**BREAD MAKING** Artisan Bread Is SO Easy (Kind Of)

Part 1

Recently I fell hard in love with the Bistro bread Aldi has been selling. I had tried the Rustic Italian Boule, and it was okay, but the Bistro bread - next level good.

I bought 2 loaves of the Bistro bread in about 4 weeks. I got into the habit of either buttering it or spraying it with EVOO (my favorite method), then toasting it in the air fryer. I would have 2 slices for a meal, dipping them into some EVOO with roasted garlic. I didn't need anything else; it was so good. I also found it very filling. Sometimes I would have nothing but 4 slices of toast like that - 2 midday for lunch and 2 for my evening meal. Like I said, I was addicted.

The thing is, the store-bought bread runs around $4.50 per, so... yeah, it could get pricey. I decided to look up a recipe, and I was shocked at how simple it seemed. I say "seemed" because my first-time dough is in the fridge for an overnight rest as I write this. Tomorrow will be the real test.

The recipe is literally a mix of 4 things: flour, salt, yeast, and water. That makes me so happy. Also, the dough is a no-knead type. That makes me really happy. 

It took me less than 10 minutes to round up and measure everything for the dough. After a couple of minutes of mixing everything together, it was ready for the first rise. I set it out to rise on the counter before I realized how fatigued I was. A quick search informed me that putting it in the fridge overnight (for 16-48 hours) makes for an even better flavor and texture. Sold! 

Tomorrow, I will take it out and let it set for a couple hours before I do the 2nd (shorter) proofing. I'm going to be baking it in my cast iron Dutch oven. This will be the first time using anything to do with my stove since I got the air fryer.

I will finish thing post tomorrow, God willing I live and nothing happens, adding photos of the finished thing. I'm going to be thrilled if all goes well because it's going to be a money-saver. I love the idea of 1) not having to knead dough, 2) being able to create such wholesome bread, and 3) not having to spend all that money on store-bought.

Honestly, if the Bistro bread turns out, it will be a long time before I bake any other kind. I love the thick, chewy texture of the Aldi loaves. And I'm using my French-milled flour and sea salt, so I feel great about the ingredients. It all fits right into my Food Revolution attitude.

I'm stopping here to get some rest for the evening. Next up... the bread!

Part 2

So...

I have taken the dough out of the fridge to come to room temp and finish the first proofing. It has been about 17 hours since it went into the fridge.

Just out of the fridge

It has gotten fuller than when it went in. Pre-fridge it was looser looking and smaller. I hope this is what it is supposed to look like! 😬 I am going to check in in an hour to see if it has warmed up. The instructions say to let it rest out of the fridge for 2 to 3 hours.

Part 3

I forgot to take a picture of the dough when it was ready. It was really sticky and no matter how much I floured my hands, it was rough going I think enough stuck to my hands to make a tiny loaf! 🫤

Another thing I had trouble with was that the instructions were to preheat the oven at 450F with the Dutch oven inside... I always wipe mine down with a little oil before I put it away so the smoke got crazy. 

Finally, the dough seemed ready to go into the oven. The test that it's ready is that it springs back slowly when poked. I wasn't sure how slow they were talking so... I took a guess that it was slow enough. Into the oven it went. 

The instructions were to bake for 30 minutes lid on for the steam factor, the lid off for another 10 minutes. I put in a temp probe and set it for 200 The suggested done temp was anywhere from 180-210 depending on preference. Preference? I don't have a preference yet. I guess the time varies based on how crusty you want the bread to be? I mean, I'm guessing for real. This is what I get for getting vague directions from some random website that doesn't have enough info so that I have to go to more sources. 

Anyway.

Part 4

I went with my gut on the 200 and the bread looks... okay?

Not bad? I don't think.

Other than the very visible holes where I stuck in the probe, it is decent looking. I know right off that I didn't use enough of the dough, but I will do better next time. 

I learned from this and next time I will do some things differently:

• I will make sure my Dutch is dry
• I will probably not use the overnight method
• More flour, more flour, more flour - because I think started with the dough too shaggy in texure
• Last of all, I will not let the parchment pinch into the dough as much

The final thing was letting the baked loaf rest long enough to be ready for cutting. This was going to be the real test. If the bread tastes horrible, I have got to find out where I went wrong. 

Part... Ta-da!!!

The first thing I noticed when I cut a slice is that the bottom was very tough. I think that had to do with my pan and the parchment because the loaf stuck a little to the paper. It looks good except it doesn't have all those beautiful holes like the store-bought bread does. Also, it is a teeny bit dense - like I could have left it in the oven another 4 or 5 minutes more.

When I went looking for reasons, I got a lot of possible ones. I might need to use more water (doubt that), or I over-handled it (very possible because I found it hard to work with), or - and I think this is the main culprit - I didn't have the heat high enough. That and I probably under-proofed it - remember that I couldn't decide how quick the spring-back was! And I forgot to mention that my crust softened once it the loaf cooled.

