A Continuing Love Affair with Bread Making

Dad & Me at right, at
Atitlan Lake, Guatemala January 1971

I have always loved making bread. I started at age 21 while living in Guatemala, and never stopped. While pregnant with my first child, my Mom and Dad came down to visit me in Guatemala. By that time I'd had more than enough time to become homesick for a lot of the foods I grew up with. While I loved the foods in my new adopted country, still those other, older food memories called to me. I went to Guatemala at age 20, knowing nothing about cooking. Growing up, I watched my Mom cook, watched her making bread once in a while, cooking daily, baking. She let us kids help out and make cookies sometimes. I was not adventurous back then and didn't make an effort to learn. I recall loving to watch her making her bread.

Mom & Me, Guatemala, January 1971

Then there I was, in another country. Living with my in-laws meant my food was always made and presented for meals. I still had no need to cook. But the time would be coming when it would be necessary, so I asked Mom for recipes for different things she made throughout my childhood. Chicken Paprikash. Holupki. Her Beef Ribs and Sweet Cabbage. Her bread (which morphed into My Kitchen Aid Mixer Bread). She gave me the recipes, and I copied them into the back of one of the few cookbooks I owned at that time. I attempted making bread the first time while still living with my in-laws; it was a less than stellar outcome, but nonetheless, a good experience, one that I have continued to this day 40+ years later.

A few years back I was introduced to Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread and remained so enchanted with that bread I made it constantly for about 3 years. Then earlier this year I was given a stack of bread making books. I have been documenting my experiments with making some of these breads here in my blogs ever since. The first book I started working with was Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I made about 10 of the recipes in that book, and there are more I would like to make, though some of them have been particular favorites, like the recipe for Pan a L'Ancienne, which I have made 3 times so far and plan to make again today. The next book I started working with is Maggie Glezer's Artisan Breads Across America. So far I have made 3 recipes from this book; Dutch Regale's Finnish Rye, Sullivan Street Potato Pizza and now Essential Bakery's Columbia Bread. 

Columbia Bread, before and after baking

This third recipe was a success in various ways. One, I took the time to make 3 iterations of the VERY firm starter over 2+ days, ensuring it was active enough to make the bread with no added commercial yeast. This did indeed make the bread grow far better than expected. Since my baker's lame is dull, and is not the type to be able to switch out blades, I sharpened a knife in order to slash the bread before baking - without draggggging through the delicately risen loaf. The slashes were perfect. The bread browned in the oven unlike any I have made yet, making the slashes stand out perfectly. It was by far, one of the prettiest breads I have made, to date. 

Beautifully baked Columbia Bread

There was only one problem. The taste was just meh. Texture was nice, crust is chewy and crispy, color is lovely. The bread grew beautifully despite no yeast but the starter. But the flavor is lacking. Because of the length of time it takes to make this bread, with very long slow rises, I had hoped for better flavor. At one point I thought to deviate from the recipe and actually refrigerate the dough overnight, once formed into loaves, and bake the following day. Now I am sorry I did not do this, as it may have given the bread better flavors. I am not totally sure I want to go through this whole process again, if the bread lacks flavor. I am now leery. Actually, I am beginning to be a little leery of the recipes in this particular book. Maybe they are not "translated" well from a huge bakery's recipe, down to an individual home recipe. Do not know. But it makes me want to set the book aside completely. The first bread I made, Dutch Regale's Finnish Rye, was delicious. And pretty. 

Perfect slashes and great color

The Columbia Bread recipe is made with mainly white flour and a little added freshly ground whole wheat and rye berries, and wheat germ. Just the fact of mainly white flour seems like it should have tasted better. I have never been particularly fond of just plain whole wheat. I like it mixed in with other things. Despite this, when I made the Poilane Style Miche, from Peter Reinhart's book, made with only whole wheat, the flavor was just incredibly good. I would repeat that recipe in a heartbeat! I love the flavor of rye, when I grind the rye berries fresh, and have made many, many varieties of rye breads, from extremely dense styles to light and fluffy. 

