Okay, so the baking group I joined has already started... it is primarily focusing on the 2nd book: Healthy Breads and I'm already behind. I lamely forgot to order my vital wheat gluten, so while I'm awaiting it's arrival I've just been working up some loaves from the first book. The group has a pretty aggressive baking schedule so we'll see how that goes, but thankfully it seems fairly loose and admittedly I still need to figure out it's inner workings... It's all a learning curve. Please note for my regular readers that we're not allowed to share the recipes from the books - since they're still essentially hot off the printing press - but at only 15$ a pop there's no excuse to not step up and support the authors. So nab yourself a copy. You'll thank me later.
The first two loaves I did this week... sort of got... Eaten... before any photos could be taken. Oops. What can I say, they were tasty. So without further ado: Today's Efforts.
Master Dough recipe from ABin5 pgs 26-31. Thoroughly mix dry ingredients and water together to form a wet dough. Store in a covered non-airtight container and allow to rise for 2 hours. Then store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. This was day 4 for this batch.
When you're ready for a loaf, simply pull a grapefruit sized (1 lb) amount of dough, shape and allow to rise/rest for 40 minutes. Pre-heat oven and once ready to bake, score loaves. Bake at 450 for 30 minutes. Pictured below are two 1 lb loaves, after 40 minutes, scored and ready to go.
For whatever reason I always need to bake mine for about 40 minutes. At 30 minutes they're cooked through, but the crust isn't nicely browned. And I think there must be a trick to the pre-bake scoring... mine usually look fine before they enter the oven. Never the less, upon completion they tend to metamorphosis into something less stellar in appearance and lose all definition. Although taste is never an issue.
I have had to get used to the fact that this bread doesn't actually rise much as it rests. But I have had great success in it's "oven spring" rise.
I'm loving the texture and flavor of these Artisan Breads. Easily comparing to my favorite bakery... and saving me loads of "dough". Two loaves similar to these would have set me back about $4.00 each. So I've already saved $16 dollars this week and it's only Wednesday ;)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
HBin5... Week One
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6 comments:
Looking forward to seeing your finished loafs and baking with you. I have good results using my bread knife (serrated edge)for the scoring. it goes straight through rather than tearing the dough like it seems to happen when i try touse the lame. From the finished loaf it appears that you are using enough flour on top. My first few tries the knife sort of got stuck ad caused a torn crust. I agree with the added time. The AB book mentioned only about half the time I used. Mine takes about 45-50 min.
Welcome to the group! Your breads look lovely so far. I'm a big fan of the original Master Recipe, too, but I'm trying very hard to stay away from all white flour, so the HBin5 recipes are saving me :) You'll love those, too, I'll bet!
Beautiful breads! I love that the book has already paid for itself. Welcome to the group and it will be fun baking together!
looks terrific!
Your bread is so perfectly shaped...I am jealous! The AB5 Master recipe is one of my all time favorites. Nice slashing too!
I will link you up to the HBinFive Gadget.
What a fun group. I'm jealous. I had not heard of it and had it shipped and delivered just yesterday. Have the first batch in my oven after making my dough last night from the first master recipe. Keeping my fingers crossed. I am a big whole wheat fan, so looking forward to trying a batch of that next, although Michael would rather I bake all white breads LOL! I need one of those big containers I think!
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