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Home made bread. From traditional to no knead refrigerator.
cause the rat:
Second day assessment on both the Amish and Shaker breads. Both are two sweet for me. I did locate some other Amish breads on line. All are called sweet and have large amounts of sugar in their recipes. Shaker bread recipes ran the gauntlet from really sweet to normal. The recipe known as Egg Harbor Bread, my all time favorite hearty flavor bread, is a modified old Shaker recipe. I really like the texture and ease of the sweet Shaker bread from these two breads I just made.. I could modify this by making a sponge. This is where you add the sugar to the water/yeast mixture. Then mix in one or two cups of flour. Mix well and let it all sit for 10 minutes. Most of the sugar will be eaten by the yeast. Then mix in the milk and Crisco. Then add the salt right before mixing in the remaining flour to make the dough. I've actually came across bread recipes that say to add the salt to the wet/yeast mixture. Folks this is a bad idea. Salt kills yeast. But you need to have salt in bread. Without it the bread is bland. Oils such as lard or shortening will also effect yeast. So adding them after you allow the yeast to bloom is a good idea. You could always try the oils both ways. See if there is any real difference in your bread. But never add salt directly to a yeast mix your going to let sit. Stir it in just before adding the flour.
Something interesting I've found in old bread recipes. I have a cook book who's original copy right date is 1901. And one old cook book printed in 1967. Their bread recipes call for scalding milk. That's where you heat milk up to a boil for a few seconds. Then let it cool before using it. Piecing this together with remembering store bought milk lasted for only a few days before going sour when I was a kid. To today where I can drink out of the jug for a good week. Perhaps there were more bacteria in the milk in the 60's and 70's. Where today, with better pasteurization these are no longer present. I also have an old bread recipe that doesn't call for any yeast. instead it relies on the yeast in the air to ferment the dough. I'll pass on that one. :) I do have good information from plenty of reliable sources about natural regional yeasts. San Francisco sourdough bread can only be made in San Fransisco. If you take a starter or munster ( that's like the sponge I mentioned above. Only weeks or years older ) out of that area. Bring that starter to your town. Say here in mid MO. The bread will get yeast from the air as you make it. The starter will also get indigenous yeasts from your location. Then quickly go from San Francisco sour dough to your town sour dough. In turn we can both use the same flour and yeast. But our breads will always have a slightly different flavor to them. For the very same reason. It's nature. Nature is awesome.
cause the rat:
What I did today instead of what I planned. You know how it goes. :)
Decided to go ahead and modify the Shaker recipe. Not by the ingredients but how they're put together. Made the sponge like I talked about in the above post. Then added the salt and Crisco as I was adding the rest of the flour. What a difference that made. Same finished look and tight crumb. Better flavor. More yeasty and bread like with only a hint of sweet. This of corse is the first day. Tomorrow the flavors will intensify and i'll know more.
I have an old food encyclopedia. "Larousse Gastronomique" This was originally written in French. The 1961 book I have is some what in English. I say somewhat because most of the French cooking terms are not translated. Think of it as an encyclopedia on everything cooking. Or in this case everything French cooking. With some hints of recipes. But always French opinions on what good food should be. Here's a sample. I can't use the fancy hyphens so it'll all be in western.
Estouffade of Partridge a la cevenole.
Stuff the partridge with fine pork forcemeat mixed with one-third of it's weight of forcemeat a gratin and a teaspoon of chopped truffles......
In this instants the book has 43 variations on cooking partridge without giving a single recipe. Including partridge souffle'. :o Hundreds of variations for cooking beef and chicken. Way more than you would find in any single cookbook. But not a single one as a recipe.
If it is or was used in a French kitchen or anything to do with France it's in this book. Tools, techniques, seasonings and all. Towns, land marks, history. Got this book at an auction years ago. In a box of stuff I wanted. Kept it for fun.
Kobuk:
Since you're making all this bread and making everybody hungry here, I think you should make everybody some sandwiches. ;) :D I'd like a roast beef and swiss on rye, please. :D
cause the rat:
Sorry Kobuk. Have to get someone else to make you some rye bread. Not a big can of it. But if I had some I'd stick it in an envelope with a good slab of roast beef and send it on it's way! Wont have to put cheese on it. Imagine by the time it makes it to your house it'll of made it's own. Can't promise it's nationality. But if you let it sit in the envelope long enough you might be able to ask it yourself. :)
Home made bread doesn't stay as moist as store bought. Doesn't have the same level of grease or oils in it. If your going to store sandwiches it's a good idea to remember to rehydrate the bread a bit. A good spin in a microwave may be all you need.
Kobuk:
--- Quote from: cause the rat on November 14, 2017, 03:27:37 am ---Sorry Kobuk. Have to get someone else to make you some rye bread. Not a big can of it. But if I had some I'd stick it in an envelope with a good slab of roast beef and send it on it's way! Wont have to put cheese on it. Imagine by the time it makes it to your house it'll of made it's own. Can't promise it's nationality. But if you let it sit in the envelope long enough you might be able to ask it yourself. :)
--- End quote ---
Somehow, the visual impression I'm getting from that doesn't seem very appetizing. :P
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