Subject: Basic bread FAQ 2/2

From: [email-masked] (Wolf)
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 09:49:32 PST

I've tried it. It is good.
-- 
-- David Phillip Oster - Note new address. Old one has gone Bye Bye.
-- [email-masked] = {backbone}!well!oster

**********
crt.alaska
**********

Recipe below is from my wife's collection of Alaska recipes, and is the
bread served at the Bridge Restaurant in Anchorage... Both the cracked
wheat and whole wheat flour are ground in our Excalibur Flour Mill - I use
hard red winter wheat berries. You can substitute whole wheat flour for the
cracked wheat and it will work just fine. This is about as simple a recipe
as you'll find, and is a good introduction to whole wheat bread.

Cracked Wheat Bread

For 3 loaves (you DO have enough loaf pans, don't you?)

4 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup honey/molasses (to taste, molasses makes the bread darker)
2 tablespoons yeast
3 cups cracked wheat (or 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
3 cups white flour

2 tablespoons salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
white and whole wheat flour for kneading

Add yeast to warm water in large bowl or heavy pot (I use the spagetti pot)
Add honey/molasses and stir to dissolve. Add cracked wheat and white flour,
mixing well between cups. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in the oven
with the light on. When doubled and bubbling, sprinkle 2 tablespoons of
salt on top, and add 3 cups of whole wheat flour, mixing by hand. Scrape
out on a floured board and knead in additional white flour as required. (I
usually knead in a mixture of white and whole wheat flour)

Place the kneaded dough in a large buttered bowl, or back in the pot, cover
and let it rise till doubled. Shape loaves and place in bread pans. Cover
and let rise again till doubled. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, remove
>from  pans and place on a cooling rack. Spray the loaves with cold water, on
top and sides, put back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes.

This is an excellent bread, consistently good results. Tastes wonderful
with homemade Mango / Lime jam - we usually bake every other Saturday and
it barely lasts two weeks. Freezes very well too...

John Trinterud

One last recipe, this looks like fun!

**************
Two Tone Bread
**************

   2  pkg. active dry yeast          2 1/2  cups milk, scalded and cooled
 1/2  cup  warm water              5-5 1/2  cups sifted all-purpose flour
 1/3  cup  sugar                         3  Tbs. dark molasses
 1/3  cup  shortening, melted        2 1/4  cups whole wheat flour
   1  Tbs. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, shortening, salt and milk.
Mix until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add about 3 cups of all-purpose
flour and beat well, about 5 minutes. Divide dough in half.

To one half, stir in enough of the remaining all-purpose flour to make a
moderately stiff dough.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead til
smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place in a well greased bowl, turning
once to grease surface; set aside.

To the remaining dough, stir in molasses and whole wheat flour. Turn onto a
lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes,
kneading in enough additional all-purpose flour to form a moderately stiff
dough. Place in a well greased bowl, turning once to grease surface.

Cover both doughs with damp towels, and let rise till double in bulk, about
1 to 1 1/4 hours.  Punch down.  Cover and let rest on a lightly floured
surface for 10 minutes. Roll out half the light dough and half the dark,
each to a 12 x 8-inch rectangle.

Place dark atop light; roll up tightly, beginning at short side.  Repeat
with other halves. Place in two greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Cover, and
let rise till double in bulk, 45 to 60 minutes.  Bake at 375 deg. F. for
30-35 minutes or until done.  Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack.

<net-author regretfully lost>

David Adams ([email-masked]) made these comments on typical ingredients
and techniques in bread recipes...

Salt: Hardens the gluten, and acts as a check on the growth rate of the
yeast.

Oil or Fat: Conditions the dough.  Helps it to rise well.  "Laurel's
Kitchen Bread Book" indicates that real butter, not melted but solid grated
bits, kneaded into the dough toward the end of the kneading process will
lubricate the gluten and help it rise as no other oil or fat can do.  See
"Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book" for more information on how to make your loaf
rise well and be a fluffy light loaf.

Slashes: After you have done every trick in the book for making the loaf
rise and fluff up, if you expect it to give some oven spring, or fluff even
further in the beginning moments in the oven, slashes provide the dough
some more room to spread out.  You really need to learn every trick in the
book first.

Moisture or humidity: This will keep cracks from forming in the dough while
the bread is rising.  This prevents some of the gasses in the dough from
escaping.  This helps the dough to rise well.  In the oven this is true to
a lesser extent.

Check the net for more suggestions, a.e. mossberg's huge archives of
rec.food.recipes, and the suggested bread books for more ideas.
Enjoy the process and the results, bread making is so satisfying to
the heart and soul!

