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Quantumfate posted:I'm trying to be a bit more fiscal and just sort of getting into breadmaking. My first job baking bread from scratch was trying a whole wheat no-knead recipe I saw. It came out with a crust as hard as stone. I'm pretty sure I messed up! What are some good recipes to start out with? I have wheat flour, all purpose flour, and some rolled oats. Buy bread flour, specifically King Arthur Flour's unbleached bread flour. It has more protein and therefore glutenin, which helps to form gluten (which is what makes bread rise). As far as following a recipe goes...accuracy is important. Do you have a kitchen scale? If not, get one - it's fine if it's accurate to 1g as long as it can be tared. If you are really really thrifty and have little equipment, like me, use sifted flour. That results in a consistent pack, so you have consistent loaves - and predictable loaves. Other than that, any basic bread recipe you'll find on the internet is fine. I particularly like the books and recipes by Peter Reinhart. I recommend giving "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" a try and baking a simple French loaf, like a boule or batard. They're really easy to handle and shape, and pretty difficult to gently caress up (if you underhydrate, you have a denser loaf, still wonderful for sandwiches, french toast, etc; if you overhydrate, well, you'll know and be able to fix it). Best of all, they require four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt. The rest is time and poopvomit.
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Nov 11, 2013 12:00
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US Foreign Policy posted:
I would eat that bread. I could use some fresh baked bread, since I ran out of yeast and I don't think a starter will work in this wintertime climate (but by god I'll try). It looks to me like you might be underhydrating your dough. How are you measuring it? The lack of oven spring also tells me that your yeast wants more protein, too. It's always tough baking with the wrong flour, and short of buying active gluten and incorporating that into your recipe, I'm not sure there's much you can do other than buying harder flour. It might be possible to use a levain or other preferment to make a really yeasty bread that behaves better, but I'm not sure how the crumb would turn out.
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Nov 11, 2013 21:33
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Post crumb pics when you open it up please, and remember not to crack it until it's warm. Room temperature is best, but -do not- cut into bread while it's still hot.
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Nov 12, 2013 23:53
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Yeah, most storebought bread is tremendously different from homemade. A no-knead loaf can produce a super moist rustic loaf with super-open holes - the type of bread you pay $10 a loaf for. Give it a try; I'm a fan of Jim Lahey's recipe, and variations thereupon. By the way, use bread flour. Spend the $4 for a 5' bag, and if you don't use most of it, oh well you just made a $10 loaf for $4. If you like the results, things get really cheap - you'll want to buy yeast in 2 lb blocks and freeze it (that brings the yeast cost of bread from ~$1 and change to a few cents per loaf, compared to buying packets) as well as 25 lb bags of bread flour. I recommend King Arthur Flour's unbleached bread flour, as well as their white whole wheat if you want to make whole wheat bread.
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Nov 16, 2013 02:55
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There are some guided bread slicing knives you can buy, or go all out and buy a deli slicer. You can get them for under $100, and they're great for all sorts of things, but they do tend to be huge and bulky and in the way. You can go in between and buy one of those folding bread slicer things with the multiple sizes, but I'm not a fan personally. You might be, I dunno. As for replicating that texture, the closest I've found is a hokkaido milk loaf using bleached white flour for minimum bready taste. It's important to use the tangzhong technique when making milk loaf, by the way - that's the difference between average sandwich loaf (with any good milk loaf recipe, more like pain de mie than anything) and fluffy, velvety, compressible, slightly sweet, chewy goodness.
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Nov 16, 2013 07:43
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deadlypie posted:whats your favorite type of bread to make mediaphage? I know I'm not mediaphage but honestly I really like Reinhart's breads. read The Bread Baker's Apprentice or at least the bits about whatever bread you want and you have a good starting point in terms of technique as well as taste, IMO
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Nov 17, 2013 12:10
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If breading in a cast iron skillet, is it recommended to preheat or no?
