My first venture into bread making..

[BettyR]

Quote:
This is a picture of the New York Times --No Knead Bread I have made in the past.

The bread we are talking about looks very much the same.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t36/BettyR_139/Picture324smallbread.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t36/BettyR_139/Picture326smallbread.jpg

I made the bread from Mother Earth News. I did not care for it, it was to hard on the outside and the inside was to chewy for me.
Is that how yours tasted or do I do something wrong?

No you didn't do anything wrong...that's how it's supposed to be.

To me that's good bread...I love a hard, crisp crust with a creamy, chewy crumb. In the book they call it a custard crumb...to me it just doesn't get any better than that! But then that's why they make chocolate and vanilla...not everyone likes the same thing. I take a bite of that bread and my eyes roll back in my head...I'm not kidding I love the stuff.

 

[purr]

I made bread for the first time last week, it was white bread it came out fine.So then I tried a honey wheat recipe and the top got really dark and the inside was doughy I don't know what I did wrong

 

[wendy]

Well that makes me feel better because I bought the big dutch oven especially to make the bread! I still use the cast iron for other recipes, thank goodness, that was not cheap cast iron. I did not buy the stuff made in China either

 

[sred98]

Quote:
Did you follow a recipe for the honey wheat or just adjust it on your own? The reason I ask is that maybe you didn't account for the liquid of the honey and there was too much moisture and it made it doughy.

Wendy- Have you ever tried a baking stone? That makes ALL the difference in the world! And be sure you preheat the oven with the stone in there. Those are some very important steps. It is a thicker bread than what store bought is. I sliced mine really thin, also, so it made it lighter. You should put a pan of water underneath it to steam while it is baking, also. If you already know all of this, I am sorry. Just trying to trouble shoot for you.

My kids couldn't get enough of it!

Shelly

 

[wendy]

No I don't have a baking stone. I was going to see how it did before I invested more money in something more.

Thanks for the tip, might do that after Christmas!

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
I got a pizza stone at WalMart for $10.00 to bake my bread on...works great!

 

[purr]

Quote:
Did you follow a recipe for the honey wheat or just adjust it on your own? The reason I ask is that maybe you didn't account for the liquid of the honey and there was too much moisture and it made it doughy.

Wendy- Have you ever tried a baking stone? That makes ALL the difference in the world! And be sure you preheat the oven with the stone in there. Those are some very important steps. It is a thicker bread than what store bought is. I sliced mine really thin, also, so it made it lighter. You should put a pan of water underneath it to steam while it is baking, also. If you already know all of this, I am sorry. Just trying to trouble shoot for you.

My kids couldn't get enough of it!

Shelly

nope I followed a recipe to the letter

 

[purr]

the stone might have made a difference with mine I baked the first loaf on a pampered chef stone and the second one I used a new loaf pan

 

[Bammony]

Congrats on your first loaf!!!! Your first loaf turned out MUCH better than my first loaf that I made a few years ago. I love baking my own bread. I'll be baking about 8 loaves tomorrow and that will hopefully last us 2 weeks. Anyways.....great job!!

 

[wendy]

Quote:
I got a pizza stone at WalMart for $10.00 to bake my bread on...works great!

Thanks for the info. i thought I saw where they were more expensive. but I am one of those people that avoids walmart

can't stand parking way out there with 2 toddlers and the long line to check out, even self check out

.