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sarahstarnes's review
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I made a few of these and wrote down a few recipes to remember as this was a library book for me. The illustrations were extremely helpful and I really enjoyed baking with this book as a reference.
amynbell's review
5.0
The receipt in this book says that my husband purchased this bread cookbook in July of 1996 for less than $6 cash at the local Barnes & Noble. It doesn't appear to be used. After all, July certainly isn't prime bread-baking time in Oklahoma where temperatures tend to be above 100 degrees. But with a stand mixer under the tree this Christmas, I think this book is going to get some love. "Was owning a stand mixer all that stood between you and baking bread all this time?" Yes. I have weak wrists and arthritic hands. I can't do 10 minutes of kneading. I went through 2 bread machines a decade ago, but I don't really relish how the paddle gets stuck in the bottom of bread machine loaves ... or all the shaking that goes on.
So now that I've read through the introductory information and the introductory recipes which explain and remind me of the basic principles of bread-making, I've got my first loaf of Pumpernickel bread rising. But I don't want to forget all the tips I've learned or re-learned, so I've decided to use GoodReads as a place to write down what I've learned so that I don't have to go back through and re-read every time I want to make a loaf of bread. Some of this is paraphrased and some of it is the exact wording from the book.
FLOUR
*Unbleached flour is better than enriched all-purpose flour for bread-making.
*Hard wheat flours make for a firmer, more elastic bread.
YEAST
*1 package active dry yeast = 1 scant tablespoon active dry yeast = .5 oz cake of compressed yeast.
*A sweetener is necessary to feed the yeast.
*Compressed yeast should be creamed with the sugar for 1-2 minutes before proofing.
*Active dry yeast should be dissolved in liquid at 100-115 degrees. Compressed yeast should be dissolved no warmer than 95 degrees.
*Good yeast will swell and small bubbles will appear on the surface during proofing.
BAKING SODA
*Baking soda may be used in fruit breads to counteract the acid in the fruit.
RISING
*Rising times vary by warmth of room, temperature or humidity of the day, yeast characteristics, flour type, and kneading.
*The rising process can be slowed during the first rise by placing the dough in the refrigerator.
*The rising process can be sped up during the second rise by placing the dough over a pan of boiling, steaming water.
PAN CHOICE
*Bread pan sizes in recipes are recommendations rather than absolutes.
*It's best to choose a pan after shaping the loaf, allowing room for the dough to double in height and to rise while baking.
*A pan filled 2/3 full with dough will allow the bread to form a nice arch. A pan filled 1/2 full with dough will produces a flat loaf.
METHOD VARIANCES
*Salt content is adjustable. Beard uses 1 tablespoon of salt per pound of flour (3 and 3/4 cups).
*For whole wheat bread, use half white and half wheat flour.
*I've read elsewhere that soaking whole grains in liquid helps to remove some of the bitterness of the whole grains.
*Milk substituted for water makes a richer bread.
*Vegetable oil can replace butter.
*Dough brushed with egg whites + water = a nicely colored and crisped crust.
*Dough brushed with egg yolk + milk, cream, or water = a rich brown crust.
*For a richer loaf of whole wheat bread, add 3-4 tablespoons of olive or peanut oil to the flour before adding water (using slightly less water to compensate for the oil).
*When using a glass pan for baking, lower the temperature by 25 degrees.
*Overrising makes the bread full of holes, chewy, and crusty
*Place a pan of boiling water under the loaf when baking on tiles or stone or when making a French loaf, pumpernickel, or rye bread in order to make it crusty.
*You can always take a loaf out of the pan during the last few minutes of baking and place it on tiles/stone fro a more interesting flavor or crust.
*Overbaking produces a thick, crunchy crust.
COOLING
*Cool by removing the loaf from the pan & placing it on a rack in a draft-free place.
BASIC BREAD METHOD
1. PROOF yeast.
2. STIR ingredients by hand or mixer in order listed in recipe until blended and the dough tends to form a ball. If the dough is too stiff, add more liquid.
3. KNEAD by hand or mixer until the dough is no longer sticky and has a smooth, satiny, elastic texture, adding more flour if necessary halfway through kneading. When reading, an indention made in the dough should spring back or blisters/cracks should form on the surface.