___________________________________________________________________________

Section (VI)	Reference Material & Resources

Bread Books

"Beard on Bread"	James Beard
			Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
			ISBN 0-394-47345-0

Perhaps my personal favorite next to the Tassajara book, and the best
section on helpful hints and trouble shooting. Good recipes, and I've
modified some of them for sourdough with good results.

Highly Recommended

"Bountiful Bread
Basics to Brioches"	Lynn Kutner
			Great American Cooking Schools
			ISBN 0-941034-03-8

I found this small paperback in a (Berkeley) used book store, a wonderful
source BTW, try and find one near you. The recipes are noteworthy for
including potato as an ingredient, promoting a moist loaf with excellent
crumb/texture, and improved keeping qualities.  The book also has a
reasonable help section, but her techniques for slowing up yeast dough
rising times, and long term preparation are confusing at best.

Kinda lukewarm recommendation, don't spend a fortune trying to find
it.

"Sunset Cook Book of Breads"	Sunset Magazine
				SBN 274 ??

I started with this one in the '70s, and still use it today. The egg twist
will make you a hero, and is fun to make. I had no luck with their
sourdough starter recipe, your mileage may vary.

Highly Recommended

"The Book of Whole Foods, Nutrition & Cuisine"

			Karen MacNeil
			Vintage Books
			ISBN 0-394-74012-2

An exhaustive collection of food and diet information, with good background
information on raw materials, flours and etc. Good source, but far more
than a bread book

Recommended, but not mandatory for a beginner

"The Grains Cookbook"	Bert Greene
			Workman Publishing
			ISBN 0-89480-612-2

A wonderful book on grains cookery of all kinds, written with tongue firmly
in cheek. Excellent discussions on grains, historical data, typical uses,
and etc. Recipes from all over the world.

Highly Recommended

(Reviewed by Lynn Alford)  [email-masked]

The Tassajara Bread Book by E. Brown

Whenever I hear someone saying that they would like to learn how to make
their own bread, this is always the first book that I suggest.  Perhaps
because it was this book that convinced me that I could bake bread.  The
first thing you will find in the Tassajara Bread Book is a description of
ingredients (flours, yeast, milk, eggs and oil) that can be added to bread
dough, and what they will do for your bread.  The second section in the
book is 'General Directions for Tassajara Basic Yeasted Bread'.  This is
the section most needed by new bread bakers.  It goes through the bread
making procedure, step by step, and there are even illustrations to help
you through.  All of the later recipes are based on this one.

What I really like about this is that he tries to take some of the
mysteries out of making bread.  Instead of just telling you to knead x
number of times, or for x number of minutes, he describes what the dough
should be doing when it has been kneaded properly.  You will also find the
mysteries of shaping loaves, and rolls of different types, explained.

The next section of the book consists of a number of yeasted breads, based
on the basic recipe, with a variety of flours, seeds, and other things
added to the dough.  Each recipe is preceded by a quick description of what
the bread will be like.  The next section is yeasted pastry, also based on
the basic yeast bread recipe.  As he says in the intro to Cinnamon Rolls
'What a revelation, making cinnamon rolls for the first time.'

Then comes other recipes.  There is a section for unyeasted bread, one on
sourdough bread (though sourdough fanatics may disagree with one of his
methods for making a sourdough starter), one on breakfast stuff (including
pancakes, popovers, scones, and biscuits), one on muffins and quick breads
(we use the basic muffin recipe regularly), and the last section is on
desserts.

A good book, that you will use again and again.  I find that no matter
which bread recipe I use (i.e. from other sources), I always use the method
>from  the basic Bread recipe in this book.

Highly Recommended

(Reviewed by Lynn Alford)  [email-masked]

Bread Winners Too 		Mel London

A bread book that makes for entertaining reading, along with many good
recipes.  Bread Winners Too is actually by a lot of people.  There are 50
featured bread bakers, with their favorite recipes.  Each baker (most if
not all of whom are not professional cooks) gets a brief biography and then
the recipes they contributed to the book.  It is interesting to read the
many techniques people use when baking bread.  I think it shows that yeast
isn't nearly as picky about things as some books would have you believe.

There is an introductory section about baking bread, on various flours, and
on other additions you can make to the bread.  Then a brief section on
utensils, some non-rules of baking like 'remember that recipe amounts are
approximate and should be used as a preliminary guide.  Flour measurements
will vary upon weather, altitude, type and leavener.'  Another short
section on general rules for baking bread, such as mixing, kneading and
rising the dough.  And then a vast array of breads.