I am unhappy with the ultimate outcome, because flavor and texture is what bread is all about. When flavor is only so-so at the very best, it is not inspiring. Maybe it's time to try another of the books!

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Poilane Style Miche - Another New Bread

Book Cover showing a Poilâne Style Miche

I have rarely been so excited about making bread as since I received a copy of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I know if anyone is following my blog, you might be sick of hearing about this book. It opened my eyes to an entirely different world of bread making. I began by making a starter dough from wild yeasts, then following with the starter dough from which would spring any other bread using this wild yeast type of starter.

My wild-yeast starter grew just exactly as the book described. The mother starter as well. I went on to make an Onion Deli Rye which was fantastic. Then I tried a 100% Sourdough Rye. I did add a tiny bit of yeast to help things along, as the weather at the time was awfully cold and the house, though heated, just felt cool. That bread, as well as the Sunflower Seed Rye, just didn't quite grow the way the book indicated. While I have nothing against, and sometimes even prefer a very dense bread, these two didn't quite look like the book's photos.

Challah, Sunflower Seed Rye, Deli Rye, 100% Sourdough Rye

Many times when I have "refreshed" the starter, it would take a very long time to recover and begin bubbling. Now that summer is very much here, and the house, even with air running, is much warmer, the starter has gone totally mad! My little wild yeasts are very happy indeed. The starter is growing amazingly quickly each time it is refreshed, so with that in mind, I decided to try making another bread, using only the wild yeast starter, with no addition of commercial yeast to boost the growth. This time I made the Poilâne-Style Miche.

Who is Poilâne and What the Heck is a Miche?

Okay, according to Peter Reinhart's book (as well as most any website out there), Lionel Poilâne is a bread baker of such repute that his "miche" (rustic sourdough whole wheat bread) is now just lovingly called "Pan Poilâne" (or Poilâne Bread). His recipe is simple: sourdough starter, whole wheat flour, Fleur de Sel de Guerande and water. Of course, Poilâne uses a wood fired oven for his huge 4-pound rustic miche loaves.

My Poilâne Style Miche

A "miche" as noted, is a rustic style of sourdough whole wheat bread. The size is generally very large at 4 or more pounds, as the loaves keep better this way. In olden days, there would be a communal oven and people would bring their breads to bake in the one oven; it would have to last them the week or longer until the oven was once again fired up.

Reinhart suggests dividing the dough into two or even three smaller loaves for home baking, as trying to manipulate 4 pounds of dough into the oven could be a task. I went farther and just divided the recipe itself in half. Reinhart gives no poundage weight for this recipe as he does for all his other recipes. Generally it is noted in a recipe that it will "make two 1-pound loaves" or something such. The recipe, cut in half as I made it, weighed 2 pounds. It was a majestic loaf, and I used my "banneton" or bread mold for the first time to give the loaf visual interest. Once the dough has risen, ready to bake, a Bread Lame is used to slash in a pound-sign or "hash-tag" type of pattern. Poilâne slashes his "Pans Poilâne" with a large script "P."  

My Poilâne-Style Miche

Poilânes "Pan Poilâne" or Miche (photo from website)

The first step in making this bread is making a "firm starter." Rather than a refreshed starter as usual, the firm starter requires more flour for a far stiffer dough. It is allowed to ferment at room temperature for a few hours, then placed in the refrigerator to retard (it's growth) overnight. This step brings out more flavors in the final dough. The starter grew amazingly quickly. I put it in the fridge, where it continued to grow, though more slowly. Next day I got out the starter and cut it into smaller pieces, leaving it to warm to room temp on the counter. Because of making half the normal recipe, I did use my Kitchen Aid mixer to do the kneading for me. I kneaded for a full 15 minutes, since it was made with whole wheat, which can make rising more difficult. It passed the "windowpane" test and was just one degree above where it was supposed to be.

