The BREAD Thread!

[Nrthwnd]

Well, after baking my second loaf of plain white bread in a dutch oven, I decided that others out there must have been "baking during these times." The sourdough stories I have read were amazing! But it wasn't until these past few weeks, that I finally decided to get in with the crowd, and get some dough rising, lol! And I starting out with this really easy recipe plan (to be revealed) that is just a-ma-zing!

So, in a few days, I will post my results on three loaves of white bread I created and baked. And "not always according to the recipe" etc.

And please add your fave or brand new recipes and results, with photos if possible!

Not bad, for  Bread #2.

[Nrthwnd]

Here's what I posted in the "Say Something Random" thread earlier, that caused me to think, and then start up The BREAD Thread!

Quote

Wellll ..... my first loaf had not 'risen' enough, but was still awesome to eat.

(And I froze 1/2 of the loaf, as I will for all three "plain white" breads I create and bake. To "compare.")

My second loaf (today) was bigger, and way more 'spongy' than I like. But it did pay to whisk all the dry ingredients together, before adding the water. Also, I put 1/4 cup more water than usual (1-1/2cups) and the dough was "hard to control," as far as reshaping it for a second rise. And most importantly, this is not a bread to allow overnight rising. I let too many hours go by (12+), when it should have been only 6-8 hours' rising time, as recommended. But still, a great loaf to eat.

Tuesday, I am going to now start it in the morning, and end up baking Bread #3 in late afternoon. Which is probably for the best.

Stay tuned for The Big Finish!

(And I will have photos to show the differences between the 3 loafs, etc. And I may start The BREAD Thread! here, since I cannot be The Only One who has been baking up loaves during these times, yes? No?)

And ....... I did it!

This was Bread #1. Hmmm.....

[Nrthwnd]

Bread #3 Alert!

I decided to "jump the shark" as it were, and create my third loaf of bread, at the end of this month.

Meaning ...... tomorrow.  Here's hoping the "third time is the charm," etc.

What Loaf #2 looked like, in it's "second rising."

[Nrthwnd]

It looks like "Third Time's the Charm" worked out for my third loaf.

Not perfect, mind. But then, most loaves aren't, right?

So this weekend, I start putting "add ins" into my 4th bread dough.

Which includes ..... cheddar, parmesan, scallions and a sliced up jalapeno!

Lookin' pretty good, after 6+ hours of rising time.

A ball of dough, ready for a second rising.

In the (preheated) HOTHOTHOT dutch oven, and then in the oven for 45 min. bake time.

Ta-daah! Looks great and has that 'crackle' when you squeeze the crust a bit.

It looks really good, IMhO. And it tasted awesome! So much so ......

It didn't take long for us to (nearly) finish the loaf up, in less time than it took to make/bake it!

[Nrthwnd]

Made and baked the fourth loaf last weekend. I think I put A LOT more cheddar into it, than was listed in the recipe.

No matter. The loaf came out pretty good, and we almost finished it by yesterday, lol!

This coming weekend: it's a Rosemary and Olives loaf!

Dough in the bowl for it's first rise, 6-8 hours.

Green onions; ground parmesan; a jalapeno seeded and sliced thin; cheddar cheese, diced up.

That did look like a lot of cheddar I diced up for this loaf. But I carried on...

First rise nearly finished.

I see some add-ins are trying to escape the dough, heh. Now it's a second rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

After the second rise, the whole thing, nestled in the parchment paper, in the dutch oven, already pre-heated.

45 minutes later .... Golden and cheesy, fresh out of the dutch oven.

I think the cheese could have better distributed, but hey - I'll try to do better, next time I bake this one.

[Nrthwnd]

My fifth loaf turned out really good! The best of the five I've made and baked, so far.

The add-ins were: 1 cup of Kalamata olives and 1/2 cup Calvestrano olives, both pitted and halved/chopped. They were folded into the dough before the first rise of 6-8 hours. Then, 1 large shallot, finely chopped, and 1 tablespoon of Rosemary leaves, also chopped up, were thrown in before the second rise, 1 - 1-1/2 hours.

I am also finding out, that it's better to just flour the kitchen table and add stuff in, without doing it on parchment paper. Then I put it on the paper, for it's second rise. Baking in the dutch oven, in the oven, remains the same.

The first rise. I actually let it go for the entire 8 hours.

Shallots and Rosemary added in, and it's ready for it's second rising.

After 1-1/2 hours ..... That looks about "double it's size" doesn't it?

Into the pre-heated dutch oven it went. And forty five minutes later....

It's done!

