Home Baked Real Bread!

[David Root]

Anyone else doing this? When we lived in Salt Lake and then Tucson I did quite a lot of it, but not for the last several years until just recently.

This is loaf #2, just out of a 475 deg F oven. Looks good enough to eat, I think.

If anyone would like the recipe, it's pretty straightforward, I can post it.

[Phil_S]

It's amazing, isn't it? Easy enough to do, too. Looks great. Bet it tasted even better.

[telentubes]

Just got back in to it. We haven't bought a loaf in the store since last September. I'll get a pic up next batch. Been using a real simple flour water salt and a pinch of yeast recipe.
Back in the day (70s), I had a batch of sourdough that I used and kept alive for 17 years. Then a house guest threw it away, thinking they were doing me a favor by cleaning up the refrigerator. Rumor was, it was 100 years old when I got it from a friend in Colorado. Never tasted a sourdough that good since.

[David Root]

Yup, bread flour, water, yeast and salt, that's all you need.

"Wonder Bread" is called that because after you try some good home baked bread, you'll wonder why anyone would eat that crap.

[martin manning]

Years ago I baked regularly, and my favorite thing was French Pain au Levain. A friend of mine gave me the culture, which supposedly came from a famous Parisian bakery. I kept it active for quite a few years, but eventually I let it go.

[johnnyreece]

My girlfriend loves to make bread. She's honestly thought of trying to open a shop here in town. Unfortunately, our oven is on the fritz currently, so no fresh baked bread for a bit.

[Ken Moon]

I'd love to see the recipe and give it a try

I had a bread machine for many years, and my favorite recipe was a honey wheat that was included in the user manual.

I love sourdough too, having lived for a couple of years in NoCal long ago, when we got it at Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf. Yum...

[martin manning]

The oven is important to getting the desired result... Thermal mass (baking stone), adding steam, and electric vs gas. David's loaf looks like it's got it going on, judging from the crust. For sourdough, there is a guy in Idaho "Sourdoughs International" who has a number of different cultures, including San Francisco.

[David Root]

We have a gas stove so the oven has lots of moisture/steam I would imagine, compared with an electric oven.

I used to use a clay baker--pad with a domed lid, which does work well in an electric oven.

This particular loaf was baked in a ceramic cast iron pot, 30 minutes with the lid on then another 15 uncovered.

Recipe attached. I have done it as per the recipe ie 3 or 4 risings, and with just the first 18 hour rising and the one hour rising in the cloth wrap. I think I prefer it with the single long rising, a better taste and softer texture for my old teeth.. the crust is.. well, crusty!

Other tips: use a full envelope of yeast 8 gm, not the 0.9 gm 1/4 tsp. I have found that long and multiple risings work better with more yeast up front.

[Structo]

Mmmmmmm, fresh bread.

[cbass]

Looks good . I miss fresh bread and meals

[TUBEDUDE]

I use the big green egg. Gets a nice smoky flavor profile.better than a brick oven.

[David Root]

Sorry, double post.

[HeeBGB]

When I was young, my father and grandfather owned a bakery on Staten Island. I was too young to really remember the process but my brother used to help out once in a while. We were discussing it not too long ago. The bakery was a brick oven. Small hand made batches. My brother said the thing that is really hard to duplicate is the moisture they had water in or at the oven and would steam up the oven. He said that is really the trick to making great Italian bread.

maybe my wife won't mind me bringing the hose into the kitchen to spray a bit into the oven LOL

[R.G.]

Try setting a shallow pan of water on the tray underneath the bread. It's a common enough baker's trick. Hoses are a bit much.

Say, how's it going with the new-install image on that captive server?