Baking Bread... at Home

Thanks to Julia, and my favorite hippie, Chris, over at Cook's Illustrated, I did it! It only took me over a year to give it a whirl. I'm really glad that I did.




In the words of Wink & Hushpuppy from Beasts of the Southern Wild:

Wink: "Who the Man?"

Hushpuppy: "I'm the Man!"

Right, so I hope we can share here, just like the awesome Homemade Pizza Gallery Thread. That thread got me over the hump of being afraid of dough, just last summer and look "I'm man enough" to give croissants a try at home. Oh, keep in mind I'm just an untrained home cook. But goodness, I love good food.

Wow, those look amazing, I'm very impressed. I do feel however that I should taste one to make sure they're up to snuff

mbh wrote:Wow, those look amazing, I'm very impressed. I do feel however that I should taste one to make sure they're up to snuff

I just set up brioche. I may be ambitious tomorrow or tonight and set up another batch. But the lack of lychees is making me crazy. I just opened my last can earlier this week when I had fried rice. Dessert was lychees, mango, & pineapple.

Beautiful! And screw the brioche - love it, but nowhere near the effort of croissants from scratch. I'll join mbh at the taste test.

Also having my own shopping nightmare . . . looking for diastatic malt powder for a bagel recipe I'd like to try. Struck out so far with Whole Foods and HarvesTime.

Maybe a home brew beer supply store would have it.

They have it over on Amazon.

I bake bread weekly (four sourdough white sandwich loaves) and the occasional pain au lavain (usually with pecans) in the hearth bread-style rounds, but nothing as involved and fancy as the croissants... wow!

I've seen recipes where you can substitute malt syrup for powder and the syrup you can get at Whole Foods.

If you have a good bread bakery, stop by and see if they will sell you some. I had a bakery in the NW suburbs that I got flour, yeast and malt powder from. Some health food stores carry it.
I haven't bought a loaf of bread in 20 years (yes a few from the St. Louis bread company from time to time). I haven't tried what you did, but they look as good as you would get from a pro. Keep up the work.

I'm going to check around a bit more this weekend . . . I know King Arthur sells it too. I have the malt syrup but my understanding is that it is a very different product that produces different results.

BR wrote:Beautiful! And screw the brioche - love it, but nowhere near the effort of croissants from scratch. I'll join mbh at the taste test.

Also having my own shopping nightmare . . . looking for diastatic malt powder for a bagel recipe I'd like to try. Struck out so far with Whole Foods and HarvesTime.

BR: malted barley flour is exactly the same as diastatic malt powder (see link below). and i'm pretty sure whole foods carries it. or call green grocer-they have lots of bob's red mill products as well.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/malted-barle ... tml?&cat=5

justjoan wrote:

BR wrote:Beautiful! And screw the brioche - love it, but nowhere near the effort of croissants from scratch. I'll join mbh at the taste test.

Also having my own shopping nightmare . . . looking for diastatic malt powder for a bagel recipe I'd like to try. Struck out so far with Whole Foods and HarvesTime.

BR: malted barley flour is exactly the same as diastatic malt powder (see link below). and i'm pretty sure whole foods carries it. or call green grocer-they have lots of bob's red mill products as well.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/malted-barle ... tml?&cat=5

Very helpful to know . . . would be even more helpful if either Green Grocer or Whole Foods (or the half dozen other places I checked and called) carried either one. Not a huge deal - will just have to delay to order from King Arthur if all else fails.

Oh, and for other bakers... A local baker sold me a 50lb bag of the best bread flour I've worked with (other than the twice-as-expensive King Arthur brand) at a decent price. Definitely ask your friendly neighborhood baker if they'd do a similar deal for you; they can get bulk rates that can make a big difference to us small-batch bakers.

Pilot error made this brioche a bit squat. Still, it smells like heaven and is probably better than most sandwich breads I can buy.

pairs4life wrote:Pilot error made this brioche a bit squat. Still, it smells like heaven and is probably better than most sandwich breads I can buy.

Squat, Schmat. That is a thing of beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pairs4life wrote:Pilot error made this brioche a bit squat. Still, it smells like heaven and is probably better than most sandwich breads I can buy.

Probably better? No, I'm sure it's better. And who doesn't love a good brioche!

Beautiful croissants and brioche! For baking bread at home, I often mix the dough in the bread machine, then shape it and bake it in the oven.
Here is yesterday's cornmeal sourdough. A 2-pound dough recipe generally makes enough for two scant loaves or one good loaf and some buns.


I like Beth Hensperger's "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" when I'm working in the machine, and Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Breads Everyday" when I'm working without the bread machine.

Great topic, thanks for the inspiration!

Also, where do you get your bread flour? This loaf is made with the "Ultragrain" flour from Costco, but I generally prefer King Arthur flour, especially for baguettes.

Jen

Thanks Pie-Love. I try to stick to the KISS recipes because I've not had success with all things dough until about 2 years ago.

That said, I think I have a new problem. Set up a loaf last night and baked it today. Set up 2 loaves tonight & will bake them off tomorrow.

Looking at recipes for other loaves I may try by the weekend & hopefully get back to the croissants on Friday night.

