Bread Thread - Page 2

If it were a baguette you wouldn't say that.

Traditional gas for now. The convection oven is on its way (thanks Obama!). Bread doesn't need convection like a roasted chicken does, since it's not as moist and its surface doesn't have many crevices.

A baker's stone is a must, and knowing how to make bread is paramount. When people make bread, they often rely on the ingredients too much instead of the method. Bread is not cake or muffins, it is pasta.

Common mistakes:
Dumping everything in a bowl and trying to mix it (clumpy mess)
Mixing in a bowl at all (waste of time and effort)
Under-kneading (aka laziness)
Disinfecting the kneading surface and hands (kills the yeast)
Using tap water (kills the yeast)
Salting the bread before the yeast is fully incorporated (kills the yeast)
Not letting the yeast rise and multiply enough (underleavened bread)
Getting too hung up on ingredient amounts ('but it says 1 cup!' -- unstable dough)
Impatience (usually people stab and poke at it as soon as it comes out of the oven, and it deflates)
Cold oven (deflates the bread)
Tearing the dough if the bread needs to be shaped (seriously...)

1 part potato by weight
2 parts flour by weight (I use bread flour or whole wheat flour)
water
salt
brewer's yeast (any yeast works fine besides maybe wine yeast, but I like the taste of this)

I don't really measure anything. Boil potatoes, run them through a ricer. Put some sugar/honey/flour/whatever in a few teaspoons of lukewarm water and mix in the yeast. Go on Styleforum/read a book/go for a quikc run/whatever for 20 minutes. Mix flour and potato together first and make sure the potato is finely incorporated into the flour, then add salt and make a little ring with the potato/flour mixture. Put the yeast and water into the center, then bring the dough together by slowly incorporating the interior of the little well. Knead it for at least 30 minutes. Cover with an old apron and let it rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours. Punch it down, knead it, form it into a log (like making gnocchi), then bring the two ends together so it forms a ring. Let it double in size on something easily moveable (I use the back of a floured cookie sheet), wash the top with an egg/water mix, then sprinkle with flour and toss it into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or so.


I can bake bread without one too, but it isn't as good. A good crust requires lots of high stable heat. Sourdoughs probably won't need it as much since they aren't as crusty. My stone is the best approximation of un forno I can get at home.


I just use 'il modo di fontana' (the 'well method') as mia nonna and le mie zie (whom I didn't know were my aunts at the time when I told my uncles they were crazy ) showed me. A bowl gets in the way and tosses flour all over.


In a region with chlorinated and flourinated tap water that kills yeast and tastes like a swimming pool.