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Nov 17, 2013 22:34
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mediaphage posted:I guess it depends on the kind of bread you're making. I definitely pre-heated it for the popular no-knead breads as well as when I do cornbreads. I was considering no-knead as well as traditional plain as well as enriched loaves. Basically I'm hoping that a cast iron skillet is as good for a high hydration boule as it is for quickbreads.
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Nov 17, 2013 23:48
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A dutch oven is definitely on my wishlist (Christmas and just 'what I want to buy') but I'm poor so I figured this might be an okay substitute in the meantime. Sounds like it'll work fine for high hydration doughs, but I should stick to my oven stone for drier loaves. I usually cook enriched loaves on one of those air-insulated baking pans (picked it up at Goodwill for $2) which works great.
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Nov 18, 2013 02:07
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bacalou posted:Alright, so... I've been trying to get a good loaf of french bread made for the last week or so, but everything I do in this new house is failing me. I'm using this recipe: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2013/10/perfect-french-baguette-at-home-only.html but every time I try, the outer crust burns before the interior cooks through. I'm left with doughy, burnt bread and a deep sadness. My oven only goes to 500, not 550 like in the recipe, but I'm hoping I can find a way to make edible bread here before Thanksgiving. I'm cooking on a parchment-lined baking pan with a water bath and mister like it says, adding a little cornmeal to the bottom to prevent sticking. The dough is outrageously sticky and just sort of absorbs the flour I dust my counter with when punching down, sticking to the surface. Should I tape some parchment to the working area and punch down on that? Any advice on how to make a decent loaf of french bread would be seriously helpful, and save my rear end come holiday. If you're going to do a no-knead dough, I recommend the method starring in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It's very easy, quick, and (nearly) foolproof. You can find the basic recipe floating around the web, but here's my favorite rendition: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/09/no-knead-bread/ However, don't use AP flour, use bread flour. It's much better, and produces a stronger, moister loaf with superior crumb. It's also the same price as AP flour. Buy King Arthur unbleached bread flour probably - at my local Target it's $1.25 off for a 5 lb bag, coming out to $2 and change, so check yours. I use that along with their white whole wheat to make a really delicious bread. Adding other flours and adjuncts is also an easy way to change the flavor and texture of your loaf.
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Nov 18, 2013 08:14
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mediaphage posted:One of the reasons it works well is because it creates a humid environment. You can replicate this by preheating a jelly roll pan in your oven with your stone, and setting your oven temp 50 degrees higher. When you dump your dough in, drop some ice cubes or a couple of cups of water onto the pan and shut the door. Oh yeah, steam is absolutely brilliant to develop a big spring. If you don't add steam when cooking with high heat, it's way too easy to finish the top crust prematurely, diminishing the final loaf size as well as potentially overcooking the crust before the crumb's all set.
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Nov 18, 2013 22:54
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Fat Lou posted:1. When I made my sourdough starter it never quite seemed to bubble as much as a number of pictures that I have seen online. Should I worry about this too much? First of all, that looks a lot better than my first loaf - it was seriously a brick. Congratulations on breading a bread! Now, on to your questions. 1. Don't worry about it too much - some starters are ferocious and others are docile. That said, it probably contributed to the crumb density. 2. Yeah, the longer your sourdough goes (and the higher proportion of starter you use in it) the more sour the loaf will be. It'll get better with time, I promise. 3. Steaming the oven definitely helps, and for a medium hydration loaf I usually cook at 400. Lots and lots of steam is what you're aiming for - I get all the cast iron I own preheated, then pour a quart of boiling water onto it. This is because I don't own a hand sprayer. If you do, or if you can get to a dollar store, get one. A higher hydration will also help with that porous texture you're looking for - I would aim for 70% as being easy to work with but decently moist. You should also probably knead longer initially, to help develop that gluten and wonderful air matrices. What flour are you working with? AP is fine for the starter, but I'd use bread flour for the loaf. Finally, it looks like your dough is a bit underproofed (when the bottom springs down it's generally underproofing). Do you know of the poke test? You poke the dough with a lightly floured finger to a depth of about half an inch/1.5cm. If it closes up quickly, it needs to rise longer. If it collapses and feels really airy/empty, it's overproofed.
