Homemade Bread - Fox River Grove,IL

I used to have a bread machine but I hated it! It is very big and takes up too much valuable kitchen space, and the bread ends up with a big, crusty hole in the middle. I usually make homemade French bread and bake it on cookie sheets. I often use half white flour and half whole wheat pastry flour, the whole wheat pastry flour is ground finer so the bread is smoother. You can also use flour that is specifically for breadmaking, it has extra gluten so the bread rises well, but I prefer unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat pastry. I also make a homemade sour dough pizza crust that doesn't require milk or a starter, it just needs to sit in your pantry for 24-48 hours. I will include the recipes below, happy baking!

French bread:

1 1/2 cups warm water (just a bit warmer than body temperature)
1 package yeast or 1 1/4 TBS
2 TBS sugar (or honey if you prefer)
3 TBS melted butter
2 tsp salt
1 egg white (best if the egg white has come to room temperature but I've just put it in cold with no ill effects)
4-5 cups flour (it will take some practice to learn how much flour to use, you don't want sticky dough, but you also don't want it too dry. If it is a humid day you will need a bit more flour, it jus varies)

Knead the dough really well! Use the heels of your hands, tear it in tow, recombine the two parts, turn it over and over, etc. The more you knead the dough the better the texture of your bread will be.

Let it rise in a large bowl with a well-rung dishcloth covering it. I will turn my oven on for just a minute or so then turn it off and put the bowl in the slightly warm oven (not hot!) It will need about an hour to rise, but if you are using slow yeast it may need more time. It should be about double in size.

Gather the dough and shape it into 2 loaves, there is no need to "punch" the dough down or knead it much at this point. Score your loaves with a knife. Place your loaves on an oiled cookie sheet (use a thin layer of olive oil or just non-stick cooking spray).

Let it rise another hour or so and then bake it in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Pizza crust:

This is so easy and good! The recipe is from Bon appetite magazine.

7 1/2 cups flour (it will seem like too much but it will turn out well)
4 tsp salt (sea salt tastes best but regular table salt works just fine)
1/2 tsp yeast (it seems like too little, but as it sits for at least 24 hours the yeast will naturally increase, it is a living organism)
3 cups room temperature water

Stir the dry ingredients together well and then slowly stir in the water, the recipe says there is no need to knead, but I do a little bit just to make sure it's well combined. Place it in a very large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Put it somewhere out of the way like on top of your cupboards or in the back of the pantry for 24-48 hours. Or 72 hours, it doesn't really spoil since there is no sugar, but it will get more and more sour.

One hour before you want to bake your pizzas turn the dough out onto a clean counter and cover it with a warm, well-wrung dishtowel. After it has sat an hour you can cut it into 6 equal pieces and start shaping it into pizzas. I bought cheap aluminum pizza trays and coated them with olive oil before pressing in the pizza dough. Use your favorite brand of Marnina sauce, fresh mozzarella, veggies, etc. and go nuts! Too many toppings will weight down your crust though, but sometimes kids would rather have a million toppings anyway. You will need to preheat your oven as HOT as it can get, 500-550 or so. My oven only goes up to 525 and the pizza turns out great. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I can't help with the sour dough question, but I make just about all our bread from scratch. I use all organic flour, sugar, and shortening products. I started baking the bread when we put DS on an organic diet, and I continue because it's inexpensive, easy, and sooooo tasty! I used to work in a bakery in college and we made all our bread from scratch, hundreds of loaves per week.

I make it by hand (well, I do use a sunbeam mixer stand) because really once you figure out how to do it it's super easy. I always start by blooming my yeast in lukewarm water. I mix together the dry ingredients, and then once the yeast is ready I mix all together in the mixer. I use those dough hooks that come with the mixer. (solid spirally looking things) and let it mix until it's sticking to the hooks. Then I scrape out onto a floured surface and kneed until it just won't give anymore. I place back in a greased bowl, cover gently, and let it rise. The whole process takes all of 10 minutes. Once it's doubled in size, I punch down and kneed into the shape of a loaf. (takes about 3 minutes.) I place in the greased loaf pan and let rest until it's filled most the pan (at least doubled in size.) Then I bake. I can tell when it's done by popping the loaf out of the pan and thunping the bottom with my finger. If it sounds hollow, it's done. Don't let it cool in the pan!

In all it takes me about 20 minutes of actual work (measuring, mixing, kneeding, and washing up.) But, I have to be around for the morning or afternoon so i can get punched & kneaded as necessary. Usually not a problem on weekends.

I ususally make a double batch and freeze the 2nd loaf for mid-week. It does get stale pretty fast because no preservatives are being used.

I've taught break making before there were break machines. It's time consuming but satisfying to me. A few years ago I bought a break machine and used that for awhile.

You can buy a sour dough starter mix and skip the leaving the milk out for fermentation to take place. I've tried making a sour dough starter without success. I opt for the package of starter.

