I am learning as I go. I make mistakes, do things inconsistently (this is not good), and sometimes make impromptu changes. Nonetheless, I will comment on those things which helped and hurt the final result. Currently, I am in my 26th loaf of bread - baguettes - and will post that up as soon as I am able to get to it.
Loaf 21: Italian Bread This was my fourth attempt at making a flavorful Italian bread. The key? autolyse.
Loaf 22: Baguettes This was a simplified version of Barry Harmon's baguette (link to follow) recipe - ala Mr. Harmon.
Loaf 23: Bagels 01
Too much salt! 200% - it was a misreading 1 Tbsp != 1 tsp! :(
The unevenness of the crust is due to my inexperience at shaping (shaping loaves in general,
and here it shows as inexperience in shaping bagels specifically.)
Loaf 24: Bagels 02 Inconsistent, yet some improvement in shaping - but delicious
Loaf 25: Bagels 03 Too little salt (50%)
The Process: 1) mix, 2) divide, 3) boil
The Finished Product: 4) baked
Loaf 26: Baguettes 02
The same recipe as for my first baguettes, but with new mistakes (such as kneading in the KAFSM for 16 and not 6 mins.)
| The gang of four... | Beauty 01 | Beauty 02 | The Ugly |
Loaf 27: Bagels 04 The "delicousness" was lessened by using the suggested non-diastatic malt power.
| The Puffy Dough | The Shaped Dough |
| The Water Bath | The Boiled Bagels |
| The Crust | The Crumb |
Since I didn't have the non-diastatic malt powder I didn't know how fortunate I was ... so I bought it from KAF thinking it would enhance the flavor better than the Hawaiian Turbinado (raw brown) sugar - it didn't. Also, Were they more glossy? Did the non-diastatic malt powder make their skin shine golden brown - more than before? No and no.
I used 1 1/2 tsp of salt instead of the 1 tsp (which diminished the flavor) or the 2 Tbp which ruined the flavor (yes, I made that mistake reading tsp as Tbsp). Anyway, the 1 1/2 tsp of salt worked out well.
And finally, I thought to try these with General Mills' Harvest King flour. Trust me, it is different than the KAF High-Gluten Sir Lancelot flour. The bagel tasted flat - as if it had no body to it. From now on I am using a high-g flour for all my bagels.
Well, that's it for this batch. Thanks for visiting my site. Next I am going to try the Italian bread again. ... maybe with garlic! :)
Loaf 28: RIB 07 This is my 7th attempt at making this rustic Italian bread. It went well except for the shaping. This went better but I still need practice. One can see slight hints of flour "veins". This happened on the second loaf b/c I obsessed with getting the surface layer smooth. So I curled the dough into itself in order to achieve this goal. The surface was smooth, but the crumb did not completely incorporate the new dough into itself. The taste is right in there. I only used 1.5 tsp of salt instead of the 2 tsp called for in the recipe.
Also, I don't understand why the surface looks like a blotted whale on the beach... is
is that the dough does not have enough strength? The crumb looks good. The dough going
into the oven felt "without bones". I guess that means it's a weak dough. (NOTE: when
I make gnocchi the dough is firm. It could mean hydration? Then again look at the crumb.
It has just the right amount of large to small holes, and has a good distribution.
