Time to Try BREAD

[Oven_Man]

Hi Guys

Since building my WFO, all I ever did was Pizza in it. A few days ago, after a successful run with Pizza's I decided to throw in some foil wrapped potatoes and have a go at Baked Potatoes and all I can say is wow - if was divine. Just slit it cross way and drop a tad bit butter and dig in - everyone liked it so much that they started wrapping their own potatoes and throwing it into the oven - yummmmy.

Now that I have a little more experience with my WFO, I thought it would be a good idea to try out new things and the first thing that caught my eye was bread - it actually caught my eye a long time ago. I always thought Bread would be easier that Pizza since it doesn't contain any toppings but little did I realize that Bread Baking is actually more challenging from a Dough Management Point of view than Pizza. So I thought to myself where do I start and that's why I'm here asking for some assistance and a starting point.

I don't have a Cast Iron Baking Pan for Bread so not sure if 1 is necessary.

Please can someone give me a starting point for a Easy Bread Recipe that doesn't require a baking pan and can go directly on the hearth?

Thanks

[oblertone]

Re: Time to Try BREAD

I've been baking bread in a conventional oven for quite some time; yet to try it in my WFO but it's on the list. Several factors are common to both but the most important one is heat. Anything over 230c will kill yeast activity and prevent a gradual rise so you need to ride the heat gradient with care; having said that, flour is relatively cheap so do experiment. The mix below is fairly robust but try to keep added water to a minimum otherwise your sloppy dough will slump.

600gm Strong white flour
300gm Brown wholemeal flour
2 tea spoons (10gm) each of salt and sugar
2 tea spoons fast acting yeast
4 table spoons olive oil
600 ml of warm water (try to have some left over)
Semolina flour for dusting

Mix all dry ingredients, then add all the oil and most of the water, I cheat and use a stand mixer but doing it in a bowl by hand gets all the muck out from under your nails.
Use just enough water to get all the flour to combine then knead until the dough becomes smooth, or until a light finger impression in the dough bounces back almost immediately. Put the dough in a bowl and cover it; after about 90mins left at ambient room temp it will have doubled in size. Knead it on a floured surface until it goes back to original size then divide in two. Form two balls/ovals/plaits whatever you fancy then dust these shapes with semolina flour, place them on a flat surface dusted with lots more semolina, cover with a light cloth and leave them to rise until they are just a bit smaller than you were hoping for.

When your oven is at or about 200c bake for 20 mins before checking, they should be done in 25 - 30 mins. Cooler oven = longer cooking.

If you think WFO builders are opinionated, just go in a baking forum ! The above basic recipie and routine work for me and is a good start point, you'll soon start to vary flour types, ratios, yeast, sugars to your own taste, so please report your results.

Good luck

[Oven_Man]

Re: Time to Try BREAD

Hi

Thanks for the recipe - will give it a try and report back

[SableSprings]

Re: Time to Try BREAD

Here's another good starter bread. I've attached a pdf with my version of Alton Brown's Better Bread. I added some grain (ground into flour) to add some starch to sugar conversion enzymes. I also added the sourdough component. Neither one is required, but if you don't have a sourdough starter double the amount of yeast and add a little extra flour and yeast (50-50, so if it calls for 100 g of sourdough put in 50 g water and 50 g flour).

I'm sure you're really going to enjoy this new baking challenge of bread making in the WFO.

[DavidApp]

Re: Time to Try BREAD

Check out the book or youtube of Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.
It is a very simple recipe and works great in the oven. The bread should have come out about 3 minutes earlier nice crisp crust.

David

[mrchipster]

Re: Time to Try BREAD

I like putting my bread on parchment paper. It makes loading the dough very easy.