Easy Crusty Bread

[SiFumar]

Thanks guys for answering! I have also use SAF active yeast when out of rapid rise.

[OU812]

Thanks guys for answering! I have also use SAF active yeast when out of rapid rise.

SAF Red Instant yeast works for me  ;D

[Saber 4]

Sandy,
I just found this post, I've been making this bread since I saw someone post on how they made a loaf of it recently but didn't know it came from you until today. So thank you for posting this originally we love it and now skip the bread aisle as well as the bacon aisle in the store.

Robert ;D

[SiFumar]

Glad you like it.  I just recently have been experimenting using this recipe from King Arthur site....using the pot method tho...http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/PrintRecipe?RID=1330&radio=1.  Take a look at it.  Nice to have dough on the ready in the fridge.

Sandy

[Saber 4]

Glad you like it.  I just recently have been experimenting using this recipe from King Arthur site....using the pot method tho...http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/PrintRecipe?RID=1330&radio=1.  Take a look at it.  Nice to have dough on the ready in the fridge.

Sandy

Thanks Sandy, I saved it to my favorites. I've been playing with the beer bread recipe lately and it's been easy and fun because you can mix it up and go straight to the oven.

[Snoopy]

Saved as well, i like the idea of letting it sit for a sourdough flavor. I tried yours the other day and loved it, just did plain for my first attempt and can't wait to play with more ingredients. One huge mistake that I made, didn't wait to completely cool down before I threw it in a ziploc, does not stay crusty at all when the moisture builds up. Lesson learned though, plan on playing this week, kids want me to attempt s'mores bread, chocolate chips, mini mellows and thinking some cinnamon in the dough will do the trick

[Saber 4]

Saved as well, i like the idea of letting it sit for a sourdough flavor. I tried yours the other day and loved it, just did plain for my first attempt and can't wait to play with more ingredients. One huge mistake that I made, didn't wait to completely cool down before I threw it in a ziploc, does not stay crusty at all when the moisture builds up. Lesson learned though, plan on playing this week, kids want me to attempt s'mores bread, chocolate chips, mini mellows and thinking some cinnamon in the dough will do the trick

I used a tablespoon of cinnamon and a cup of raisins for a raisin bread version and the cinnamon was perfect. I like the idea of your s'mores bread, keep us posted on how it turns out and pictures. If it works I may have to steal it for a Thanksgiving camping trip.

[SiFumar]

Saved as well, i like the idea of letting it sit for a sourdough flavor. I tried yours the other day and loved it, just did plain for my first attempt and can't wait to play with more ingredients. One huge mistake that I made, didn't wait to completely cool down before I threw it in a ziploc, does not stay crusty at all when the moisture builds up. Lesson learned though, plan on playing this week, kids want me to attempt s'mores bread, chocolate chips, mini mellows and thinking some cinnamon in the dough will do the trick

If we have any bread left I just put the cut side down and cover with a clean dish cloth.  Even a cooled breads crust will soften in plastic bag.  You can also add a Tbs of cocoa powder to flour to get some chocolate flavor to bread.

[pz]

I don't know if it has already been posted, but adding herbs to bread is fun.  We have an overabundance of thyme in the back yard, so my wife dried some and threw it in with the dough before baking - made for really fragrant bread as well as lots of flavor.  Works great in pizza dough as well.

We even tried adding a generous handful of cheddar smoked in the Bradley - turned out good too.

[Snoopy]

Started a thread in new recipes with the 4 I'm doing tomorrow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

[Saber 4]

I watched a youtube video on this the other day and the guy was cutting his uncovered baking time down to 8 minutes to have a crusty but not to hard loaf, so I had to give it a try and it works great. I now pull mine at 8-10 minutes uncovered depending on the color and how hard I want the loaf to be. So far no under cooked loaves on the inside.

[MoHuka]

I am having people over for dinner tomorrow night..question is can I double everything in the recipe, including yeast,  and make one large loaf?  I only have one Dutch oven...also I am not an experienced baker....thanks

[Saber 4]

You can double the recipe, not sure how that affects the cook time though, if you have access to 2 dutch ovens you could divide the dough in half and make two loaves at the same time with you're doubled batch. You might send a PM to SiFumar as she is the original poster and an expert on this bread recipe. I was not a baker at all when I first tried making this bread and it turned out great. Here is a youtube video someone posted before that's pretty close to the recipe so it will give you an idea of what the process looks like, however I still follow the recipe on here instead of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QpQ9Kd3t5I

[seb bot]

Hey all, I tried this recipe over the holidays, and while my loaf turned out okay, it was not quite what I was expecting... My dough did not rise very much, so my loaf ended up being a little small and dense ( but still tasty, lol ;D)

I used a fresh pack Fleishman's instant yeast, which as far as I can tell should be the equivalent of the SAF rapid rise, which I could not find at my grocery store. ( I am in Canada, so have to sub brands etc. from time to time...)

One thing I did notice is that my dough was nowhere near as moist looking as what Si Fumar and other posted in their pics... I copied and pasted the recipe, so I am sure I did not make a error in transcription, and I am pretty sure I measured all ingredients properly, but my dough was very dry. The recipe says to pour out the dough on to a floured surface, but my dough was not "pourable"; it was a fairly dry ball, and was not overly sticky to the touch either...
Also, I used raisins and cinnamon as my add-ins, and I added the raisins before the water and realized after that it might have mixed better if I had put the raisins in last- the flour kind of got stuck in the wrinkles of the raisins, lol

Can anyone advise as to where I messed up? Should I have just added a little more water? ( Also, I added warm water as per instructions on yeast pkg, not sure how this would affect things; I used my maverick ET732 to make sure the water was not too hot, around 115-120 deg if I remember...)

Thanks in advance, hoping for a quick reply or two, as I would like to try this again tonight for tomorrow morning breakfast!

p.s. I realize there may be better resources for bread making on the internet, but you guys are great, and I know many of the people who have tried this with success and posted here are inexperienced bakers like myself. This is the only forum I ever really post on, it's really a helpful community!

[Saber 4]

I use the rapid rise yeast so I can't tell you if that is the problem or not, I have recently had some problems with my dough not rising enough when the room it's in has been colder than 65 F, on Christmas eve I had to put my dough inside the oven overnight when it was just slightly warm after cooking some other stuff because it hadn't risen or gotten moist and bubbly looking after 10 hours or so.

From what you describe it sounds like you didn't get a proper rise out of your dough, I have also found that I get a better loaf if I knead my dough and cover before I start to warm the oven up to heat the pan up, this seems to give it a better second rise before baking, I also knead and cover my dough on a cutting board on top of the oven so the extra heat may help with the second rise also.

I have added the raisins to the dry and to the wet and I find it goes better when I add to the dry and mix it around a bit before I add the water. I have taken to adding the cinnamon at the kneading stage, I pour the dough out and do my first little fold overs then I sprinkle a heavy dose of cinnamon then fold a couple more times and it has worked out good.

Hope this helps and keep at till you get it the way you want it, it is so good when you do.