NY Times bread recipe--what FUN

[JoeV]

I feel like an evangelist. After gifting two friends this week with NYT Bread, there are now two more disciples carrying forth the torch of this great bread and driving their families crazy with the great smell of homemade bread. Ya gotta love it when a plan comes together. Next they'll be making foccacia, Italian, sour dough, chiabata......

Joe

[xmascarol1]

Originally Posted by xmascarol1

Now one more llittle trick that helps. I have those thin silicone sheets that come from the kitchen stores in 2 in a roll. I use them for all my cooking and baking sheets, and they have lasted for 4 years so far. Well, after doing the baking paper route for letting the bread rise and then lifting the unbaked loaf into the Dutch oven, I thought I'd try using those silicone sheets. Voila! It was perfect. No mess, no burnt paper , easy to handle. What could be quicker?

I have yet another trick I've done. Using the silicone sheet, I sprinkle it with a little cornmeal, pour the dough on it, and then take two opposite edges and bring them together and pull them up until it forms a cradle. Take a clip and hold the edges together. Then when you place the bread in the preheated Dutch oven, just lift the cradled bread, silicone and all into the oven . You get a lovely long loaf with this. Actually, I've moved over to my clay chicken baker for the bread instead of the Dutch oven. works even better.

[CherryRed]

I made this bread last week and it was great! It ended up being three loaves; they were gone within a few days (special thanks to some of my sisters' friends who couldn't stop eating it... lol). I'll definitely make this again! It's dangerous though - really tough to resist eating it all when it's so good!

[JoeV]

Here's a tip for those empty nesters or anyone who can't eat a whole loaf of NYT in a day or two. Today I took two, 2-1/2 Qt Corning casserole dishes with lids, and split the dough into two smaller loaves. After flouring and folding the dough, I weighed it on my digital scale to get the same amount for each dish. It came out into two smaller loaves that had the same oven spring as the bigger loaf. I then can freeze a whole, uncut loaf to be defrosted when needed. The smaller loaf fits into a 1-gallon zip-lok freezer bag, which I recycle until they cannot be used any longer. I just wash and dry them before re-using them.

BTW, I make my NYT batches using 1# of unbleached AP flour, 1-1/2t salt, 1/4t Instant Yeast and 13 oz water. It's about 3-4 oz larger than the 3C flour recipe, but it works for me since all my recipes are based on weight, not volume.

Joe

[knight76]

so this bread is fool proof eh? Well I am going to test that theory right out.

My bread is in the first rise at the moment. After I fold it and flour it etc I am going to put it into a rectangular bread baking tin and bake this in the oven to attempt to get a square loaf.

So, I wont be pre-heating the loaf tin, I wont be cooking it in a dutch oven, crockpot or any other pot.

How will this go do you think?

[GB]

I think it is a mistake to not preheat the pan first.

[JoeV]

Originally Posted by knight76

so this bread is fool proof eh? Well I am going to test that theory right out.

My bread is in the first rise at the moment. After I fold it and flour it etc I am going to put it into a rectangular bread baking tin and bake this in the oven to attempt to get a square loaf.

So, I wont be pre-heating the loaf tin, I wont be cooking it in a dutch oven, crockpot or any other pot.

How will this go do you think?

It's only foolproof if you follow the recipe and directions, which you have chosen to ignore, so you're not testing the theory properly.

The whole concept of this bread is to create the open crumb and chewy crust that is normally created in a steam injected oven with traditional yeast doughs. This recipe improvises by creating a wet dough that will give off lots of steam in a closed environment for 2/3 of the baking time. If you watched the NYT video this was explained.

I will be interested in seeing how your bread turns out. At worst, you're only out a little bit of flour, yeast, salt and water. Life is all about experimenting, and some are more daring than others. Go for it!

Joe

[babetoo]

i made this bread yesterday, using two glass loaf pans. one was used as the lid. i heated both as recipe states.

had a little problem with too much moisture, as i used drained chopped green chiles and taco cheese( a blend of four or five cheeses).

the taste was wonderful, i made the recipe with one and half cups of water. will try squeeze more juice out of chiles with paper towels. had a problem in using parchment paper. oozed out of the ends. looked funny but tasted super.

think i will not use paper again.

babe

p.s. joey v knows what he is talking about.

[JoeV]

babetoo,

The parchment paper works fine, provided you do the proofing in a shaped basket or bowl that somewhat replicates your baking vessel(s). Since I have oblong and round baking vessels, I use these baskets (lined with parchment paper) to proof my bread. I can then lift the proofed dough from the basket into the baking vessel.



If your chiles have that much moisture in them, just cut back on the water by 1-2 ounces and see how your dough comes out. If it's too dry, just add enough water to get the consistency that you want.

Joe

[babetoo]

Originally Posted by JoeV

babetoo,

The parchment paper works fine, provided you do the proofing in a shaped basket or bowl that somewhat replicates your baking vessel(s). Since I have oblong and round baking vessels, I use these baskets (lined with parchment paper) to proof my bread. I can then lift the proofed dough from the basket into the baking vessel.



If your chiles have that much moisture in them, just cut back on the water by 1-2 ounces and see how your dough comes out. If it's too dry, just add enough water to get the consistency that you want.

Joe

i did use a basket lined with parchment paper. i think i did not tear a large enough piece of paper. but will try less water. thanks.

babe