Cookie Chick

Always a day late and a dollar short, I just discovered this intriguing book. I first read about it on one of my favorite food blogs, KitchenNut. I was so curious that I went to Amazon, read all the rave reviews and placed the book in my shopping cart. However, since I just purged a dozen or so cookbooks I rarely use by donating them to the local library, I hesitated buying another book. So I moved it to my Wish List and moved on.

Later that week, Dave and I were at Bed, Bath and Beyond buying a shower curtain liner when we ran into a colleague of his from the university. C was in the baking section looking at pizza peels. He told us he had become obsessed with bread making after buying….yes, Artisan Bread Making in Five Minutes a Day. I saw this as a sign and went home and ordered the book from Amazon.

Last weekend I was able to try out this new method of bread making. The method is simple, you mix the ingredients by hand (or mixer or food processor) and let the dough rise for two hours in a covered container. You can do this in a bowl or even a plastic 6 quart container. I used one of the 6 quart square Cambro storage boxes that I use for flour. The liquid ratio is much higher than traditional recipes. No kneading at all. Each recipe will make several loaves. You cut off the amount you need and store the rest of it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. The flavor develops the longer you store it.

Here are my observations so far:

1. It is very easy to make bread with this method. Other than the initial two hour rise, you do not have to wait around. You can make bread on your schedule.
2. It works very well for artisan breads with a crisp crust and open crumb. It’s not the best method for soft sandwich bread.
3. The flavor does indeed develop. Bread made after a 3 day sit in the refrigerator was tasty. One complaint I had with the No Knead Bread was the lack of flavor.
4. The dough is very wet and sticky. The book authors recommend flouring the dough in the container and before grabbing off a chunk to cut off. I read that dough will not stick to wet hands. So now I just wet one hand hand and grab the dough and use the other hand with a serrated knife to cut off a chunk. I can then drop it into some flour to form the boule. I found that the extra flour left in my dough bucket would harden for the next batch.

Breads I’ve Made

Master Recipe

First loaf from master recipe.

Second loaf from master recipe.

Sliced loaf

This is the first recipe they recommend making. It’s a basic recipe with only flour, yeast, salt and water which is common for artisan bread. Dave was so intrigued that he didn’t want to wait for an overnight sit in the refrigerator. I made the first loaf shortly after the first two hour rise. The dough was very wet but I was able to form a craggy boule. I formed it on parchment paper dusted with cornmeal and baked it on the parchment on my cast iron pizza pan. I don’t have a pizza stone. I steamed it by adding hot water to pan below the bread per the book’s instructions. It rose beautifully with great oven spring and formed a lovely boule. We couldn’t wait for it to cool and ate it warm with cheese. It was good but the flavor was still a little bland.

The following day I made another loaf. It was a little better in flavor and just as pretty. The third day we had company and I made two loaves. We ate one and I gave the other one to our guests. This loaf was delicious. It was also the first time we had waited for the bread to cool.

Light Whole Wheat

This is very similar to the master recipe, but has a small amount of whole wheat. I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat. I’ve made one loaf so far with this recipe. It was very good. The crumb is slightly darker and it has a slightly more complex taste.

Soft Sandwich Bread

I tried this recipe as a hope for an easy substitute for our favorite Potato Bread. Sadly, there is no comparison. The dough is too slack to form a nice loaf. The method of forming a loaf is similar to a boule but you then place the dough in an oiled loaf pan. It requires at least 1 hour and 40 minute to rise which takes away from the convenience of the other methods. The dough is denser than kneaded breads and does not rise as well. The crust is crisper which is not something I’m looking for in a sandwich bread. Also, I was not crazy about the flavor. It was too sour for my tastes. Dave liked it but also prefers the Potato Bread. He suggested trying my Potato Bread recipe using this method, which I may do this weekend.

Olive Oil Dough

Pizza made with olive oil dough

This recipe is meant for pizza and other flat breads. I altered the recipe slightly by adding two tablespoons of honey instead of one tablespoon of sugar. I also cut the salt back to a little over 1 tablespoon. I’m using Morton’s Kosher salt per the book’s suggestion, but have found the loaves a little salty for my taste. The authors suggest using less or more to taste.

I mixed up a batch of the dough on Wednesday night to make pizza on Thursday night. This was a huge hit. I had tasty pizza on the table within 40 minutes. I took a hunk of the dough out of the container when we got home and formed a boule on cornmeal dusted parchment paper. I let it rest for about 10 minutes while I preheated the oven and got the other ingredients together. After about 20 minutes of preheating the oven I slid the pizza into the oven on the parchment. It baked up in 20 minutes. The crust was crisp and the bread had a nice airy crumb. The flavor was fantastic. Using the parchment paper insured it did not stick to either the peel or the pan. Clean up was a breeze.