The reason you have to let the milk sit is so that organisms can land in the milk to sour the milk. They are healthy organisms. I suppose now with all the concern about health "they" may have discovered pathogens in the air. LOL But if pathogens do make it into the starter they will be killed with the heat.

Now, I've stopped making bread. LOL The new artisan breads are good, tho not as good as home made, but good enough for me because there are so many other things I want to do. There is something about that fresh from the oven smell and consistency that can't be beat. You get both from a machine. I do miss that. I had great fun with bread making for many years. It's just time for other things now. I encourage you to keep on working with break making.

There are just too many tips to write them all down. In my high school classes we devoted a couple of weeks or more to just to learning bread making. You can google and learn a lot. And I can help you with individual difficulties. Overall, making bread is simple if you follow the directions.

Google "how to store sourdough bread starter."

Some bread makers, have sourdough starters that are decades old.
San Fransisco, is known for sourdough.
http://www.boudinbakery.com/meetboudin/
The "starter" is also called the "mother dough."

A starter dough, is needed to make proper sourdough.
Sourdough bread, is a soured French Bread.

To make homemade bread, you don't have to put it in a bread loaf pan. You can opt to get or put it on, a "bread stone." Which some even use a pizza baking stone.

Sourdough is essentially a form of fermentation (wine, beer, yogurt, kimchi, some pickles, kombucha, all use fermentation). You are basically growing yeast cells. They give the sour flavor to the sourdough. You could eat it raw and it shouldn't make you sick. You need to feed and maintain your starter regularly, even if you don't make bread, so don't go this route unless you can maintain it. If made correctly, the sourdough starter will smell really nice, but sour. After it is started, it lives in the fridge.

We don't have a bread maker. It would probably be good for soft sandwichy type bread. I like rustic loaves, though, and you can't get that with a breadmaker. So, the route you take will depend on the outcome (aka type of bread) that you want.

I don't make sour dough so I don't know about that, but I do make my own bread. My kids love my honey wheat and I make spent grain bread after my husband brews beer out of his spent grains. I did not like my bread maker so I make all my bread by hand.

I grew up making bread. Sour dough is not the place to start unless you can get your hands on some starter. I just use pans. I would not invest in a break maker unless you want to make your own on a regular basis. I do however love what my food processor will do for me.

The sourdough starter doesn't make you sick because it is fermenting, and the bacteria is converting sugars into acids.

Had a bread maker for years. Once it died we never replaced it. THe bread machine will get the job done. But it's another appliance to store. You are a bit more limited with what you can make. And breads made without it just taste so much better.

We make tons of bread. Like another poster, we use spent grains to make some great hearty breads. My basic understanding is that sourdough starters are a fermentation process and is normally too acidic for bad bacteria. I imagine there is plenty of room for error, though.

If you want a great book on artisan breads and breadmaking, check out the Breadmakers Apprentice. It's one of our faves.

The bread machine was just so large for what we made and you had to bake it separate anyway. The machine only did loaves. Husband swears it's great that it kneads and rises all for you but honestly I knead with the stand mixer and then leave the bread to rise, Whether it rises in a bread maker or a bowl is not that different. I make sourdough all the time without a starter. I just mix it all up and let it sit over night to ferment longer if you want it more sour. All other breads are just baked after a few hours of rising. No gross "mother" to worry about.

I love my bread machine! The advantage, and the only reason I have time to make bread, is that all you need to do is put the ingredients in, push a couple buttons, and come back a few hours to a hot fresh loaf of bread! One pan and a couple of measuring cups to wash and the machine goes into the pantry til next time. Even if I had more time I doubt I would opt to do it all by hand (that's just me though :-)

i gave away my bread machine. it smelled heavenly, but the bread was just not that wonderful.
if you use fresh (raw) milk it doesn't rot, it curdles the way it's supposed to. it's hard to find most places, though.
i love my kitchenaide for making the dough.
khairete
S.

I use my bread machine in the summer so my house doesn't get heated. Usually do it by hand in the winter, when I want the house to heat up.

Expect the first few loaves to be trial and error, but once you get it, you are good to go. I've also done the sour dough starter. Worked great and so long as you keep feeding it, it will last for a very long time.

Hmmm ... my mom kept her sourdough starter in the refrigerator ...

I use the oven for bread - I had a bread machine but didn't like it. I enjoy making bread by hand.

I don't care for sourdough bread, so I've never made it. Could you buy buttermilk or plain kefir and use it for sourdough starter?

I have a bread machine and I used it for the "dough" portion then I bake the dough in the oven. I find it rises better in the machine. I highly recommend "instant" yeast. Go to King Arthur Flours (online) for recipes and advice. They also sell sour dough starter. I think I tried making sour dough starter decades ago and it was difficult. I'd start with a basic loaf.