danlepard.com

Why use baskets?

Jacqueline — Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:08 pm

Author: Jacqueline

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:08 pm

Hi Patrick! Not a thick question at all- when I first started baking bread as a teenager I kept trying and trying to get a nice round loaf to rise on a baking sheet, and usually ended up with something more like an oval-shaped foccacia- and when I first read about using a basket it seemed so simple I wondered why I hadn't thought of it.

Baskets are used because mostly dough simply won't keep a nice high upright shape as it rises without something to reign it in. Since it has so much liquid in it, it just follows the forces of gravity and spreads (and spreads) out, even as it expands and rises too. This is particularly true if you make doughs that have quite a lot of water in them. When you rise it in a basket the spreading is restricted. At the last minute, the loaf is carefully tipped onto a baking tray, so with luck only has a few seconds to spread before the heat of the oven catches it.

You don't have to get a basket, though. I can't find one/afford one, so I use a mixing bowl lined with a really well-floured calico cloth. I've also made an OK oval-shaped container out of cut-up tissue boxes stuffed with bits of newspaper.

Good luck!

Jacqueline

New baker on the block

GavinC — Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:47 am

Author: GavinC

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:47 am

Congratulations. A lovely baby boy.

All the best
Gavin

Mairs' Bakehouse Baking 2009

Moonbake — Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:51 am

Author: Moonbake

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:51 am

Hi Birdbread,
You and your family will be very welcome,and the more ovens the merrier.
is it LPG ?
Have you been baking long? Any particular interests ,sourdough/yeasted ?
Look forward to meeting you
Rick ( Moonbake )

A waste not want not meal......

qahtan — Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:44 pm

Author: qahtan

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:44 pm

I know some of you will not approve, but then there are others that have a tidy up in the fridge and use all sorts of things to make some thing or other.....
This is my ham sandwich quiche.
I had a full 2 slice ham sandwich left over the other day, home milled whole wheat home made bread with double smoked ham, didn't want to waste it, so double wrapped and put in freezer for another day.
This is that other day, I removed the crust from the sandwich, cut the rest into small squares, put that into a bowl along with half a large onion that I sauteed, 3/4 cup grated Asiago cheese, 3 eggs beaten and some milk, I also had a piece of plain pastry in the freezer, enough for the the crust.
And this was/is the results, if it tastes as good as it smells it should be fine. We will have a slice for dinner with fresh tomatoe from the garden.
I suppose this idea of not wasting comes from being a child in WW11
London UK. qahtan

Gallery of Regrettable Breads

Zeb — Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:50 am

Author: Zeb

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:50 am

Earlier this year.... sourdough attempt. Think it belongs here now ..I mixed it, left it in the fridge overnight, it came out full of bubbles, I vaguely squashed it down and put it in the oven...

'ripeness is all'...and thinking and shaping and following recipes...!)

white spelt sour dough basic leaven

jacklang — Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:41 pm

Author: jacklang

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:41 pm

I suspect your starter/sponge is less acid, or your spelt has less amylase.
Spelt gets much wetter the longer you ferment it as the starches degrades, either through acid or enzyme activity. This reaction is less temperature sensitive than the yeast activity, so will continue even retarded in the fridge.

Black Christmas Cake

lepard — Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:11 pm

Author: lepard

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:11 pm

Hi Theo,
The tar one!
D

The Microbakery Thread

chefcdp — Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:41 pm

Author: chefcdp

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:41 pm

While on a little holiday last week, I discovered a small bakery with a sweet business model. About a five hour drive south of here there is a tourist area called the Amana Colonies. It is the remains of seven small villages that once was a thriving religious commune. The community of believers came to the USA from Germany around 1800. In 1865 they bought 25,000 acres of Iowa farmland and forest and set up the seven villages about 1 to 3 miles apart with the idea of being a self sufficient commune.

The commune disbanded in 1932 by forming a corporation, the Amana Society and issuing shares to the members. Today the core buildings of the original villages are mostly preserved with a plethora of shops mainly for tourists. Some buildings are like small museums where you can see barrels being made at the coopers shop, but next door in another original building they are making stainless steel welded garden art for sale. The lumber mill and flour mill are gone but the woolen and fabric mill still operates. However, the computerized looms are driven by electricity instead of a water wheel.

One village still has an operating brick oven bakery. The oven is fairly large because it once provided bread for about fifty communal dinning rooms, an entire village. The oven was originally fired by wood, but now uses gas for heat. The bake shop and oven is in a building attached to the back of the bakers residence. The bakery hours are listed as from 7:30 A.M. until sold out. That is the sweet part of the deal.

Some where between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. tour buses arrive and people get a quick tour of the bakery. The tourists are then guided to the sales shop where they buy out every thing that the owner has produced that day. Not a crumb is left by 11:00 A.M. and the shop is closed. The shop is closed on Sunday and only operates every other day in the three slow months for tourists.

I am looking for a historical stone oven that can be restored to working condition in an area where tourists are delivered by the bus load, just in case I need to give up retirement and go back to work.

