Baking my own bread

[daytime dave]

I've been baking my own bread now for about two months. Each week I make a batch that produces two loaves. Two loaves lasts a week. I cut them in half and store them in gallon zip lock bags during the week. I have tweaked my basic recipe and now add vital wheat gluten. The loaves raise nicely and come out the same each time. I think it's much better for us.

[GFK]

Nice! My wife ended up receiving bread maker. She adds all the ingredients into it, and it mixes and bake. The bread comes out fairly well. Her loaves have been tasting like store bought bread. So, I don't complain.

[Sir Henry]

I can taste it. Yum.

[daytime dave]

Nice! My wife ended up receiving bread maker. She adds all the ingredients into it, and it mixes and bake. The bread comes out fairly well. Her loaves have been tasting like store bought bread. So, I don't complain.

I have a bread maker. I use that for wheat bread when I'm up for it. I grind my own wheat flour from whole wheat berries. It does best in the bread maker for some reason, so I don't complain. It is a lot of production, but the results are nice.

[Ernie]

I have baked my own on a weekly basis. I got away from it for "a while" and have not started again. Nothing like homemade bread. Family and friends were bugging me for some too and it was getting to be more than what I wanted to do. May start it again.
Dave, how do you slice yours?

IMG_0638.jpeg (2.75 MiB) Viewed 5364 times

This is what I use. Yes it is up side down. The slots get closer together at the far end so you can set the stop and adjust the thickness of the slice.

[Hatchdog]

That’s awesome Dave, good for you to take the trouble and time to make you own bread.

Reminds me of my childhood. My mom worked Monday thru Saturday with Friday off. So Friday was her baking day. Us kids would come home from school to the aroma of fresh baked bread and sometimes fresh baked cinnamon rolls too.

[daytime dave]

Ernie, my parents used something like you have. I just use a serrated bread knife on a wooden cutting board. The more I cut, the better and more uniform I get.

Hatch, my mother baked a lot, but not our daily bread. I think this keeps me well rooted to my country upbringing. The house does smell great on baking day too!

[CT_Shooter]

Congratulations, Dave. Your bread looks delicious.

Several years ago, my late wife and I made this bread fairly regularly. It's a simple recipe for truly outstanding bread. Note the long time required for the dough to rise.

In addition to the recipe, I've included a link to an article by Mark Bittman of the the NY Times, who first introduced it to readers like us after trying it himself.


https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dini ... =url-share

November 8, 2006
Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended;
dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours,
preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and
place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers,
gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth)
with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more
flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it
is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked
with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart
heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is
ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into
pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is
unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes,
then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a
rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

[GFK]

Nice! My wife ended up receiving bread maker. She adds all the ingredients into it, and it mixes and bake. The bread comes out fairly well. Her loaves have been tasting like store bought bread. So, I don't complain.

I have a bread maker. I use that for wheat bread when I'm up for it. I grind my own wheat flour from whole wheat berries. It does best in the bread maker for some reason, so I don't complain. It is a lot of production, but the results are nice.

My wife started out by grinding whole wheat; she brought a 25 lbs bag. The bread can out not too bad. But, I think she got tired of the work and mess. Now, she uses the maker. Less work for her and the bread taste about the same. She does not grind as much. Yet, I try and stay out of the kitchen. Even so, she seems to be good with the maker.

[dave77]

Ernie, my parents used something like you have. I just use a serrated bread knife on a wooden cutting board. The more I cut, the better and more uniform I get.

Hatch, my mother baked a lot, but not our daily bread. I think this keeps me well rooted to my country upbringing. The house does smell great on baking day too!

Same with my mom, no daily bread but she was always baking rolls, buns and caramel cinnamon rolls for family dinners. She was the pastry chef for a popular restaurant so lots of other goodies too. I'm not a baker but I always regret not getting her recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I've had lots of good ones over the years but never quite as good as hers were.

[Mags]

I love home baked bread too. I like my wife's pumpkin and banana nut breads better. She also bakes scones and muffins of various flavors quite often. She freezes a bunch of them unbaked, so we always have something that can be baked on short notice.

[BigAl52]

Well Im jealous here. I wont even buy store bread anymore. My wife use to make sourdough bread which I love. The more sour the better. Congrats Dave that bread looks awesome. This year down here in Texas there is a new restaurant that opened up on the way to Corpus. They have homemade breads and pastries including carrot cake. That carrot cake is so good I cant believe it. They food there is just outstanding. Wife and I have eaten there 3 times. The sourdough bread they mahe there is awesome. They are also doing a booming business.

[daytime dave]

Today's entry.

[Mags]

So good, I can smell it over the internet.

[BigAl52]

Wow 4 loaves in 2 days Dave. Thats a lot of bread eaten. Id look like the blimp. But it sure looks good

[daytime dave]

Sorry to give the wrong impression Al. I bake two loaves at the beginning of the week, Monday usually, Sunday if need be.
Two loaves last us longer than a week, depending on a few variables. We eat more bread now than when it was store bought. I keep getting good consistency.
I have also been making a garlic tomato oil sauce that is great to dip bread in. That helps it disappear too.

[rickhem]

After marrying into an Italian family, I learned the value of good bread. My ex's family did the big Sunday dinner every week, and it was part of that ritual to go to a local bakery for a few loaves of bread. I usually went along on that ride, and we always got one extra loaf for the ride home, and that loaf almost never made it back to the house. It was always fresh and warm, and you ate it by ripping off a hunk and just eating it like that. Honestly, I didn't get that at first, but tried a piece and was hooked, it really was delicious.
The whole Essex County area in NJ, from western Newark and going west from there is covered with dozens of Italian bakeries that are just referred to by their name, and everyone knows them. There's Calandra's, Biase's, Gencarelli's, Nicolo's, Sorrento's, Serrani's, Rispoli's, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. And that scent of bread baking is one that just primes the taste buds for what is to follow.

Your bread looks delicious Dave.

[Hatchdog]

^^^^^^^^^^^

My wife and I are guilty of that too. Hard to resist the aroma of warm bread while in a small space like a car.

Dave, your loves look perfect and I too can almost smell them just looking at your pic.

[BigAl52]

No apology necessary Dave. Its a lot easier to eat more bread being its homemade. Im glad you can do it.

[daytime dave]

After marrying into an Italian family, I learned the value of good bread. My ex's family did the big Sunday dinner every week, and it was part of that ritual to go to a local bakery for a few loaves of bread. I usually went along on that ride, and we always got one extra loaf for the ride home, and that loaf almost never made it back to the house. It was always fresh and warm, and you ate it by ripping off a hunk and just eating it like that. Honestly, I didn't get that at first, but tried a piece and was hooked, it really was delicious.
The whole Essex County area in NJ, from western Newark and going west from there is covered with dozens of Italian bakeries that are just referred to by their name, and everyone knows them. There's Calandra's, Biase's, Gencarelli's, Nicolo's, Sorrento's, Serrani's, Rispoli's, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. And that scent of bread baking is one that just primes the taste buds for what is to follow.

Your bread looks delicious Dave.

One thing about upstate NY, plenty of Italian bakeries. Some of my favorites are in the Utica area. If I could only make almond paste cookies. Nothing like them close to me, so I do it myself.