp up. Itll look like its getting too dark in the oven, but keep cooking it the same amount of time as you normaly would, it wont burn. If you want a shiny crust, use a scrambled egg with a little water added.

After you've done that, make a quick cut into the top of the loaf (scoring). Use a real sharp knife, you want to go about 1/4 to 1/2 inch (EDIT: it should be 1/4 to 1/2 INCH in, the way I had it worded made it sound like 1/2 the loaf) depending on loaf size, but you dont want to make a bunch of small cuts, rather a few, quick and smooth cuts, other wise you run the risk of deflating your bread by ripping rather than slicing the gluten structure. This, among other things allows the loaf to rise easier in the oven, meaning you will get a slightly taller loaf. Dont go too deep nor too shallow though. Youll know when you do it.

That bread looks darned tasy!!!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

You can make starter for sourdough more easily by mistake.

1. Just mix 1 tsp yeast, 1 cup flour and 2 cups water and a 1/2 tsp of sugar in a Quart jar to a thick milkshake consistency

2. Let it set it out till its warm and foamy, then stir in more 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup water and 1/4 tsp sugar and leave it out to foam up again, and when it does, take 1/2 of the mixture to use as your starter for the batch of bread and put the jar in the fridge till next time, repeating section 2

3. Add 2 cups more flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp oil, 1/3 cup water to the starter, and make a loaf from it. After it rises bake at 375 for 45 min. I put a small cake pan 1/2 full og boiling water in the oven when I bake bread to give it a nice crust. You can substitute honey for the sugar if you have the money, LOL, or substitute whatever kinds of flour you like, etc.

As time goes by the flavor will turn into a sourdough, but in the meantime you won't be waiting weeks for the first slices.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Here is another link that might help with
your sourdough and other breads , link is here

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

That site is GREAT!

Thanks
:23_30_104:

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

If you want to go 100% whole grain I suggest:
2 parts fresh ground red/white winter wheat
1 part fresh ground amaranth
1/2 part fresh ground whole oats

I have found that the oat flour keeps the fiber from the whole grain from 'popping' the air bubbles, so it actually rises and stays risen. The amaranth gives a wonderful nutty flavor and is very nutritious.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Thanks, jaybone. I've been making 100% whole red wheat loaves, most often round loaves shaped in a brotform basket. They taste great, but they never look as nice as the white bread I sometimes make from regular bread flour. They don't rise as well, and they are a bit dense. I'm going to try adding the amaranth and ground whole oats.

I grind all my wheat very fine in a Country Living grain mill. Should the oats and amaranth be ground fine like the wheat, or do you grind it coarse?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I grind everything as fine as my hand mill will go.

Before adding in the oats my whole grain loaves would rise up in the bread machine then always deflate during baking, and I consider white flour to be the same as white sugar; at best unhealthy and at worst poison, so the oat trick was really helpful.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

We do a batch of five 1 1/2# loaves a week, plus another batch of rolls and/or cinnamon bread and/or pull-aparts in between from roll dough. We are working on perfecting the art of white pizza dough, but aren't there yet.

We use the Nutrimill grinder and the Bosch Universal bread machine, and rely on them for day-to-day use and an essential part of our preps. The Nutrimill works great for grinding popcorn for corn meal and pinto beans to add texture to other recipes. We do go through a 25# bag of wheat every two weeks. The young'uns grow up loving whole wheat and pity their friends who live on Wonder Bread. The Bosch takes the work out of it.

The perfect recipe for homemade whole wheat bread comes with the Bosch.

You can see both machines at www.sharskitchen.com, but you will find better prices for both online.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

What kind of problems are you running into with your pizza dough?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Heimdahl:

We see how the guys at the pizza place press out the dough, then stretch it by hand, then throw it, and it comes out perfect. The texture of that dough is nothing at all like what we have been getting out of the recipes we find on the internet. We press it and/or roll it, and it tries to spring back into something close to a ball.

Maybe I'm dreaming, but I am hoping to find or develop a recipe that gets that pizza-place texture out of our Bosch.

Mostly, I want to impress the young'uns by throwing the pizza dough into the air just like those $8 an hour guys at the pizza place. Now THAT would impress them!

Any hints?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

It must be catching I've been doing the same. This turns out real well.

I made 1 lot & it rose to high or maybe I used a smaller dish the 2nd time so I didn't have room to put the lid on but you end up with a softer crust, fluke this happened:504: but both ways are good.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

What is the secret for good rye bread. It is kind of a heavy bread with a thick crust. Soft inside and a great flavor. Firm bread.

I am talking about a real good rye bread not one of the cheap junk rye breads.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

These are really good I've made them with potato flakes but on the 2nd try used less yeast & less sugar as you can taste the sugar & a bit yeasty with the amount she says. Now they are perfect no yeast taste or sugar taste. Only thing is they don't last long & are nice & soft on the outside too. I added seeds to some & others justed dusted with flour.


