i have a $15 bread box from amazon (link)that has an adjustable vent to control moisture that keeps my bread fresher for a few extra days.

alternatively you can keep the loaf and a cutting board in a sealed-ish environment like the microwave or the oven if they're not in use, use paper bags roughly closed, or buy bread bags. Or just eat it all really fast

Stale is not really a problem for me. Made some sourdough pepperoni bread today, not bad.

Got kind of discouraged by my homemade pizzas not turning out as nice as the ones that come from hot pizza ovens at restaurants, and stopped making bread for a while.

But when this thread got kicked up and saw how yummy everybody's bread was turning out, thought it might be fun to give bread-making a try again, eg.


Would be lovely to have fresh bread to eat every day - forgot how easy it was to get nice results with the no-knead dough, since I only made a couple of loaves before turning to pizza ... mine didn't look so great, but it tasted just fine Also forgot how much cheaper it is to make bread from scratch!


May need to go to the store to get fresh yeast, since it's been a while - will see how it goes

This is only my 4th or 5th loaf of bread ever, so may have to keep practicing

Tried making a mini-baguette in a counter-top Breville, but it seems like maybe the oven didn't get as hot as a regular oven? Also got impatient and didn't let the dough rest in the fridge. Guess bread is very forgiving though, so it still tasted pretty nice for just the 5 or 10 minutes it took to put together and pop in the oven ...





Will try again next week!

You don't need to proof in the fridge but it slows down the process and allows some more flavor development.

The crust on the above loaf looks good and crispy, not sure why you think the oven was too cold. The crumb and the slashes look like there was not a lot of oven spring so maybe the loaf was just under proofed prior to baking after shaping. Thanks for the shoutout in the prior post I was on a huge baguette kick in 2014, should make more.

Am eating the bread right now with a little soft cheese - nothing like homemade bread, even when there's been some technical issues

Was thinking that about the crust too, that it looked fine - couldn't figure out what the problem was though. Didn't let it proof at all because the toaster oven heated up so much faster than the oven, so just wound up popping it right in to the Breville after shaping ... pretty neat how you were able to tell just from looking at it what went wrong hehe! That has to be it ..

Thanks so much for stopping by with the tips - still have enough dough to make another, so will try again tomorrow ... thanks!

Baking bread is very rewarding so I hope you keep at it. You will probably learn something new every time and the next one will be even tastier!

Thanks kulukkuluu!!

Guess cooking can sometimes be a bit like having a chemistry set, except there's yummy stuff to eat at the end


Just found a blog on the internet that someone had going while he was tinkering around with ingredients and other stuff - guess he was making his own starter as well, but he was also trying different amounts of water, and was getting a bunch of different results, so that was neat to see ...

Link to the bread blog from the internet: http://tartine-bread.blogspot.ca/201...1_archive.html

Someone else's bread - before



Someone else's bread - after

My second loaf from the same batch of dough as yesterday's turned out better than before with the extra proofing time so that was pretty exciting!





Much poofier than yesterday - although it still didn't have those nice ridges on top. Will have have to get a new bottle of yeast after all, and maybe try a bit less water too or something next time? Guess that's true that am learning something new each time - and yeah, hopefully next time will be even better and tastier ... that would be lovely

Cheers kulukkuluu!

Looking better every time I see! The final proofing after shaping takes patience but you will learn to wait until the right moment (the dough only bounces back very slowly after touching it with your finger). Just don't let it over proof because that is much worse for the final result than slightly under proofing it.

If you haven't already, I would look into the French Slap and Fold technique for kneading. That and cold proofing have been a great help on my journey to mastering the art of bread.

Speaking of cold proofing, there is an amazing (and very simple) recipe for a cold proofed Focaccia that you can find by Googling "Peter Reinhart's Basic Focaccia". It is a very wet dough but it can quite easily be mixed by hand and the taste is simply fantastic. I personally enjoy mixing various herbs into that particular dough (thyme, rosemary, oregano).

