Homesteading: Loaves and Lessons
Jan. 27th, 2016 07:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aldersprigI have been learning things about bread!
If you are an experienced bread baker, most of these things will probably not be news to you. Some of them are not /recent/ news to me but I still find them interesting.
What I have been learning recently is about tenderness, crispness, and longevity.
My normal go-to loaf is Oatmeal Toasting and Sandwich Bread. It's got milk and honey in it, it's got whole wheat flour in it, it's tender, it's got a small, fine crust, and it's great for toasting.
But I was making baked brie, and that needs a bread that can hold up to dipping.
(this, which I ended up using, is not really quite french bread. But it works).
Take away most of the sugar and all of the fat, and you end up with a crisper loaf. Increase hydration and reduce kneading in the proofing stage, and you end up with bubbles in the bread. These things I knew, but it was neat to see them in process.
What I didn't know but learned fast was that if you take away all that fat, the bread goes stale much, much faster. That was a learning experience!
And it did, by the way, work great dipped in a drippy baked brie with fig spread. And just as great with fancy butter, toasted on top the wood stove.
Next up? Brioche!
If you are an experienced bread baker, most of these things will probably not be news to you. Some of them are not /recent/ news to me but I still find them interesting.
What I have been learning recently is about tenderness, crispness, and longevity.
My normal go-to loaf is Oatmeal Toasting and Sandwich Bread. It's got milk and honey in it, it's got whole wheat flour in it, it's tender, it's got a small, fine crust, and it's great for toasting.
But I was making baked brie, and that needs a bread that can hold up to dipping.
(this, which I ended up using, is not really quite french bread. But it works).
Take away most of the sugar and all of the fat, and you end up with a crisper loaf. Increase hydration and reduce kneading in the proofing stage, and you end up with bubbles in the bread. These things I knew, but it was neat to see them in process.
What I didn't know but learned fast was that if you take away all that fat, the bread goes stale much, much faster. That was a learning experience!
And it did, by the way, work great dipped in a drippy baked brie with fig spread. And just as great with fancy butter, toasted on top the wood stove.
Next up? Brioche!
no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 03:56 pm (UTC)I don't see whole wheat flour in that bread recipe; do you replace some/all of the bread flour with whole wheat?
no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 07:01 pm (UTC)I've been toying with experimenting further but I haven't actually gotten around to doing it. Howeverrr, I should point out that I used to use honey in my initial dough and eventually stopped and it made pretty much no difference to the flavor and texture. Unless you're adding quite a lot of sugar, all it really does is help kickstart the yeast.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 09:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 09:52 pm (UTC)**edit: That's a chemical rising agent, not yeast, too. I can't remember how much the challah had, I should check.
**edit2: That's about how much the challah has, yeah. So, definitely on the sweet bread side of things for me. (Like most commercial sandwich breads...)
no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-27 08:56 pm (UTC)