After allowing the dough to rise for 4 hours and be shaped into a boule, or round loaf, the book gives the option of allowing the dough to rise in the pan and then turning out and baking, or just putting the shaped dough into the refrigerator once more overnight, to retard growth and add more flavor. Whole wheat bread can be blah, so I was all about more flavor. I formed the boule and set it into my well-floured banneton, covered it and refrigerated.

My Banneton or bread form

Mind you, I had started really early that morning with the initial intent of baking that day, only changing my mind and deciding to retard overnight as I was forming the bread. Later in the afternoon, when preparing for dinner, I opened the fridge to find my loaf fully risen! Yikes! I pulled it out, now at 4:30 in the afternoon. The book says that if it has been refrigerated, to allow 4 hours to come to room temperature and rise before baking. In one hour on the counter, the loaf was far above the edges of my 10-inch banneton. I heated the oven!

The only tricky part was getting the dough out of the banneton. I floured it heavily before placing the dough in. It came out reluctantly. There was a fair amount of deflation caused by this slow release from the mold. Still, after a few minutes it was very obviously recovering. I made the slashes over top of the pretty pattern from the bread mold and slid it onto my new oven stone.

Beautiful Crumb

The bread came out so beautifully. I nearly cried. It is a joy to behold. It tastes wonderful, particularly for a whole wheat loaf. I hope anyone out there who loves bread baking might attempt this recipe. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Caraway Rye Bread; a Favorite

I love bread. I guess too much of anything is not great, but it is difficult to live without bread. When I started delving into the concept of Gluten Free baking, what I read everywhere is the lament about good bread being a scarce commodity on that kind of diet. I did find lots and lots of recipes for gluten-free breads. I was just afraid to try them out. My best and longest friend decided to go gluten-free long ago and told me how, despite that she is an excellent baker, her GF breads came out like bricks.

Well, being me, and having been making bread for over 40 years, this seemed like a challenge. I tried a recipe from Gluten Free Girl's website, going on the concept of a no-knead bread, and while it made two exceptionally tiny loaves, the bread was just to-die-for good. Ever since, I have been meaning to go back and try some others, just so I can say I CAN do it, but so far other things have gotten in the way.

Three loaves of Caraway Rye Bread

Meanwhile, I still make all our bread in the house. Regular bread with wheat flours, of course. To my knowledge I am not gluten intolerant, so it has not been a priority. When I discovered Mark Bittman's adaptation of Jim Lahey's No-Knead bread recipe, I totally fell in love. I have been making that bread nearly constantly for almost 2 years now (hard to believe). In a recent blog post I talked about the different variations I have tried of this bread, but mainly I just love the plain no-knead bread. It is marvelous. Why mess with such a great thing?

However, despite how  much I love that bread, I still make my Mom and Grandma's rich egg bread that was made only for Easter and other holidays. I loved that bread so much when growing up that I began making it at age 21 and continued on through my whole life. Almost 42 years later I still make it as our daily bread. The other breads are just extras. One of those extras is Caraway Rye bread, which I love. I have tried various recipes, and have distilled down the things I like best about them all. I made it yesterday again, though it has been a few years since I made it last. This time I was curious whether it could be baked in the enameled cast iron pot I use for my No-Knead bread. The recipe can make two large loaves or 3 slightly smaller ones. I decided to go with the three, and make one of them in the enameled cast iron pot.