4. 1ST RISING:
a. Rest the dough for a few minutes.
b. Coat the inside of a clean mixing bowl with butter.
c. Roll the bread around the bowl to coat it with butter.
d. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, foil, or a towel and set it in a warm, draft-free place.
e. Allow the dough to double in size (1-2 hours). When the dough does NOT spring back when an indention is made it it, it's ready. Prolonged rising will affect the flavor and texture.
5. 2ND RISING:
a. Butter loaf pans.
b. Remove the cover from the dough bowl and deflate the dough by punching it down with your fist.
c. Transfer to floured board/bowl and knead by hand or mixer for 3 minutes.
d. Pat into shape.
e. Let rest for 4-5 minutes.
f. Shape into loaf.
g. Lift carefully, drop into loaf pan, and smooth out.
6. Follow the recipe for treating the loaf before it goes into the preheated oven.
7. Place in the center of the lower oven rack unless otherwise noted.
8. When done, bread will sound hollow when the bottom is knocked on. IT can be placed directly on the oven rack to firm up or crisp the bottom (4-5 minutes).
9. Place loaf on a rack to cool.
10. It's ready for formal slicing 3-4 hours after baking. However, I think waiting is a horrible idea since I like my bread hot out of the oven.
BREADS I'D LIKE TO TRY OR HAVE TRIED (will update with ratings)
*Myrtle Allen's Brown Bread (p. 64)
*Pumpernickel Bread II (p. 84) - 3 stars. Very heavy. Nothing special.
*Mother's Raisin Bread (p. 94)
*Pistachio Bread (p. 99)
*Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake (p. 101)
*Monkey Bread (p. 103)
*Swedish Limpa (p. 108)
*Italian Holiday Bread (p. 119)
*Sally Lunn (p. 130)
*Cream Biscuits (p. 139) - 5 stars. This may be the first successful biscuit I've ever made. I like that the recipe substitutes cream for butter in the dough followed by dipping the raw biscuit in melted butter before baking. I'll be making these for years to come. I prefer the craggy imperfections of a dropped versus rolled biscuit for this recipe.
*Helen Evans Brown's Corn Chili Bread (p. 142)
*Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread (p. 145)
*Banana Bread (p. 147)
*Raw Apple Bread (p. 153)
*Pain de Fruits (p. 154)
*Persimmon Bread (p. 155)
*Parker House Rolls (p. 158)
*Sweet Potato Rolls (p. 161)
*Bread Sticks (p. 162)
*Pita Bread (p. 168)
*Pizza Loaf (p. 175)
*Lahma bi Ajeen (p. 177)
*Crumpets (p. 189)
So now that I've read through the introductory information and the introductory recipes which explain and remind me of the basic principles of bread-making, I've got my first loaf of Pumpernickel bread rising. But I don't want to forget all the tips I've learned or re-learned, so I've decided to use GoodReads as a place to write down what I've learned so that I don't have to go back through and re-read every time I want to make a loaf of bread. Some of this is paraphrased and some of it is the exact wording from the book.
FLOUR
*Unbleached flour is better than enriched all-purpose flour for bread-making.
*Hard wheat flours make for a firmer, more elastic bread.
YEAST
*1 package active dry yeast = 1 scant tablespoon active dry yeast = .5 oz cake of compressed yeast.
*A sweetener is necessary to feed the yeast.
*Compressed yeast should be creamed with the sugar for 1-2 minutes before proofing.
*Active dry yeast should be dissolved in liquid at 100-115 degrees. Compressed yeast should be dissolved no warmer than 95 degrees.
*Good yeast will swell and small bubbles will appear on the surface during proofing.
BAKING SODA
*Baking soda may be used in fruit breads to counteract the acid in the fruit.
RISING
*Rising times vary by warmth of room, temperature or humidity of the day, yeast characteristics, flour type, and kneading.
*The rising process can be slowed during the first rise by placing the dough in the refrigerator.
*The rising process can be sped up during the second rise by placing the dough over a pan of boiling, steaming water.
PAN CHOICE
*Bread pan sizes in recipes are recommendations rather than absolutes.
*It's best to choose a pan after shaping the loaf, allowing room for the dough to double in height and to rise while baking.
*A pan filled 2/3 full with dough will allow the bread to form a nice arch. A pan filled 1/2 full with dough will produces a flat loaf.