Some great tips there k - thanks!!

Had an herb garden a couple of summers ago - they had these lovely pre-planted pots at the nursery in the grocery store parking lot, with a whole assortment of herbs. Used to add the chives to my scrambled eggs on the weekend, and then made some nice pesto a couple of times ... and then ran out of ideas for what to do with the rest of the garden lol

Would be nice to have my bread get to a point where it'd be fine plain, so then it'd be possible to add other things and have it be even better ... like fresh herbs, or cheese - your herbed focaccia sounds amazing, yum!

My baguettes were one of those no-knead recipes - think it was the 'artisan bread in 5' one? Maybe it'd be interesting to try a kneaded bread sometime too ...

Cheers kulukkuluu!!

Bump for a ciabatta I made. I'm doing a bunch of bruschetta type canapés for a party soon, so will be doing a bunch of bread. My problem is trying to keep them all fairly consistent, especially with quite a runny dough.

Oven project:





Results. This was a couple of months ago. Kinda lost excitement for the project once summer rolled around:



Man, this thread has seriously stepped up its game. Impressive breads you guys are posting.

All,

Oops, had a living off the grid q for sapo, wrong thread.

Amazing breads by everyone tho!

Nice oven Elsapo. Bet you can do some pretty kickass pizzas in that thing.

Just took a loaf out of the oven. When a family friend heard I was into bread baking she would not stop talking about this recipe that I HAD to make - swears its the best bread ever (recipe is from Eduardos in San Rafael). Includes an egg, cottage cheese, & dill - slice pics coming in a bit

I need help. I've been trying the no knead method and cooking in a preheated Dutch oven. My loaves always come out wet in the middle and I've always thought it was not cooking long enough.
This last one I was determined to cook as long as possible.
80% hydration rate (I'm in a very humid region so I do lower hydration)
475 degrees (That's about as high as my little oven will go)
1hr 15min, top on the whole time
I pulled it out when it started to smell like it was burning. The top was a little black but still fine for me. Let it fully cool and still a little wet in the middle. I'll slice some pieces and toast them and they fine but it still pisses me off. Ready to give up.
Next try, I'm thinking 75% hydration rate and cook at 425.
Am I on the right track?

I used the following "no knead dough" method a couple of weeks ago and it turned out perfect

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/06/t...ead-dough.html

The trick to getting it cooked all the way through, is to let it sit till it's 209°F in the centre

What do you mean by hydration rate?

water:flour ratio

Oh, well that's only 70% in the serious eats recipe so that might explain it

80% is wet/slack dough for sure but it shouldn't be an issue for baking. I make ciabatta with over 80% hydration. Handling the dough is a pain but it's not wet after baking.

Have you tried lower temp/longer time? Also why not remove the lid on the Dutch oven? That could allow some excess moisture to escape.

As Mr.m points out, if it gets to the proper temperature inside it should be fully cooked. Maybe some photos or recipe would help.

You need to remove the lid of the dutch oven.
You should try about 25 minute with the lid on, 30 minutes with the lid off.

Also, allow the bread to fully cool before slicing.

Ya, lost interest in bread making over the summer as well - nice to have homemade bread with soup when it's cold and dark out though. It's only one of the two outside right now, but the weather should be cooling down soon ...

Saw this thread the other day and everybody's bread looked so good - crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside, yum! Will have to pick up some fresh yeast, so will be ready for when the weather starts to cool

Made a baguette yesterday with the 'Artisan Bread in 5' recipe, but couldn't get it to look much different than the last one, so will have to keep working on it ...

Then used some of the dough to make a pizza today, with Kenji's skillet-broiler method - my dough never seems to get as crispy as the restaurant's, but guess it's not bad for homemade ... much cheaper


(prosciutto, leek, and mushroom)

Kenji oven spring

Made this challah for turkey breast leftovers sandwiches.

That challah looks yum. Definitely going to bake some bread in the next couple of days, feel quite inspired. Will make pumpkin soup to go with.