Conclusion

Well, I haven’t really concluded anything. It’s an amazing method for certain types of bread. I think I prefer a more traditional method for sandwich breads. I’ll continue to experiment with the method as it is a lot of fun and requires little equipment. There are some sweet breads that I want to try as well.

It’s a great method for novice bread bakers who are afraid to try making homemade bread. I’m not quite a novice anymore, but I still have my training wheels and am excited to try new techniques. It’s also quick and easy.

This is a great book. I’d highly recommend it. The authors, Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg, are active on many cooking bulletin boards and answer many questions. Zoe Francois is a professional chef and has her own blog, Zoe Bakes. The book also has a website where you can contact the authors and read updates and corrections in the book.

We make sandwiches for our lunch on most days. We’ve grown accustomed to homemade bread and store bought will just not do anymore. For months, I’ve been tinkering with a potato bread recipe. I based it on a recipe from the King Arthur Flour web site. I added a bit and substituted a bit until I found a recipe that works well for me each time.

The bread is light and fluffy and makes amazing toast. The butter melts into the crumb and is delightful. The following recipe will make two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaves.

Potato Sandwich Bread

1 1/2 cups water (room temperature) – OR 1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk (omit if using milk instead of water)

2 teaspoons table salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

6 ounces mashed potato*

1 large egg, lightly beaten (room temperature)

4 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (18 oz)

*You can certainly used mashed potato flakes, but it’s very easy to put a large, thoroughly pricked baking potato (such as an Idaho) in your microwave oven, microwave for 3 minutes, then turn over and microwave for a further 3 minutes. Let the potato cool, peel it, and mash it. This is pretty simple, and the flavor is significantly better. You can also use leftover mashed potatoes or frozen mashed potatoes that have been prepared.

Measure the water (or milk) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the dry milk, salt, yeast, egg, and melted butter. Attach the bowl to the mixer with the paddle attachment. Blend in the potato. Add the flour several cups at a time and continue mixing on low. When most of the flour is incorporated, switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the bread rest or autolyse for twenty minutes. Knead on speed 2 for 6 minutes. Add more flour as needed. The dough should come away from the sides but will be sticky. After 6 minutes try the windowpane test by taking a small amount of dough and stretching it between thumb and forefinger. If it forms a “windowpane” before breaking the gluten has been developed enough and you will get a nice rise.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl into an oiled bowl or covered dough doubler. Roll the dough to cover it in oil. Let the dough rise for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until doubled.

Gently knock the dough down and turn it out onto a floured surface. Cut it in half and pat each half into an oiled loaf pan; the dough is wet enough to resist shaping. Spray tops of the loaves with oil and cover the dough and let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour.

About 15 minutes before you want to bake your bread, preheat your oven to 350°F. Brush the tops of the loaves with an egg wash. Bake the two separate loaves for 35 minutes. Turn the loaf (or loaves) out and let them cool on a rack. Yield: About 30 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (1 slice, 36g): 69 cal, 1g fat, 2g protein, 13g complex carbohydrates, 1g dietary fiber, 160mg sodium, 62mg potassium, 5RE vitamin A, 1mg vitamin C, 1mg iron, 40mg calcium, 28mg phosphorus.

I never seem to be able to get my loaves of bread to reach the heights I aspire to. I see photos of towering loaves cresting voluptuously out of bread pans. Mine peek their tops over the edge, yet seem to shrink down a bit while baking. I don’t get ‘oven spring’, I get ‘oven shrink’.

This may attributable to a couple of things:

• My oven may not be hot enough.
  It’s an old, apartment grade gas range which works but takes a while to heat up. A new oven is planned, but it goes along with the kitchen remodel that we need to save up money and energy to complete.
• I may not be kneading the dough long enough to properly form the gluten.

Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” has been a valuable resource for creating better bread. I’m learning to trust my limited experience and not to follow the recipe to the letter. The dough speaks to you, letting you know what it needs. To develop this relationship with the dough, you need to touch it. I do most of my mixing in my trusty KitchenAid stand mixer, Stella. She’s not only beautiful but a work-horse. However, I now stop the mixer during the knead to see how the dough feels. I’m even attempting the “window pane test” to see if the gluten is properly formed.

