After a couple years, and well over a hundred loaves, I’m finally getting the hang of things.
After a couple years, and well over a hundred loaves, I’m finally getting the hang of things.
by Sirwired
6 Comments
Plexiglasseye
What are your greatest lessons learned after all that time?
Western_Emergency222
That looks beautiful! What kind of bread is it?
Sirwired
After a couple years of concerted efforts at home bread baking, and well over one hundred loaves of a single recipe, I’m finally getting the hang of it, I think.
First, the recipe: (apologies for all the US Measurements) This is the “No-Knead 2.0” from CI/ATK (It actually comes from Kenji Lopez-Alt, when he worked for the magazine. Curiously, he wrote a retrospective on Lahey’s original recipe for the NYT a few years back, and in an interview with Lahey, disavowed this recipe; I can’t imagine why… it’s wonderful.)
***
* 15oz AP Flour (I use KAF) * 1/2T Table Salt * 1/4t Instant Yeast * 7oz Room-Temp Water * 3 oz Room-Temp Cheap American-style beer (I have a 40 of Miller High-Life in the fridge at all times for this one use; the screw-cap makes pouring off just what I need simple.) * 1T White Vinegar (The beer and vinegar give it a sourdough-ish taste while having the convenience of a yeast bread; if you want more of a yeast-bread taste, you can certainly swap out for water.)
1. Mix with a dough whisk until all the flour is moistened and cover 2. (optional) Stretch and fold a few times every 15-30 minutes 3-4 times (It works without doing this, but the dough may spread out more after shaping) 3. Rise 8-18 hours. (I usually let it go about 12, but this is very room-temp dependent.) 4. Dump on a lightly-floured countertop and shape; I prefer to shape it into something that would fit into a loaf pan, even though I’m not using one, because that makes for good-sized slices for sandwiches and toast 5. Set on a sheet of parchment in a 10” skillet, cover with cooking-spray coated plastic wrap, and let rise 2-3 hours 6. Place in a 5-6qt Dutch Oven on top of a round wire trivet. (The trivet keeps the crust from getting too thick and hard on the bottom.) 7. Sprinkle the top with flour, and score with a sharp knife/lame 8. Cover DO and put in cold oven, preheat to 425F 9. When pre-heat is complete, time for 30 minutes, remove lid, bake for 20 more. Cool before slicing/eating
***
I mix in the evening, shape when I get up in the morning, and bake when it’s big enough to go in the oven. It’s usually ready in time for lunch. Total active time is 10-ish minutes of labor. Since it uses yeast, there’s none of the uncertainty, advance-planning, or maintenance of a sourdough. It’s a crusty, chewy, full-flavored loaf that tastes like a lot more work than it actually is.
My goal for perfecting this recipe is nothing more than to provide a tasty basic staple food for myself and my wife. As you can see from the pictures, it’s a pretty loaf, but not Internet-Perfect. There’s no huge holes, no gigantic ear; just a basic all-purpose loaf that’s great for sandwiches, sopping up stew, toast, or just eating. It has a wonderfully crisp/chewy crust, and freezes well. (I eat what I want for the first 24 hrs, then slice the rest for the freezer after that.)
I’m probably just inept and unskilled, but it actually took me quite a while to get the hang of this recipe. The bread has never actually failed, per se, but if I don’t have the technique down perfectly, it has a tendency to spread out. That makes for wide, shorter, slices that are inconvenient for toast and sandwiches. (It took me a while to figure this out, but if I over-work the dough during shaping, it seems to go slack on me.)
After making this loaf anywhere from 1-3 times a week for a couple years, I’m still not tired of cooking it. I literally go to sleep thinking about the dough rising in the oven. It’s so satisfying to have this available all the time, and I give a happy little sigh every time a loaf cools, and I cut one of the heels off to eat while still a little warm, with some butter on it. Is there anything more-miraculous than going from rough inedible smelly goop in the first step, to setting a completed loaf on the counter the next morning? Turning lead into gold could hardly be more miraculous; the finished product doesn’t resemble what you start with in any way!
***
EDIT: Note on the recipe… Yes, a cold DO, into a cold oven. You’d think this would make for a lousy crust and crumb, but, well, see for yourself. After CI published this recipe with the “traditional” method of heating the DO scorching hot and lowering the dough in, they must have gotten some mail about what a pain in the *bleep!* it was to try and get the dough in there. It’s like a bad game of Operation, trying to not-touch the sides with the dough or your hands. They published this method as a tip a couple issues later, and I latched on to it right away… so much easier and less-dangerous!
