Bread Thread

[lisarea]

Well, I was going to check and see if there were any previous threads about bread on here, but what with the mandate we've all received from our fearless loser,* and also considering that I managed to come up with an impossibly clever title (get it? It RHYMES! HAW!), I may as well just be all promiscuous about it and start a whole new one.

For some reason having to do probably with flagging self-esteem or something, I have been baking bread lately. My goal being to get to the point where I can entirely wing it. I have a sourdough starter that I've kind of got working (the last batch didn't rise enough and was SUPER sour, though, so I put the fucker in the refrigerator for punishment.) But I'm not being monogamous to wild yeasts or anything, and I just want everyone's best bread recipes so I can steal them and claim them as my own.

Just to get the ball rolling, this is one I adapted slightly from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I love this stuff.

Egg Harbor Bread

3 T. sugar
1 T. salt
2.5 C hot water (120-130F)
2 T butter, softened
5-6 C. bread flour
2 packages dry yeast (about 4.5 t.)
1 egg, beaten with milk, for wash.

Dissolve the sugar and salt into the hot water, then mix in the butter and set aside.

Measure 3 c. of the flour into a bowl, add the yeast and blend. Slowly pour in the liquid, stirring with a wooden spoon to mix. Once it's all mixed in, beat about 100x.

Add the rest of the flour, .5 cup at a time, mixing first with the spoon and then by hand, until it forms a rough mass that lifts up in one piece.

Turn it out onto a flour board, and knead for about 10 minutes or so (I always go long because of the self-esteem thing, figuring my kneading is worth less than good kneading, so I make it 12 or 15 minutes).

Now here comes the crazy part: Turn the kneaded dough into a greased (I use butter, which is always softened now that I did what you guys told me to and keep my butter out in the dish) bowl, cover it and let it rise for about half an hour, until doubled. Go punch it down with a flat hand, turn it, and let it rise for another fifteen minutes. Repeat the last step two more times, for a total of four risings.

After the fourth rising, turn the dough out, let it rest for about 5 minutes, then divide it in two, shape it into an ovals about as long as the baking pans, but flatter, fold down the long way and pinch it together to make a little seam thing at the bottom, and turn in the corners. Put them in the pans, press it down to force it into the corners, cover with greased wax paper and let it rise again, this time for 50 minutes to an hour, until it's about tripled in size, 1.5 to 2" above the rims of the pans.

Brush the loaves with the egg wash, then bake at 400 for about 30 to 40 minutes, until it's golden brown and done. (Sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom crust.)

It's a really kind of weird bread. The texture is kind of light but resilient and spongy, almost a little like Wonder bread, but not in the bad way that Wonder bread is.

OK. So now tell me your secret bread recipes.

*EDIT AGAIN, this time to say that I just noticed I typed loser. I totally didn't do it on purpose. Maybe I should pretend I did!**

**Oh, well, I can just come edit again later if I decide that.

[livius drusus]

First of all, just for the record I am not in the least fearless. Having send that, here is my favorite secret bread recipe. A recipe so secret, it was only published once in Bon Appetit something like 10 years ago.

My favorite thing about this -- besides the special fabulousness of the way it makes your house smell -- is that it's the perfect sauce sopper-upper. Oh, and for some reason it's magically delicious with potato soup, too.

Oregano and Onion Bread

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F; to 115°F.)
1 envelope dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
4 1/2 cups (about) unbleached all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Heat oil in heavy small skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool.

Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into small bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Mix 4 cups flour and salt in large bowl. Stir in onion and any oil remaining in skillet. Add yeast mixture and oregano and mix well. Knead briefly in bowl just until dough comes together. Turn out dough onto generously floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls as necessary to keep dough from sticking, about 10 minutes.

Oil large bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Oil heavy large baking sheet. Punch down dough. Turn out onto floured work surface and knead briefly. Divide into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece into smooth 6-inch round loaf. Place loaves on prepared baking sheet. Cover with kitchen towel. Let rise in warm draft-free area until double in volume, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush each loaf with some of beaten egg. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 35 minutes. Transfer loaves to racks and cool. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in foil and store at room temperature.)

Makes 2 loaves.


Edited to say oh yeah right. You think I'm from Jersey?

Edited again to say I mean no offense to the fine Garden State; I was just quoting The Last Seduction to sound all streetwise and hustler-like.

Edited one more time because lisarea's just too damned smartassed for her own good.

[lisarea]

Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush each loaf with some of beaten egg. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 3509°F.

I'm not very good at math, but I'm pretty sure that if you change the temp from 450 to 3509, that is called increasing, which is the same thing as plussing the number, instead of decreasing like you said.

I also think my oven doesn't go that high. Probably because it is crappy.

[lisarea]

Edited to say oh yeah right. You think I'm from Jersey?

You're just saying that because you found out I'm from Jersey.

I'm from MORRISTOWN, though. Not Newark or anything like that. Just so you know.

Edited again to say I mean no offense to the fine Garden State; I was just quoting The Last Seduction to sound all streetwise and hustler-like.

Ha! Once a long time ago, some wisenheimer started sending around this picture of Linda Fiorentino from a still shot in that movie, saying it was me, and there is still at least one webpage that implies that I am Linda Fiorentino.
Which you probably also knew because you're in some kind of secret club against me.

[livius drusus]

Oh I knew it alright, but not because of those pussies in the secret club against you. My people are too busy working the transponders to bother with Linda Fiorentino spank material.