Homemade Bread Thread

Next time I'l use the whole head of roasted garlic.

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gimme that, and a slab of salted butter and i'm in heaven...

Just brewed some Cali Common and I was wondering if I could use the washed lager yeast in my bread. Any thoughts on the process? I suppose since lager yeast does better at cold temps, I'd need to keep the dough colder than what you would do with an ale yeast. Probably also rise even slower than an ale yeast based bread.

Anybody ever try this?

i've never used yeast, but it gives good flavour if you use the last liquids from the beer instead of water in a bread.

Kharnynb said:

i've never used yeast, but it gives good flavour if you use the last liquids from the beer instead of water in a bread.

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^^^This! I save and strain the dead space in my mash tun regularly.

ChefRex said:

^^^This! I save and strain the dead space in my mash tun regularly.

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mashtun works well, or in biab, just doing a third dunk sparge..

Also, after primary is done, you can get quite a bit of liquid out of the cake with just a sieve and a bit of muslin.

Pretzel Balls!!


English Muffins!!!



SOURDOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been meaning to try my hand at English muffins for awhile now. Do you have a favorite recipe turtle?

I've mostly been baking Asiago bagels, soft pretzels, and sourdough boules.

Did a sourdough yesterday with roasted garlic and rosemary. I'll slice it up this afternoon when I pull the turkey breast out of the oven.

For english muffins I either use Alton Brown's recipe from Good Eats, or the King Arthur recipe. Both are tricky but have good results.

I'm just now getting back into sourdough, got my starter from carlsfriends reviving on the kitchen counter now

turtle said:

For english muffins I either use Alton Brown's recipe from Good Eats, or the King Arthur recipe. Both are tricky but have good results.

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Those are the first two places I look for pretty much anything new I'm making. AB's paella recipe is delicious if you're into that kind of thing.

Yep, I have every Good Eats episode ever made stored on my server. And I have every episode set to record on my DVR, and anytime it comes on and it's not recording I'll sit there and watch it.

no-knead bread.

Kharnynb said:

no-knead bread.

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That's a tasty looking loaf! Are those chanterelle mushrooms in the background?
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

That's a tasty looking loaf! Are those chanterelle mushrooms in the background?
Regards, GF.

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Thanks, btw the recipe:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

Chanterelles just got into season, and we got a ton just from around the cottage, next weekend we're gonna hunt for boletes as well.

I put my oven to work today. Two baguettes, a dozen Asiago bagels (one not pictured because it was already eaten), and a loaf of honey-wheat sandwich bread.

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Some beautiful stuff there, well done

I am so jealous of those mushrooms

One of the advantages of Finland.

We get a lot of mushrooms and berries from the forest, I guess to compensate for the winter weather...

I haven't baked in a while but my starter was looking sad so I fed it and it got happy, can't let it go to waste
I used wort from a porter I brewed yesterday along with some spent grains, fresh out of the oven, crumb shot to come.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441644391.865862.jpg

Money shot. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1441654354.563764.jpg

ChefRex said:

Money shot. View attachment 301729

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Nice,very very nice.

Decided to take my bagel recipe and add 2 Tbsp of dried herbs (Italian Seasoning) and 1/2c. of grated Parmesan. Turned out quite tasty. I may up the herbs to 3 Tbsp next time.

Just got my first starter last week and heres the first sourdough loaf ....

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Dude make me a calzone and a strombolli

No pictures but tried english muffins yesterday. A little dense and thin but the flavor is amazing

I have a recipe for "English muffin bread" from an old magazine around here somewhere... it was pretty good!

Tonights attempt split and turned into an awesome garlic loaf

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jtd_419 said:

Tonights attempt split and turned into an awesome garlic loaf

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Looks like you could slash deeper, do you add any moisture to the oven when you bake?

ChefRex said:

Looks like you could slash deeper, do you add any moisture to the oven when you bake?

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I appreciate the advice. What does the deeper slash accomplish? No, i haven't been but I've heard a shallow pan of water aids in baking but not how it works, any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

The deeper slash helps expansion as does the moisture in the oven preventing the crust from hardening too soon.
Looks like you used a wash also, don't until you get the basics down, It's purely ascetics.
Bake on!

You mean "aesthetics?"

slym2none said:

You mean "aesthetics?"

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Yes, the yeast are overpowering me tonite

No wash, lightly buttered as soon as it came out to brown ot slightly

Thank you for the information, I'll try both next loaf

ChefRex said:

Yes, the yeast are overpowering me tonite

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Mmhmm... it's the yeast...

jtd_419 said:

Thank you for the information, I'll try both next loaf

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Oh, and don't listen to your oven, when it beeps the air is up to temp, the oven is not.
I pre heat at least a half hour at 550F, my max heat and turn it down to 400 to bake adding a half to a cup of preheated water to a cast iron pan already in the oven.
!! Protect your hand!!
Bake to an internal temperature of 200F.
God to go!

slym2none said:

Mmhmm... it's the yeast...

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My story and I'm sticking to it

New semester at a new university screwed me up good. Stopped baking for a few weeks. Finally got myself out of this funk with my classic sandwich loaf.

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Nice fine grain, as it should be.

I made my first sourdough starter a few weeks ago and have since baked three loaves with it. This was the first, small loaf, it was pretty tasty but not as good as the next two. I'll certainly be baking a large loaf every weekend. The sourdough is not yet sour, just smelling rather fruity and yeasty, will be interesting to see how/if it changes over the coming months.