basic sourdough bread

The first time I tried this recipe I was using a bread machine, so I decided to let it go through the whole process, including baking. I left, thinking that when I came back I'd have a lovely sourdough loaf waiting for me. Instead, I came home at night and the machine had caught on fire, and the dough had spilled all over the place. Fortunately, my friends Tom and Paul found it before it burnt the house down. OK, so maybe I shouldn't have expected so much from the bread machine since I got it used at a Goodwill. It still works wonderfully on the dough setting, though.

I'm not sure if I like this recipe for basic sourdough bread the best. I'm still investigating. You'll get dense, moist, tasty white sourdough bread.

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Ingredients

4 3/4 cups bread flour 
3 tablespoons white sugar 
2 1/2 teaspoons salt 
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast 
1 cup warm milk 
2 tablespoons margarine, softened 
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter 
1 extra large egg 
1 tablespoon water 


Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast. Add milk and softened butter or margarine. Stir in starter. Mix in up to 3 3/4 cups flour gradually, you may need more depending on your climate.

2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to oil surface, and cover. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

3. Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking pan. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.

4. Brush egg wash over tops of loaves, and sprinkle with chopped onion. 5. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or till done.

poppy seed bread

This is a version of the white French bread but I substituted 1/3 whole wheat flour instead of all white bread flour, and 1/3 milk instead of water. I also added egg wash (egg+pinch of salt) after baking to give it shine, and poppy seeds for loveliness.

english muffins

I made these a couple of weeks ago. I should have divided the dough into less, larger pieces, to make bigger English muffins. That way they would have been more moist and more delicious to eat. There were just too many this way, and they were a little dry. It's cheaper to make them than to buy them at the store, and they're really good toasted.

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Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (0.25 ounce) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (45°C)
1/4 cup melted butter
6 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm.

At the same time, dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, butter and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth.

Clean the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes.

Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead on a counter. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in volume (about 1 hr, depending on the temperature of the room).

Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. With the remaining dough, roll up, flatten and cut rounds again. Repeat until there is no more dough left. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

Heat greased pan. Cook muffins on pan about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat (350 F, 180°C). Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage.

To use, split and toast.

Photography: Adams Carroll

Recipe adapted from LindaPinda's recipe at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/English-Muffins/Detail.aspx

dark beer bread

I made this bread when I bought a case of Imperial chocolate stout beer at the Rogue Brewery's garage sale in downtown Portland: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3346/3645682879_48be490657.jpg.

As R.L. Beranbaum says, dark beer gives bread an incredibly soft texture, subtle mellow flavor, beautiful mahogany crust, and dark golden crumb.

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Ingredients

1 1/4 tsp Instant yeast

1 Tbsp malt powder or sugar

2 1/2 cups less 1 Tbsp bread flour

3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp whole weat flour

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp dark beer at room temperature

1 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yeast, malt or sugar, all but 1/4 cup of the bread flour, and the whole wheat flour. Then whisk in the salt (this keeps the yeast from coming in direct contact with the salt, which would kill it).

With a wooden spoon or your hand, gradually stir in the beer until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, enough to develop the gluten structure a little, adding as little of the reserved 1/4 cub of flour as possible to keep it from sticking. Use a bench scraper to scrape the dough and gather it together as your knead it. At this point, it will be very sticky. Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. (This resting time will make the dough less sticky and easier to work with.)

Knead the dough for another 5 minutes or until it is very elastic, soft, and smooth. Shape the dough by rounding it into a ball.

Place the dough in a lightly-oiled bowl and let it rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When it is pressed gently with a fingertip, the depression will very slowly fill in.

Preheat the oven to 450 F, one hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.

With a sharp knife or razor blade, make 1/4-inch-deep slashes in the top of the dough. Mist the dough with water and quickly but gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone. Toss 1/2 cup of water into the oven and immediately shut the door. Bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 400 F and continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and a skewer stuck into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible: my favorite bread book.

kalamata olive ciabatta

Ciabatta is a rustic Italian bread shaped like a slipper. I made a ciabatta loaf with kalamata olives, as requested by my good friend Julia, who almost took a part in the making of this bread. I looked at several recipes and combined them as I pleased. I like doing this to see what I could improve in each recipe. The first was from the Cook's Illustrated magazine, where they have a team of chefs that take about 25 tries until they find the best recipe. The other is from Richard Bertinet's Dough, a book that shows simple recipes for beautiful breads, but it's so simple that it is sometimes difficult to know exactly, what he wants you to do.

By the way, my ciabatta was much too "springy," because I added too much flour as I was kneading it. Remember that the dough must be wet!

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Wet and very sticky dough is the key to making good ciabatta. The key to manipulating the dough is working quickly and gently. When possible, use a large rubber spatula or dough scraper to move the dough. If you have to use your hands, make sure they are well floured. If you don’t have a baking stone, bake the bread on an overturned and preheated rimmed baking sheet set on the lowest oven rack.

Ingredients

Biga

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup water, at room temperature

Dough

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 tsp table salt

3/4 cup water, at room temperature

1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

2 Tbsp black olives (optional)

Directions

FOR THE BIGA: Combine flour, yeast, and water in medium bowl and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms, about 1 minute. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature (about 70 degrees) overnight (at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours).

Remember to preheat your oven to 475 F (250 C) at least one hour before you start making the dough. This is important for ensuring a beautiful crunchy crust.

FOR THE DOUGH: Preferably make the dough by hand. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the yeast. Scoop the ferment into the bowl, then add the water, and salt, mixing well until all combined (if desired, add olives now). Once the dough is no longer sticking to the bowl, transfer it to your counter with the help of a dough scraper or spatula, and knead the dough until it looks shiny and elastic. Remove the dough from the bowl, transfer to a lightly oiled surface and mold into a ball (see future post for how to knead and form dough into a ball).

Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in it, and let rest for 1 1/2 hours, covered with plastic wrap, until it has risen and feels bubbly and light (so when you poke it the dough doesn't come back up).

Flour your work surface generously with white flour or cornmeal, and with the help of a dough scraper or spatula, turn the dough out in one piece. Flour the top. Press the dough lightly and gently, dimpling it slightly with your fingers. Divide the dough into four roughly equal strips, and fold into three. Do this by folding one side of your flattened dough into the middle and press it down and seal. Bring the other side over to the middle and again press down to seal. Finally fold in half lengthwise and seal the edges.

Place the pieces of dough onto well-floured lint-free dishtowels. Cover with another towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

Flour a baking tray (turned upside down) or wooden peel, pick up one ciabatta at a time, turn it over, stretch it lengthwise a little at the same time, and lay it on the peel or tray (This stretch is what gives the bread its characteristic "slipper" shape.) Spray the loaf with water and then quickly slide the ciabatta onto the baking stone or tray. Turn down the heat to 435 F and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated and Richard Bertinet's Dough