Caraway Rye Bread made in the enameled cast iron pot

Making it in there worked like a charm, and I wish I had divided the dough into only 2 loaves to work with, but that's hindsight. Meanwhile, that is one gorgeous loaf of bread. Not that the others are anything to sneeze at, mind you. I made the other two in long narrow loaves and placed them on a parchment and cornmeal lined baking sheet. They are lovely. The crust is soft though, where the one from the pot turned out crusty. It doesn't stay crusty, if the bread is stored in plastic, but it does stay chewy, and I think that is one of my biggest cravings - chewy things. Chewy, gooey caramels. Really chewy bagels. Ice cream with chewy, gooey bits in it. Cinnamon buns with thick gooey caramel. You get the picture, I am sure. I think I may have to invest in a second enameled cast iron pot to keep up with this bread making thing I have going. But if you love bread, give this recipe a try. Add or leave out things as desired. Use more or less caraway, or none. Use dill or dill seed, if desired. The bread is delicious.

Caraway Rye Bread

Caraway Rye Bread

Makes 2 or 3 loaves

SPONGE:
2½ teaspoons (1 packet) instant/quick-rise yeast
3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 cup medium rye flour
2 cups warm water, 110 degrees
1 cup bread flour
½ cup Sir Lancelot high-protein flour (or all bread flour)

DOUGH:
½ cup medium rye flour
½ cup dry milk powder
3 heaping teaspoons caraway seeds, or to taste
2½ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons Rye Bread Enhancer, optional
3 tablespoons cooking oil (olive, canola, walnut, other)
2 - 2½ cups Sir Lancelot high-protein flour, or bread flour

MAKE SPONGE: If using the instant yeast and high-protein flour, use the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Otherwise, use a large plastic or glass bowl. Pour the warm water into a large bowl. Add in the brown sugar, rye flour, instant yeast and flour(s). With whisk attachment or regular whisk, combine ingredients well. Allow the sponge to rest for at least an hour. If using regular yeast and just bread flour, this mixture may be allowed to rest for 4 hours or up to overnight.

MAKING DOUGH: In a small bowl, combine the medium rye flour, dry milk powder, caraway seed, salt and Rye Bread Enhancer, if using. Stir well to combine these dry ingredients, then add to the sponge, along with the oil of choice. With dough hook or wooden spoon if by hand, combine these ingredients well, then begin kneading in the Sir Lancelot high-protein flour, or bread flour, ½ cup at a time. until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Remove dough hook and allow dough to rest for about 1 hour (2 - 2½ hours if using regular dry yeast), or until doubled in bulk.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 2 or 3 portions. Form into loaves of your choosing. These can be long loaves, round loaves, braided or placed into loaf pans, as desired. If making long or round loaves, place parchment onto a large baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cornmeal. If making in loaf pans, spray with cooking spray. Allow loaves to rise until doubled in bulk.

This bread may also be made in a heavy enameled cast iron Dutch oven. Unless you have two of these Dutch ovens, the loaves will have to be made sequentially. To prepare the dough, make a tight round loaf and place onto a towel (not terrycloth) strewn with cornmeal. Cover with another towel and allow to rise.

To bake loaves on baking sheet or in loaf pans, Preheat oven to 450 and bake the loaves for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake for a further 5 or more minutes, until the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. If baking in the Dutch oven, preheat the pot in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove pot from oven, remove lid and set aside. Place hand under the towel holding the bread and quickly invert the loaf into the extremely hot pot. Replace lid and place in oven. Time for 20 minutes. Depending on how dark you like your crust, remove the lid and bake for a further 5 or more minutes.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

No-Knead Bread: Almost too Good to be True

No-Knead Bread, fresh from oven

The original No Knead Bread was started by Jim Lahey. Jim learned bread baking in Italy in the 1990s but developed the no knead process much later. In 2006, Mark Bittman of the New York Times was invited to witness the ease of making this bread at Lahey's Sullivan Street Bakery. The rest is history.

This history was all new to me in the summer of 2011. I went to the local farmers market and bought a loaf of what was called Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread. I love artisanal breads, with the crusty exteriors and plenty of chewiness on the inside. I did know of Mark Bittman, having watched "On the Road Again, in Spain" starring Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Bittman and Claudia Basols. I was curious. I bought the loaf and brought it home, tasted it and fell in love at first bite! I looked online to see if I could find this recipe and saw that it was available everywhere. I did not find out the recipe was from Jim Lahey until much later. 

