Rise to me: The Bread Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Rise to me: The Bread Thread

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

daggerdragon posted:

So... most recipes are given in cups, not by weight. How do you convert?

If you can't find a recipe in grams, prepare the recipe using cups, but weigh (and write down!) everything for the next time. At least that's how I do it.

If your scales have an auto off feature that's just a bit too quick, you might have to weigh the empty cup and do the maths to find out how much was in there later.

I've been making bread with this recipe lately:
333g of white flour
250g of warm-ish water
1g of sugar
1g of salt
11g of instant yeast (which is one baggie from the brand I buy, supposedly good for 500g of flour)

Put the water, salt, sugar and yeast in a cup and stir. Make sure the cup isn't more than half full. Cover with plastic wrap and put somewhere warm (30�C) for 15 minutes until it has a nice collar of foam.

Then put it on top of the flour and mix. Knead intensively for 15-20 minutes (pinch, squeeze and fold). Add a little bit of flour whenver the dough sticks on your hands, but not so much the douch won't stick to itself anymore.
Shape, cover and put somewhere warm (30�-40�C) for 45 minutes. Then bake for, say, 12-16 minutes at 170�C. I usually don't bother to preheat the oven.

This originally was pizza dough, but it makes a nice neutral tasting bread. I usually find other bread too salty (or sometimes too fatty). It's good for dipping in soups and complements several spreads nicely without overpowering.

This is the result of a lot of uneducated experimentation, I'm sure there's still a lot I can improve now I'm reading up about proper techniques. It was a bit dense the first time I made it, but I'm noticing a lot of improvement since I picked up some kneading techniques from seeing people do it on TV.

I'm wondering about getting a nice crust. Is this a matter of baking time and temperature only, or is there more to it?

# ¿ Nov 4, 2012 10:14

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:50

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Happy Hat posted:

Depends on your definition of 'nice'.

For a really neat and nice crust you need steam at the start, then going to dry and high heat!

Sometimes I end up with somewhat leatherish instead of crispy, if that means something to you.

I guess I'm looking for confirmation that I should be baking at a higher temperature at least part of the time. Or whether it makes more sense to bake for a longer time at the same temperature.

I don't know if that's a question that is answerable over the internet in the first place.

The reason I haven't experimented myself yet, is because most of the times I'm baking is because it's three in the morning and there's no other food in the house

Burning a loaf would be a :airquote:

disaster.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2012 23:37

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

therattle posted:

I normally bake at 230C for 40 mins. It can take a high temp. It's not that easy to burn bread, unless there's a high sugar content.

I guess I'll have to adjust that a bit for a smallish loaf and for working with a freaking halogen lamp toaster oven that will burn your poo poo because the heating element's so close.

But I didn't try with this almost sugar free recipe, so, yeah, good point there. Thanks. I think I just needed someone to pull me over that line to try it.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2012 00:31

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

JackComa posted:

apartment-sized oven

Neat! Better than the other way round, I guess.

I very much like the cheap anti-stick Bullar loaf tins from IKEA I bought a few years ago, for loaf-shaped bread. But you really don't need that (or much of anything) to make bread. My grandmother didn't even use a bowl to mix things in, she just made a volcano of flour on the table and mixed in the liquids gradually.

You can probably buy a lot of ingredients to experiment with for the price of that starter kit. That will teach you a lot more a lot quicker than reading some book. The internet has recipes aplenty.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2012 15:08

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Revener posted:

This is how my family does it too, and it always struck me as terribly wasteful since there'd be flour everywhere afterword.

You use the right amount of flour from the get go and you mop it all up with the ball of dough. If you've got an entire kitchen table at your disposal, there's really no excuse for there to be flour anywhere else (like the floor or whatever).

Maybe your family is messy people? Or maybe it's the fact that my grandmother had had almost fifty years of practice when I saw her do it like that.

It isn't inherently wasteful.

That said, I use a bowl, like every normal person.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2012 21:06

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Fair enough.

Son of a bitch, burnt it again! :argh:

# ¿ Dec 30, 2012 18:33

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

axolotl farmer posted:

If your bread isn't done inside, but is starting to get too brown on top, you can cover it with a loose sheet of foil or slide in a sheet pan over it.

That is a good tip, but maybe I should clarify a bit: I'm doing this in a small toaster oven with halogen lamps. I can just switch off the top lamp half way through. That requires me to monitor the baking process though :downs:

So maybe I should write just down this time that eight minutes is too much. Six minutes + the oven's cooling down period should probably do it.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2012 23:45

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

contrapants posted:

Current bread disaster: I don't have a clean kitchen towel to cover the dough while it rises. A wet paper towel will work, right?

Got a clean t-shirt or a pillowcase, maybe? I put my dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Other times I just put it in the oven without turning it on.

I'm puzzled by your choice to wet the paper towels, but maybe I'm completely misunderstanding what anyone covers their dough for anyway. I'm just realizing I'm doing this myself in a complete cargo cult fashion.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2013 04:32

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

shelper posted:

Like a ten-year-old excitedly showing his parents every single crayon-drawing they made, I'm just going to post my continued bread efforts here.

Send me a slice so I can stick it on the fridge door :v:

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 23:13

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Spatule posted:

My wife is tired of the mess I leave in the kitchen to make bread and wants a bread machine.
Yes/no and if yes, what should I know about if ?
My parents had one some time ago and the bread was a dense flavourless dense as gently caress lump of crap...

I have one with only preset programs and no matter what ingredients you throw in it, it produces bricks with the texture of a fatty sponge.

Just, you know, clean up after yourself.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2014 00:13

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Whipped something up in under two hours; thought of this thread. Just general purpose flour, water, instant yeast, a gram of sugar, a gram of salt.

I've got a question for you all, one I might have asked before, but I can't remember.

Bread is a bit chewy. I have:

a) kneaded too much
b) not kneaded enough
c) proved too long
d) proved too short
e) dough too wet
f) dough too dry
g) something something baking temperature
h) something else

Is it (a) as I suspect?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 22:23

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Tyrone Biggums posted:

Yeah, it's probably too much kneading.

It seems it's a lot easier to accidentally do that with a wetter dough.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 01:58

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Bob Morales posted:

You're supposed to touch no-knead dough as little as possible.

I didn't start out intending to do no knead, though :v:

I just didn't add enough flour initially. All the "kneading" was trying to get the sticky mess off my hands so I could add a bit more.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 16:13

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

I don't know what the answer to the mystery is, but I had the cheapest breadmaker and it would make bread like that. It baked the edges to a crust while the center would in effect keep rising as raw dough until it popped like a balloon and collapsed.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 03:53

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

snyprmag posted:

It really takes effort not to see the bread as floating above the rack. I don't know what in particular causes this optical illusion, but it's neat. Particularly because of the irony of it not having risen enough.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2017 19:03

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

I'd probably make some terrible pizza with it or some bone hard flatbread shards to scoop up salsa.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2018 01:26

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

shrimpwhiskers posted:

First successful Bread! Now how do I stop from eating the whole loaf for lunch?

Image link fixed.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2019 20:38

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Stuff that focaccia straight into my mouth please.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2020 20:33

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

That looks like an alien dinosaur turd, but in a good and delicious way.

# ¿ May 13, 2020 16:53

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Lol at this Challenger not being able to handle the icy conditions

# ¿ Jun 22, 2021 22:02

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

It would surprise me if we suddenly had made the technological jump that made led bulbs in ovens viable.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 23:25

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:50

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

My brain wants to parse that as a single 3D hyperpretzel

# ¿ Mar 23, 2024 19:30

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Rise to me: The Bread Thread