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Nov 24, 2013 07:47
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It's super easy to not knead long enough. I set a timer for 10-15 minutes depending on the dough (wetter doughs get longer times) and knead constantly. I have a two-handed technique that really helps me get in the rhythm of kneading: I grab the far edge of the dough and fold it over itself toward me, then push and compress the dough. Repeat with the other hand - you should be going at this somewhat diagonally so you can get a 90 degree angle. I flip the dough over between repetitions. Basically, though, it's about coming up with what works for you, just like cooking in general. I recommend King Arthur bread flour; it's 12.7% protein (their unbleached AP is 11.7%, which is also high) which will help gluten development. If you're making a particularly dense loaf, like a dryish whole wheat, you can add vital wheat gluten (sold by bob's red mill and if you have a bulk section, probably there for cheaper) to add a bunch of spring - it's 75-80% protein, compared to super-hard pizza flour at usually no higher than 15%. Use sparingly, but it can make some loaves absolutely wonderful. That said, it's always a learning experience for everyone - I learn something from every loaf I make, and I've heard the same from veteran bakers. Don't be ashamed of making a few chewy loaves.
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Nov 24, 2013 08:46
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The Midniter posted:Is there such a thing as TOO much hydration in dough? I'm fermenting a no-knead batch of dough in my fridge right now and it's a bit runnier than the last one I did. Not runny, per se...just wetter. Any downside to this? Going off this recipe, scaled up a bit. I've never found the amount of water called for in that recipe to be nearly enough to make a cohesive ball of dough, but I accidentally added a little too much this time. What is going to happen?! That's 70% hydration which should be just fine. Are you measuring by mass or by volume? If the latter, stop it. Rasamune posted:I'm sure this has been asked before but how do I avoid a big-rear end fuckin hole in the middle of my bread I...have no earthly idea. Do you have pictures of this phenomenon?
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Nov 25, 2013 19:52
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If anybody else would find a baker's math calculator useful here you go: link If it can use any improvement let me know, though it is a pretty simple thing that just spits out math in a somewhat pretty form. e: now in v1.1, with preferment support! 
SymmetryrtemmyS fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 12:05
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I know this isn't quite no-knead, but I heard about an interesting technique for high-hydration loaves recently. Simply start with 110F/43C water and combine ingredients, then fold the dough in half every half hour for 3-4 hours, then follow immediately with a long retardation. This gets the yeast really excited and building tons of gluten so you can get some remarkable results, and I would think that you could more easily form such a loaf. As far as general high-hydration shaping goes...good luck. I'm not very good at it either. The key seems to be minimal hand contact, using the edges of your hands to tuck dough in and under itself.
SymmetryrtemmyS fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Dec 4, 2013 |
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Dec 4, 2013 12:17
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SopWATh posted:This may be an overly simple question, but how much yeast is normally used per loaf of bread? (I guess per gram of flour would be a better question) Depending on the rising method and preferments you may use, you want between 0.5-1% yeast...in most cases. Obviously, there are edge cases - some doughs use wild fermentation alone, not relying on any added yeast.
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Dec 5, 2013 04:18
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Tannin posted:I baked a bread for the first time this morning! If I had to guess, that's overproofed and underbaked. I would also give it a longer initial knead, right after you combine the ingredients - that'll contribute to a more uniform crumb and a stronger structure. What recipe did you use?