Recipe Comparisons

Mark Bittman's recipe differs from Lahey's in some slight nuances. I have used the recipes both ways and can say that I prefer the Bittman version, at least in my home oven. Lahey adds less water and uses a 500 degree oven. Bittman uses a trifle more water and a 450 degree oven. The matter of water is a choice. With 2 tablespoons more water, the result is an interior with far larger holes. Using less water means the interior grain of the bread comes out more uniform.  The bread is still plenty chewy made either way and the oven temperature and time are easily adapted. Both recipes say that once the lid is removed, to bake for an additional 15 to 30 minutes. I do not like blackened crusts, so I stuck to the 450 degrees and only 8 - 10 minutes once the lid is removed.

My Experiences with No Knead Breads

Jim's Brown Bread

I made Mark Bittman's version of the bread for over a year, sometimes 3 times a week, when guests were around. I then got curious and went to the local library. I checked out the book "My Bread" by Jim Lahey and discovered another new world of bread flavors. To the same basic No-Knead recipe, Lahey added things for flavor. I made a few of these breads and all were marvelous. One had the addition of walnuts and raisins and was just delightful. One was called "Jim's Brown Bread" and was a take on Irish bread, using Guinness Stout and buttermilk in the dough. Another recipe had ½ pound of cubed cheese added in. Yet another had chunks of fried bacon added. Every recipe was just delicious. The bacon bread was nearly a sandwich all by itself.

Cheese No-Knead Bread, using Fontinella cheese

If you have not jumped onto this bandwagon yet, I urge everyone to try. The one requirement is a very heavy duty pot that will withstand oven temperatures of 450 to 500 degrees. This means an enameled cast iron pot, a clay baker with a lid, or a Pyrex glass baker with lid. The size must accommodate 6 to 8 quarts in order to contain the bread as it bakes. The handle on the lid of the enameled cast iron pots should be metal. The reason for this type of lidded pot is so that steam from the very wet dough is trapped inside. I did not own an enameled cast iron pot when I decided to try this bread, so I borrowed one from my sister-in-law. It had a resin knob on the lid. Twenty minutes into the baking process, I heard a very loud clang. It was the knob that had exploded! Those kind of knobs are oven safe to only 400 degrees. If you have a resin knob on your enameled cast iron, invest in a new metal knob as a replacement before starting.

Bacon Bread

The bane of any home baker when trying to create that artisanal crusty exterior is the inability to trap enough steam to accomplish that end. When the dough is inside a small, closed environment, and in high temperatures, the enclosed pot traps the steam needed for the perfect crust, right from the dough itself. When removed from the oven, the bread literally "sings". The bread snaps, pops, wheezes and makes many interesting sounds as it cools and is a delight to hear. Jim Lahey in his book mentions the  amazing sounds when at his bakery they have taken many multiples of loaves out of a very hot oven.

The recipe is found all over the internet, and my favorite method is the one by Mark Bittman. He has now come out with some more interesting nuances on making this bread, but I have the time at home to work with it, so I am not looking to make this a shorter process. In fact the entire process, which takes about 16 to 18 hours, requires a total of about 15 minutes of actual attention. Mix up the 4 ingredients the night before (takes about 3 minutes), cover and let it do its thing overnight while you sleep. Turn out onto a surface in the morning (takes about 10 seconds) cover and let stand for 15 minutes while you prepare breakfast. Form into a loaf and set to rise (takes about 1 minute). One and a half hours later, place the empty pot in the oven to heat for a half hour (takes about 10 seconds). Take out the pot, toss in the risen dough, put the lid back on and bake (takes less than 1 minute) for 30 minutes with lid, then another 10 to 30 minutes without the lid, depending on your preference. In between, you can accomplish a host of other household activities. Try out this recipe, because it does not disappoint.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.