Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day; recipe at post 30

hathor

Feeling suitably inspired after seeing Kevie's pics, I duly had another go, using bread flour, which was all I had to hand.

The dough mixed easily, then rose just as impressively as Kevie's. "Great!" I thought, "We're on our way." How wrong was I?

I refrigerated the dough - the book says it makes it easier to handle, and suggests that the flavour develops a little, too - then lifted out a grapefruit-sized piece to bake.

I cloaked it and shaped it, but have found (3 times now) that the dough just spreads out on the baking sheet into a wider disk, albeit higher in the middle than at the edges. I didn't lose hope right away, thinking maybe the loaf would rise in the oven, but although it did rise a little, it remained the same shape. It certainly wasn't the impressive boule loaf that Kevie produced.

Any clues as to where I'm going wrong? The kitchen's not warm, but the book led me to expect that it would simply take the dough longer to rise. I left the second one for a whole day without improvement, so I don't think temperature's the answer. I've got some in the kitchen now, and have even heated the room, but it isn't making any difference.

Is my dough too wet to hold its shape? Having said that, I haven't had any better luck on the rising front when I've used a loaf tin. I used yeast from a new tin, dated until 2012, so the yeast should be active, and the initial rise was very encouraging.

When baked, the loaf tastes okay, with a good crust, although the texture is closer to a crumpet than bread, if I'm honest.

Help, please; I so want this to work!

imogen-p

Hathor.

That sounds exactly like what happened when I tried to make 'no knead' bread.

It looked great until the point I took it out of the bowl and put it on the baking tray. The result once baked was something that looked like a crumpet crossed with a pizza base tasted okay though so.

I'm going to try it again using plain flour rather than bread flour as some people seem to get a better result with that, and put in a little less water. I'm fairly sure it wasn't the yeast as I'd only bought it the previous week and it should have been warm enough, it spent a whole day in the airing cupboard.

dunworking

this is how my dough behaves but because the taste is so good i am prepared to put up with this .We use this bread mainly for toast.Am going to try baking in a loaf tin.I think the thing about this bread is play around with method until you get what works for you.;)

hathor

Thanks for the rapid response, guys. It's good to know I'm not the only one.
I have tried plain flour - noting carefully the protein content - and plain blended with bread flour; I have also tried plain plus bran, using the appropriate recipe, but have yet to achieve the authentic bread-type product Kevie & the authors are producing. It's so frustrating when the method sounds so simple!

pixie1

Ive been and brought a tub big enough for my dough to grow today so Im going to make my first loaf tomorrow and if it goes ok and i work out how to, i will post some pictures

This thread is inspiring!

Pix

Dieselberry

Hi
Could anyone give me an idea of how many grams of flour and how much water as opposed to the cups.

What does one cup equal?

Dying to try this recipe but dont want to muck it up.

Thanks

building_with_lego

Someone earlier said 2lbs flour and 750mls water.
I'd go back to about page 3 to check but am feeling laaazy. Sorry

pixie1

Well I was so excited about trying to make this bread after distracting myself all night at 9:40pm last night I finally gave in :j

Mixing the dough was a good work-out thats for sure but easy to do at the same time.

This is him freshly mixed




This is him after 2 hours, fully rested



This is him with his hat on in the fridge



Now upto this stage I was really pleased with how he had turned out but today when i went to bake him .......... it didnt go so well. It was so sticky, could hardly mould it like the book says. Ive managed to put some on a tray and its currently resting. Im not holding out much hope to be honest, is there anyway I can save the rest? Can I add more flour? If so how because wont i loose all the yeast bubbles?

This is him flopped on the tray




I will post again once cooked.....I will share my disaster with you all lol.

Pix

P.S. Can anyone tell me how i re-size my photos so they are not so big? Im using photob@cket?

JillS_2

pixie1 wrote: »

...Now upto this stage I was really pleased with how he had turned out but today when i went to bake him .......... it didnt go so well. It was so sticky, could hardly mould it like the book says. Ive managed to put some on a tray and its currently resting. Im not holding out much hope to be honest, is there anyway I can save the rest? Can I add more flour? If so how because wont i loose all the yeast bubbles? ...

I got the impression reading loads of the comments on the site that you could add extra flour if your dough turned out really too sticky but that you needed to then let it rest again (i.e. I imagine from the stage at which you would have finished mixing the original dough)

WeBeBroke

hathor wrote: »

Feeling suitably inspired after seeing Kevie's pics, I duly had another go, using bread flour, which was all I had to hand.

The dough mixed easily, then rose just as impressively as Kevie's. "Great!" I thought, "We're on our way." How wrong was I?

I refrigerated the dough - the book says it makes it easier to handle, and suggests that the flavour develops a little, too - then lifted out a grapefruit-sized piece to bake.

I cloaked it and shaped it, but have found (3 times now) that the dough just spreads out on the baking sheet into a wider disk, albeit higher in the middle than at the edges. I didn't lose hope right away, thinking maybe the loaf would rise in the oven, but although it did rise a little, it remained the same shape. It certainly wasn't the impressive boule loaf that Kevie produced.

Any clues as to where I'm going wrong? The kitchen's not warm, but the book led me to expect that it would simply take the dough longer to rise. I left the second one for a whole day without improvement, so I don't think temperature's the answer. I've got some in the kitchen now, and have even heated the room, but it isn't making any difference.

Is my dough too wet to hold its shape? Having said that, I haven't had any better luck on the rising front when I've used a loaf tin. I used yeast from a new tin, dated until 2012, so the yeast should be active, and the initial rise was very encouraging.

When baked, the loaf tastes okay, with a good crust, although the texture is closer to a crumpet than bread, if I'm honest.

Help, please; I so want this to work!

I had this the first couple of times too and for me, the answer was my oven just wasn't hot enough - makes no difference how much longer you leave it to rise. I now have an oven thermometer and make sure it's up to between 230 - 250 deg celcius. Otherwise you just don't get that oven 'spring'. Other ovens may differ - mine is a huge oven (stupid stupid buy!) so it takes longer to warm up. But that's the temp that works for me.

However, it still tastes good even flat so not all bad

Persevere though, I'm on my 3rd batch and I love it - more importantly so do my boys and OH. Being a working mum the method really fits into my life and I feel a little bit like a Nigella:A

p.s I would use all strong bread flour to start - the protein content of plain flour in the UK is lower than that in the US - protein allows it to hold it's shape better and seems to produce a better loaf imo.