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Dec 11, 2013 20:40
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Tannin posted:I actually used the King Arthur no-knead white bread recipe from their site: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-knead-crusty-white-bread-recipe That initial proof was too long - either your yeast was more active than theirs, your room was warmer than theirs, or something else was going on, but you should generally stop each rising stage when the dough doubles in size. The baking time sounds fine, but you can achieve better results with an instant read or meat thermometer. Bread is done at 180-190 for soft breads and rolls, 200-210 for crusty bread. If you don't have one, try lightly tapping on the bottom of the loaf - it should sound hollow when it's done. Next time, I suggest two changes: mix very thoroughly, using tools if you want to (I like the handle of a wooden spoon, or the best whisk ever); and rise only until the dough is doubled. Keep in mind that all of these suggestions are to make a better loaf, but not necessary for a good loaf. Bread is incredibly forgiving in that it's tasty, even when it's far from perfect.
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Dec 11, 2013 21:31
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therattle posted:All true. I'd also let it warm up from the fridge for longer. Agreed. I usually let my dough warm up for at least 2 hours, and I like to do so on my stainless pan, lightly oiled. It conducts heat better, resulting in a faster warmup.
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Dec 12, 2013 00:48
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bacalou posted:It would depend on materials used and the thickness of the walls. Thin aluminum might be feasible, but I think thick terra cotta or ceramic would be fairly bad for breads. They would be just awesome for high hydration doughs that like steam, especially no-knead bread. Otherwise, I agree.
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Dec 12, 2013 07:16
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Grrl Anachronism posted:Anyone have some advice in regards to egg wash? I make a lot of water challah- several loaves a week- and don't usually bother with a wash because I don't often keep eggs in the house. However I've been trying lately (since I have lots of eggs left over from holiday cookie baking) with egg and a tsp or so of liquid. However my bread never ends up as shiny and dark as others I see, just slightly more golden brown than usual. Am I missing something? To get a super dark wash use just yolks and milk instead of water. A pinch of salt never hurts either. Rub a cold stick of butter over the top of the loaf after baking if you want shiny.
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Dec 30, 2013 02:02
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Shbobdb posted:You want really hard water. When I lived in Indianapolis (super hard water) I could get a great dark wash. In NYC and the Bay . . . not so much. So I add some calcium carbonate and it works great. Milliard loves a basic environment. If you calculate the pH of your dough by looking at the FDA chart or, better, getting a pH tester and simply testing it, you can add baking soda to achieve a somewhat alkaline product, around 7.5. This is along the same lines as adding baking soda to soup to caramelize it in a pressure cooker. That said, you shouldn't add it in with the dry ingredients if you want the best bready texture. Basically, you want to neutralize the effect of the baking soda on the bread's rise, which means that the procedure is a few steps: First, mix your dough. Then, quickly ferment until substantially risen but not doubled, about 45-75 minutes at room temperature. Next, mix your dough again, working in an acid and a base (both dissolved together in a portion of your From here I would follow a normal fermentation schedule. I think it's interesting that the process used is essentially the same that Beranbaum uses for sandwich buns. According to a paper written by Holmes and Hoseney in '87, the salts produced from baking soda's leavening reaction inhibit yeast activity, so you must neutralize those with an acid to obtain a proper rise. A little vital gluten wouldn't hurt either. As far as optimum pH, their results suggest that even as basic as the mid 7s isn't disastrous to the loaf structure, simply opening the crumb a bit and losing about 10% volume (which the vital gluten will help counteract). You'll probably want to counter the taste somehow...my instincts tell me that a little non-diastatic malt would be a good idea. Make sure to calculate that in your dough's pH. I have used baking soda and yeast together in the same bread before, and I was not a fan of the texture - however, I didn't remix it as outlined above, I simply tossed it in. It was an interesting hybrid between a soda bread and a yeast bread, but it was a bit spongelike.
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Dec 30, 2013 09:41
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Thumposaurus posted:I guess you could add baking soda to water to up the basidity(?) of it. You can, but the salts produced by adding baking soda to water cause anionic action, inhibiting yeast activity and causing a smaller bread. That's why the remixing procedure I detailed is recommended.
