Today's bread.. Italian Style....

[daveomak]

Well, I finally got the perfect crumb, texture and flavor I have been looking for......   Mixed a few recipes....  shot from the hip....  did what they said NOT to do......

Sooooo  I have no idea if I can repeat this....

It ain't a beauty but the cover of this book don't tell anything about how good it is....

Made 2 loaves so I didn't have enough flour for 2 big loaves...  that's all it would rise...  Lots of air...

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• daveomak
• Jan 30, 2016

There's no sugar in this recipe....  so browning ain't gonna happen.....

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• daveomak
• Jan 30, 2016

Nice crumb...  The texture is almost like a bagel....  chewy....  perfect for me.... 

I like bread you can chew....  Not a fan of the light stuff...

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• daveomak
• Jan 30, 2016

I used a King Arthur recipe that can be found on their website.....  No-Knead Crusty White Bread...

I used KA unbleached bread flour...  they call for AP flour...

907 grams flour

14 grams salt

14 grams yeast

608 grams warm water

Mixed the flour, water and sugar...  started to clean up and noticed the yeast, all weighed out in a cup, just sitting there......

So I put the mixer back together (Kitchen Aid 6 quart professional) and tried to incorporate the yeast.... 

Put it in the oven to raise .....

Bride said, "I need the oven for dinner".....  Wha...  it's 2:30 in the afternoon...

So into the beer cooler overnight after a fair raise in the oven....

divided the dough into the 2 LARGE bread pans...

Set on the counter to raise again.....  that's all she'd do... raised about 1.5, not double... I then realized the pans were too big for the recipe..  oh well.....

I'm not very good at this bread stuff yet...  maybe someday...

into the 450 deg. oven..  with a pan of water....  . set the timer for 30 minutes....  at 25 minutes I thumped the crust....  very hollow sounding, at least that's what I thought....

I pulled the pans, turned out the loaves on a wire rack and stuck in a thermometer....   178 degrees....  WHAT !!!... too cold and the therm came out with batter on it....  KERAP... it ain't cooked yet....  but I covered the loaves with a heavy towel and let them sit until cold....

When I cut into the loaf, the dough had cooked adequately so it wasn't raw and wet...  LUCKY ME.....

Bride read the notes at the bottom of the recipe and noted extra water was needed if bread flour was used..... I never read the whole recipe...  only enough to get into trouble...

Sooooo, next batch will be more flour, salt, water and the yeast, hopefully, will be incorporated at the proper time for mixing....

As far as good bread goes....  this was my BEST ever for the criteria I judge bread by....   There's no way I can duplicate it...   This was a monumental success and failure at the same time...

Thanks for looking.....  

 

[SmokinAl]

It looks really good, Dave!!  

I love bread any way you make it.

Judy has used that recipe too, for hot dog buns.

It really stands up to well to all the fixings.

King Arthur has a bunch of good bread recipes.

A lot of baking going on around here lately!

Al

 

[atomicsmoke]

I, too, learned by accident dough makes better bread the day after. Exactly like you said. Chewy, with big holes.

 

[daveomak]

Thanks for the comments...  Next weekend stepdaughter is helping with Hot Italian sausage... and we will make meat balls too...

Anyone used A.C. Leggs "Hot Italian" #103...  Does it need anything extra added...

 

[crankybuzzard]

Love me some homemade bread Dave, and your looks good!

 

[b-one]

Nice looking bread,maybe the next batch will be even better only time will tell!

 

[daveomak]

Love me some homemade bread Dave, and your looks good!

Nice looking bread,maybe the next batch will be even better only time will tell!

If you were here, you could taste it.... One loaf is GONE !!!!!!

 

[diamondmarco]

Way to go Dave. As you know the learning process is chock full of mistakes and wins. It looks like you got the errors out of the way so future loaves should put a grin on your face. Can't wait to see that.

