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bakerman
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24-01-2020, 03:47 AM
1

The secret to great bread

There are, of course, many formulas for making bread. Many of them are made within a few hours. However, those formulas do not take into consideration that "good bacteria's" take much longer to develop than the yeast. The "good bacteria" is what results in fantastic flavorful bread.

So, what is the secret ? TIME. Only through time can good bacteria develop into a wonderful bread.. It takes TIME to develop bacteria Much, much longer than the yeast.

There are numerous "pre-ferments" which develop good bacteria. In France, a poolish is often used, in Italy a biga is often used. These are only two types of pre-ferments. There are many more.

Without becoming too complicated, other factors are temperature and hydration percentage.

I will start out with the easiest pre-ferment … a biga. A biga is much thicker than , say a polish, and it is more forgiving.

continued...
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24-01-2020, 05:15 AM
2

Re: The secret to great bread

Italian style bread

Enough to make one large fat loaf.
This assumes you have a scale that measures in grams.

1/4 cup of slightly warm water in a very small cup
1/4 tsp of dry yeast, mix with the water and set aside.
In a separate small bowl, pour 113 gram of water.
add 36 gram of whole wheat flour.
add 36 gram of semolina flour.
88 gram of un-bleached bread flour.
carefully spoon out only 2 tsp of the yeasted water and combine with all of the above. (discard remaining yeasted water)
Stir for aprox 2 minutes to combine very well.
Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and let ferment on the kitchen counter for 12-14 hours. This is the biga and it should now be slightly more than doubled with many bubbles on top. If it has a strong aroma, that is GREAT.

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24-01-2020, 05:37 AM
3

Re: The secret to great bread

Continued Italian style bread

Dough
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, pour 77 gran of water
3/8 tsp of dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar
152 gram of unbleached bread flour
40 gram of semolina flour
Add all of the biga (last page).

Using dough hook, mix for 4 minutes, ON LOW SPEED, NEVER EVER ON HIGH.
cover and let rest 30 minutes (this is called autolyze)
add 1 1/8th tsp salt
add 2 tsp olive oil
Mix again on low speed for 4 minutes more
It may be necessary to stop mixing to shove flour down so it gets mixed properly.
Remove to a lightly floured counter and hand knead for 3 minutes.
cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1/2 hour
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24-01-2020, 06:12 AM
4

Re: The secret to great bread

We are now going to do something called a "French fold". This helps greatly in developing dough strength.

Take the dough and stretch it out in one direction only (both left and right)
Fold dough into thirds, cover and rest 20 minutes
Repeat as above, 2 more times (for a total of 3 French folds)

Lightly oil a medium sized bowl.
Put dough into bowl, cover and allow to BULK FERMENT UNTIL DOUBLED. This depends upon kitchen temp aprox 2 hours.

When doubled, turn out onto a lightly floured counter and lightly de-gas with your fingers.
Now begin to shape into a loaf
Stretch out to aprox 14 inches (35 cm.)
working from the long side, fold dough up and over. Pinch the seam very well. Using your hands roll the dough back and forth (but NOT stretching it out) until you have a nice shaped loaf.

Assuming you have a baked clay bread baker, about 14 inch long rectangle with a baked clay cover.
Lift dough and put into a baked clay bread baker. (seam side down). Cover with bread baker top. Let rest on counter for aprox 1 1/2 hours OR until it has ALMOST doubled. After 1/2 hour start to pre-heat oven to 450 F (232 C.)

When dough/loaf has doubled, take your lame (or a new razor blade and MOVING VERY QUICKLY, make a slash down the center of loaf to about 3/4 inch deep (about 2 cm.) This is optional but it will allow your bread to rise to max height.

Re-cover the dough/loaf with baked clay top. Bake for 25 minutes. Use a oven mitt and remove the baker top. Continue baking for 14 minutes more (with top off).

Turn off oven. Very carefully(its supper hot) use a spatula to remove loaf from clay baker and put loaf on an oven rack with the oven door wide open and allow to cool to room temp (even though oven is turned off and door open the bread is STILL baking. ).

If you do not have a clay baker you can use 2 or more small bread pans.
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24-01-2020, 06:28 AM
5

Re: The secret to great bread

Crikey BM that's a lot of work for a slice of bread, life's too short...
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24-01-2020, 07:14 AM
6

Re: The secret to great bread

Originally Posted by Barry ->
Crikey BM that's a lot of work for a slice of bread, life's too short...
Yes, it is a tad of work. But not a problem for those who love baking. Most of it is merely the waiting time.

Some guys love fine wood-working and he might spend 6 months making a magnificent dining table and 6 chairs. Why ? Because he loves it, as I love baking. Nothing is too long if you love doing it.
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24-01-2020, 08:37 AM
7

Re: The secret to great bread

I was going to say something similar to Barry.

My secret for great bread is a trip to the Vietnamese bakery down the road.
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24-01-2020, 08:48 AM
8

Re: The secret to great bread

I like that Italian bread recipe, Bakerman, and have copied it into my recipe folder. I love to cook - so will definitely give that one a try.
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bakerman
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24-01-2020, 09:08 AM
9

Re: The secret to great bread

Originally Posted by Silver Tabby ->
I like that Italian bread recipe, Bakerman, and have copied it into my recipe folder. I love to cook - so will definitely give that one a try.
Tabby, Not to worry. It takes more time to read than it does to actually do the work. I hope you enjoy it.

If you, or anyone else has any problems, please let me know and I'll walk you through whatever the problem is.
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24-01-2020, 12:10 PM
10

Re: The secret to great bread

I have been making my own bread for some time now.
I just follow the recipe as in the manual except I use 300gm. of white flour, and 100gm of brown flour. 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and one teaspoon of salt, 280ml of water. It takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, cooks or bakes for 2 hours in the machine. I and the others that have tried it say it is good.
 
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