Bread Porn (new no knead recipe test - photos)

[Lucinda]

These shots are from my attempt at bread recipe called PANE RUSTICO out of Suzanne Dunaway's No Need to Knead

This no-knead recipe uses a biga made the night before with the yeast and part of the water and flour. This is done to increase the overall flavor of the bread. We like this recipe a lot. There is a little folding, and a few separate rises if you want the bread the first day, but you can avoid that by using a full fridge rise and baking later. If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know and I'll post it in the morning. My eyes are getting bad tonight.

Overall the bread is very light and tender inside (uses bread flour) with an easy to eat, but crackly crust.


The BIGA this morning after sitting covered on the counter all night ~ the white spots are reflections from my can lights:


Bill made 1/2 the dough into two large baguettes. One with black seasme oil brushed on, one plain, both with sesame seeds. One was cut almost immediately, and I don't have a great shot of the crumb, but the pic gives you an idea:




This is an aerial shot of the 1/2 half of the dough. It made a huge loaf, and i'm short so it was hard to get the whole thing in my shot and still get a clear pic: :)



And the crumb ~ Sorry it's so blurry, my eyes are shot tonight!:

[eleny]

1. I'd appreciate the recipe whenever you can post it

I haven't tried any of these breads and it's high time I get into it. The Ain5 cookbook is on order from the library. It'll be a few weeks before they get to me on the short waiting list.

:hi:

Your photos look very good to me. All the breads look so inviting. This morning we watched Tony Bourdain in Paris. You just know that they visited bakeries. So thanks for posting your pics. The bread porn continues!

[Lucinda]

4. Here is a link to the Ain5 article at Mother Earth

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

I've posted my alterations in C&B but their basic recipe is in the magazine article. I'm still waiting on the Ain5 book at my library. I still have the interlibrary loan copy of No need to Knead and you might want to look at it too. Her technique is different but its interesting and todays loaf is really pretty good.

If i'm doing better after I take a shower, I'll post tonight, if not it will be mid-day tomorrow. I actually have to wear two pairs of magnifiers stacked on top of each other in order to read a book :eyes: and if my eyes are tired it doesn't work too well. :)

The breads really are simple to make. And in my case, the process is really addictive! :)

[eleny]

7. Thanks for the link...

Please do take care of yourself. Only post if you're totally up to it. It's never important enough to cause possible strain on your sight.

[Lucinda]

8. Looks like it will be mid-day. Just too fuzzy to try and make it out. :)

Thank you for the concern. It's appreciated. :)
My vision get's weird when I'm tired and due to meds I take, but I'll be fine in the morning. Just can't see well enough at the end of the day.

[Lucinda]

10. here ya go - let me know if it doesnt make sense :)

in post 9:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=236&topic_id=57494&mesg_id=57553

[hippywife]

2. Yum!

I love sesame seeds on a good baguette! :9

[Lucinda]

5. The Black Sesame Oil LIGHTLY brushed on was a cool addition.

Bill is, occasionally, a genius. :)

[Shakespeare]

3. suggestion for next time (since Bill likes sesame seeds):

Trader Joe's used to sell a seeded baguette that had white and black sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, both in the dough, and rolled on the outside. It's one of my favorite breads ever, and they stopped carrying it. :-(

Those are some gorgeous loaves, though!

Edited to add: I believe it also had poppy seeds in it, too.

[Lucinda]

6. Oh, that sounds good! I'd like it with the poppy seeds too! Good suggestions!

I also want to try a sunflower addition. LONG ago I used to buy a sunflower seed oat bread that I loved, but they stopped making it. I'd like to try and recreate that one for sure!

[Lucinda]

9. Pane Rustico recipe

This will make two large loaves.

We baked the entire batch the same day, so I don't know how it would work to hold one loaf for a day or two, but I will try it in the future.


Pane Rustico


BIGA
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (85-95 F degrees)
3/4 cup unbleached bread flour
4 tablespoons rye flour


BREAD
The Biga
2 cups lukewarm water (85-95 F degrees)
5 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup flour, for baking sheet (if used) and tops of loaves

~ Plus a little olive oil to rub on hands to work the dough

TO MAKE THE BIGA
In a glass bowl (she has a thing against stainless so I used glass for this part) mix the yeast with the water and stir well. Add the flour quantities listed under BIGA and stir well to aerate and form a wet dough. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature overnight.

TO MAKE THE BREAD
Mix the BIGA with the remaining ingredients and stir until the flour is incorporated and pulls away from the side of the bowl a bit. MY order into the bowl: Water, biga, flour, salt. Rub a little olive oil on hands and fold the dough and press a few times with the heel of your hand. This is sort of kneading for a couple seconds, but tis done in the bowl and she doesn't call it kneading. :D

At this point you either cover and place in fridge overnight, then in the morning, let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, then shape and bake as described below OR go to the SAME DAY METHOD

SAME DAY METHOD (which is what I did in the pics above)
~ Immediately after stirring together, cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in volume apx 30-40 minuter. Then IN the bowl, fold over on itself a few times to trap air inside the dough, cover, and let rise again 30-40 minutes.
~ Once more, IN the bowl, fold dough over itself, to trap more air and let rise for another 30-40 minutes.

~ That's three 30-40 minute rise sections (this is avoided by using the overnight method)


SHAPING and BAKING
She likes low flat loaves (she's a crust junkie) so at this point she cuts the dough into two, and makes two long rectangular loaves and lets them rise for one more 30-40 minute time while the oven preheates to 500. Slash tops just before baking. (She dusts flour on a baking sheet and lets them rise, and then bakes uncovered after reducing heat to 400 degrees once the pan goes in.)