Recipe here.
http://www.kneadtobeloaved.com/2008/...t-dinner-rolls

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

[QUOTE=ArizonaGold;2051471]We do a batch of five 1 1/2# loaves a week, plus another batch of rolls and/or cinnamon bread and/or pull-aparts in between from roll dough. We are working on perfecting the art of white pizza dough, but aren't there yet.

We use the Nutrimill grinder and the Bosch Universal bread machine, and rely on them for day-to-day use and an essential part of our preps. The Nutrimill works great for grinding popcorn for corn meal and pinto beans to add texture to other recipes. We do go through a 25# bag of wheat every two weeks. The young'uns grow up loving whole wheat and pity their friends who live on Wonder Bread. The Bosch takes the work out of it.

The perfect recipe for homemade whole wheat bread comes with the Bosch.

You can see both machines at www.sharskitchen.com, but you will find better prices for both online.[/QUOTE



Here is a sourdough pizza recipe someone may want to try.
Found it Here.


The site looks like it has some neat recipe's.


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Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Tassajara Bread Book.

Don't need more, nor less,

For my breadmaking needs.

scyth

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Here is my favorite bread recipe.

I make it every weekend and vary the flour, spelt, buckwheat etc.

Comes out great every-time and the flavor is unbelievable.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=102124561

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Now you, John Lennon and I all have something in common...........

When I baked my first loaf, it looked so good I had to take pics - then I found out John did the same thing!!

Congratulations!

:ARMS1:

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Hey, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I forgot about the thread till I was going through some recipes.

Here is my prefered pizza dough recipe. I warn you though, I use a scale and weighted measurments, not volume (like cups and teaspoons).

This is for a 1 pound crust, which seems to work best on a 14 inch stone/sheet.

Bread Flour- 10.10 oz
Water- 5.28 oz
Olive Oil- .23 oz
Salt- .14 oz
Sugar- .16
Yeast(active dry)- .2 (.4 if using fresh, compressed/cake).

I SLIGHTLY warm water, about 80 degrees, room temperature is fine too. I also use bottled spring water, it makes the crust much crispier, among other things. This can change, though, ill explain later

I use a table top stand mixer (kitchenaid) but mixing method isnt really any different whether using bread machine or by hand.

Mix the dry ingredients, Sugar, Salt, flour, yeast and sift together (Sifting the flour is something over looked by many home bakers. It helps break up the larger clumps of flour, leaving more surface area for the flour to absorb the water).

Turn mixer on to first speed. Add dry to water as quick as you can while avoiding the "flour bomb". Dont go super slow, jsut get it in there at a good steady and consistant rate. Use a spoon to help if you need.

Add Olive Oil

Mix at first(lowest or second lowest) speed for 1-2 minutes

Knead at medium speed setting for 6-8 minutes, or until dough is properly kneaded. It should NOT stick to the sides of the bowls and not to your floured, or DRY hands and climb the hook slightly.

Take it out, form a ball. You can do this in your hands, like rolling biscuits, or on the table. If on the table (the easier way) just cup your hands over it and roll em around in a circle, forcing the sides down just a little. This should make a nice tight ball.

Now, this is where water temp comes into play. If you are using this dough soon, the water temperature can be up to around 90 degrees, warm, but not scalding to the yeast. If you are using it the next day, or later in the day (i.e. more than 1 hour after baking) use room temp water. The trick with pizza crust is you DONT really want it to proof real big like panned or artisan breads. You want a short, tight gluten structure, that proofs enough to keep it from being dense, but not so much that it turns into italian bread.

If you ARE using quickly, allow it to proof for about half an hour, and punch it down, then shape it, make your pizza and bake it off. Be carefull on this one though, warm dough is softer and so flipping it around like the pizza boys do may lead to OVER sizing it, or more likley just ripping through it. If that happens, ball it back up and start over. But be carefull, because the more you work it, the more you knead it, and the denser and harder to work it will get.

If you are making it in the morning before dinner, or the night before (what I usualy do), use the room temp, coat it in some olive oil, put it on a plate, or bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. It will proof slowly in the fridge. Over night usualy gives the best results, IN MY EXPERIENCE, your results may vary, of course.

This is the basics, where you go from here is the adventure. You can add herbs and flavorings, and all sorts of wonderfull things when you feel ready. I prefer the basic no frills crust, nice and crispy, baked on a nice hot stone.


ALright, now that THAT text book is over. Go have fun and feel free to ask anything or point out mistakes I have made :)

(This not only comes from me being a baker, but from making more pizzas than I care to remember! :no_ma:)

Oh, as far as throwing the pizzas, well thats hard to explain in text, but its not hard to do. Check out Youtube, Im sure theyll have some demos on there. Basicaly, you are putting your fist underneath your stretched out dough (this means its already got the basic round pizza crust shape). Keep your fist together, facing each other, your right thumb (if youre right handed) should be on or near your left pinky, and you toss it up while rotating your hands. Your left hand goes straight right, your right hand goes straight left, and thats about that. Dont do it too many times, or youll over stretch the do and it wont fit your stone or sheet pan, or even oven! ;)

