Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Jacob on January 16, 2013 at 5:06pm

B -- have you tried baking bread in the style found in books like "My Bread" by J Lahey, or "Tartine Bread" by C Roberston, or "Flour Water Salt Yeast" by K Forkish? Fabulous results, in my not so humble opinion.

Sounds like you need to let your starter develop into a fine culture, to help bring a richer taste to your bread. Can be time-consuming, but worth it I think.

Wish you success.
JJacob

Permalink Reply by C. Grant on January 30, 2013 at 10:05am

I have a recipe you might like. Its at home though I'll try to remember to get it at lunch. I have had great success with it. In fact, we had some last night that I had frozen from my last batch and it was almost as good as fresh out the oven (that is hard to replicate).

It's a McCall's recipe from 1984 I believe. The techniques I employ are these.

Use good, quality honey, not refined sugar.
Be obsessive about the water temperature when combining with the yeast

Use all-purpose flour (not bread flour) for this recipe.

just before baking, baste the loaves with a generous amount of cold water (this is what will give you a brown, hard crust yet keep the inner part of the loaf soft and chewy.

I have been making this bread with success for over 10 years now, and every holiday season I reserve one loaf for my bread pudding. I've gotten rave reviews.

I added rosemary and garlic to two of these loaves