Home made bread

We bake bread twice a week at home. French Bread needs steam so what you do is just as you put your bread in the oven add 3-4 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven. You can use a tin foil cup or oven proof pan or bowl. We used to use a spray bottle but learned this trick.

If your bread is tough you aren't kneading it correctly (fold and press with heel of hand 10 min) or not allowing it to rise long enough. Rising can take up to 2 hours depending on temp and humidity.

Yummmm, there's nothing better than homemade bread!! And I have no idea where to start with that task (except for cornbread & biscuits of course).

We should probably post more bread recipes. Would you like oven bake or bread machine?

I've been using the bread machine to mix and knead the dough For Ciabatta bread and it comes out a little heavy. We divide it into two loaves and bake it in the oven.

One thing I have read is is that the chlorine in tap water will kill the yeast, either boil it or use bottled water.

I would love to learn to "oven bake" some bread -- so any recipes would be appreciated!

I'd even be willing to give that a try.

...as long as there's a fire extinguisher close by....

BAMAFAN IN NY said:

Its realy a lot eaasier than you think. I just need to perfect the technique.

Steam? Huh.. i had no idea.
And the recipe I have says let it rise for like 30 minutes i think.. thats probably my problem. Can you post your recipe? Oven bake? I dont have a bread machine.

Click to expand...

Mat don't use time to measure your dough. If the dough hasn't at least doubled in volume it hasn't finished rising. Are you using fast yeast or regular? I only use regular.

Put one packet of yeast in 1/4 cup water then sprinkle a little flour on top. Do not stir. You can use a pinch of sugar but flour is better. Cover with a dish towel or something like that and let sit till the flour on top begins to crack or swell up. Always check the date on your yeast to be sure it isnt dead.

You need 3 cups unbleached flour or mix of flours of your choice some add some of that extra gluten stuff here but we just use flour. Using bread flour is fine. Also needed it 1 cup water and 1 tsp kosher salt. Additional stuff is optional and we will get to that later.

make a well in the pile of flour and add the yeast water then start adding water while you mix till you get a good dough consistency. It might take that whole cup of water, not quite all the water or maybe a couple of spoons of water more it depends on the weather. You have to learn to know what dough should look like and feels like. The dough should either pull from your pastry board easily or if mixing in a bowl should pull away from the sides. Put this dough into a bowl that you have slightly oiled with olive oil. You can use other oils but I like olive oil. Cover with a dish towel or something like that we actually use a cloth diaper (new never saw service in the baby industry) or a white bar towel. It's a myth you have to put the dough in a warm place, it will rise in the refrigerator if you give it long enough. A slow rise makes better bread. The first rise should take about 2 hours or more. Make sure you are using a bowl big enough for the dough to double in volume.

Punch down the dough and kneed it for about 10 minutes, form it back into a ball and put it back in the bowl, cover it and let rise again for an hour or more.

Divide the dough in half and roll or pull each separately into a rectangle. Roll the dough into a long loaf about 14-15", pinch the ends and place seam side down then cut about 3 slits in the top. You can cut across or down the length of the dough the dough don't care. Brush top with water or --> *( check end of recipe for creative tips)

We bake our bread on pizza stones so toss a bit of corn meal on the stone and lay loafs side by side and close the oven door. I should have told you to preheat the oven to 450F and have those ice cubes ready. Bake for 10 min then lower temp to 425F and bake another 20. Turn oven off and prop door open to release the steam. After a couple of min or so you can remove the loafs to finish cooling. It's tempting but do not slice, tear bread fresh from the oven.

* Now for those creative tips.
Brush tops with egg white mixed with a little water then sprinkle top of loaf with poppy seeds or sesame seeds.

After rolling dough into rectangles add one or more of the following - cheese, jalapeno slices, sun dried tomato diced, olives of your choice, roasted red peppers or maybe something I havent thought of. Roll the dough, seal the ends and place seam side down.