Hmmm,

I'm ripping through these 5 lb bags of KA flour, both all purpose & bread. Anyone got a lead on larger amounts locally? Same goes for instant yeast and eggs, I'm getting through them quickly.

Preferred brands of Instant Yeast suggestions? I know, but as someone who works and goes to bed early, & get's up later these days, I need as little time for the bread to rise as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Bread in Action!

1st batch of brioche I made a loaf, pic above, and then the other half of the batch I made these buns. Then I made french fries and veggie burgers to showcase the buns. I warmed them, the way I always do, uncut, in dampened foil sealed to refresh. These buns held their own. No one's bun fell apart. The flavor was amazing. Can't wait to perhaps make these in advance and freeze them, (pre-baked or post baked, what do you think?)

pairs4life wrote:Hmmm,

I'm ripping through these 5 lb bags of KA flour, both all purpose & bread. Anyone got a lead on larger amounts locally? Same goes for instant yeast and eggs, I'm getting through them quickly.

Preferred brands of Instant Yeast suggestions? I know, but as someone who works and goes to bed early, & get's up later these days, I need as little time for the bread to rise as possible.

Thanks in advance.

I get the 1-pound bags of SAF red yeast from King Arthur flour-- I have also seen larger quantities of yeast at Costco.
For the flour, I have the same question. Target generally has a good price on KA flour, but only the 5-pound bags.
Jen

I vastly prefer instant yeast and usually buy the 1 lb blocks of SAF from Andy's Fruit Ranch. The Whole Foods that I go to in the city never have SAF anymore, or any decent instant yeast for that matter. Incidentally, here is a thread on SAF: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=23052

Regarding flour, have you thought about grinding your own? Home grinders aren't that expensive and you can buy the whole wheat berries in large bulk sizes.

Darren72 wrote:
Regarding flour, have you thought about grinding your own? Home grinders aren't that expensive and you can buy the whole wheat berries in large bulk sizes.

Are you trying to hurl me down the rabbit hole?

pairs4life wrote:

Darren72 wrote:
Regarding flour, have you thought about grinding your own? Home grinders aren't that expensive and you can buy the whole wheat berries in large bulk sizes.

Are you trying to hurl me down the rabbit hole?

I think you're hurtling yourself, you crazy baker!

pairs4life wrote:Bread in Action!
[snip]
Can't wait to perhaps make these in advance and freeze them, (pre-baked or post baked, what do you think?)

I bet it would be good pre-baked, as long as they thawed fully in the fridge. How long would you plan to leave them? This is not a hard experiment to carry out

Hi,

People have been buying frozen croissants at Williams-Sonoma and Trader Joe's. I would read their instructions. From reading posts here, it seemed to be pulling them from the freezer and letting them proof overnight on the counter, then bake in morning.

Regards,

Dobra (CookieMonster here on LTH, the owner/baker at Delightful Pastries) is the one who got me the bulk bag of flour. I was looking for KAF, and she said that it's not available commercially here in Chicago (you can buy it from them directly, but the cost of shipping was prohibitive). She recommended the best commercial bread flour she'd found in the area (I am an idiot and do not remember the brand), and let me buy a bag from her. It was far cheaper than the 5lb bags, and I had excellent results with it. I bought a giant Rubbermaid bin to store it... I'd freeze it if I had the room, but we went through it pretty quickly and I did not notice any rancidity or staleness at the bottom of the barrel whatsoever.

That said, if you wanted to split a bag, I'd be willing to do that, too (I need to get another bag, so my bin is empty right now). PM me if you want to try to figure that our, or call Dobra at DP to order your own BigAss Bag o' Flour!

Oh, and we freeze 3/4 loaves of our weekly sourdough sandwich loaves (unsliced). Works great, but with the sourdough, I haven't seen mold grow on it even after days and days.

Also... took me ages to find these, but I LOVE them! Just the right size for sandwich loaves: Bread storage bags.

Tuesday night's "Almost No Knead" Bread with home-cured olives baked for Mr.pairs4life by request.










And yes, I think I know what bread I want to try next.

pairs4life wrote:Tuesday night's "Almost No Knead" Bread with home-cured olives baked for Mr.pairs4life by request....
And yes, I think I know what bread I want to try next.

Beautiful! I look forward to the next bread!
Jen

Edited to add that I've found Amish country to be a good source for flour, for example E&S sales in Shipshewana.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/e-and-s-sales-shipshewana

justjoan wrote:

BR wrote:Beautiful! And screw the brioche - love it, but nowhere near the effort of croissants from scratch. I'll join mbh at the taste test.

Also having my own shopping nightmare . . . looking for diastatic malt powder for a bagel recipe I'd like to try. Struck out so far with Whole Foods and HarvesTime.

BR: malted barley flour is exactly the same as diastatic malt powder (see link below). and i'm pretty sure whole foods carries it. or call green grocer-they have lots of bob's red mill products as well.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/malted-barle ... tml?&cat=5

I decided to just go ahead and order a one-pound bag of diastatic malt powder from King Arthur and it arrived today. It does not appear to be exactly the same as malted barley flour. Specifically, the ingredients listed are: Dextrose, Wheat Flour and Malted Barley Flour. That's also the order in which the ingredients are listed, although I'm not sure that is significant.