Sourdough Starter for Boule Bread

This is a recipe adapted from the book Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes A Day.  I say adapted because of the type of flour I use.  I recently purchased Hard White Wheat, Soft White Wheat and Hard Red Wheat berries and I am working on adapting all my recipes to include these flours instead of the all-purpose white flour.  My changes are in italics.

The purpose of a sourdough starter is one for the flavor and two for the convenience (for me) of having fresh dough readily available to bake bread quickly.  Since we started milling our own flour the time involved in baking bread has slightly increased and for me that is not a good thing.

Here is the recipe. If you can get through all the wording (it does seem extensive) and just follow the steps one by one you will realize making fresh bread every day really is not that daunting.  Once you have your starter you will have 4 lbs of fresh dough to make bread with for the next 2 weeks.

Ingredients:

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt or 1 1/2 tablespoons other coarse salt

6 1/2 cups flour, unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose (not strong) I used my Hard White Wheat flour

1 Preparing Dough for Storage:

2 Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. With cold water it will need 3-4 hours.

3 Add the yeast to the water in a 5 quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.

4 Mix in the flour and salt - kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula. Don't press down into the flour as you scoop or you'll throw off the measurement. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment, or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. If you're hand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don't knead, it isn't necessary. You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. It takes a few minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.

5 Allow to rise. Cover with lid (not airtight or it could explode the lid off). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approx 2 hours, depending on room temperature, and initial water temperature Longer rising times, up to 5 hours, won't harm the result.

6 You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature.

7 On Baking Day:

8 prepare your loaf tin, tray, or whatever you're baking it in/on. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with four. Pull up and cut of a grapefruit-size piece of dough (c 1 lb), using a serrated knife.

9 Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all 4 sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off - that's fine, it isn't meant to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will sort itself out during resting and baking.

10 The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 - 60 seconds.

11 Rest the loaf and let it rise in the form, on the tray/pizza peel, for about 40 minutes Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period. That's fine, more rising will occur during baking.

12 Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.

13 Dust and Slash. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a quarter inch deep cross, diagonal lines, or tic-tac-toe pattern on top using a serrated knife.

14 After a 20 min preheat you're ready to bake, even though the oven thermometer won't be at full temperature yet. Put your loaf in the oven. Pour about 1 cup of hot water (from the tap) into the broiler tray and close the oven to trap the steam.

15 Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.

16 Store the rest of the dough in the fridge in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days.

 

The flavour and texture improves, becoming like sourdough. Even 24 hours of storage improves the flavour.

17 This is the standard bread. There are loads of variations - both savory and sweet - in the book.

I would highly recommend buying this book or borrowing it from your local library.  

Recipe posted by: Tracy Lytle

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/5-minute-artisan-bread-325571#ixzz1NH4CBBeQ

No Knead, No Bread Machine Bread

This bread is great for sandwiches!  It is so super easy I am convinced anyone can make fresh, homemade bread!  

Get out your mixer and get ready for the most delicious bread!  

1/2 C. warm milk

1/2 C. hot water (I just turned on my faucet on the hottest it could go and took my water from here)

4 T. melted butter

3 T. brown sugar

3 C. flour

1 1/4 t. salt 

2 t. instant yeast

In order listed, place in your mixers bowl.  With the paddle attachment mix on high until it forms a dough that pulls away from the edges of the bowl.  Change to a bread kneading hook and mix on med. speed until a smooth ball forms (about 5 minutes).

Lightly grease bread pan and with lightly oiled hands press dough into the pan.  Cover with lightly greased plastic and place in a warm spot for 60 minutes or until risen just above the rim of the pan.

Bake bread at 350 for about 35 minutes, until it's light golden brown.

Chocolate Babka

I would call this a chocolate cinnamon roll. Delicious, easy and makes a good amount. I did a different variation of the streusel topping. From the reviews of this particular recipe everyone complained that the topping didn't stay on the dough. So I did it different and it turned out great! Definitely worth trying. I also did my dough in my bread machine on the dough setting. Took 1 1/2 hours and it came out perfect.

Chocolate Babka

Prep Time: 2 Hours 35 Minutes

Cook Time: 25 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours

Servings: 10

"These babka rings are made from a rich yeast dough spread with a chocolate and

cinnamon filling. The loaves are rolled up, finished with a sweet streusel topping, and

baked."

INGREDIENTS:

BABKA DOUGH

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

2 cups bread flour

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup water

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon salt

CHOCOLATE FILLING

5 (1 ounce) squares semisweet

chocolate, finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter, chilled

STREUSEL

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, chilled

1 egg beaten with

1 tablespoon water for glaze (optional)

**MY TOPPING**

2 tablespoons of milk

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1/4 c. sugar

I brushed on milk, the sprinkled with sugar, brushed on butter and sprinkled with remaining sugar.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Warm the milk and melt 1/4 cup butter in a glass or ceramic bowl in the microwave

for 30 seconds, or on the stovetop in a saucepan. Combine the bread flour, 2 cups

all-purpose flour, yeast, and 1/4 cup sugar. Add the water, the milk-butter mixture,

the egg, and the salt to the dry ingredients and mix well.

