never made bread before....

Biggles

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

I'll probably knock up a couple of loaves of my normal two rise bread over the weekend and give the fridge bread another go after Easter when things settle down again. Sometimes I find what is needed with bread is a bit of a break and then it just works the next time

Sounds like it rose far too much; it should only rise for an hour or so outside the fridge, not overnight.

Either that, or put it inside the fridge to rise overnight, which it does much more slowly and, allegedly, improves the flavour.

FairyPrincessk

You are probably right Biggles. The bread has a very chewy texture which tells me the gluten might be over forming a little bit, and fairly large holes in it--which means lots of air. It also has quite a strong yeasty flavour which is almost a bit sour--all pointing to too much rise time. I don't know why this didn't occur to me. The reason I left it out overnight is that our kitchen isn't much warmer than our fridge. My normal bread usually needs about three times the recommended rise time unless I turn the oven into a rising box (i know there is a word for those but can't think of it now). I should regroup and try again in a couple of weeks.:D

Biggles

FairyPrincessk wrote: »

You are probably right Biggles. The bread has a very chewy texture which tells me the gluten might be over forming a little bit, and fairly large holes in it--which means lots of air. It also has quite a strong yeasty flavour which is almost a bit sour--all pointing to too much rise time. I don't know why this didn't occur to me. The reason I left it out overnight is that our kitchen isn't much warmer than our fridge. My normal bread usually needs about three times the recommended rise time unless I turn the oven into a rising box (i know there is a word for those but can't think of it now). I should regroup and try again in a couple of weeks.:D

To be fair, the original American recipe did say allow to rise for 1-2 hours, then put in fridge.

As regards 'rising box', my word for them is 'mixing bowl with clingfilm over the top in the airing cupboard'. ;-)

wm3010

Honeythief, I tried your first recipe - make up dough, leave out overnight, put in fridge then bake a batch the following night (with some leftover for another loaf). It didn't turn out quite as light as I'd hoped but definitely had potential and I was impressed by how little work was involved. I think next time it probably needs more water, someone pointed out on another thread that you are supposed to spoon flour into cups rather than just dip in the bag as if you do it the second way you end up with much more. Do you usually bake straight from the fridge or leave to rise?

Honeythief

There can be a variation in amounts if you scoop flour rather than spooning it in, yes, and the amount of water required can also vary depending on your particular type of flour and type of environment. I am not skilled enough to begin tweaking those things yet but it sounds like you're there already.

I pretty much bake straight from the fridge with that first no-knead recipe. The dough is out on the counter while the oven is pre-heating but that's it. I've been really happy with the results but somebody with more experience might see lots of potential for tweaks and improvements.

aliama

Just a quick head's up, Paul Hollywood has a new series starting Monday the 18th at 8:30 and it's all about bread. Slightly ashamedto say I already have the book, and have made three of the recipes from it already, and they've all been a success, so I expect the TV show will be well worth watching.

wm3010

I don't know about skilled, I just wondered why my dough wasn't as wet as other people's seemed to be! My bread didn't seem to rise that much, that's why I wondered about leaving it out of the fridge for a while before baking.

Thanks for the Paul Hollywood tip, I would love that book!

aliama

wm3010 wrote: »

I don't know about skilled, I just wondered why my dough wasn't as wet as other people's seemed to be! My bread didn't seem to rise that much, that's why I wondered about leaving it out of the fridge for a while before baking.

Thanks for the Paul Hollywood tip, I would love that book!

So far it's been pretty good, although I do have a couple of issues. There aren't that many recipes (maybe around 80). Basically it gives a bread recipe (with a mixture of of traditional breads, flat bread, sour bread etc) and then a recipe in which to use the bread.

I think one of the papers is giving away a booklet with some of the recipes in. I've seen the advert on telly, but can't remember which paper it is. Sorry. I'll keep an eye out.