_incredigirl_
I’ve been doing the yeast and sourdough thing more than 20 years now. I still have more flops than I’d care to admit.
6 Comments
What are your greatest lessons learned after all that time?
That looks beautiful! What kind of bread is it?
After a couple years of concerted efforts at home bread baking, and well over one hundred loaves of a single recipe, I’m finally getting the hang of it, I think.
First, the recipe: (apologies for all the US Measurements) This is the “No-Knead 2.0” from CI/ATK (It actually comes from Kenji Lopez-Alt, when he worked for the magazine. Curiously, he wrote a retrospective on Lahey’s original recipe for the NYT a few years back, and in an interview with Lahey, disavowed this recipe; I can’t imagine why… it’s wonderful.)
***
* 15oz AP Flour (I use KAF)
* 1/2T Table Salt
* 1/4t Instant Yeast
* 7oz Room-Temp Water
* 3 oz Room-Temp Cheap American-style beer (I have a 40 of Miller High-Life in the fridge at all times for this one use; the screw-cap makes pouring off just what I need simple.)
* 1T White Vinegar (The beer and vinegar give it a sourdough-ish taste while having the convenience of a yeast bread; if you want more of a yeast-bread taste, you can certainly swap out for water.)
1. Mix with a dough whisk until all the flour is moistened and cover
2. (optional) Stretch and fold a few times every 15-30 minutes 3-4 times (It works without doing this, but the dough may spread out more after shaping)
3. Rise 8-18 hours. (I usually let it go about 12, but this is very room-temp dependent.)
4. Dump on a lightly-floured countertop and shape; I prefer to shape it into something that would fit into a loaf pan, even though I’m not using one, because that makes for good-sized slices for sandwiches and toast
5. Set on a sheet of parchment in a 10” skillet, cover with cooking-spray coated plastic wrap, and let rise 2-3 hours
6. Place in a 5-6qt Dutch Oven on top of a round wire trivet. (The trivet keeps the crust from getting too thick and hard on the bottom.)
7. Sprinkle the top with flour, and score with a sharp knife/lame
8. Cover DO and put in cold oven, preheat to 425F
9. When pre-heat is complete, time for 30 minutes, remove lid, bake for 20 more. Cool before slicing/eating
***
I mix in the evening, shape when I get up in the morning, and bake when it’s big enough to go in the oven. It’s usually ready in time for lunch. Total active time is 10-ish minutes of labor. Since it uses yeast, there’s none of the uncertainty, advance-planning, or maintenance of a sourdough. It’s a crusty, chewy, full-flavored loaf that tastes like a lot more work than it actually is.
My goal for perfecting this recipe is nothing more than to provide a tasty basic staple food for myself and my wife. As you can see from the pictures, it’s a pretty loaf, but not Internet-Perfect. There’s no huge holes, no gigantic ear; just a basic all-purpose loaf that’s great for sandwiches, sopping up stew, toast, or just eating. It has a wonderfully crisp/chewy crust, and freezes well. (I eat what I want for the first 24 hrs, then slice the rest for the freezer after that.)
I’m probably just inept and unskilled, but it actually took me quite a while to get the hang of this recipe. The bread has never actually failed, per se, but if I don’t have the technique down perfectly, it has a tendency to spread out. That makes for wide, shorter, slices that are inconvenient for toast and sandwiches. (It took me a while to figure this out, but if I over-work the dough during shaping, it seems to go slack on me.)
After making this loaf anywhere from 1-3 times a week for a couple years, I’m still not tired of cooking it. I literally go to sleep thinking about the dough rising in the oven. It’s so satisfying to have this available all the time, and I give a happy little sigh every time a loaf cools, and I cut one of the heels off to eat while still a little warm, with some butter on it. Is there anything more-miraculous than going from rough inedible smelly goop in the first step, to setting a completed loaf on the counter the next morning? Turning lead into gold could hardly be more miraculous; the finished product doesn’t resemble what you start with in any way!
***
EDIT: Note on the recipe… Yes, a cold DO, into a cold oven. You’d think this would make for a lousy crust and crumb, but, well, see for yourself. After CI published this recipe with the “traditional” method of heating the DO scorching hot and lowering the dough in, they must have gotten some mail about what a pain in the *bleep!* it was to try and get the dough in there. It’s like a bad game of Operation, trying to not-touch the sides with the dough or your hands. They published this method as a tip a couple issues later, and I latched on to it right away… so much easier and less-dangerous!
I’ve been doing the yeast and sourdough thing more than 20 years now. I still have more flops than I’d care to admit.
Your loaf looks wonderful!
Your son… He’s perfect…
Great job.