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Dec 30, 2013 21:39
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Thumposaurus posted:I just ment adding it in to your egg washing water. Oh, an alkaline wash would work pretty well. If you do try that procedure, please report back. I'm going to give it a try at some point and see what it does to the taste, but 
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Dec 30, 2013 22:20
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The Doctor posted:REAL LIVE BRIOCHE. How did it turn out? I think it's time for me to pick up some butter and make brioche in the very near future. I think I'm going to make that rye chocolate loaf. I'm fresh out of rye flour, but when I pick some more up I'll see how it goes. What is the purpose of a short bulk rise and relatively long proof, rather than more extensive kneading and a longer rise (until doubled, say)? I haven't seen that technique used much; I would think it would result in some tunneling and uneven crumb. If anybody prefers mass to volume measures, here they are because I converted it for personal use anyway. 240g whole wheat flour 102g rye flour 6g yeast 112.5g granulated white sugar 27g cocoa powder 118.5g water 244g whole scalded milk If using honey instead of sugar, reduce water to 101.5g to account for water content of honey.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:44
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Tunneling is when air pockets 'tunnel' through the dough - it's a problem because it can cause a disconcerting texture if you have a fine, neat crumb most of the slice and then near the edge you have pockets of air. Similarly, uneven crumb is simply when the crumb of the bread (the texture of the inside) isn't even. This can be a good thing in e.g. crusty rustic breads, but not usually desired in a loaf like that. Here's my full rewrite of your recipe, just pulled straight from my online cookbook: 240g whole wheat flour 102g rye flour 6g yeast 112.5g granulated white sugar 27g cocoa powder 118.5g water 244g whole scalded milk 1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl thoroughly. Add wet ingredients, incorporating until dough is tacky. Work for 1-2 minutes, until dough will form into a somewhat shaggy ball. Cover, let dough relax for about an hour until noticeably risen in bulk, but not yet doubled. 2. Place dough on lightly floured surface and form into a tight boule, maintaining high, even surface tension. Let dough ferment about an hour, until risen in bulk but not doubled. 3. If desired, brush with a surface wash or coat surface, score, and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, or until internal temperature reads 200-210 F. If using active dry yeast, bloom your yeast in lukewarm water with 1 tbsp or 12.5g of sugar. If using honey instead of sugar, reduce water to 101.5g to account for water content of honey. I'll make it like that and see how it can be improved. That sounds like a really tasty loaf, especially served with cheese or fruit butters/spreads. Mmm...apple butter on chocolate rye.
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Jan 1, 2014 23:05
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Well, that is true to some extent, because rye is really low in gluten and the gluten it forms is pretty weak. That only really applies to dough wherein rye is >50% of the flour weight, however, and it can be counteracted by adding vital gluten if so you desire.
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Jan 2, 2014 22:26
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Le0 posted:I made a couple bread using the recipe from the OP quite successfully recently. If you're looking for crusty bread, there are five easy ways to add more crust: 1) Loaf hydration. Higher hydration will make for a crustier bread. 2) Shaped dough tension. You want your dough to have a tightly stretched skin during all steps of the breadmaking process. 3) Surface washes applied directly before scoring. For a crunchy, French style crust I would brush some cold water on the surface of the bread before placing it in the oven. You don't want to put so much on there that the water pools up and dribbles, you just want to add a sheen to the loaf. 4) Oven humidity. The easiest way to increase humidity is to allow a cast iron pan to preheat with your oven, then right after you insert your loaf, add half a cup of ice cubes to the pan. Otherwise, you can use a plant mister. This works for a few different reasons, one of which being... 5) Oven temperature. Simply put, the higher the heat of your oven, the thicker and more robust your crust will be. Steam transfers heat much more efficiently than air, allowing the crust to develop rapidly. However, the cold water wash you did on the loaf will inhibit crust development to a degree, maintaining permeability on the surface of the bread and allowing it to grow and develop its full oven spring. Roughly at that point, the cold water will have been absorbed and evaporated, and you should add more steam if possible. If not, don't worry, the initial cold water wash and steam did their magic anyway!
