Take a World Bread Tour

Gourmet.com produces fabulous videos. This one will take you on a romantic and sumptuous bread vacation to further your appreciation for the fundamental role bread plays in so many cultures.

I’ve just posted a new video for a wonderful spelt bread recipe. It’s my new all time favorite. Now I know I’m fickle and say that about practically every new recipe I try, but this time I mean it. This bread has all the qualities necessary for a deep, lasting relationship. Anyone can fall for a flaky chocolate croissant, but this is a wholesome bread you can take home to your mother. It will stay with you and is surprisingly undemanding.

Click the link above or on the photo to watch the video and get started.  Prepare to fall in love.

Whole Grain Spelt Sourdough

I have to share this “letter” I received from Elaine Cooper of Toronto, Canada. What a great idea and a lot of fun…

Hi Eric:

Last weekend my friend Mitch Rotman and I held a “Bread and Jam” afternoon soiree/salon. Mitch has been making a variety of jams and jellies for many years and we thought that it would be great fun to invite a group of friends to a “tasting”. Invitees were asked to bring either wine or cheese and a poem that relates to either bread or jam. They were also told that there would be a silent auction for breads and jams. It was a huge success. The money raised from the silent auction was to be given to a charity that we are all involved with.

I baked 10 varieties of no knead bread: the rye, multigrain, cranberry and pecan, the olive and Parmesan, seeded sour, corn bread with sun-dried tomato, seeded roasted barley, and a seeded multigrain with 20 grams of Cabernet grape flour. I baked about 18 loaves: one for the salon and the others for the auction. We started both the jams and breads at $20.00 cdn… Mitch’s wife insisted… yes they all went for much more than asking price.

Mitch had made his own labels and I made a label “Artisan Breads from Mizelaineous Bakery: a branch of Cooking for My Friends Catering.

All breads from organic flours and filtered water. They do not contain oil, sugar or eggs. Some do contain seeds or nuts.

It was a fabulous event.

Cheers,

Elaine aka Mizelaineous.

I’ve posted a new bread recipe and video on the Breadtopia web site. Sicilian Style No Knead Bread, contributed by Ed Pillitteri, is one of my no knead favorites. You will find Ed’s original yeasted version as well as a sourdough variation.

Ed Pillitteri - Sicilian No Knead Creator

The video content is more detailed than usual but the new format is designed for easier navigation from one part of the video to another. At least that’s the idea. As usual, I’d love your feedback.

For those of you who have been asking about and encouraging more video production, my sincerest apologies for the pathetically slow pace of getting these done. I do appreciate your encouragement and especially all the wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with and learning from. It’s apparent that bread bakers are an extremely friendly lot!

One of Ed's Gems

This is probably it for no knead videos for a while. I’m planning a Peter Reinhart all whole grain bread video next. Also looking at flat breads and, hopefully soon, a video of Denyce (the pastry queen) making her “to live for” cream puffs and éclairs.

Joe Valencic kindly allowed me to post his no knead rye bread recipe. This is a great tasting bread with a chewy crust, soft crumb and nice rise that’s also easy to make. What more could a rye lover want in a loaf of bread?

Thanks Joe!

No Knead Rye Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 C Dark rye flour (Light rye will also work fine)
2-1/4 C All purpose flour (I use unbleached)
1-1/2 t Kosher salt (other salts are fine)
3/8 t Instant Yeast (that’s 1/4 t plus half of that again)
1-1/2 T Caraway seeds (Optional, although I don’t know why you’d leave it out)
1-1/2 C Water

Directions:

Mix and bake as any other no knead bread recipe.
(If you happen to be brand new to no knead bread baking, click this link for specific directions or view practically any no knead video).

Alternate Recipe by weight:

4 oz Dark (or Light) Rye flour
12 oz Unbleached all-purpose flour
3/8 Teaspoon Instant Yeast
1-1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1-1/2T Caraway seeds (Optional)
13 oz. Lukewarm water

Joe's No Knead Rye

Mark Liptak, who has graciously shared with us on prior occasions, sent in an email the other day appropriately titled “Back At It”. “It” being bread baking, of course.

Mark’s got some great tips for handling his no knead bread dough with some excellent photos. Good stuff!

In his words…

Now that we’re back into cooler weather I’ve started making bread
again.  The engineer in me is always looking for process improvement,
I think I have found one.

