It’s Bread Baking Season

Hi everyone! I know absolutely nothing about baking bread, I’m just starting to learn, so please don’t flame me if this is a stupid question. I’m wondering if you could just tear or cut away the excess paper so there would be less scorching. It looks like the most severe scorching is happening on the excess that is hanging down, and less so up close to the bread. It looks like a fire hazard to me. eek! But that is some kind of beautiful bread.

I use a different approach with the use of parchment paper. I line my proofing baskets (wicker) with parchment paper, being careful to form the paper closely to the inside shape of the basket. I trim off all but 2″ of paper extending over the edges of the baskets, then spray the paper with no-stick spray. I shape the dough to the basket shape, cover with plastic and allow to rise for 60 minutes. I then lift the proofed dough out of the baskets with the edges of the paper, and place them in the preheated pots and bake as usual. This method eliminates inverting the proofed dough and risking deflation. I have the La Cloche oblong baker from Eric, as well as two other clay bakers I acquired along the way. IMHO, the clay bakers are the greatest way to bake no-knead breads.

Joe

Thank you for the parchment tip, I look forward to trying it. Given my wheat intolerance, I tried using oatbran to line my proofing basket and it works great.

Thanks for the answer. I’ve never done this before. What is the difference in the crust with the hot pot versus the soaked pot?

Well, I made the loaf today (click link) in the pre-heated clay pot, and everyone really likes it. It is not as “holey” as I had hoped, but still very good. I had to make 1/2 again as much because the pot I got is pretty big. I used 1 1/2 c. whl wht, 3 1/2 c bread flr, and 2 1/4 c water. I’m going to mix some up tonight with all bread flour and see what that does. I’m really enjoying this. I will try the soaking method after that.

thats a heaping 1/4 cup of starter for my interesting bread and 2 heaping tsp of cinnamon

Has anyone tried freezing a fresh bread? I’m making the steel cut oats recipe now and thought I’d cut half of it to eat today/tomorrow (if it lasts that long) and freeze the other half. I was planning on using it Thanksgiving with another loaf as well, of something else, maybe rye (looks yummy). I would thaw it out and reheat at 350 for 10 minutes to crisp it up. Do you think that will work?

BTW, I am so happy to have found your site. I have been making the standard NKB recipe for the last few weeks (since I”discovered” it) and wanted to branch out into other grains but was a little uncertain how much of what to use. Now that I have found your recipes, I am planning to be much more adventurous!

Happy crunching!

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your quick answer! I’ve often frozen other breads, homemade as well as store bought, but just wasn’t sure about this one, which goes in the oven in an hour….drooling on the keyboard!
Susan

Hi Eve,

This may sound a little off the wall, but I can assure you that it works, even though it’s not something a lot of people know about yet.

When you make your no-knead dough, allow it to proof on the counter for at it’s normal 12-20 hours, then put the dough into the refrigerator and allow it to get cold (overnight is best). You may notice that the dough begins to sag and partially deflate, but that is normal. The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks as long as it’s covered. I use a five quart Tupperware-style container to keep my dough in, and I make a double recipe of no-knead dough.

When you’re ready to make rolls, flour your hands and dust the top of the dough where you’ll grab it, and pull off a hunk of dough about the size of a grapefruit and cut it off using your kitchen shears or a sharp knife. This will be about one pound of dough and will make 8 dinner rolls. Put the dough on a well floured work surface and use your knife or dough scraper to cut the dough into 2 oz portions, which is a little bit larger than a golf ball. I use my kitchen scale to weigh the dough, and I shape the dough into the shape of a ball, stretching the dough and pulling it all under the dough ball. Try to not overwork the dough. Arrange the dough balls in a circle on a cornmeal dusted piece of parchment paper that’s about 2″ larger than the inside of your La Cloche clay baker.You can use additional flour to keep your hands and surface from sticking. Make sure your grouping of dough balls allows room for the balls to grow to double their size without exceeding the inside measurement of your baker. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and a towel and allow to double in size, about one hour.

30 minutes before you bake the rolls, preheat the oven and clay baker as you would for regular no-knead bread. When the rolls are ready to bake, grab the parchment paper and place paper and rolls right into the baker and cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes or until the rolls are colored as you prefer.

Any leftover dough can be put back in the container and returned to the fridge where it will be ready for the next batch of rolls or loaf of bread.

The beauty in this method is that you can have dough ready each day to bake fresh bread or rolls, without the lengthy fermentation process, and fresh bread is ready for the oven in an hour from when you open the fridge.

This process is an adaptation of the method described in “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” I have also used the no-knead sourdough dough to make french baguettes in the open oven. After allowing the dough to rise for one hour I give an egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds and bake in my countertop convection toaster oven. They’re great for breakfast or anytime you want fresh French bread.

Let me know how this works for you.

