Anyone make their own bread?

[smokinghole]

Well I made some bread recently. This time I tried a new technique as outlined here.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

YouTube Video

Here's my successful attempt. I did not have any of the aforementioned heavy cast iron type cook ware but i did have an all metal enameled coleman camping pot. I need to get a good cast iron dutch oven for future attempts.

Anyhow here's the loaf and a picture of a slice of it with a braised chicken leg and pasts.

[smokinghole]

GUYS HERE IS AN EASY BREAD RECIPE AND YOUR WIVES WILL THINK YOU ARE THE BOMB!!!!

For you NO YEAST/NO KNEADING guys this one is great

Beer Bread. The easy way

3 cups of self rising flour
2 table spoons of sugar
1 12 oz beer

Combine all ingredients and place in a buttered loaf pan. I am partial to butter on the pan opposed to shortening, because butter tastes so damn good.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. Let cool a bit, but it is really good when warm.

Now this recipe will make a ton of different breads. All you have to do is add herbs or spices to your liking, but the easiest way is to change the beer. A Newcastle will deepen the flavor, and a coors light will lighten it. All of them are really good.
Also next day wrap a piece or two in saran wrap and microwave it…still good stuff.

I recently made a loaf of beer bread too. I put an additional twist on it. Instead of adding regular table sugar I added some Indian jaggery sugar, caramel beer grain, and a touch of chocolate malt grain. The beer I used was Old Chub which between the beer and the chocolate malt it gave the bread a very dark color.

[Jenady]

You have some great looking loaves posted. Great work!

I bake 6 loaves a month for the three of us. I do mainly white and whole wheat sandwich loaves. I have made a variety of artisan ans sourdough loaves, bagels, english muffins, and soft pretzels. I have been baking for several years. You just can not buy as good as you can bake.

[smokinghole]

Bread for Turkey Day. Suck it you $5 a loaf bakeries!