YooHoo Joe or anyone else...A while back, you Joe, gave me

orchid

Well-known member
some great tips on making bread and what I might be doing wrong and it made me want to try again. I don't take failure well so I finally jumped back in this morning and made the English Bread Loaf that (I think) Dawn/Mo posted. It always pancaked as I would move it to the oven when I did it and you told me some of the mistakes I was doing. It is a huge improvement from what I ever did before. It's actually a normal size loaf! However, it looked perfect when I put it in the oven (just risen to crown with the loaf pan) and when I looked at it 35 minutes later it had slightly fallen in the middle. So, I was just trying to find that thread and ran across this post from Paul with a pic of his bread so I'm posting it here so I don't have to mess with doing one because it looks exactly like his. So maybe it is fine? I haven't cut it yet but there was never a problem with the flavor, just being to flat. Any thoughts anyone?http://eat.at/swap/forum1/201086_first_attempt_with_12_yo_daughter

 
It might have over-risen a bit. The loaf should still be "on the way up" when it goes in the oven

and it should rise more in the heat of the oven. If it proofs too long, the dough might get over-stretched and the oven push will break the gluten strands and deflate it. It should still taste good though--just not be picture perfect.

Also, if you slashed the top of the loaf you might have gone in too deep. You want to slice horizontally, with the razor or knife blade almost parallel to the top surface of the dough. This opens up the dough for a higher rise. Cutting straight down into the dough will deflate it.

Hope that helps.

 
Hmmm..OK. First off, this was the English Muffin Bread. I think I

may have forgot to say that. It had risen to the edge with maybe just a little hump but not much so next time I'll go a little less. I don't think I was supposed to slash it though. Thanks Joe

EDIT: Oops I did say it was the English Muffin Bread so was I supposed to slash it?

 
I've never made the English Muffin bread, so my comments were more general

Slashing was obviously not the problem, but it still might have over-risen a bit.

 
I made it twice this week and 3 out of 4 loaves had a little dip in them. I

consider that nothing but aesthetic and don't worry about it. I'm inclined to say it's because there's less protein/gluten development than most breads--since in this recipe, your'e not kneading the dough or using any bread flour.

 
I have certainly learned that I didn't understand what the rise should

be. I'm feeling much better about all this and now I think I want to make a focaccia. Any recipes that I should start with?

 
This is my signature focaccia with fresh sage. If you've made pizza, you can make focaccia

It's just a pizza with less stuff on it and a short rise before baking.

FRESH SAGE FOCACCIA


Adapted from Moosewood Collective. (Original recipe calls for rosemary, which is also good.)


3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 cup boiling water
1 packet (2 tsp). dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1¼ cup whole wheat flour
1¼ cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tablespoon olive oil, divided
3-4 sage sprigs
1 tsp. coarse sea salt


Place the chopped sage in the bowl of an electric mixer and pour the boiling water over it. Let steep until tepid. Add the yeast and sugar and let sit until foamy.

Stir in the whole-wheat flour and enough of the white flour to make a soft dough. Add 1 tsp. salt and 1 Tbs. olive oil. Knead in the mixer, using a dough hook, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise to over double its original volume, about 1½ hours.

Turn out onto floured surface and roll or stretch, like a pizza, into a 12” round. Transfer to oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Cover with plastic and let rise until puffed up, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375° F.

Spread two tablespoons olive oil over dough. With two fingers, poke depressions all aver the surface about 2” apart. Swipe the sage sprigs across the surface to coat the leaves with oil, and then arrange them decoratively on top. Sprinkle the surface with the coarse sea salt

Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

 
Thanks, I think I'll use my rosemary for it. By the way, someone

stole our rosemary plant! Really can't figure that out. These people are 80 and 90 years old so not any of them. Must be a worker around the grounds but why the rosemary? You'd think it would be the basil and everyone knows they are welcome to cut what ever they need. Oh well, just bought a new one and rosemary grows fast.

 
That has me chuckling. We have a deer problem here and rosemary is one thing they won't eat. There

is rosemary everywhere! So much in my yard.

 
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