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Okay here's the next batch. Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread.
Hmmmmm

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Hey, congrats! :23_28_100s:

My girlfriend loves to bake. It sure is great!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I just finished making bread. I make 1 or two batches a week. Mostly 100 % whole grain flour, organic, grown and milled locally. It is a premium bread flour with high protein/glut,en content. High protein bread flour is the most critical ingredient if you like lighter fluffier breads. You can make heavier breads out of anything. Without high protein wheat you must use a percentage of white flour to make lighter high volume loaves. Another tip for aspiring whole grain bread bakers is to test your dough development during the kneading process. This will tell you how long to knead your dough. Stop kneading and stretch the dough between your fingers in such a way as to form a flat stretchy sheet. Try to stretch it as thin as possible until as the dough reaches proper gluten development you can stretch it into a thin rubber balloon fragment you can even seen through it sometimes. When you first start kneading the dough will be pasty and will not hold together or stretch much. Electric mixers can over Knead bread and the dough can turn pasty again if you overdo it. Hand kneaders are more likely to under Knead. Making great whole grain bread takes more attention to detail than making white bread. White flour made good bread easier to bake, it does not go rancid and the industrial revolution made white flour affordable so it dominated the market until trends began to change in the seventies. I had the pleasure of working in a commercial whole grain bakery for a while. My textbook was Laurels Kitchen Bread Book. IMHO this is the best book for 100 % whole wheat purists. I also have to recommend bread machines for those who are too busy working to make bread. These machines can make great bread, with little effort and time and save you money.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

My wife grinds wheat berries in a K-Tek Champ Blender (the starbucks blender) and makes a terrific loaf out of that. The wheat is soooo fresh it tastes like the first snow of winter. She cuts slices and freezes each slice individually so we get a fresh slice of bread each time we need it. I would suggest dividing your loaf and freezing portions of what you would use in a sitting.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

You can rub butter or another oil on the crust when the loaf is still hot to keep the crust from getting too hard.

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Recipe and instructions please.:23_28_100s:

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/

This link offers a sourdough starter for free or a donation.

http://www.sourdo.com/

This link offers a bunch of different starters but they want $15 apiece. If you have never done sourdough before I recommend you pay the $15 for the San Francisco strain and follow instructions carefully. I started with the South Africa strain and I thought it was for 100% whole wheat flour so that's what I used. It tasted like sauerkraut! Don't you make that mistake - use white flour.

A google search will turn up pages and pages of recipes, instructions, and chemical explanations. What you need to be aware of is that the sour part comes from acid, produced by yogurt bacteria (lactobacillus), and that is why it takes so long. Time = acid = flavor. Yogurt bacteria only live on milk, so you can have some influence by adding more or less milk to the loaf. If you work with the spores already in the flour, or wild spores in the air, it might take longer or taste different; you don't know until you try.

One more link: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking...sourdough.html

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

For all you bread bakers out there, I have a question. Today, when my dough was ready for its second rise, I formed it into a loaf, put it into a loaf pan, covered it with plastic wrap, and slid it into an 85 degree oven for its final rise.

Out of sight, out of mind slipped into effect. Fast forward 4 hours later when, during the preparation of dinner, I opened the oven door and found my collapsed loaf. If I ever screw up like this again, is there any way I can salvage the loaf? If I punched it down, would it perhaps rise again? Or do you think the yeast was exhausted? I went ahead and baked the loaf anyway. But it is ugly as sin and a bit doughy. What have others done in this situation? Or am I the only dummy who's ever made this mistake?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I always say the bread "Last Rites" and move on....

(Makeup the "rites" as I go) :emotions16:

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

Not really. What happened is your gluten structure collapsed (snapped). And with that long of a time, the yeast had probably done all it was going to do as well, as in not produce anymore gas.

You can do like you did, just bake it off anyways. Or flatten it out and make some interesting pizza crust. Or just throw it away, but why waste it?

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

I promise you're not the only one! I bake a lot of bread, and I used to set my bowl of dough on a back burner on the stovetop, it was over the oven vent so it was a little warmer if I'd had the oven on earlier. One time when I forgot about the dough, I came home to find it stuck all through the coils on that burner. That was not fun to clean. Now I always put the bowl of dough on the counter - I still forget it sometimes, but it's much easier to clean up the counter than the stovetop!

You ought to have reformed the dough, and given it a third rise. My regular bread recipe uses three rises. It does take longer but it gives the dough time to develop more flavor. I think even after 4+ hours you'd still have some life left in your yeast. Next time (and there probably will be a next time :wink:) give it a shot!

Re: Just made bread for the first time
 

It wouldn't have hurt to go for a third rise and I might have except I was right in the middle of fixing dinner, LOL. The next time it happens, and I know it will, I'll give it a try. And if it doesn't work, the pizza dough suggestion sounds good. At the very least I have something I can slice up in the winter to feed the birds and the squirrels.

Agmom, I tend to think you may be right about the yeast. It'll grow forever, after all, if you feed it. Question is, is there enough honey left in the dough after all of that?