Recommended

(Reviewed by David Adams) [email-masked]

Laurel's Kitchen Breadbook

The expirement for this week was making the "Loaf for Learning" from
Laurel's Kitchen Breadbook.  This is a book with an attitude!  I learned a
lot.  Since someone else has already submitted a book review for this book,
I am only posting my experience.

This book was written by a vegetarian, but it is not preachy.  It simply is
operating under the assumption that you need all of the protein of whole
grain, which is a more urgent fact for one on a vegetarian diet.  I am not
a vegetarian, but I still would like to learn to bake well with whole
grains.

The book promisses to help you learn to make a light fluffy well risen loaf
of whole grain wheat bread without any added gluten or white flour.  I was
somewhat skeptical when I checked the book out of the local library, sure
our ancestors only worked with whole wheat, but then somehow I had the
notion that they made these dense loaves, and that was why they were only
to happy to convert to the use of processed flour.

I was wrong!  Dead wrong.  The book really came through on its promise!

I followed the instructions for the "Loaf for learning" and I kept saying
to myself, this is never going to work, it is going to come out flat and
dense, just like all the loaves I have ever made, but what the... I'll try
what they say.

I kneaded and kneaded.  I let it rise, and deflated, and rounded, and
folded, and let it rise, and deflated and rounded and folded again.  I had
a difficult time with the shaping, and then I let it rise for the third
time in the loaf pan.  The shape was ugly, due to my ackwardness, but I was
dumbfounded at how well it rose, and for the third time!  Well I baked it
and it came out light like a sponge; not heavy like all the other bread I
had ever made.  It had puffy holes, evenly distributed.  I could not
believe this texture!  There was no crumbling or cracking like always
happens when we used to bake whole wheat with active dry yeast.

The crust was thin and crisp and flaky.  It somehow reminded me of
Vietnamese egg rolls, how the thin wrapper flakes and cracks.

I had added no gluten, nor any white flour.  All the flour came freshly
>from  my home stored hard red winter wheat, using my own flour mill.

And in the process I learned an awful lot.  I learned that when I have
kneaded enough I should be able to stretch the dough paper thin without
ripping it.  I learned that I always make my dough to heavy-- not wet
enough.  I learned that yeast ripens the gluten, and that I need to learn
how to tell when it is ripe.

I used to think that the yeast was consuming nutrients from the wheat,
nutrients that I would otherwise have used.  I came to realize that this
was another mistaken notion.  Wheat has many nutrients locked up in forms
that I cannot use until yeast unlocks the structures that have stored them.
Yeast has an enzyme (lets see if I can spell it-- amalyse?) that breaks
starch into sugar, and other enzymes that break protein into usable parts.
Our symbiotic relationship with yeast (and lactobacilli for that matter too
I suppose) goes much deeper than I had ever previously supposed.

One of the major ingredients to making a fluffy loaf, I learned, is time.
And this was inspite of the fact that I was using active dry yeast.  It
took time for the yeast to process the flour, ripen the gluten, and unlock
nutrients.  All in all I spent about 6 hours in the kitchen making this
loaf.  (I was reading about the process while the dough was rising.)

Then, when my wife had a taste she said, "Oh, I can make a better loaf."
Grrr.........!  Well she has a different set of criteria that determines
what makes a good loaf I guess.  I know she can't make a light and fluffy
loaf from 100% whole wheat.

Now as I recall, when I first bit into the loaf, it seemed to me that it
had a residual waxy taste.  Not bitter, but it was a suprise to tase bread
that had been so thouroughly processed by yeast.  I was so used to
home-baked whole wheat bread that had only risen once.  After a couple of
hours, that taste had made such an impression that I didn't want to go back
to the old "fresh ground wheat" taste.

So far the portion of this book that I have read has made such an
impression on me that I intend to make it a part of my own library.  (First
I have to find out what it costs.)  I highly recommend the book.

-david adams      [email-masked]

Cathy Gearhart adds:	[email-masked]

I agree with what you ([email-masked]) said about the Laurel's Kitchen
Bread Book.  It is wonderful and I have also made her (Laurel's) Loaf for
Learning from my own freshly ground (still warm from the mill) 100% whole
wheat flour.  Until one follows her techniques, though, it is easy to think
that the only way to make light whole wheat bread is to add white flour.

I also recommend her Buttermilk Bread and the Oatmeal Bread is fabulous.

Keep on baking!

