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View Full Version : Latest Bread__ not too exciting but good eats!


Q_Egg
08-26-2006, 10:25 AM
This is a formula by a great artisan beadmaker named Thom Leonard. It is a Country French Loaf which weighs about 71 ounces at the start. These pics show it just before loading ... on BGE ceramic cooker ... on cooling rack ... first slice. Finished weight is about 60 ounces .... diameter ~12 inches, height ~ 4.5 inches. I cooked it yesterday on a BGE pizza stone (+ parchment paper), at ~ 500*F starting temp, for 45 minutes to an internal temp of 203*F.

Usually I split this loaf after the first (3 hr) rise and bake each loaf separately. I think I like this big hummer better !
Sorry for the terrible focus on the last pic .... I really wanted to show the great crumb, but .....

jpw23
08-26-2006, 10:50 AM
You could make a dandy samich out that.....looks good!!!!

cmcadams
08-26-2006, 10:57 AM
Looks great... As soon as I get a mixer, I'm starting some bread making. I want to make buns for brisket sandwiches!

Q_Egg
08-26-2006, 11:03 AM
Looks great... As soon as I get a mixer, I'm starting some bread making. I want to make buns for brisket sandwiches! --------------------------------

thanks .... funny, I was just thinking that I need to search my books for a similar formula, but for bun-size loaves. Maybe this will work 'as is', but I better see what differences may exist.

FatDaddy
08-26-2006, 11:18 AM
i got a breadmaker for christmas 2 years ago.. i like it . but the loaves come out way to tall to do anything with lol.. i use it to make my pizza dough etc. until i got my kitchen aid professional mixer.

cmcadams
08-26-2006, 11:30 AM
We're about to get one of these:

http://www.everythingkitchens.com/kitchenaid-professional-600-copper-pearl.jpg

fivelombardis
08-26-2006, 11:46 AM
nice bread!

kcquer
08-26-2006, 11:55 AM
Tommy, I'm betting that stuff makes awesome toast (one of my favorite uses of homemade bread). Great looking loaf.

BTW-good focus or not, the crumb looks excellent.

Wine & Swine
08-26-2006, 12:37 PM
Awesome looking bread. Go green egg.

Q_Egg
08-26-2006, 02:01 PM
Thanks Brethren! Now all I need is some of that great smoked meat loaf to make an unbelievable sammich. Won't be long.

Regards,

cmcadams
08-26-2006, 02:05 PM
You know, it's only 2 more keystrokes for 'sandwich'! :)

Kevin
08-26-2006, 02:06 PM
You know, it's only 2 more keystrokes for 'sandwich'! :)

Do I detect a pet peeve?

cmcadams
08-26-2006, 02:10 PM
Um, yeah... you caught me :)

Kevin
08-26-2006, 02:18 PM
Um, yeah... you caught me :)

That was funny. Great looking bread. I bake very little but it's definately a rewarding endeavor. Hoping to score a Kitchen Aid 600 when they go on sale at Kohl's. They usualy do around the holiday season, starting early November.

QansasjayhawQ
08-27-2006, 12:11 AM
My wife's a commercial bakery manager and I'll tell you this;

There's NOTHING in that store that looks as yummy as this!!

How did it taste? Can you provide a review of your own bread?

Thanks for posting this! I have been considering baking bread in the smoker . . .

Peace!

/Brother Dave

Neil
08-27-2006, 04:42 AM
I like to make bread on the Weber Kettle. Use to blow people away at ND tailgates when they saw I had made bread on the grill at the games. Now you are not allowed to have charcoal or wood fires because some dumb sh*t poured hot coals down a sewer grate igniting sewer gas and blowing up a van that was parked over another sewer grate on the other side of campus!

cmcadams
08-27-2006, 04:59 AM
That was funny. Great looking bread. I bake very little but it's definately a rewarding endeavor. Hoping to score a Kitchen Aid 600 when they go on sale at Kohl's. They usualy do around the holiday season, starting early November.
The site where I posted that pic from has them for $339.95 including shipping:

http://www.everythingkitchens.com/kitchen_aid_pro_600.html

I'm about to get one, I think... Though with my schedule, I will probably wait until the middle of next month.

Tom, that loaf looks like it would make some good brisket sandwiches... Nothing like some bread with a bit of substance to it for that!

Q_Egg
08-27-2006, 10:06 AM
My wife's a commercial bakery manager and I'll tell you this;

There's NOTHING in that store that looks as yummy as this!!

How did it taste? Can you provide a review of your own bread?

Thanks for posting this! I have been considering baking bread in the smoker . . .

Peace!

/Brother Dave ----------------------------------------

Thanks for your positive comment and question !

This bread (all credit to Thom Leonard's great formula) is our runaway favorite .... mainly because it seems to combine so many good features of white and wheat bread (without ever having the 'sawdust' characteristic of many wheat breads. While it is mostly white (bread) flour (26.5 oz), it has coarsely ground wheat flour (12 oz), dark rye flour (1 oz), spring water (24 oz), grey salt (0.8 oz), fermented levain .. [my sourdough starter = 50/50 water/flour] ... (10.6 oz). Another great characteristic is that it is very hard to really do anything to ruin it .... worst case is undercooking.

It does quite well anywhere between 450*F and 500*F .... trying to achieve internal temp of ~205*F. It's almost impossible to overcook it and even when accidentally burned, a slight bit of trimming and the bread is still great. I had a difficult time getting this cook temp down, once I let the fire get too hot, and it cooked for 45 minutes at almost 500*F.

Since my wife and I are normally the only 'consumers', the fact that this bread freezes exceptionally well is a great benefit. Whether we cut this large loaf in half, wrap and freeze ..... or .... make the formula into 2 loaves and freeze one, it is darn close to the same when we thaw and eat it weeks later.

Maggie Glezer's 'Artisan Baking Across America' has this formula and Thom's calamata olive version as well. If I could have only one breadbaking reference, that would be it. Peter Reinhart's 'The Breadbaker's Apprentice' is my alternate 'textbook' resource.

This bread has literally ruined our tolerance for most store-bought loaves and we bake it at least twice each month. Sorry to be a bit verbose, but I hope this responds to your comment.

<< Hi Curt ! >> This does make great 'SANDWICHES' !!

cmcadams
08-27-2006, 04:37 PM
Thank you VERY much, Tom! :-D

we'll smoke u
08-27-2006, 07:17 PM
man trhat looks good!!!!

Bossmanbbq
08-27-2006, 08:50 PM
Looks awesome!! Ingredients????

BBQ_MAFIA
08-27-2006, 09:56 PM
I never thought about making bread like that.
It looks great and I'm sure it tasted just as good.

kcquer
08-27-2006, 11:23 PM
. Peter Reinhart's 'The Breadbaker's Apprentice'

Reinhart is a pizza crust guru too!!