I buy fresh yeast from my local baker; I find it much easier to work with, and less yeasty than dry yeast. For about a month, I was on a real bread making kick, then I broke my foot! This morning, I couldn’t stand it anymore and I got off the couch a made a batch of bagels dusted with a topping of TJ ‘Everything But The Bagel’. Mmmmm the house smelled heavenly, and they were so good with a thin spread of chive cream cheese and a smoked salmon topping.
Until SAH, it had been a long time since I made bread, I’d quite forgotten the joys and satisfaction of homemade bread. I haven’t store bought any baked goods in almost three months!
Feeling quite sated, and very proud of my motivation ( ) I’m now going to make a chocolate and dark cherry ciabatta
Oh! Em! Gee!!! I made the no knead bread last night/this morning - the BEST bread ever!!! Nothing but flour, yeast, salt & water - soooo good with homemade jam - AND, I made butter!
So, to whomever recommended no knead bread - THANK YOU!!!
BTW - I did not grease the pan before dumping the dough, it lifted right out
@momo2x2018 I started this thread with the no knead bread. He recipe was given to me by a friend who said that once I made it, I would never want to buy a loaf of bread again. She is right. Easy peasy. And so delicious!
I’ve been making bread every Friday since I got my sourdough starter going. I’m pretty happy with my loaves but I’m beginning to watch videos and instagram posts and ready to try some different recipes. I also made sourdough cinnamon rolls today. I’m enjoying the process.
Good. Looks like our supply chain is back to normal. Saw those giant vacuum packages of yeast at my favorite euro deli and thought I would check with the posters here.
So very late to this party- had to go back to the start of the thread to see @thumper1’s original post & fell across @WayOutWestMom’s brilliant addition of freezing the fermented dough! Apologies if this was addressed between pages 1 & 10, but @WayOutWestMom, do you bake it straight from the freezer or just let it thaw in the fridge/on the counter? If from frozen how does it affect baking times?
@thumper1 You are definitely not my BFF today! My H enjoyed the bread so much, he begged me to make more so that today he could gift a loaf EACH to his brother and nephew for their respective birthdays! I told him it was an 18hr endeavor, but there was no dissuading him, and so here I am, elbow deep in flour, ready for the artisan bread making marathon!
Yeast? Haven’t seen that in stores here for a LONG time. I’ve been told you can order it from King Arthur. Luckily, I have a friend who sent me some. I’m still working on that supply!
I also don’t know that I’ve seen any in the stores though I haven’t looked closely (and I really am so limited in going into stores. I also got a big package which I’m storing in the freezer so I think I’m set for awhile.
You want to thaw the dough first before baking–either the counter or fridge works fine–because you want the dough to have second rise before baking. You want all those sleeping yeast fungi to warm up and produce CO2 so the bread will rise and have a nice open texture. Baking dough that’s a frozen lump gives you a cannonball.
I usually thaw in the fridge overnight then shape the dough and let it have short (30-45 minute) second rise on the counter for bread. For pizza I just shape the thawed dough and bake immediately. (I’m too impatient to wait for pizza!).
If you decide to thaw dough on the counter, let the dough thaw all the way through, shape it, then let it have a 30-60 minute rise before baking. Except for pizza–you can bake pizza as soon as the dough is thawed enough to pull into a thin crust.
All this reminds me I have a ball of pizza dough in the fridge that I pulled out of the freezer yesterday afternoon. Yay! Pizza on the grill for dinner tonight.
Just pulled some sour dough focaccia out of the oven. It took us 2 tries but we finally got our starter working well. Since quarantine has started we’ve done the cheese bread here a couple times, bagels, english muffins, pretzel bread and some amazing sour dough bread. Most multiple times. Now I’m intrigued by the no kneed bread. I always hated making bread but now I’m loving it.
And now it’s dawning on me why I’ve gained so much weight.
D2 called last weekend aghast that the sourdough mother she was trying to get started was moldy. She had used some dried sourdough mother she got from a friend, followed directions about dissolving the starter, adding water and flour to feed it, put it in a closed jar on her (very warm) kitchen counter and when she checked 2 days later–nothing but mold!
) I’m now going to make a chocolate and dark cherry ciabatta