I prefer loaves or baguettes, so I formed my loaf and let rise on parchment in my covered baking dish (it stayed there through the suggested rise and while Bill's baguettes were baking.) Bill made his baguettes and left uncovered to rise. We slashed the tops to allow for expansion, as usual, just before it went into the oven. I preheated to 475F and then baked at 425F. The baguettes were done in apx 35 minutes and I cooked the loaf, covered, for 40 minutes then uncovered about 15 minutes.

[eyesroll]

13. Oh my god!

I just used this technique (though I used half whole wheat, because that's what I had, so I upped the yeast a little) with the overnight sponge and same-day rise and made two baguettes (one plain, one with cracked pepper and kosher salt on top)...a loaf is baking in a 40-year-old Pyrex bowl.

The plain baguette is half gone already. My stepkid (6) is absolutely inhaling it.

Thank you!

[Lucinda]

14. Glad it worked well for you too! How much did you increase the yeast with the whole wheat?

I was planning on trying it with whole wheat this week and was just going to guess on the yeast.

[eyesroll]

16. I went to 2 tsp; depending on your yeast source, you could get away with less.

Through trial and error, I've discovered I need to use a little more than usual with the yeast I get (bulk from the natural foods co-op). I'll use 2 3/4 tsp instead of the 2 1/4 if a recipe calls for a packet.

[Lucinda]

20. Thanks for the info! I'll mark that amount down to test. I just started a biga

for an Olive Oil bread since I didn't make it out to pick up any whole wheat flour. But I do want to do a whole wheat loaf soon.

I'm really happy with my baking technique now, so I'm playing with different bases and flavors. I'm such a bread geek now. :)

[troubleinwinter]

15. I find it interesting that it uses BREAD flour

as opposed to all purpose.

I plan to get ahold of some bread flour, as my understanding is that it may help overcome some of my high altitude challenges, that it "provides more structure".

Do you note any differences with bread flour vs. AP?

[Lucinda]

21. I think the bread flour gives a lighter fluffier crumb.

It also seems to handle mositure differently.

I just started another biga (for an olive oil bread) that called for 7 tablespoons of water, but I thought it was too dry, so I upped it to 1 cup. LOL Trial and error can be fun, right? :)

[eleny]

17. Thanks so much, L!!!

I'm saving it in a document and also saving the thread so I can add any tips that pop up here.

:hug:

[Lucinda]

22. I'm looking forward to your results!

:hi:

[troubleinwinter]

11. Move over, Lucinda

Bill is my new mentor! Sesame!!

The shiny one with oil wins the beauty contest.

-Was it brushed before baking?
-Was the beautiful shiny round loaf oiled?
-Is there a difference between 'black sesame oil' and 'toasted sesame oil' -(must be- as toasted, as much as I adore it sounds horrid on bread).
-Would olive oil work as well?

[Lucinda]

12. LOL

The sesame oil was brushed on right before it went in the oven. LIGHTLY, because its potent. The Black Sesame has a stronger flavor than the regular sesame oils do. :)

The round loaf was brushed with a THIN layer of melted butter AFTER it came out of the oven. I do all mine that way now. I have post-chemo dental damage so I've been working to get a crispy crust that's still chewable and not rock hard. Plus it makes it pretty. :) I ran across the technique on another board...a woman posted that her father was a baker and he had always done a butter rubdown on his loaves. I tried it and liked the results. We go through bread pretty fast, so I don't worry about it too much. If a loaf lasted several days I probably wouldn't do it.

I brush oilve oil on our pizza crusts before they are baked and it works well, so I think it would be good on the boules as well.

[eleny]

18. Thank you for all the tips, L

I've got my word document all set. After the recipe I included the back and forth between you and eyesroll plus your additional advice and experience with getting the crust you need and like. It sounds so good.

I wasn't quite ready to get back into the kitchen swing until today. So I picked up a German rye and Italian white at Whole Foods the other day. I'm excited about baking our own now.

These easier methods that have come down the pike for us in the past year has fired up this group. And the photos have been ooh-la-la.

[Lucinda]

19. I didn't even bother to try and bake my own bread, even though I wanted to

before the no-knead recipes. I just didn't think I could handle all the physical exertion of bread making. :(

I had read the Mother Earth issue and then forgot about the article until Trailrider1951 posted about trying it.

Now I'm on a quest :D and quite addicted to making bread.

It's very easy this way, and doesn't require a huge expense to get started. The no-kneads are incredibly forgiving recipes, which makes it easy to turn out good loaves with a very small learning curve. If you still have any qualms about starting there are a few videos up at youtube.com that walk you through the process. It was helpful to me to actually see what "wet" dough was supposed to look like. They aren't necessary, but they were useful for me.

I hope to hear about your experiments when you get going!

[troubleinwinter]

23. Here are a few videos

first two are 'Artisan in 5', third is 'NYT No Knead', and fourth is a pumpkin variation No Knead.

http://www.startribune.com/video/11967361.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMxJgIpe38Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8WQ6cZaM4g&feature=related

[Lucinda]

24. Just saw this! Thanks for that pumpkin no knead vid!

Missed it somehow!

[troubleinwinter]

25. It's sure a pretty color, isn't it?

[Lucinda]

26. Yup. I'm sure the pumpkin adds to the moistness too.

I'll definitely try this one at some point.