Yesterday, I experimented a bit with a potato sandwich bread I’ve been making. I substituted some ingredients and added one large egg. I also kneaded the dough longer than I normally do because my dough failed the window pane test. Once it got close, I scraped the dough out onto a floured board and hand kneaded until it passed.

The dough rose nicely and was supple to to the touch. After the first rise, I separated the dough into two pieces and formed boules. I let the dough rest for 20 minutes and then formed the dough into loaves.

I preheated the oven for 30 minutes to make sure it was hot enough when the dough was ready. I have made the mistake of waiting too long and having the dough over-rise during the second rise. This almost always guarantees a fall.

The dough rose nicely but did take an extra 10 minutes. I didn’t rush it but kept an eye on the dough using the technique where you push lightly on the dough. If it springs back quickly, it’s ready.

I was pleasantly surprised that this time I got oven spring and then some. My loaves crested mightily and did not fall. Nor did the crust wrinkle while cooling. This may have been the egg white wash I employed or that I let the loaves cool for 10 minutes in the oven with the heat turned off and the door ajar. (A tip I read in the King Arthur Baker’s Companion.)

Success at last.

I have been on a bread baking journey since March of this year. It has become a weekly ritual in which I bake sandwich bread for our lunches during the week. Some times I succeed, sometimes I fail. Each time I learn something new.

I have had Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” in my Amazon Saved Items to Buy Later queue for months. Although it is highly rated, I was intimidated by the idea of pre-ferments and the commitment that true bread artisanship takes. However, I decided the time was right and purchased it two weeks ago.

It is a great book with several chapters about the art of making bread. Making bread is something you have to love or it is not worth the effort. You can buy bread inexpensively in any store. You may not want to eat store bought bread, but that’s another story. (Whole Food’s Organic Sandwich breads are awful.) Good bread can be purchased from local bakeries or even chains like Panera.

Hand crafting your own loaf is something that is worth the effort even if things don’t always go perfectly.

Today I tried Reinhart’s Potato Rosemary bread. I started yesterday by creating a biga which is a pre-ferment added to the bread to fully develop the flavor. It is a mix of water, flour and a small amount of yeast that is allowed a long, slow rise and a chill in the fridge overnight. The biga I made is enough for several loaves, so I froze the rest. He said you can refrigerate for 3 days or freeze for 3 months.

Today I removed my biga from the fridge and let it rest for one hour to come back to room temperature. I followed the recipe but found that my dough was a little slack. I’ve made potato sandwich bread before and have found that to be the case with bread made with potatoes. I’m afraid I didn’t quite get to the “window pane” test, which I will try harder for next time.

The bread dough came together nicely and rose well. I did run into problems with the doughs slackness when trying to form my boules. The dough stuck to my hands and I had a difficult time getting the tension on the top of the loaves. I believe this is the reason the loaves rose out instead of up. I did get some vertical lift, but not as much as I had hoped for. I’ll try to make sure I get the gluten formed well in the mix next time.

The one good thing about homemade bread is no matter what goes wrong, it’s always tasty. My loaves may not be as tall or pretty as I had hoped, but I’m happy with my first attempt at using a biga. The flavor is complex not only because of the rosemary and roasted garlic, but the full flavor of the wheat flour was developed creating a delicious bread.

Potato Rosemary Bread

Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

• 1 1/2 cups (7 oz.) biga
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (14 oz.) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (.38 oz) salt
• 1/4 teaspoon (.03 oz) black pepper, coarsely ground (optional)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (.14 oz) instant yeast
• 1 cup (6 oz.) mashed potatoes
• 1 tablespoon (.5 oz.) olive oil
• 2 tablespoons (.25 oz.) coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons to 1 cup (7 to 8 oz.) water, at room temperature (or warm if the potatoes are cold)
• 4 tablespoons (1 oz.) coarsely chopped roasted garlic (optional)
• Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
• Olive oil for brushing on top

Remove the biga from the refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to make the bread. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

Stir together the flour, salt, black pepper, and yeast into a 4-quart mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the biga pieces, mashed potatoes, oil, rosemary, and 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water. Stir with a large spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) for 1 minute, or until the ingredients form a ball. Add more water, if necessary, or more flour, if the dough is too sticky.

Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin to knead (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook). Knead for approximately 10 minutes (or 6 minutes by machine), adding more flour if needed, until the dough is soft and supple, tacky but not sticky. It should pass the windowpane test and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees F. Flatten the dough and spread the roasted garlic over the top. Gather the dough into a ball and knead it by hand for 1 minute (you will probably have to dust it with flour first to absorb the moisture from the garlic.) Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces for loaves, or 18 equal pieces (about 2 oz. each) for dinner rolls. Shape each of the larger pieces into a boule, or shape the smaller pieces into rolls. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment (use 2 pans for rolls) and dust lightly with semolina flour or cornmeal. Place the dough on the parchment, separating the pieces so that they will not touch, even after they rise. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Proof at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours (depending on the size of the pieces), or until the dough doubles in size.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Remove the plastic from the dough and lightly brush the breads or rolls with olive oil you do not need to score these breads, but you can if you prefer.

Place the pan(s) in the oven. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking. The loaves will take 35 to 45 minutes total to bake. Bake the rolls for 10 minutes, rotate the pans, and then bake for 10 minutes longer. The loaves and rolls will be a rich golden brown all around, and the internal temperature should register at least 195 degrees F. The loaves should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. if the loaves or rolls are fully colored but seem to soft, turn off the oven and let them bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to firm up.
Remove the finished loaves or rolls from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour for loaves and 20 minutes for rolls before serving.

Reinhart’s commentary: You can attractively garnish this bread by embossing a sprig of fresh rosemary in the top of the loaf. Mist the dough just after the final shaping with water and lay the spring flat so that it adheres fully. Don’t leave any of the needles hanging in the air, as they will burn during the baking stage without the protection of the dough.

I’ve been a subscriber to Cook’s Illustrated, both print and online for a few years. I watch America’s Test Kitchen faithfully and own many of their cookbooks. Their claim to fame is that they test recipes to perfect them so you don’t have to. For the most part this has been true. I’ve mostly had success with their recipes with the occasional failure upon which I usually blame my own novice cooking skills.

I’ve been baking bread regularly for six months now. I’ve gained some skill along the way, understanding the look and feel of a good dough, how it should rise and taste, how to shape a loaf, and how to get even slices. My weekly bread has been Cook’s Illustrated’s Oatmeal Sandwich Loaf which after a few tries has been a consistent standard. It’s moist, yet light and slightly sweet. It’s fantastic with both sweet and savory fillings and keeps well at room temperature for almost a week.

I wanted to try something new, so I looked through CI’s bread recipes and decided to give their Multigrain Bread a try. I braved the new Whole Foods in Tustin just to buy a bag of Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal, the grain part of this recipe. I had all the other ingredients. By the way, the new Whole Foods market is huge and amazing, but far too crowded this holiday weekend. I get a bit anxious when trying to fight my way through the Orange County yuppie hoards. I’ll miss our small but charming Whole Foods that was within walking distance of our house. We still have our Trader Joe’s so I can’t complain too loudly. Maybe a Mother’s Market or Henry’s will fill the void left by Whole Food’s departure? One can dream, right?

But, I digress…

I followed the recipe for Multigrain bread exactly. I knew from the start that this dough was different. The oatmeal dough is rather slack and generally requires that I add more flour than the recipe calls for. This dough was the opposite. The only moisture comes from soaking the hot cereal in boiling water. The dough was stiff and a little dry and definitely cleaned the sides of the mixer bowl. The first rise went fine, but the second had just a little lift. I popped the loaves in the oven hoping for oven spring, but alas the little buggers were squat and dense. Not the light, fluffy bread the recipe claimed. It tasted fine, however.

I went to the Cook’s Illustrated boards on their web site only to find a 21 page thread on this very recipe. Some people had great success with light and fluffy loaves. Others had the exact same problem I did. I read through all 21 pages gleaning knowledge from those who succeeded and those who failed. One main thread was the dryness of the dough.

Armed with this new knowledge I decided to give it another go. So this time, I held back on the flour only giving the dough what it needed, I measured temperatures and weighed my ingredients for accuracy. The dough was much easier to handle and rose beautifully on the first rise. The second rise also did better, cresting the tops of the pans at least one inch. I dutifully put the lovely loaves in the oven only to pull out squat little bricks once again. Not only did the loaves have no oven spring, they had oven shrinkage.

Some determined folk on the boards kept trying failure after failure. Not me, I want a recipe that is consistent and this one is not it. So please, Erika Bruce, go back to the Test Kitchen with this one and find a better recipe. She actually commented about 2/3 of the way through on the thread so hopefully they’ll come up with a better recipe and pull the old one.

If you are interested in trying this, I wish you all the success in the world. Bob’s Red Mill publishes the recipe on their web site if you are not a Cook’s Illustrated subscriber.