First ever bread bake

[knight76]

Well I have finally baked my first ever bread.

I tried the NY Times no knead bread but threw it out half way through as it was a sticky mess. Yes, I realise it was supposed to be a sticky mess and obviously I threw it away in error. Silly me.

So I climbed back on the horse the next day and decided to knead my own and make a regular loaf.

Found a recipe on the net the was 3 cups flour, butter, yeast, sugar, salt, milk and mixed it all together. Kneaded it and let it rise, punched it down and let it rise again to get to the below stage.

Next, it was time for the oven bake. 30 minutes later and.......

Am letting it cool and will try it later on tonight or tomorrow for breakfast.

I am happy with this for a first effort. Though the loaf is a little small. If I am going to be baking bread often I will want it to be a replacement for buying sandwich bread.

 

[YT2095]

interesting!

I`v never seen a recipe that uses Milk as the liquid for bread, but it certainly Looks like it came out well, I think I may try this myself next time, we don`t Buy bread here, I always make it.

 

[pacanis]

Alix gave me a recipe that uses milk rather than water and dry milk. It's heavy and very moist. Pretty good stuff for sandwiches.

BTW, The bread looks really good, Knight, but I don't see how you can wait to try a slice!

 

[quicksilver]

Looks delicious. Congrats on your efforts.

Now where's the raspberry jam?​

 

[suziquzie]

I use milk for my dough when I make caramel rolls or cinnamon buns. Nice and..... sweetrollish!
Oh, and how do you bake a loaf of bread and manage to save the whole thing for the next day??? Don't you need to make sure the inside is ok?

 

[sparrowgrass]

Beautiful!!

Try the NYT bread again--you will love it.

 

[knight76]

interesting!

I`v never seen a recipe that uses Milk as the liquid for bread, but it certainly Looks like it came out well, I think I may try this myself next time, we don`t Buy bread here, I always make it.

This also had 1 cup of water as well.

We ended up having soup for dinner which was the perfect opportunity to try the loaf, now there is none left

It was very nice.

I knew the inside was cooked as it was hollow sounding when I tapped on the crust.

 

[pacanis]

I knew the inside was cooked as it was hollow sounding when I tapped on the crust.

Tapped on the crust?

Nooo, I'm pretty sure that the only way to see if fresh baked bread is finished is to try a slice, or two.... Cut it thick and don't skimp on the butter. You may have to bake two loaves.

 

[knight76]

But what about the taste affect of using different flours.

With the loaf I cooked earlier using AP flour it had a sort of scone like taste to it. How would using bread flour change the taste?

I am not sure what bread tastes like in other countries but in Aus it does not taste scone like. I would like to learn to make the bread to be more commercial tasting so my fam will eat it more readily. I quite enjoyed the taste though.

 

[knight76]

Tapped on the crust?

Nooo, I'm pretty sure that the only way to see if fresh baked bread is finished is to try a slice, or two.... Cut it thick and don't skimp on the butter. You may have to bake two loaves.

Now I know why people say cutting a hot loaf out of the oven ruins the loaf!

 

[texasgirl]

Look at you!! Looks good! Congratulations!

 

[Michael in FtW]

Congrats, knight! Looks perfect to me ... and the reason the loaf is small is because of the amount of flour and the size of your pan - looks like a standard 1-pound loaf to me.

As for milk in a bread recipe - it adds tenderness to the crumb and helps retard staling. The recipe I've been using for the past 10-years or so also includes a mix of water and milk.

But what about the taste affect of using different flours.

With the loaf I cooked earlier using AP flour it had a sort of scone like taste to it. How would using bread flour change the taste?

I am not sure what bread tastes like in other countries but in Aus it does not taste scone like. I would like to learn to make the bread to be more commercial tasting so my fam will eat it more readily. I quite enjoyed the taste though.

Different flours will have both different texture qualities and flavors. Here in the US - AP flour is a blend of hard and soft wheats - bread flour is just a hard wheat.

Of course, flavor is also going to be affected by the recipe. The recipe I've been using to make a couple of 1-lb loaves each week is a blend of bread (4-cups) and whole wheat (3-cups) ... and a mix of milk and water, butter, honey in place of most of the sugar, etc. I made this almost every week for about 10 years, but haven't made it in about a year after I moved - and I'm not sure which box in the garage the recipe is in ... but it took me about a year of tweaking to get it to taste like a loaf of "Mrs Baird's Honey-Butter Wheat Bread" (our primary local bread bakery).

Try the recipe again using bread flour - don't change anything else. See what you think about it.