Marc

 

[daveomak]

 
Way to go Dave. As you know the learning process is chock full of mistakes and wins. It looks like you got the errors out of the way so future loaves should put a grin on your face. Can't wait to see that.

Marc

I'm with you on that aspect....  No more errors....    WAHOO !!!

 

[foamheart]

Sweet Dave, I hate when I mess up and do something good cause I know I'll never be able to duplicate it. 

But I know you are like me, its fun to make till I get consistent then its time to try something else new...... LOL It's the thrill of the chase!

Don't ya love that fermention smell of bread rising, smells just like a brewery. I get giddy just sniffing.

Anyway, love ya bread and I had to learn to make my own bagels cause we don't get too many bagel shops in the south.

 

[daveomak]

 
Sweet Dave, I hate when I mess up and do something good cause I know I'll never be able to duplicate it. 

But I know you are like me, its fun to make till I get consistent then its time to try something else new...... LOL It's the thrill of the chase!

Don't ya love that fermention smell of bread rising, smells just like a brewery. I get giddy just sniffing.

Anyway, love ya bread and I had to learn to make my own bagels cause we don't get too many bagel shops in the south.

I had it in the beer fridge...  every time I opened the door, she wanted to know what alcohol was spilled in it...   Smelling bread reminds me of Grandma's kitchen.....   She had a wood stove and an ice box...  2nd floor yet...  small apartment building...  

 

[foamheart]

<Chuckles> 

Dave at a loss for words........

 

[gary s]

Dang, Sorry I'm so late to the party, That looks Delish    send me a slice or two  

Gary

 

[four20]

Nice looking loaf.

I have a couple questions.

What flour did you use?  and What’s its percentage in naturally occurring sugars?

Its rare to me to see a dough rise without either sugar added or A/B enzymes. Although most flour does have natural sugars I have watched my wife get frustrated because she left out her sugar.

Generally we always use sugar in our doughs, although sometimes very little it is dissolved in our liquid portion to ensure equal distribution, but it is present every time because of using warm sugar water to activate yeast before being mixed in to the dry mix.

 

[daveomak]

King Arthur unbleached bread flour....   Yeast added and it sat overnight in the refer...   the yeast converts something in the flour to sugars and alcohol...    or something like that...  darned if I know...  It was a KA recipe... 

I've been trying to make decent bread for awhile now...  I do know, King Arthur flour is better than any others I have tried for gluten and flavor...

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-knead-crusty-white-bread-recipe

Letting the dough sit overnight, in the refer, is called a "sponge" or something like that..  does weird and wonderful things to the dough and subsequent loaves of bread...

 

[SmokyMose]

Nice looking bread, Dave! Never been much of a baker, but this looks like a nice rainy/snowy day project.
Looking for a good Hot Italian recipe myself.
Dan
:points:

 

[daveomak]

Nice looking bread, Dave! Never been much of a baker, but this looks like a nice rainy/snowy day project.
Looking for a good Hot Italian recipe myself.
Dan

I just put up a thread on AC Leggs hot Italian....

 

[whistech]

Dave, that bread looks delicious!   I also like a crunchy crust and a bread that you have to chew.     I haven't worked up the courage to try to make bread yet, but i think you inspired me.   Thank you for posting.

 

[daveomak]

The least expensive King Arthur flour I have found is through Amazon Prime...  It's really good...  They also sell White Lily flour...  great for biscuits...  It's a low protein, low gluten flour....

 

[eyendall]

Crumb looks really good. The secret for this is what you stumbled upon: let it rise in the fridge overnight (or even two nights) then gently press it down, fold, and let rise some more at room temp. The cooking temp is good too although I like a darker, firmer, crust so I go to 500 for the first 10 minutes. then 460 for 20 minutes. Also I bake my loaves in a covered dutch oven for  the first ten minutes then remove the lid.. This keeps the steam in the pot and contributes to a professional looking crust. No need to add a pan of water. You may want to slash the tops of the dough as well. Took me a while and many mistakes before I got it where I wanted. Good luck and above all have fun.