I decided to take a photo of the bottom of the loaf. Not bad.

And it tasted wonderful! Definitely one I want to repeat in the future.

[Nrthwnd]

In the last two days, I made two loaves to take to a picnic, a friend had organized down in Stanley Park.

Both turned out good, although I think I need to consider putting a 'slash' in the top of the cheese loaf before it goes into the oven.

The cheese-jalapeno loaf seems to 'bleed cheese' again.  No big deal. I gave it to our host for the picnic, so I hope they enjoy it.

The Olive Rosemary loaf . I named it 'O'mmmmm.

The cheese jalapeno loaf. Ooozing cheddar cheese, but what the heck, eh? Haven't 'named it', yet.

[Anything]

^ Looks amazing! Sure it was enjoyed!

[Nrthwnd]

^ It was! We enjoyed the rest of our Olive-Rosemary loaf after the picnic, and Clark emailed me

that him and his partner really REALLY enjoyed the Cheese-Jalapeno loaf we gave him.

Here's the pic of me and David with a friend and the O-R loaf, pretty much devoured by all.

Myself, Trevor and David in the shot, with The Loaf in my hands. Thanks Clark, for taking all the great photos of us all!

[Nrthwnd]

Been awhile, but I've made two new loaves since then...

The first one is a repeat of the Cheese & Jalapeno Loaf I've made before. But I 'cut the cheese' (HA) into much smaller pieces than before, and really REALLY sliced the jalapeno pepper thin, still w/o seeds as that's too hot for my tastebuds. It turned out great, and we got through all of it in time.

Then recently, I made what's called a 5 Seed Loaf, which consists of (duh) five seeds in it:

Pumpkin ~ Sunflower ~ Sesame ~ Flax ~ Chia.     Yes. "those Chia" seeds. Like one's old Chia Pet.

Came out great, but - tastewise, I didn't taste much, if any, of the individual seed tastes I thought I would.

Hmmm. Bread came out alright, but the Olive loaf and Cheese/Jalapeno loaf still top this one. For now.

Looks great outside, but pretty meh inside, IMhO.

[Nrthwnd]

I made a couple more loaves these past few weeks. I repeated a "5 Seeds" Bread, but upped the amount (1tablespoon vs. 1 teaspoon) of the three smaller seeds (flax, sesame, chia)  in it. Made it for our nice neighbour next door, who's always giving us BBQ meats and such.

The first loaf shown here, was what I called my "Greek Loaf." It had green and red peppers in it, a "Greek Seasoning" shake or three, and small cubes of feta cheese. The feta did not work out that well, with the bread. The cubes stayed as they were and actually became chewy in the bread. Didn't like that, so in the future, I will try to figure out a better cheese to use .... but still keeping it "Greek" of course.

My Greek Bread, fresh out of the dutch oven.

Looked great, but the feta didn't work out, taste wise. Will try a similar cheese, next time I make this.

The "5 Seeds Loaf" with lots more seeds inside. For Liz and Terry, next door.

[Nrthwnd]

I made two more loaves of Jalapeno-Cheese Bread yesterday. One loaf for us, and the other for our great neighbours next door, Liz and Terry. They loved it more than the 5 Seeds loaf I gave them before! And ours turned out great, too. Except I forgot to add the grated parmesan into it. So I decided to try something out, and sprinkled the cheese on top of the loaf, before baking it. Turns out, parmesan cheese BURNS. Period. Thankfully, the stuff didn't burst into flames and cause a kitchen fire, lol.

The first loaf with burned parmesan on top. The second loaf is behind, going through it's first rise.

Second loaf. Much better with the parmesan inside the bread.

Side by side. Now which loaf would you pick to have?

Our loaf, cut to show the cheese and pieces of jalapeno in there. Great bread, even with burned parmesan on top.

[Nrthwnd]

Been a while.... "between loaves" heh. But I finally pulled it together last weekend,

to make one of my "Easy Bread Bake" recipes' Cinnamon Raisin Loaf.

It actually turned out pretty good. And sweet to eat. Definitely worth making and baking again.

Into it's second rise. Already it looks great, with the sugar and cinnamon mix all over it. 3 hours later...

Done! A dark crust on it, but so chewy and sweet inside.

And the baking brings out the RED of the Craisins, besides the purple of the raisins. Yum.

See what I mean? I could definitely pick out the raisins from the Craisins. All good eating!

[Invertalon]

Two day fermented sourdough just came out of the oven this morning.

 

[Nrthwnd]

^ Dare I say ..... it looks perfect!

Made another cinnamon/raisin loaf for our neighbours next door.