I'm no baker but there's been a lot of bread pictures posted lately. I'll probably be admonished by the "real" bread bakers here but the pictures inspired me to dig out my old Regal bread making machine. Haven't used it in probably 10 years but after a thorough cleaning it works like a champ and is about 2 hours away from delivering us a loaf of extra sharp cheddar cheese bread.
Who knows, maybe it'll inspire my wife or me to start making bread the real way.
You know, with all this inclimate weather on the east coast, bread is gone off the shelves, but why can't we just make our own with some flour? Problem solved!
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan- near Clare. (dead center of lower peninsula)
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
My wife & I got one of those little countertop bread makers for our wedding. It came with a recipe book of different styles & flavors and it's easy- add this, that, the other thing and hit the go button. It mixes, kneads, rises and bakes all by itself. Made some great bread with it!
Bread... Let me say this. Bread to me is just a complement to a good meal. Bread is not the meal. Baking bread does make your house smell good.😎
I... Don't bake bread to eat it. I never baked a loaf of bread, or even thought of baking a loaf of bread, until I was 58 years old. I bake bread for the EXACT same reason I BBQ meat. Just to see if I can!
At the end of the day... I like eating food but I can't eat as much food as I want to cook. I don't cook to eat. I cook to perfect the process or to see if I can.ðŸ¤â€
Learning to bake really, really good artisan bread is about the same as learning to smoke a really, really good brisket. You will smoke a few duds until you figure out the stall. You'll smoke a few other duds that your guests wait hours after you said dinner would be served, until you know about wrapping it speeds things up. Eventually you can smoke really, really good briskets that are served exactly when you said they would be, with a great bark and a pretty smoke ring. It's just a learning curve.
Know this... Probably the best bread ever baked was 2000 years ago before there were convection ovens that had built in steam injectors. Before scientists figured out how to dry yeast and sell it in 7 gram packets. So... Baking bread is MUCH simpler than most people think it is.🙄. If they could do it 2000 years ago... We can do it too.
Hear this... Baking bread in a machine, following a recipe you got with the machine or online is like cooking a steak in your microwave. It will be done but it won't look right or taste right.
Baking bread has very little to do with the recipe... You would be shocked to realize how little difference there is in the recipe of sourdough bread, ciabatta bread and French bread. Baking bread is more about technique. How do you mix the ingredients, how and when do you finesse the dough. How you shape it and when is it ready to bake?
Trust me... If you chose to make bread to save money... That's a sucker bet. If you chose to make bread to eat it, go to the grocery store. If you like to LEARN, if you like to do things most people are convinced they can't do... Learning to bake bread will be a passion that no one but you will understand. Infact... Most of your friends and family will think you've lost your mind.😆Until they've had some of your kick ass artisan bread.👌
At the end of the day... There's absolutely NO reason to learn to make really kick ass bread... Other than to see if you can.🤗
This was my best day of bread baking ever. These are sourdough loaves that I spent 2 days mixing with delayed fermentation processes and doing everything I've ever learned to make really good artisan bread and... I baked them on my Big Green Egg, for NO other reason than... I could.😬
I ended up giving 2 of those loaves to friends because... I can't possibly eat all of the bread I cook.😉
After finally getting tired of the taste & texture and price of store bought bread my wife started baking bread again some time ago. She bakes at least one more often 2 loaves a week as we as we need them. About 2 months ago the gas range in the house developed a leak and had to be replaced. Just out of warranty I decided to replace rather than having it repaired. While waiting for new one to be delivered bread baking time arrived. No problem I said I can cook or bake anything on the grill and pretty much have from pies to pork! She wasn't really convinced even though I insisted that that the grill on indirect heat was nothing more than an oven that happens to stay outside and I could maintain her baking temp with no problem. She agreed to try it and started mixing the dough. I went out out and proceeded to get the grill, a BroilKing gasser, ready. First putting it on super high [that's PowerZone on a BroilKing] to burn of any left over oils grease and other left over junk that could ruin her bread I had it clean with no smoke and ready to rock and roll. She bakes bread at 350-375 degrees when she got to the second rise for the loaf I got the temp that she wanted and made sure it was steady. BTW easy to do with my grill using the 2 outside burners of the 4 and my remote thermometer with oven probe on the grate where the loaf pan would sit. While I can judge grill temp with the built in thermometer because I know the offset it is slow and no where close to where you need it. You can't beat a good digi thermometer. As has been said all over this site If you don't have one get one. The 1st 2 pics will show the extreme variation. After the last rise she carried out to my outside bakery and 30 minutes or so latter we had bread! A good time was had by all. No bread machines at my house!!!!
That's true... Any grill can be used as an oven to bake bread with. You can bake bread in anything you can produce indirect heat at a consistent temperature for 30 to 45 minutes.
I bake basic white bread and whole wheat bread on my 26" Weber Kettle & SnS at 350°.
I bake sourdough bread on my BGE because I have to preheat it too 525/550° for 45 minutes to get the baking stone hot enough before putting the dough on it. It takes about 35 to 40 minutes to cook a sourdough boule so I have to maintain that high temperature consistent for and hour and 20 minutes at least. I can't do that on the Kettle.
I'm pleased your bread came out nicely for you.ðŸ‘Â
I hope it inspires you and/or your wife to accept the challenge of doing it by hand.
To learn to bake really good bread all you need is a $20 digital scale. A Pyrex mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. And a well written recipe that walks you through each and every step of the process.
I composed a recipe like that for Guest Vojtek and he baked EXCELLENT sourdough bread on his first 5 loaves. Then others accepted the challenge and also did really well on their first attempts.
It really isn't nearly as difficult as most people think it is.😉
Last edited by Breadhead; January 25, 2016, 08:25 PM.
My wife and I have been baking bread in our Broil King Keg and it is coming out really well. She makes a 1/3 WW bread dough, lets it rest for an hour then punches it down and puts it in the fridge overnight. Takes it out the next morning and lets it get up to room temp, then punches it down again and shapes it into loaves and lets it raise back up into a nice shape. Meanwhile, I've gone out and started the Keg with charcoal (briquettes and lump) and stoke it up to around 600+ degrees. I've got the diffuser pan inside, and a pizza stone on the raised level of the grill. When the bread is ready, she puts it on the stone, and I pour some water into the diffuser which creates a bunch of steam just like in the professional bread ovens. I then close down the vents to 1 and let the Keg slowly decrease in temperature to the mid 500's. After 30 minutes the bread is up to 209 which is perfect. And it's time for a Wine/Cheese/Bread dinner!
I got started with bread with a book called "Artisan Bread in 5 min. a day". It's the "no knead" kind of bread where you mix it up, and leave it in the refrigerator over-night, then cut off a chunk and bake it. It can end up like a sour dough if you want it to. The wife and I love it, but now I'm trying to cut back on bread and other kinds of "simple" carbs. The pain, the pain.
No knead bread was really great because it got people started in the craft of making bread. Lots of those new bread makers moved into other forms of bread making to refine their skills. Bread making was becoming a lost art form but recently it's all the rage.👍 Managing your diet is necessary...😡
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