# Anyone love to bake bread?



## OHmama (Jun 3, 2013)

I do but don"t get to near enough. Right now I'm thinking of buying a pizza stone and some nice loaf pans. Also looking for a recipe book with tons of different breads..any suggestions?


----------



## upnorthlady (Oct 16, 2009)

I have been baking all our breads for over 40 years. My favorite book for breads is America's Bread Book by Mary Gubser. The recipes are good, straightforward and no weird ingredients. I also like any bread book by Beth Hensberger. I have several of her books and they are all good. Another very good book is out of print but I see that you can still get it on Amazon and that is the Red Star Centennial Bread Sampler. Just about any recipe in that one is great. 
I have heard folks recommend the King Arthur Baking Book, and it's OK, but I have not had good luck with some of the recipes in there. Some were good, some not. 
Good luck and happy baking!


----------



## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

I've been baking bread for 40 years also. One of my favorite bread books is The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. I'm partial to whole grain breads and wasn't pleased with the quality of 100% whole grain breads until I began using this book. It includes recipes for all types of bread.

Beth Hensperger is another favorite author. Her The Pleasures of Whole-Grain Breads and Bread for All Seasons are excellent. If you like using a bread machine, her The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook is the best source I've seen with over 300 recipes.

I found Homesteading Today while searching for information about grinding bean flour. The thread I read directed me to www.breadbeckers.com. That site has some great video tutorials about baking bread, and Sue Becker's "Recipe Collection" for only $6.00 has recently become my main source for bread recipes. I particularly like one recipe that can be used to make bread, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, brown and serve dinner rolls, fresh apple bread and a turkey sausage filled bread.

I have a pizza stone and like it very much. I leave it on the bottom rack of my oven all the time. It helps maintain oven heat. 

Enjoy your adventure into bread making. Have fun.


----------



## mountainlaurel (Mar 5, 2010)

I have been baking bread for years. I grind my own flour as well which I think makes the bread taste even better. I use Marilyn Moll's honey whole wheat recipe for my standard bread.
I usually make 3 loaves with this recipe, this week, I made two regular loaves and two small cinnamon raisin bread loaves. I always make my rolls too. When I have company, I love serving them fresh hot rolls. Everyone seems to enjoy them with homemade jelly or local honey. 
It took me years of not giving up to get my bread up to where it is now. My poor kids ate a lot of crumbly sandwiches in their school lunches before I understood about how much using vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer helped in whole wheat recipes. 
I find making bread theraputic and even though I have a kitchen aid mixer, I always knead by hand. It gives me time to think


----------



## freelove (Jun 17, 2005)

No book to recommend - too many to list - but http://www.kingarthurflour.com has loads of recipes, videos, tutorials and a hotline for trouble shooting. 

I am joining the "baking bread for over 40 years" club. I don't really use recipes anymore except as a guideline.


----------



## OHmama (Jun 3, 2013)

I would love to make my own flour!!
No bread machine, I like the old fashioned way.
So far this week,I have made 2 loaves of honey wheat and some foccacia..thinking of cinnamon maybe next...


----------



## Wolfy-hound (May 5, 2013)

I'm just starting bread. I've baked two loaves that were edible.

I'll branch out into other recipes, but today it's hard, so many recipes are for bread machines!


----------



## BlackWillowFarm (Mar 24, 2008)

If you want a great bread book that explains the why's and how's of baking bread plus some really delicious recipes, take a look at, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart.

I bake bread every week. Usually wheat I grind right before I make the bread and raisin cinnamon bread which replaced my Pop Tarts.  

I've made Challah, French, Italian, Kaiser rolls, cinnamon rolls, Pain de l'Ancienne (which is a killer recipe!), sour dough, white bread, baguettes.... Can't remember what else. We love bread so I make a lot of it.

For bread pans, my favorites are from King Arthur Flour. They're really heavy and bake everything evenly. I use a pizza stone in the oven for baking on but also to keep and hold a steady temperature when baking bread. I start the oven during the last rise so it's up to temp and completely warmed before the bread goes in.

Baking bread is fun. I hope you get a chance to make more soon.


----------



## freelove (Jun 17, 2005)

Wolfy-hound, you can make bread machine recipes without a bread machine. I made a peasant bread yesterday that was originally a bread machine recipe. I tweaked it and made it without using a bread machine. It came out great. This one was just mixed in the b.m. so it wasn't a big adjustment. I changed the flour and other ingredients to suit myself and mixed it in my Kitchenaid. It is (now) a very wet dough so the KA does a great job. I grind my own flour so I used some of that and some of King Arthur's high gluten organic flour. 

I have adapted other bread machine recipes for making without a bread machine. Just use the ingredients from the original recipe and follow the instructions for a similar recipe that uses no machine. Most bread recipes are pretty standard. Liquid, sweetening, yeast, flour, salt and fat. Then add the enhancements - grains, seeds, fruit, eggs, etc. adjust the dry or liquid to make the dough that you want. Of course there are lots of different methods, long, short, sponge, straight, overnight, no-knead, etc. Use what works for you.


