Any Home Bakers Here?

[SNJchickens]

I use my mixer (quite old now) to make my dough but I still do 3-4 minutes of hand kneading. Why? Because I find that right out of the mixer the quality of the dough is slightly uneven (more moist at the top than the bottom.)

I can't supply recipes since I do my breads and pizza dough by feel. I buy my yeast & flour in bulk at the Amish market. Occident is my favorite bread flour.

Last week I bought a cloche, not the glazed type but the old fashioned clay oven. WOWie! I've made some very interesting loaves by substituting olive oil for shortening or butter, sour cream mixed into the water, eggs (of course), whole wheat flour of various proportions with the bread flour and changing out herbs/spices depending on the cuisine of the day.

 

[N F C]

Still exhausted from our trip to CO to put Mom's house on the market but since we haven't had a chance to grocery shop yet, we're planning on grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. That means bread-making so there are 2 loaves of Italian bread rising now.

I've been reading back over the posts from while I was gone...some really good looking recipes out there! Looking forward to trying some of them out.

 

[N F C]

I use my mixer (quite old now) to make my dough but I still do 3-4 minutes of hand kneading. Why? Because I find that right out of the mixer the quality of the dough is slightly uneven (more moist at the top than the bottom.)

I can't supply recipes since I do my breads and pizza dough by feel. I buy my yeast & flour in bulk at the Amish market. Occident is my favorite bread flour.

Last week I bought a cloche, not the glazed type but the old fashioned clay oven. WOWie! I've made some very interesting loaves by substituting olive oil for shortening or butter, sour cream mixed into the water, eggs (of course), whole wheat flour of various proportions with the bread flour and changing out herbs/spices depending on the cuisine of the day.

I use my KA mixer the same as you do for bread...initial mixing but knead by hand, mostly because I love the feel of the dough, lol.

Would love to have a clay cloche to see what that does for a couple of the breads we like. Some day!

 

[sunflour]

I made the waffles Sunday! They were amazing, but didn't taste very sourdoughey (

I just made that a word! Lol!). I'm leaving the start out one more week. The waffles were still amazing! My husband loves them

Glad they turned out. Here's a clipping from KA's site:

• What makes the sour in sourdough bread? It's a combination of lactic and acetic acids, created as the dough rises and ferments. Refrigerating the dough encourages the production of more acetic than lactic acid; and acetic acid is much the tangier of the two. Thus, sourdough that's refrigerated before baking will have a more assertive sour flavor.

I keep mine in fridge, but really don't think it is a real acid starter, but tangy enough for me. They also have some tips on how to get more assertive flavor by using other types of flour to feed you starter.

 

[N F C]

Hey home bakers!

Anyone here plan on baking something special for Valentine's Day? I got mom's old springform pan and was thinking of trying a cheesecake. Chocolate anything is DH's favorite treat, lol. Can anyone recommend a good chocolate cheesecake recipe?

 

[delarosefarm]

Do any of you have the Amish Friend ship starters and other starter for breads? I keep two to three for different breads. But all of them started from one and have been feed different things like milk or water, Suger or no Suger, different flours.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I would like to get an Amish Friendship Bread Starter again. I lost mine about 6 years ago when I moved out to Wyoming, it got taken over by a nasty wild yeast.

 

[delarosefarm]

When I was in culinary school they told me that after a month all starter will be colonized by the native yeasts. So any starters that you have now or in the future the same thing could happen. Some times it is killed by the meds we take as well or if it is the monthly curse. A friend ship starter can be make using your native yeasts but it will not taste good for about a year. It is one that taste better the older it gets. Do you have any starters now?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have moved back to Wyoming, so no more problem with the really strong, nasty wild yeasts. I guess if it can live in the high mountain desert, it has be really aggressive.

I do not have any starter right now. We are on Weight Watchers, so I really can't be making much bread. Bread is my weakness.

 

[delarosefarm]

Sometimes you could played around with it and make something amazing out of a bad thing. Was the wild yeast very sour? Could have made good onion breads or ryes maybe. Or maybe that's why native out west made lots of flat breads.

A good old recipe take a sugerfree jelly use a little less water when making it before it sets and a yogurt to it mix well. Any flavors will work. I like strawberry with strawberry. You can eat a lot for low points.