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Jan 6, 2014 01:02
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PiratePing posted:Got the Bread Baker's Apprentice for Christmas, sourdough'd Sweet! That's probably the best book to start seriously baking bread with. Next, you'll want to pick up Beranbaum's Bread. Got any crumb shots?
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Jan 16, 2014 11:47
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PiratePing posted:I wish I did but the smell attracted housemates and then it all went really fast. The crumb was pretty much like standard sandwich bread, crust was nice and crispy but a bit thin. Next time, I'd slash quite a bit deeper - you only gave it surface slashes, which isn't going to give you great oven spring. Please tell me you made them wait until it was cool! There are very few sins worse than cutting into hot bread. I am so jealous of your mills. Do you know if they do small batches of your own grains? If so, you should buy some nice wheat/rye/semolina/etc and get that milled up. Fresh flour erry day. This is especially crucial for whole wheat flour, as the oils in the bran go rancid within a few weeks/months (depending on oil level, acidity, storage conditions, and other factors). I've been saving up for a flour mill for that reason - as you may know, I bake a lot of bread, and fresh flour is absolutely wonderful to work with. What do they charge for 5 lb of soft white?
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Jan 16, 2014 13:23
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PiratePing posted:Heck yeah I made them wait, whipped up some garlic butter while they circled it like hungry heyenas. That is amazing. I am so jealous. As far as bread improver, find out what ingredients are in it. It's probably a combination of a few acids, flour, wheat germ, vital wheat gluten, maybe lecithin and/or maltodextrin. If you see anything in there that you don't trust, come back and ask the thread. Considering the source, though, I'd assume it's a good product. It's up to you whether or not you want to take shortcuts to better baking. I personally use some sort of adjunct or chemical in just about every one of my loaves, because it makes better bread - but the trick is knowing what chemicals do what, and how much you want by weight for what effect. For that, there are papers and cookbooks and textbooks and blog posts and forum posts. That said, whatever amount of dough improver they recommend adding will do something, and probably something positive, so it's at least worth a try.
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Jan 16, 2014 19:19
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Le0 posted:Great job Baron Fuzzlewhack, your bread looks nice. For an airy, loose crumb, I recommend higher moisture and using a long rise and the stretch and fold method (wherein you do envelope folds on both axes after spreading your dough out to a large sheet), repeated every 45 minutes for 3-4 proves.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:36
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therattle posted:GET SCALES! This is the single most useful piece of advice in this entire thread. I'm serious. Weighing your ingredients will give you an incredible advantage. Now, if you absolutely will/can not buy a scale, you must at least measure your dry ingredients accurately. To do so, sift them (you can use a mesh strainer if you want - you're just trying to loosen up the space between flour bits) onto a surface or into a bowl, and take scoops then level off your cup measure. Do not pack the flour, either in the measure or in the bulk pile, since that would negate what we're trying to do here. Properly measured, you can obtain a reasonable accuracy for flour...but it's a giant pain in the rear end compared to just dumping some stuff on a scale. If you are looking for a nice kitchen scale, this one's made for bakers and is a good scale besides that. The reason it's made for bakers is because it can measure by baker's math, which really makes this a no brain required operation; you set flour to 100%, then tare with an empty bowl and add water until it reaches X% and likewise for other ingredients. The reason you want to do this is because baker's math is a really convenient and nice way to record and share your bread formulae. For instance, 100%/70%/1%/2% of flour/water/salt/yeast will make a really average wet dough. When you start looking at more complex recipes, then it really comes in handy. Important factors in a good scale: tare function, large weigh plate for large bowls, large, easily read screen that can be seen underneath a wide bowl (backlighting helps), and easily cleanable plate. You want at least 2-3g precision, ideally 1g. Being able to calibrate it is nice, but hardly necessary. The KD8000 is the model I chose, and I have zero complaints other than the plastic display cover is hilariously flimsy. Luckily, it's not even remotely necessary, and to make up for that they made the hold time (the time between when you remove an item from the scale and it goes back to zero) really long, and adjustable. The point of this overly long post is GET A SCALE.