As far as how this tastes, it's not bad - a little saltier or sourdough-y than I like. I'm going to finish this loaf by making toast and maybe some homemade croutons, then I will try again. All in all, I'm not too disappointed with this first-time go round.

When I find a complete (and better) recipe, I will be sure to share it.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: My SIL was over & she said my bread is really tasty!

Bake Away The Blues (Bread & Water Roux)

 When I get stressed, baking helps calm me. Stress seems to send signals to my sarc to join the party so my brain might not be functioning well enough to do anything complicated. But I can almost always bake.

October was not good for my life. As if 2020 doesn't suck hard enough, it doesn't want to go out without dragging down as much joy as it can... Can I get an amen?

Anyway.

I spent about 3 days on the couch, not able to move or care. I watched YouTube videos hour after hour after hour. When I started getting sore from laying there, I decided to get up and maybe bake something - bread or rolls from scratch. Then, at some point, I got it into my head that I wanted to find a video on how to make brioche. 

Most videos on making brioche are either too talky. All I wanted was a recipe. I found one and... What a mess. I basically wasted a lot of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. I should have looked at the comments before trying the recipe because there were a lot of people wondering just what the heck the baker was doing.

Also, I don't have a stand mixer. That seemed to be a must-have for kneading brioche dough. I was discouraged until I found the more awesome YouTube channel ever for baking recipes. The. Most. Awesome. Ever. 

The host/baker/cook in the Savor Easy videos ticks all the boxes for making great instructional videos. The entire focus is on the ingredients and procedure. Tomorrow, I will be trying a new batch of brioche.

Isn't that the best baking video? No frill, no life stories told, just right-to-the-point instructions. I need to learn from her! I'm hoping she has a recipe for babka. I've been wanting to bake one of those since forever.

I don't have the energy to start baking yet. I'm still mostly confined to the couch because, on top of everything else (cue the violins), I have a cold I can't shake. 

But -

Until I can get on my feet long enough to bake, I have been enjoying the Culinary Boot Camp videos from Chef Jacob Burton's channel. 

Like I said, baking/cooking is a stress reliever. I go through cycles of liking either baking or cooking, one more than the other. Winter seems to bring out my inner baker chick.  I don't like complicated baking challenges. You won't ever see me doing anything that involves preparing more than one dough or pastry for a finished product. I will never, ever qualify for The Great British Bakeoff. I like simple things that I can share with family or neighbors.

how satisfying is that?

There is nothing more simple in the baking world than bread, right? Well, I was always kind of terrified of making bread. A couple of years ago, I found a recipe from the Big Family Homestead channel and I made their recipe for Amish Sweet Bread. It was fun and easy and made the apartment smell fabulous. This is the recipe and it's actually called just "Amish White Bread". My bad. They actually have a good playlist of recipes very worth checking out.

I have talked about making Japanese Milk Bread for the longest. I just never felt comfortable with the recipes I found. Welp, Savor Easy has me covered. Theirs doesn't look the exact same as other recipes I've watched, but I think it will be good enough for me. I learned a while back that the secret to softer bread is to add a water roux. Say what??? 

The Water Roux Method

aka 

Tangzhong

Apparently this "water roux" is a bread starter known as Tangzhong and is what makes Hokkaido Milk Bread so yummy soft.

look how soft & fluffy...

The roux is a simple bread flour and water mix that is cooked to thickening. The tricky part is knowing ratios and when to add it. Here is a video I found that best explains the procedure and answers basic questions:

Her instructions are great but I still had questions, like what about how much to add to various recipe amounts? Thankfully, commenters had answers. This one is the most helpful of all:

"The Tangzhong roux should use 5% of the original recipe flour amount, by weight. The amount of water used should be 5 times the weight of the flour used in the Tanzhong roux. The water amount used in the Tanzhong roux should be taken from the original amount of water in the recipe. You are not adding an extra amount of water or flour to the recipe, just using some of the original ingredient amounts in a different way."

The same commenter also had this to say:

"I make the roux in a microwave. Use a pyrex cup. My microwave is 1100 watts. With room temperature water, 25 gm flour and 125 gm water I microwave for 20 seconds. Stir will with whisk. Take temp. Microwave 10 more seconds. Stir, take temp. Microwave a final 5 seconds. Stir and take temp. The roux is at about 65 C / 150 F. This is enough for a 450 gm / 1 lb loaf of bread. Cool to below 55 C / 130 F and add to bread maker."

Note: you can find conversions by asking Google or here is one site with charts.  Here is a graphic. Also, here is a calculator site, if you don't mind accepting the cookies. Ironically.

The only answer I couldn't find anywhere is to the question of when to add the roux. I have decided that, since the roux can be stored for later use, I can add it to a dough before I prep it for the first proofing. I dunno. I will try it that way. As soon as I get back into the swing of things, I will be getting my Tang-zhong. Get it?

If any of you have used or plan to use the Tangzhong method, let me know how your bread turns out.

Peace

--Free