METHOD VARIANCES
*Salt content is adjustable. Beard uses 1 tablespoon of salt per pound of flour (3 and 3/4 cups).
*For whole wheat bread, use half white and half wheat flour.
*I've read elsewhere that soaking whole grains in liquid helps to remove some of the bitterness of the whole grains.
*Milk substituted for water makes a richer bread.
*Vegetable oil can replace butter.
*Dough brushed with egg whites + water = a nicely colored and crisped crust.
*Dough brushed with egg yolk + milk, cream, or water = a rich brown crust.
*For a richer loaf of whole wheat bread, add 3-4 tablespoons of olive or peanut oil to the flour before adding water (using slightly less water to compensate for the oil).
*When using a glass pan for baking, lower the temperature by 25 degrees.
*Overrising makes the bread full of holes, chewy, and crusty
*Place a pan of boiling water under the loaf when baking on tiles or stone or when making a French loaf, pumpernickel, or rye bread in order to make it crusty.
*You can always take a loaf out of the pan during the last few minutes of baking and place it on tiles/stone fro a more interesting flavor or crust.
*Overbaking produces a thick, crunchy crust.
COOLING
*Cool by removing the loaf from the pan & placing it on a rack in a draft-free place.
BASIC BREAD METHOD
1. PROOF yeast.
2. STIR ingredients by hand or mixer in order listed in recipe until blended and the dough tends to form a ball. If the dough is too stiff, add more liquid.
3. KNEAD by hand or mixer until the dough is no longer sticky and has a smooth, satiny, elastic texture, adding more flour if necessary halfway through kneading. When reading, an indention made in the dough should spring back or blisters/cracks should form on the surface.
4. 1ST RISING:
a. Rest the dough for a few minutes.
b. Coat the inside of a clean mixing bowl with butter.
c. Roll the bread around the bowl to coat it with butter.
d. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, foil, or a towel and set it in a warm, draft-free place.
e. Allow the dough to double in size (1-2 hours). When the dough does NOT spring back when an indention is made it it, it's ready. Prolonged rising will affect the flavor and texture.
5. 2ND RISING:
a. Butter loaf pans.
b. Remove the cover from the dough bowl and deflate the dough by punching it down with your fist.
c. Transfer to floured board/bowl and knead by hand or mixer for 3 minutes.
d. Pat into shape.
e. Let rest for 4-5 minutes.
f. Shape into loaf.
g. Lift carefully, drop into loaf pan, and smooth out.
6. Follow the recipe for treating the loaf before it goes into the preheated oven.
7. Place in the center of the lower oven rack unless otherwise noted.
8. When done, bread will sound hollow when the bottom is knocked on. IT can be placed directly on the oven rack to firm up or crisp the bottom (4-5 minutes).
9. Place loaf on a rack to cool.
10. It's ready for formal slicing 3-4 hours after baking. However, I think waiting is a horrible idea since I like my bread hot out of the oven.
BREADS I'D LIKE TO TRY OR HAVE TRIED (will update with ratings)
*Myrtle Allen's Brown Bread (p. 64)
*Pumpernickel Bread II (p. 84) - 3 stars. Very heavy. Nothing special.
*Mother's Raisin Bread (p. 94)
*Pistachio Bread (p. 99)
*Rich Sour-Cream Coffee Cake (p. 101)
*Monkey Bread (p. 103)
*Swedish Limpa (p. 108)
*Italian Holiday Bread (p. 119)
*Sally Lunn (p. 130)
*Cream Biscuits (p. 139) - 5 stars. This may be the first successful biscuit I've ever made. I like that the recipe substitutes cream for butter in the dough followed by dipping the raw biscuit in melted butter before baking. I'll be making these for years to come. I prefer the craggy imperfections of a dropped versus rolled biscuit for this recipe.
*Helen Evans Brown's Corn Chili Bread (p. 142)
*Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread (p. 145)
*Banana Bread (p. 147)
*Raw Apple Bread (p. 153)
*Pain de Fruits (p. 154)
*Persimmon Bread (p. 155)
*Parker House Rolls (p. 158)
*Sweet Potato Rolls (p. 161)
*Bread Sticks (p. 162)
*Pita Bread (p. 168)
*Pizza Loaf (p. 175)
*Lahma bi Ajeen (p. 177)
*Crumpets (p. 189)
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