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Jan 18, 2014 13:52
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Christmas Miracle posted:I baked this today. I like how the crumb turned out but the top split a little I like it. What was your formula?
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Jan 30, 2014 07:26
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I've been looking for exactly that for a while. Thanks!
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Jan 31, 2014 22:04
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Boris Galerkin posted:I wanna try making a sourdough starter again, this time with higher quality flour instead of the store brand Walmart stuff. I'm using the recipe from Tartine and the book says, "mix 5 pounds of bread flour-half white and half whole wheat." Obviously I'm gonna scale down but I'm confused as to what flour to use. King Arthur seems to be a good brand and they have unbleached white whole wheat flour, whole wheat flour, and "bread flour." The white whole wheat flour is obvious but between using whole wheat flour and bread flour which one do I want? I haven't done the Tartine recipe, but I would use half (white) bread flour, half whole wheat (not white whole wheat), and if you have it, some vital wheat gluten - probably 1% or so scaling.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:38
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WhoIsYou posted:White bread flour is simply any high protein flour with the bran and germ removed. In the US any bread flour not specifically marked 'Whole Wheat' is white bread flour. Of course bread flour is usually white...if you look at his phrasing and mine, you'll see why I specified white bread flour. Is he creating a 5lb starter? That seems a bit much, and unnecessarily difficult to work with. As far as creating a starter, I use some rye flour whenever I make a new one, since it ferments very easily and essentially kickstarts the process.
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Feb 3, 2014 05:14
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Boris Galerkin posted:Ok, got it. So then why would the other guy use bread flour + whole wheat flour, instead of white whole wheat + whole wheat? From what I can tell the bread flour has a 12.7% protein content while the white whole wheat has 13% (these numbers are off memory from earlier when I researched it). If the protein content is so similar than what is King Arthur bread flour (in comparison to their white whole wheat)? Protein levels and gluten levels are related, but not synonymous. Bread flour is high in glutenin and gliadin, which form gluten in combination with water; however, whole wheat flour is high in protein, but not nearly as high in gluten-forming proteins. Hamelman goes into some more detail in his book Bread. The reason I suggest whole wheat rather than white whole wheat is simply for flavor. e: DiMuzio also has some interesting things to say in Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective Rye, interestingly, is rather high in gliadin, but has very little glutenin. In conjunction with a wheat flour, this gives you an excellent rise, and an even better starter. Gliadin is what triggers gluten intolerance, by the way. Gluten production and protein content are only two pieces of the puzzle, by the way: ash content is also critical for producing the correct texture and taste (as well as color) of bread. In France, the traditional baguette and artisanal loaves are made with T55 flour, which describes the ash content of that flour. In short, different flours for different purposes - and a good bread recipe should tell you what flour is intended. SymmetryrtemmyS fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Feb 3, 2014 |
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Feb 3, 2014 14:37
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Cimber posted:I only use King Arthur flour when I bake my bread. My wife loves to go cheap on me and buy store brand flour, and the bread comes out not nearly as good. This past weekend I made two loves, one a basic white bread, and the other i decided to experiment and make a cinnamon butter mixture (1/4 cup melted butter, 2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon sugar. Mix all until combined). I flattened out the dough after the first rise with a rolling pin, spread the mixture on top of the dough, rolled into a loaf and did the second rise in the pan. Came out fantastic, my kids are half the loaf in about 20 minutes after it cooled. Will do that again. Oh, I love cinnamon (and other) roll loaves! The absolute best French toast I've had in my life was made from a cinnamon roll brioche. They're also really great to just snack on, especially if you have little ones.
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Feb 3, 2014 14:54
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