----------



## Lilycatherine (Sep 2, 2011)

I too make lots of bread and love to make and eat it. I love the really crusty, chewy, with big irregular holes bread as well as the fine grained soft breads. Too many loves to even pick a favorite. There are lots of my favorite recipes that I am happy to share listed under yeast bread on thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com Welcome to anyone who is interested. Diane


----------



## sss3 (Jul 15, 2007)

Would you share your focasha-sp? recipe?


----------



## slimbo (Aug 10, 2013)

super hot wood fire ,,, smoked pizza the best


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

We don't use loaf pans anymore. We like the crusty bread from a bread stone in the woodstove oven, rolls and crackers. Nice big chewy rolls are my favorites. We don't grind the grain, we sprout. Another good way is in a dutch oven....James


----------



## BanTam (May 11, 2013)

I recommend the website http://www.thefreshloaf.com it really is THE site for bread bakers.

Whatever you do, do* NOT *make this bread: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread

...cause you'll hide it from your family just so you can have it all to yourself!


----------



## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

http://www.breadbeckers.com/

Love their "recipe collections" book (it has a red cover).
I have not baked bread in ages......but after reading this thread, I feel a little more inclined to do so!!


----------



## CJ (May 10, 2002)

I bake all our bread, and have for over 20 years. I also grind our flour for wheat and rye breads, although we love white flour in sourdough.

Yesterday's sourdough French loaf:


----------



## BanTam (May 11, 2013)

That's a gorgeous loaf of bread! Do you use a wood oven or have a convection oven?? I ask because it looks like you used high heat, but you have beautiful all around color, too.

I have sourdough starter in my fridge but haven't fed it in a year...? Maybe I should take a bit out and start over. It's not going to kill me...RIGHT?


----------



## CJ (May 10, 2002)

Thanks! This particular loaf was baked in our electric oven, inside a pre-heated cloche. I'm lucky that my oven goes to 550 degrees... which is what I preheat the cloche too, but then I drop the temp to 475 to bake it.

Sometimes I bake my bread on our big green egg, which does a fabulous job too.

Not so sure about restarting a culture that old. I use mine every couple of days. For future reference, if you're not going to use it for a while, tear off a sheet of wax paper, spread 1/2 cup of your starter in a thin layer on it, let dry, crumble it up and freeze it.



BanTam said:


> That's a gorgeous loaf of bread! Do you use a wood oven or have a convection oven?? I ask because it looks like you used high heat, but you have beautiful all around color, too.
> 
> I have sourdough starter in my fridge but haven't fed it in a year...? Maybe I should take a bit out and start over. It's not going to kill me...RIGHT?


----------



## Smallhomestead (Feb 25, 2011)

My pizza stone is what I got at the hardware store years ago. It's just a ceramic tile that I put in the oven for my pizzas. I look everywhere for bread recipes sometimes the old cookbooks have some simple recipes.


----------



## BanTam (May 11, 2013)

CJ - I just Googled bread Cloche and I'm sure I NEED one now!!  After all of these years I guess I can still learn something new!

Thank God for brains. 

Smallhomestead - I found a Pampered Chef baking stone at a thrift store and I use it for the ciabatta bread I mentioned above.

Some day... (inserted on my hub's behalf)...I'd like to have an outdoor wood oven.


----------



## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

CJ said:


> Thanks! This particular loaf was baked in our electric oven, inside a pre-heated cloche. I'm lucky that my oven goes to 550 degrees... which is what I preheat the cloche too, but then I drop the temp to 475 to bake


Oh! CJ, your bread looks delicious. I'm going to feed my sourdough right now and bake some tomorrow. I have a pampered chef stoneware deep dish baker and a stoneware bowl that fits on top of it (the bowl upside down) and makes a useable cloche; and my oven will heat to 550. How long do you bake your loaf after you turn the heat down?


----------



## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

What does a pizza/bread stone do, that is different than not having one? I make mostly whole wheat, grind the berries, and use Marilyn Moll's honey wheat recipes also. I've been considering getting a stone, but not sure I'd like it. I don't like crusty chewy bread! I'm more of a soft bread gal.


----------



## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

My new favorite bread book is "Wildflour" (not misspelled) by Denise M. Fidler. Most of the recipes are whole grain and large, 4-5 loaves. It is geared toward the Bosch Universal mixer for kneading such a large mass of bread dough. In fact, I purchased the book nearly two years ago and had been yearning for that mixer ever since. (just purchased it last month and have since been getting it to pay for itself by taking 10 loaves at a time to the farmers market.) Such fun.


----------



## BanTam (May 11, 2013)

I baked some pretzels and pretzel hotdog buns the other day, using Alton Brown's soft pretzel recipe and a lye bath from another site. It was my first time using (food grade) lye in cooking.

I took this photo before they were done, but the lye made the most beautiful brown crust! They also had that "old fashioned taste" which comes from the lye bath.

View attachment 14986


EDIT: Okay, I'm pretty sure that I should post the recipe links in the "BREAD" thread...? This cooking thread is not easy for a newbie to follow!


----------

