More bread

[Faith In Virginia]

Well this is what is left of last nights bread. What was not eaten was taken home with my guests.

I did not dare venture into baking the main course in the WFO. Last thing I needed was some nasty burnt/raw food to give my hungry group. But I did stuff some mushrooms and cooked them in the oven and they did well. Now I need to practice with other food because spring is here and the oven is ready to go.

[egalecki]

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OOH, very nice!

[Faith In Virginia]

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Thanks Elisabeth,

Baking bread is one of those things that makes life right as rain.

[egalecki]

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how do you shape your batards? I have tried a couple of different ways- and I don't like either of them very much. I end up with them spread out more than I'm happy with. Or maybe my slashing is wrong?

You're quite right, though, baking makes everything better...

[lwood]

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Beautiful loaves.

[Laurentius]

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Great looking bread. Here's some sourdough I baked, yesterday.

[Faith In Virginia]

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Laurentius...all I can say is yummmm...they look good enough to eat.

Thanks Iwood

Elizabeth I don't know how to describe to you my method of shaping. If your interested your more then welcome to come over some time and I can show you what I do. I'm still working on my slashing but I must say it's getting better. By the way I found a local gourmet cooking place in Blacksburg I just discovered it today. It has a nice supply of quality cooking items for the kitchen.

I did some pizza tonight for the folks. Just in the kitchen it was to late for the WFO. I did a new W/W crust that came out quite nice.

[lwood]

Re: More bread

Hi Laur.
Hope all is well in Japan where you are. We are all are praying for you. Here is a video that shows the basic process. He is not that experienced at doing it, but then again, neither am I. Shaping a batard video | The Fresh Loaf. There are lots of videos on youtube showing the process if you search on "shaping baguette". It's basically the same, only you don't roll it out. Hope that helps. John

[egalecki]

Re: More bread

[QUOTE=Faith In Virginia;109986] By the way I found a local gourmet cooking place in Blacksburg I just discovered it today. It has a nice supply of quality cooking items for the kitchen.


Gourmet Pantry? Or somewhere else? I'm in Blacksburg a lot during the week... They also have an email newsletter, do classes, and have a weekly fish list. I prefer the fish ladies from your part of the world, though. They're here in Radford on Fridays. If you like to cook other things, check out Oasis market (across from the new(er) Kroger on Main). They've cleaned it up and really have some cool stuff, and they have a good selection of beers in coolers (according to my husband) at much nicer prices than some places. They also have local grass fed beef, some vegetables I've seen no where else, and you can get fresh duck parts. Usually not the breast, but they had legs and thighs when I was in there last. They also had boneless chicken feet. I didn't know you could bone a chicken foot, much less sell them, and the overriding question was "what for"???? For those of you reading this and wondering why it's a big deal to find nifty ingredients, well, we live in a beautiful area, but it's much easier to find the wherewithal to make chicken and biscuits than a fresh duck leg. It's waaayy better than it was when I moved here 22 years ago, though!

As for shaping, I've tried flattening and rolling from one end, flattening and rolling both ends to the middle and pinching it shut, and just cutting a hunk off and trying to get a good outer skin going. I'm not that happy with any of the results. The best loaves tend to come from rolling both ends to the middle, but I get weird layers showing through the slashes after the bread expands in the oven. I'm trying to improve my slashing, too, and I expect my next purchase will be a lame. I'm still using my trusty tomato knife- it's ok, but not great.

[egalecki]

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Laurentius,

That's very nice expansion on those loaves!

[Taxin]

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WOW I hope to learn to bake bread that good !!

[Laurentius]

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Since the earthquake and tsunami, I've been baking a lots of bread and sharing it with my neighbors, no bread in the stores. Yesterday I went shopping and all of the bread flour was gone. Yesterday I received my Bosch Universal Plus Mixer from the states, kneading 4kilos of dough by hand is a killer.

[Faith In Virginia]

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egalecki, Yes that is the place. I don't get to Blacksburg often so I felt it was a real find. Thanks for the info on Oasis I will check it out my next time through.

I have a weekend coming up think I would like to try a meal in the oven. Now I have to figure what that will be.

[Laurentius]

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Just curious. I'm finding that the more rustic style breads that I cook increase rustic cooking in general for me. Lately I done over night slow cooked rabbit stew, venison stew, oxtail soup, and leg of lamb. I'm more of a fish-seafood person, but with these breads, they beg for something savory to accompany them. Oh, and don't forget about the multitudes of cheese. Anyone else??

[egalecki]

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Beer can chicken is really good in the wfo. So is pot roast. I've done stuffed mushrooms and garlic shrimp in casuelas for appetizers (great with the bread to sop up juices, btw), followed by beer can chicken (I use white wine and rosemary in the can) with carrots, little potatoes and onions in the pan under the chicken to catch the juices. For dessert, I highly recommend a free-form apple tart- roll the pastry (this is the one time I like a slightly sweet dough for a pie) a little thicker than normal, and pile the filling high. I like to use a little brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and vanilla in mine. Then flip the edges over- you'll probably have a hole in the middle and that's fine. Bake it while the chicken disappears.