I’ve noticed that I typically have a bit of difficulty transferring
the proofed dough from the proofer into the hot La Cloche.  When the
dough drops out it seems to upset the yeast gassing and resulting
crumb structure and loaf height.  I’ve now started using parchment
paper to transfer the proofed dough.  When the dough is fully proofed
(about 2 hours), I put a sheet of parchment paper on top and gently
turn it upside down, leaving the proofing bowl on top.  Then, grabbing
the corners of the parchment paper I can gently place the dough and
bowl into the waiting preheated La Cloche bottom.  Then gently remove
the proofing bowl and cover the La Cloche with the parchment still
under the dough and let it bake.  The result is a significantly taller
loaf with better crumb structure.  The parchment paper comes out
looking quite scorched, but the loaf easily comes out with absolutely
no sticking or other problems associated with having the parchment
paper along for the whole bake cycle.

Give it a try, I think you’ll find it improves the final result.  I’ve
included a few photos, lucky I didn’t scorch my camera lens, a 500
degree oven really gives a bit of a blast when you open it!  BTW, I
use corn meal rather than wheat germ, that’s what gives some yellow
color to the dough in the photos.

Mark

All too often we witness our freshly baked no knead bread vanish before it’s barely had a chance to cool. Baking multiple loaves helps mitigate this “problem”, but as Joe Valencic found, so does increasing the size of the loaves.

Joe adjusted the ingredients to fully utilize the capacity of the cloche oblong clay baker with the resultant loaf being 50% larger than the basic recipe. This also accomplished another of Joe’s objectives, which was to produce a loaf size better suited to making sandwiches.

Of course you don’t have to use an oblong cloche to try this. Most vessels used for no knead baking will likely accommodate this larger loaf.

This recipe is for a no knead craisin bread but you can leave out the extra ingredient and just go with the flour, salt, yeast and water for the basic recipe or the starting point for your own favorite creation.

Joe’s pictures surely attest to the great results he enjoys. I’ve simply cut and pasted the following from his email…

Craisin No-Knead (over-sized)

24 oz. Unbleached all purpose flour (my preference)
3 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon SAF Instant Yeast (or any instant yeast)
19-1/2 oz warm water
1/2 Cup Craisins
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/2 Cup Shelled sunflower seeds (unsalted)

Blend dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Add Craisins, Raisins and seeds and blend into dry ingredients. Add water and thoroughly blend until all dry flour is incorporated. Cover and let sit for 12 hours.

Line a 12″ x 4″ x 3″ deep basket (I use a wicker basket I found at a thrift store) with parchment paper, forming it deep to the bottom and sides with 3″ of paper hanging over the long sides,  then spray the paper with oil or cooking spray. This keeps the dough from sticking to the paper, which I learned firsthand the hard way. Flour your work surface and pour/scrape the mixture onto it, then dust the top of the dough with flour. Flour your hands then proceed to fold the dough onto itself a few times, ultimately shaping it like a long loaf just slightly shorter than your proofing basket. Place the dough into the basket with the seam side down, cover and allow to double in size about 1 hour.

About 30 minutes before the proofing is completed, preheat the oven to 450 F with your La Cloche oblong cooker in it. When the proofing is complete, remove the cover from the La Cloche and place the loaf into the cooker with the parchment paper used as a cradle. Fold the parchment to the inside and replace the cover.

Bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove cover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes depending on how dark you like the top of the loaf to be. Immediately remove the loaf using the parchment as a cradle an place on a raised wire rack to cool. With your oven gloves you can handle the bread and remove the parchment paper for cooling.

Note: Handling of this oversized dough is not for the timid.

The dry ingredients

With water added and ready for long proof

Compared to regular size loaf

See also Joe’s hamburger buns.

Banana bread is one of the most popular breads. Just about everyone has a recipe, often passed down through a generation or two.

So who needs another one, you ask?

With a bunch of over ripe bananas pressuring me to decide their fate, I flipped through a few bread books and came across this one from King Arthur Flour. It uses 100% whole wheat and passes the flavor and nutrition test with flying colors. It’s not every day you run across a recipe that doesn’t compromise on either count. I sure don’t want to be the one to come between you and your granny’s banana bread recipe but this one could at least be a worthy alternative.

I’ve posted the video along with ingredient list and detailed written instructions. Visit: Moist Whole Wheat Banana Bread