Any Home Bakers Here?

[wyoDreamer]

I use Vital Wheat Gluten for anything bread-like. If I remember correctly, the gluten is what gives the dough the stretch that it needs to hold in the air bubbles for a better rise and adds to the "chew" of homemade bread. I use 1 tablespoon for a batch of pizza dough and 2 for a full batch of bread (which for me is 2 - 1 pound loaves). I have dough enhancer also but I prefer the wheat gluten. The dough enhancer was given to me by a friend who bought it for a recipe, made bread once, decided it was too much work, and gifted me all her supplies - yeast, bread flour, pans and bread stone.
She received a warm loaf of bread about twice a month in exchange.

 

[ronott1]

woDreamer.....I made your l hour Italian Bread and it came out FLAT. Then I made it again and placed it in a Tin. It is delicious and wonderful shape. I think I know when it is ready to go into the oven in the Tin...on the cookie sheet??? The bread seems to raise 30 minutes and is ready to be bakes. Perhaps I will try it again on the cookie sheet? Not sure because it came on GREAT in the tin. Has anyone used Vital Wheat Gluten. I was given a box and it claims to add protein and increase volume. Regards, Aria

The trick is the stiffness of the dough. If you do not have sided pans, the dough needs to be stiffer. Add more flour and it will not be so flat. Also, put the dough onto parchment paper.

 

[ronott1]

Well, this is what I have managed to make 2 times now...
View attachment 1145362 View attachment 1145361

I wonder what made the bread yellow? Did you use all purpose flour? You need gluten to get dough to raise--the stretchy protein catches the carbon dioxide from the yeast. If the flour used does not have enough gluten, It will not rise.

I often add some gluten flour to the dough.

Adding sugar will make the crust brown and I cook bread until it reaches an internal temperature of 195-205F

 

[Aria]

The trick is the stiffness of the dough. If you do not have sided, the dough needs to be stiffer. Add more flour and it will not be so flat. Also, put the dough onto parchment paper.

 

[Aria]

It

The trick is the stiffness of the dough. If you do not have sided pans, the dough needs to be stiffer. Add more flour and it will not be so flat. Also, put the dough onto parchment paper.[/QUOT It is difficult to ANSWER
my friends. woDreamer: Thanks I will use 1 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten when I make your l hour Italian Bread AND Ron, thanks for the tip to Add more Flour and make dough stiffer when baking on cookie sheet. Regards, Aria

 

[Aria]

I see my response is added to your messages: woDreamer and Ron
Thanks again. Aria

 

[ronott1]

I see my response is added to your messages: woDreamer and Ron
Thanks again. Aria

Your welcome!

It is called free form baking when you do not have sides. Sourdough is a tough one to tell how much flour to add since it will be s bit sticky even when stiff. Go by the stiffness of the dough

 

[Kusanar]

I wonder what made the bread yellow? Did you use all purpose flour? You need gluten to get dough to raise--the stretchy protein catches the carbon dioxide from the yeast. If the flour used does not have enough gluten, It will not rise.

I often add some gluten flour to the dough.

Adding sugar will make the crust brown and I cook bread until it reaches an internal temperature of 195-205F

I did use all purpose flour, that's what the recipe called for. I DO have bread flour if you think that would help for next time.

How floppy should the dough be? I measured everything out with a scale to 1/10 of an ounce and it comes out really limp, I mean, I can't even pick it up without it trying to ooze away. Could I need to put a BUNCH more flour in it? Basically, I make loaves that look like loaves, walk away and they are these huge pancakes again in less than 30 minutes. Should I just keep kneeding in more flour until it pretty much stays put?

 

[ronott1]

I did use all purpose flour, that's what the recipe called for. I DO have bread flour if you think that would help for next time.

How floppy should the dough be? I measured everything out with a scale to 1/10 of an ounce and it comes out really limp, I mean, I can't even pick it up without it trying to ooze away. Could I need to put a BUNCH more flour in it? Basically, I make loaves that look like loaves, walk away and they are these huge pancakes again in less than 30 minutes. Should I just keep kneeding in more flour until it pretty much stays put?

Yes! I never measure flour in bread recipes. I add until the dough is the correct consistency.
AP flour should be fine in bread but adding some Gluten flour will help. Bread flour helps too and actually will come a bit closer to the amount in the recipe. If a recipe calls for bread flour, you will usually need to use more if using AP flour. Even more if using bleached flour

 

[wyoDreamer]

I think her bread is a little yellow due to using honey instead of sugar. And it does look like a little more flour would help, but I am not sure why it did not brown. Mine browns when I use honey instead of sugar... you can use 1 tablespoon of sugar instead of the honey.
Instead of parchment paper, I use corn meal.
I don't take the tempurature of the bread since I don't have a probe thermometer , but I do tap on the bottom to see if it sounds hollow. Then bake it another 5 minutes... I usually tend to pull it out a little too soon.