Cathy :)

Highly Recommended

________________________________________________________________

Section (VII)	Beginning Toys for the Compleate Baker (sic)

I'll need everyone's help in this section. If you truly enjoy bread making,
here's some resources. I'll also note mail order sources, but they're
un-verified (i.e. phone numbers questionable, out of business)

Mixers

	Kitchenaid (I own a 20 year old one. Mom passed it down to me)
	Bosch

Bread Pans

	Chicago Metal
	Baker's Secret
	Antiques (Mom's, Grandma's)

Misc Implements

	Oven Tiles
	Pottery raising bowls
	Peels
	Pizza Stones

	Dough (breadboard) Scrapers
	Go to any paint or hardware store, find a 5 or 6 inch wide
	sheet rock broadknife. Compare the price to an 'official' baker's
	scraper in the mail order catalogs. A broadknife works just
	fine for me.

Grain Mills

	K-TEC Mills
	toll free number  1-800-748-5400

	Excalibur Flour Mills
	wooden cased kits, 5 inch stones, 1/2 HP motor for about $ 250.00
	I own one and am very satisfied. My health food store has run
	many hundreds of pounds of grains thru their Excalibur Mill.
	For info, call Killer Baits Co. (also make fishing lures)
	Sacramento CA
	916 381-4274
	
	Magic Mill

Mail Order Sources

	Arrowhead Mills, Inc		Birkett Mills
	Box 866				PO Box 440-A
	Hereford, TX 79045		Penn Yan NY 14527
	(806) 364-0730			(315) 536-3391
	Organically grown whole		Buckwheat and stone ground
	grains, catalog avail		flours, price list avail

	Butte Creek Mill		Commodities
	Box 561				117 Hudson St
	Eagle Point, OR 97524		New York, NY 10013
	(503) 826-3531			(212) 334-8330
	Rolled grains, stone ground	Whole grains, flours, etc
	flours, bran

	Gray's Gristmill		Great Valley Mills
	PO Box 422			687 Mill Road
	Adamsville, RI 02801		Telford, PA 18969
	(617) 636-6075			(215) 256-6648
	Variety of stone ground		Full line stone ground
	flours				flours

	Morgan's Mills			New Hope Mills Inc
	Route 2, Box 115		RR2, Box 269A
	Union, ME 04862			Moravia, NY 13119
	(207) 783-4054			(315) 497-0783
	Large variety of flours		Water ground flours

	Walnut Acres			White Lily Foods Company
	Penns Creek, PA 17862		PO Box 871
	(717) 837-3874			Knoxville, TN 37901
	Grains, flours, catalog avail	(615) 546-5511
					Unbleached bread flour,
					price list avail

	King Arthur Flour Company
	(sorry, I've lost their address)
	Nice catalog of baking needs and flours	

Commercial Restaurant Supply Stores

Check in your Yellow Pages under restaurant supply, call and ask if they'll
sell retail - most will and the quality is remarkably higher and the price
lower than the gourmet speciality "shoppes."  Beware, places like this have
been known to extract large sums of money from tyros like me :-) I haven't
been able to convince Colene that my bread would taste SO MUCH BETTER if it
was baked in a Wolf Range oven....  But these stores have so many lovely
accessories and kitchen toys!

"Gourmet" / Speciality Stores

Williams-Sonoma 

(And no, you really don't need their customized green KitchenAid mixer at
their high price, or do you?? )

Lehmans

This commentary from Anne & Heather Booth started when I was looking for a
old-fashioned hand operated kneading pail. Here's my kind of 'speciality'
store!

>As to kneading large amounts of dough (I can manage 3 to 4 by hand) - I've
>been looking at a simple old-fashioned kneading pail sold mail order by the
>King Arthur Flour Company - around $ 60.00. Imagine a large stainless steel
>pail, with a tripod spider on top, equipped with a handle that turns a bread
>hook inside the pail.
>

My family had one of these when I was a kid that we used to make 8-12
loaves at a time.  Great invention.  Are you aware that Lehman's has this
sort of kneading device for $30-40. There are two models and I don't
remember the exact prices, but I'm pretty sure it's significantly under
$60.

Here's an article with their address:

					-Anne

Lehman's Non-Electric "Good Neighbor" Heritage Catalog has a push mower and
other useful non-electric tools.  They serve the Amish community in Ohio
and have everything that you would expect: iron pans, butchering tools,
canning and drying equipment, hand-cranked grain mills, (big) toy
windmills, yogurt-making kits, butter churns, and much more.  The catalog
was fun to read.

To get the catalog send $2.00 to :

	Lehman's
	P.O. Box 41
	4779 Kidron Road
	Kidron, Ohio 44636

<From Heather Booth>