Bread!!! Help with making the perfect recipe?

[Bettacreek]

I am heading down to get other flours today. Making a trip down to the amish (well, mennonite store really, but I don't think I'm spelling it correctly and amish is simply my lazy term for it) store today to get some different flours. This spring I hope to finally get out and get cattail pollen to add to my breads. I wonder what else I could sneak into it? I'm one of those people who adds all the extra stuff that you wouldn't imagine, just so that the kids and I are getting the extra nutrients, lol. I have to check to see if I got my bread pan back from the ex's house. I hope so! Hopefully I can get some good bread pounded out today. I'm only going to make one loaf batches for right now until I figure out what works, then I can increase and freeze the dough later. I'm getting excited to make my own bread!!! Thanks guys!!

 

[Niele da Kine]

I have a question... how do you keep homemade bread fresh longer? I'm so sick of having to bake bread everyother day! and let the leftovers waist because we didn't eat it fast enough... Is there anything (all natural) that you can bake into it to help keep it from molding as fast?

When I want a sandwich it's because I want something quick and easy and have it ready and on hand... not have to bake bread for an hour first... I like feeding us healthier but it's so frustrating when you have to toss out all your hard work every 2-3 days... Chickens don't mind but I do! hahaha

When the local bakery owner died, they gave away all the stuff in the bakery and I ended up with about two hundred pounds of what I thought was flour, but it was called "Breadmate II" which turned out to be some sort of all natural preservative. Some sort of extract from flowers, I think it was. I don't know if they sell it in household sized boxes or not, but if you bake enough maybe you'd eventually use it all up.

For making bread, we usually buy flour in 25# bags from the restaurant food supply company. Sometimes it is listed as bread flour otherwise I look at the gluten content or add extra gluten to it. Gluten can be bought separately. Generally, I use the Red Star yeast and it is the "active dry yeast" not the "instant dry yeast". I also have a grain grinder and will sometimes grind up grain fresh for more flavor. I also use the Kitchen aid mixer instead of kneading the dough by hand since the mixer can mix a less stiff dough.

My bread making is very unscientific. Get the mixer bowl, put some liquid in it. Anywhere from two to three cups or so. Sort of from cool to warmish, but not real cold or real hot. Usually I use water, but I also use coffee, tea, milk, water potatoes were boiled in, pineapple juice or whatever else looks interesting at the time. Put in a dollop of some sort of sweetener for the yeast to feed on. My most frequent is black strap molasses, but evaporated cane juice or honey also works. Then I put in several tablespoons of yeast. Usually also a half cup or so of wheat germ and a couple hand fulls of oatmeal. The oatmeal seems to make a moister bread but the wheat germ and oatmeal are just extras. Add in enough bread flour or other high gluten flour to make it to a sort of thick pancake batter consistency. That gets mixed for a couple of minutes, then it sits for anywhere from a half hour to several hours. The longer it sits - up to about six to eight hours - the more flavor it will have as well as a chewier crust. The professional bakers call this a "poolish" I think. After it sits for awhile, then I'll put in a half teaspoon of salt and a glug of oil or any eggs if I feel like it, sometimes a dash of cinnamon. Then I start the mixer and let it mix until it starts pulling the dough off the sides of the bowl in long strings and let it keep doing that for several minutes and then add in enough flour that it climbs the paddle attachment. Switch to the dough hook and add enough flour until it is the right consistency. It will sort of mash around on the hook but not be real stiff. Let it knead for about five to ten minutes minutes.

Most recipes call for turning the dough into a greased bowl and covering with a wet towel or something, I just set the mixer bowl over on a clean counter top (in case it escapes from the bowl) near the stove where it is warmish with not many drafts. Give it about a half hour to forty five minutes or until it has about doubled in size or at least climbed to the top of the bowl. Then some recipes call for punching it back down and letting it rise again, but I'll generally portion it out and put it in greased baking containers. Those can be anything from a "normal" bread pan to a cast iron frying pan. (Note: does anyone know if those copper jello molds can be used as bread pans?) After the bread is in the pan, let it rise by about a third to about half again. If it rises too much it will deflate in the baking. If it's not enough, the bread will be dense. Usually, I'll let it rise for about five minutes and then preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the bread has risen enough, it gets popped into the oven and a splash of water is put in on the oven floor. That makes a lot of steam which helps increase the crustiness of the crust. The loaves can be slashed before baking or garnished with sesame seeds or oatmeal or other things, too. Bake about forty five minutes or until it sounds hollow when thumped and it is a nice color. Take out and set on a rack and try to not eat an entire loaf before it has cooled off.

 

[Bettacreek]

I tweaked the one recipe to add in rye and buckwheat flour. I didn't add enough gluten, so it turned out dense, but I still liked it. Unfortunately, I ended up with nasty hives, which I think was from the buckwheat flour. I hit Giant and got some more goodies to try in the bread... Flaxseed flour, Barley flour and I think another one. I'll have to give it a go and skip the buckwheat this time, and add more gluten. I'm working on getting gamma seal lids so that I can pick up raw sugar and whole wheat flour in the 50lb bags. I will check to see what other goodies they have in 50lb bags of course. I'll try to make some more bread today and see how it turns out.