Joe

I tried dried rosemary, approx. 2 T. , dried tomatoes-6-8 halves, chopped in large pieces, and some baked garlic in the bread. Put the rosemary and dried tomatoes into the initial mixing.
Fantastic!!!! I had baked the garlic in the oven before, cutting off the top and putting a little olive oil on it. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake 20-30″. Let cool and mash up a bit. Then put the garlic in when you fold the bread over itself and let rise an additional 2 hours.
Very good. Colors are nice with the red and green. I have also tried a chunks of Parmesan cheese in the bread with the initial mixing, but it melts away–still good flavor and looks.
Enjoy! Marilyn

I’ve been using the recipe from the article in Mother Earth News from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I’ve had a couple of flops – we eat them anyway – but this recipe is for free form bread baked on a stone. The crust is good, but by the second day (only two of us eating it, plus I make a whole wheat sandwich on a regular basis) it is soft – does enclosed baking make the crust last longer?? I store my bread in a plastic bread keeper with vent holes – would it be better just left out on the counter? I love the educational videos – I’m a visual person and a lot of my bread book reading is making much more sense.

Question: has anyone tried to do this with a teflon sheet instead of parchment paper? I love using them in cooking, lining roasting trays, grill trays, cake pans, and afterwards you only need to wipe and dry before reuse. So if it works, it would save money and paper.
(I would try myself, but I haven’t made a successful loaf yet so I’m sure anyone else could answer faster. I do hope to get there soon though)

I am having trouble with my no knead Italian bread recipe – I follow it very carefully, even bought a scale to weigh the flour, I am using 2 cups King Arthur’s italian flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, but the mixture is too wet and hard to handle after 18 hours. Should I put my dough in the refrigerator? What should I be doing differently?

I’ve experimented with different flour, the amount of flour, and the amount of water after the first two attempts left me with a soppy mess after the first rise. Here’s the PERFECT (for me) recipe and technique. Incidentally, bread flour does respond differently than AP flour which for the same proportions was a bit more wet. Thus, if you’re going to make bread then make it with a high-protein/high gluten four such as All-Trumps or a store bought bread flour. Following is my technique to make 1 Batard with a finishing weight of 1 lb. 7 ounces. The pre-bake weight is 16 + 12 = 28 ounces. Thus there is a 5 ounce loss of liquid during baking. (You may have noticed I’m a bit fanatical about these things). I might add, the crust and crumb are first class and I always get compliments on my bread.

So, I start off by weighing 1 lb of bread flour to which I add 1/4 tsp yeast and 1 1/2 tsp table salt. I put that in my Cuisinart stand mixer and give it a mix at speed level 1 using the paddle attachment. Then I add 12 ounces (by weight) of room temp. water and let it mix, again with the paddle attachment speed 1, for about 1 minute. I scoop that out and let it rise about 18 hours (I start this about 2 in the afternoon and complete the process upon awakening the next moring) in an 8 cup bowl sprayed with a light coat of oil. In the morning I give the bowl a gentle downward bang on a folded towel and let the risen dough gently deflate itself naturally. Then using a plastic scraper I turn it out on a floured counter. I let it rest 15 minutes (I don’t know why, but it’s a good time to grab a cup of coffee and contemplate the nature of the universe). I then gently flour the surface and press it down to a rectangular shape with the longer edges going away from me. Then I fold the top third over the middle third and the lower third over that. I flour it once again and press it out slightly so it’s a rectangle with the long sides going left to right. I let it rest several minutes then crease the middle long ways and fold it just once on that crease pinching the long edge with my fingers. I then coat the entire log (which is now approximately 12 inches long and 4 inches wide) with cornmeal. I lift it and place it on a piece of brown parchment paper about 1/2 inch larger on all sides and place it on the metal insert that goes in my fish poacher which is 16 1/2 long by 6 1/2 wide by 4 1/2 high heavy metal construction. The insert has two wire handles at each end to lift it when placing the insert into the poacher. I cover the bread with a tea towel and let it rise 90 minutes. After one hour I put the poacher in the oven and turn it on to 500, letting it and the oven heat up for 30 minutes. At the 90 minute mark I remove the poacher from the oven and place in my risen dough it using the self constructed metal handles. Sometimes I score it 5 times with a sharp knife but that risks deflating the dough. I’ve now come to the conclusion that a natural rip across the top during the “oven spring” portion of the baking looks quite nice, thus not scoring with a knife. Just before covering I give it a light spritz of water using a Windex type spritzer you do your windows and counters with. I cover it and put it in the oven at 500 for 30 minutes then an additional 15 minutes at 450 uncovered. When done baking I just lift it out of the poacher with my little handles, slide the bread off of the parchment paper and let it cool on a rack. The neat thing listening to it crack as it cools down. It’s singing to me!
Over and out not to mention happy baking,
The Great Throwdini (www.knifethrower.com)