Re: The Barbecue Thread...Post Your Pics.
Here's a really good starting place:
http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Builders-Hearth-Loaves-Masonry/dp/1890132055
Understanding the science behind bread is also a part of the art too. Remember, milks contain sugars, malt syrup and molasses are both invert sugars. These will make the bread sweet, and brown. Whole wheat rough cut and fine cut flours are super as are bread flours and semolina flours. Bread flour is the stuff you throw on the wooden board to knead your dough with, and also makes the best backbone of your loaf.
Eggs offer flavor and leavening, the stuff that makes bread rise adn aireate. Too much or too much time and the loaf is too open, too little, and it is heavy and closed.
Beers, brewing grains, all good stuff and quite tasty in a loaf too.
There are so many great things and ways to make great breads. Me, I have the volumnous Culinary Art books, many many old cook books, specialty books, cake books, and books of 'the trade'. I lack one really great bread book though because when I make bread, I just look what I got, grab some starter and rock on with whatever is in the cabinet...that is unless I am out to make something special, then I find a recipe online and use it as a base making my own adjustments becasue, well, that's how I cook. It's a love thing. Love the dough, love making it, love the scents and feel, let it all come together and what comes out of the ovven is just amazingly good.
This is also a good start too:
In a warm glass or ceramic mixing bowl, combine 2 cups warm water (85 degrees F), 2 cups all-purpose flour, and one (1) packet of Mister Baker's San Francisco sourdough yeast culture. Stir the flour and yeast mixture until smooth.
Cover the bowl. Put in a warm (85 degrees F), draft free location for at least 1-1/2 to 3 days. The mixture will bubble and expand, and have a fresh yeasty aroma to it. Stir the active mixture 2 or 3 times each day with a clean wooden spoon.
When ready, stir the mixture, and then transfer it to a clean wide mouth glass jar or crock (with a glass or plastic lid). Refrigerate the mixture for a few more days to develop a stronger sourdough flavor.
Congratulations. You have just made your first "mother starter" for baking San Francisco Sourdough Bread.
Sourdough Starter may be used and replenished indefinitely, and it improves with age.
Replenish it and let it grow:
Replenish your sourdough starter every two weeks, whether you bake or not. If you have removed some starter for baking, replace the amount that you removed, with equal amounts of flour, warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar or honey.
Stir well and let stand at room temperature, lightly covered for 8 to 12 hours, or until fermentation is resumed again, and the mixture bubbles.
Stir again before returning to your active San Francisco sourdough starter to the refrigerator.
Classic San Francisco Sourdough French Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)
7-1/2 cups to 8 cups all-purpose Flour, unsifted
1 cup Mister Baker's San Francisco sourdough starter batter at room temperature
2 teaspoons plain or iodized salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Bread Baste or Wash Recipe: 1 teaspoon cornstarch brought to a boil with 1 cup water,
then cooled to room temperature. See step #5.
Hot water for the oven as required. See step #4.
Method:
In a large mixing bowl, combine water, sourdough starter batter and 4 cups of the flour. Mix well and cover with clear plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place (85 degrees F) 8 to 12 hours.
Stir in salt, sugar and enough remaining flour (about 4 cups) to form a very stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (2 to 2-1/2 hours).
Punch down and divide in half. Knead gently until smooth. Shape each half into loaf or round shape. Cover the sourdough bread loaves lightly; let them rise in a warm place until puffy and almost doubled in size (1 to 1-1/2 hours).
Carefully place a small pan on the shelf, below the oven baking rack, and fill it with hot water.
Place your sourdough bread loaves on the baking rack, close the oven door and bake in a preheated (400 degree F) oven for 10 minutes. Then brush your sourdough bread loaves with the baste mixture. Close the oven door and continue baking for 20 to 25 minutes more until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
Nothing can compare to the taste of a warm, fresh baked loaf of sourdough bread right from your own oven. The kitchen filled with the wonderful aromas of fresh baked bread. Hmmmm...!!!
Remove the loaves from the oven and place on a cooling rack until cooled down to room temperature. Now for the hardest part of all in this baking recipe. Allow your loaf to cool completely (about 2 hours) before cutting into it. A loaf of sourdough bread is not fully flavored until it is fully cool. Also, bread is much easier to slice when cool.
Suggestion:
Make the loaf or two in a baguette form, i.e., about 2' long, and 1.5" wide. Before you put it in the oven, while it's proofing, go out to th egood market and buy a few good beers, a small bit of Irish Cheese, maybe a small triangle of Brie, and maybe a small bit of Stilton Blue. Now take that baguette out of the oven, and let it cool...the beer will get nice and cold while you wait a bit. Take out a beer, put the cheese on a board, and get out the long board for the bread. Cut a few slices, crack open the bber, slice a bit of cheese, put it on a slice of bread, and enjoy it. Take a good swallow of the beer. See how good it tastes? Of course you do! THIS is what we call LUNCH. Proper!