2. Use the dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed or knead the dough by hand

until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too wet,

add more bread flour, about 2 tablespoonfuls at a time (up to 8 tablespoons) to

make a workable dough; too much flour can make the dough dry. Cover the dough

with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

3. Make the chocolate filling and the streusel while the dough is rising. For the filling,

stir together the finely chopped chocolate, the cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. Cut in

1/4 cup chilled butter with a fork. To make the streusel, combine the confectioners'

sugar and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter until the mixture

resembles coarse crumbs.

4. When the dough has doubled, punch the dough down and cut it into two equal

pieces. Loosely shape each piece into a ball. Cover the dough with a damp cloth

and let it rest for 10 minutes.

5. Roll out one portion on a lightly floured surface to form a 15x4-inch rectangle.

Sprinkle with half the chocolate filling, roll up to form a long log, and seal the seam.

Attach the ends to form a circle and place the ring, seam-side down, on a

parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Use a

serrated knife or kitchen shears to cut slits at 1-inch intervals around the rings.

Cover the rings with damp kitchen towels and let rise until doubled in size, about 30

minutes.

6. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

7. Brush the loaves with the egg wash, if desired. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake the

loaves for about 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets to promote even browning,

until the bread is a deep golden brown.

**CAUTION** Do not unless you REALLY want to ruin how awesome these taste!

Nutrition

Information

Servings Per Recipe: 10

Calories: 477

Amount Per Serving

Total Fat: 20.4g

Cholesterol: 80mg

Sodium: 296mg

Amount Per Serving

Total Carbs: 65.5g

Dietary Fiber: 2.8g

Protein: 9.5g

Posted By : Tracy

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 4/24/2010

This recipe was taken from the Kellogg's All-Bran website. I added 3 T. of ground flax seed with the cereal and banana mixture. I also needed to cooked it 1hr 15min - with the last 15min. on a speed bake (if your oven has that setting). Came out super moist and delicious.

Banana Date Bread

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings: 16

Ingredients

2	cups all-purpose flour
1	teaspoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1/2	teaspoon salt
3/4	cup chopped, pitted dates
1/3	cup boiling water
1 1/2	cups All-Bran® Original
	or 1 1/2 cups All-Bran® Bran Buds®
1 1/2 cups	mashed, fully ripe bananas
1/2 cup	margarine or butter, softened
3/4 cup	sugar
2	eggs
1/2 cup	coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
1. Stir together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.

2. In medium mixing bowl, stir together dates and water. Cover, let stand 10 minutes. Add KELLOGG'S ALL-BRAN cereal and bananas. Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens.

3. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl, beat margarine and sugar until well combined. Add eggs. Beat well. Mix in cereal mixture. Stir in flour mixture and nuts. Spread batter evenly in 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake at 350° F about 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. For easier slicing, wrap tightly and store overnight in refrigerator.

Yield: 1 loaf, 16 slices

posted by: Tracy

Homemade Hamburger & Hotdog Buns

Homemade Hamburger Buns (Bread Machine) Recipe #80413

You will never want to buy hamburger buns again after trying this recipe. Easy to do using a bread machine and so awesome! You can also top rolls with sesame seeds after brushing with melted butter.

by Marie

19 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 12

• 1 1/4 cups milk, slightly warmed
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place all ingredients in pan of bread machine according to manufacturer's directions.
2. Select dough setting.
3. When cycle is complete, turn out onto floured surface.
4. Cut dough in half and roll each half out to a 1" thick circle.
5. Cut each half into six 3 1/2" rounds with inverted glass as a cutter.
6. Place on greased baking sheet far apart and brush with melted butter.
7. Cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour.
8. Bake at 350° for 9 minutes.
9. Note: Oven temperatures vary so check after 9 minutes to see if done. Some reviewers baked these anywhere from 12 to 30 minutes.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com Nutrition Facts Serving Size 1 (75g) Recipe makes 12 servings Calories 198 Calories from Fat 32 (16%) Amount Per Serving %DV Total Fat 3.7g 5% Saturated Fat 2.0g 9% Monounsaturated Fat 1.0g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3g Trans Fat 0.0g Cholesterol 26mg 8% Sodium 178mg 7% Potassium 94mg 2% Total Carbohydrate 35.3g 11% Dietary Fiber 1.1g 4% Sugars 4.3g Protein 5.6g 11% Vitamin A 114mcg 2% Vitamin B6 0.0mg 2% Vitamin B12 0.1mcg 2% Vitamin C 0mg 0% Vitamin E 0mcg 0% Calcium 39mg 3% Iron 1mg 10%

posted by:tracy

Irish Soda Bread

This is perfect with a steaming hot bowl of Irish Stew. Perfect for celebrating St. Patrick's Day at home! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

6 c. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1.5 t. baking soda
2 t. salt
4 t. sugar
2.5 cups buttermilk
2 T. butter
1/2 c. raisins (optional) I don't add these!

DIRECTIONS:

Combine flour and next 4 ingredients in large bowl.
Combine buttermilk, butter, and raisins, if using. Add to flour mixture.
Turn dough on well floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place on greased baking sheet. Press dough evenly into a 1 1/2" thick circle.
Bake at 325 for one hour or until bread sounds hollow when thumped.

Posted by Debi Walter