Regards,

Charles

Dough ready for proving, why roll tightly ?

dougal — Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:19 pm

Author: dougal

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:19 pm

Tony, its a balancing act dependant on what you are baking.
If you are aiming for a "sandwich" type of bread with a fine crumb structure, then don't concern yourself about preserving bubbles! This is the sort of loaf that would have called for "knocking back", to give a fine and even crumb.
However, if you are trying to create an open and irregular crumb (as with a proper baguette), then you'll be trying to preserve those holes and handling the thing appropriately - carefully pressing down on the seam only, for example, while shaping to develop tension and gluten alignment.

White loaf - disasters and help needed

dougal — Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:06 pm

Author: dougal

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:06 pm

polyvinyl wrote:

.... I was so proud of my first starter - just flour and water - taking off; I wanted to use my baby! Wasn't sure of the hydration - so put it down to that...

This time I did follow all the instructions - from starter to finish. I measured using a scale - not a good one, a �3 argus job - but I thought it was good enough?
...
The most useful thing to know is what sort of consistency is correct. how do you know when things are just wrong - that is the question... ...

OK, the best (simplest, most direct, most accurate, distance-independent) method of communicating the consistency is accurate, reproducible measurements!
The "reproducible" bit is dealt with by using weight measurements, rather than volumes.

Is this your scale?
http://www.jellydeal.co.uk/argos-value-5kg-mechanical-scale.htm �2.99 at Argos

It would be quite difficult to measure your water with such a scale.
A better bet is a digital one (which can cost under �10 - try Tesco).
This (digital) one is/was just �6.99 (there's a chance they might still have stock)
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/58_7282.htm
This type of scale has several advantages, including -
- the 'tare' (or 'add & weigh') function allows you to use any bowl/jug/mug for holding your material. Stick whatever empty container on, and press the button to re-zero it.
- accuracy. Its near enough + or - 1 gram. Rather than 25 for the Argos scale. That makes a difference when measuring 325g of water (or the 200g of starter) for the dough. The scale's precision is even more important for the smaller quantities involved when refreshing the starter.
- and its smaller, taking up less space in the kitchen!

If you accurately weigh out the quantities, including the water, then you should be able to see/feel the sort of dough consistency expected.
Where authors give accurate weights (Dan definitely does in HML + this forum), you can preserve the stated flour/water proportion ("hydration") by kneading on a very lightly oiled, rather than floured, surface. Thus you don't pick up any extra, unmeasured, flour.

And if you weigh out the refreshment flour and water for the starter, then in a day or two it will have adjusted to very close to the expected hydration.

THEN, AFTER you have made a recipe a couple of times, following the weights closely, you might choose to make controlled, measured, (and probably minor) adjustments to tailor the recipe to your own preferences. Or, as you become familiar with the 'feel' of what's expected, you might 'loosen up' and do some measuring by eye and hand. But pro bakers do tend to measure pretty accurately to ensure that their product is consistent from day to day.

Apricot and wheatgerm loaf

lepard — Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:31 pm

Author: lepard

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:31 pm

Hi,
Yes, I found it went very dark very quickly but wasn't sure that it was baked in less time. Though I didn't mind the dark crust, you could drop the oven temperature further to 180C (160C fan) for 20 - 25 minutes.
Dan

Marrakesh Express loaf

Ellery22 — Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:58 pm

Author: Ellery22

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:58 pm

...for four of my colleagues who are off cycling the Highlands of Scotland next week. It will be sustaining them as they pedal up hill and down dale. Thanks!

Easiest loaf gone slighty wrong

steve_warman — Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:34 pm

Author: steve_warman

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:34 pm

Thanks Sue,

It might be a bit bigger, I'll have to check.
I have now got a smaller tin so we're going to try again with that.

Thanks
Steve

Perry Bread

Black Dog — Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:42 pm

Author: Black Dog

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:42 pm

I havent posted anything on the forum for a while but have kept an eye on what has been going on. I feel i should post a response on this thread.

I have also been fortunate enough to spend a night with peter and his crew in Ludlow. I sent him a message on the fly after seeing a post of his offering anyone with an interest in commercial baking the chance to experience it for real. I didnt really expect a reply, but within a few hours he had replied with an open offer to come anytime during the quiet period (the begining of the week) .

I took him up on his offer and i had a great time and learned a great deal. He left me to flick through his folder of recipes and answered all of my questions about his recipes and techniques. To say that he is unwilling to share is absurd to the extreme.

Pretty much everything i have learned since i started making bread has been borrowed from other people, authors such as Mr lepard have helped me a great deal but also the many people that contribute to this forum, including mick and peter. I have recently started working with a friend who has set up a bakery in hay-on-wye. I have willingly offered my friend all of my knowledge about recipes and techniques. My personal opinion is simple, if you are precious about youre knowledge and recipes, do not publish them in the public domain, if you are willing to share and people are inspired by youre ideas, then be flattered.

regards to all

alex and otto

Cassis and currant loaf - help needed

Luci — Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:30 pm

Author: Luci

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:30 pm

Have finally worked out how to get photos loaded onto the site. So here is the currant and cassis loaf I made with the guidance of Dan. It was delicious!