NationStates Jolt Archive

So, lately I've been on a bread kick. Part of that was a recent trip to Panera, and it made me realize just how many different ways there are to make bread. So, I figured I'd make a thread about it. If you have a good bread recipe, know of a good type of bread, debate the pros/cons of thin or thick slices, or just want to talk about the awesomeness that is bread, go for it.

Personally, I've tried Panera's Honey Wheat, Sour Dough, Tomato Basil, and Whole Grain White (so far IMO, not a loser in the bunch :D ). In the past, I've had homemade cinnamon swirl bread, banana nut bread, and homemade white bread. I don't currently have any good bread recipes (although I finally got parts for my grandmother's ancient DAK breadmaker), and I'm leaning towards thick slices for sandwiches.

I love a good sourdough bread. I love how its kind of salty, and goes with anything.

Mmm.... freshly baked bread spread with pesto, with slices of tomato, slices of mozzarella cheese and then melted.... Mmmm....

Tomato Basil is kick ass. I love it's sweet crust. I am still looking/ waiting for whole grain with golden raisens. mmmm...

I made the mistake of showing my wife that I am capable of baking bread two years ago, since then she's turned me into her personal baker and pouts if I don't bake at least once a week.

Sadly though, my experiments with sourdough have not gone too well.

I love fresh baked bread, my mother used to do it all the time and bake a fresh loaf everyday.

Some of my favourite flavours (for lack of a better word) included Potato and Herb, Pumpkin and Chocolate Bread.

I made the mistake of showing my wife that I am capable of baking bread two years ago, since then she's turned me into her personal baker and pouts if I don't bake at least once a week.

Sadly though, my experiments with sourdough have not gone too well.

Do you knead the dough by hand, or have a mechanical means? My breadmaker has the ability to do everything up/including to cooking, so if I'm feeling lazy, I COULD let it knead for me (although if I get a Kitchenaid mixer at some point, I won't need the breadmaker anymore).

ETA: I remember during Hurricane Gloria in 1985, my older sister and I walked to my grandmother's house (she lived literally next door to us) to make bread and watch TV. By the time the hurricane was over, my grandmother, my sister, and I made like 8 loaves (of which, my sister and I were sent home with 6 loaves).

Used to have a Breadmaker. Awesome invention, especially in Winter. Chuck all the ingredients in the 'maker and switch it on, then make some good old-fashionedhearty vegetable soup.
Both are ready at the same time. Nothing better on a cold wet miserable Winter's day than dipping fresh baked bread into fresh made vege soup.

Do you knead the dough by hand, or have a mechanical means? My breadmaker has the ability to do everything up/including to cooking, so if I'm feeling lazy, I COULD let it knead for me (although if I get a Kitchenaid mixer at some point, I won't need the breadmaker anymore).
Both, if I have the time I do everything from scratch, yeast, dough, kneading, and everything. I did buy my wife a breadmaker for her birthday in order to speed things up as I didn't enjoy spending a chunk of every weekend making bread, especially as she's starting to use my son's love of bread as a reason why she needs it baked every week. :p

Both, if I have the time I do everything from scratch, yeast, dough, kneading, and everything. I did buy my wife a breadmaker for her birthday in order to speed things up as I didn't enjoy spending a chunk of every weekend making bread, especially as she's starting to use my son's love of bread as a reason why she needs it baked every week. :p

Got any good bread recipes to share?

one of the main things i miss about living in idaho is the nearly free delicious maple bread at winco. its white bread with maple something (syrup?) baked in. fucking awesome. no idea what the recipe would be though.

one of the main things i miss about living in idaho is the nearly free delicious maple bread at winco. its white bread with maple something (syrup?) baked in. fucking awesome. no idea what the recipe would be though.

It sounds interesting. Maybe maple syrup or maple sugar can be used to substitute for regular sugar (or honey, if the recipe normally calls for it).

ETA: I remember during Hurricane Gloria in 1985, my older sister and I walked to my grandmother's house (she lived literally next door to us) to make bread and watch TV. By the time the hurricane was over, my grandmother, my sister, and I made like 8 loaves (of which, my sister and I were sent home with 6 loaves).

By the time you were done making bread, I was done being conceived ;)


I love making bread, but rarely do it...I don't have any mixer (bread maker or stand mixer), so I have to do it all by hand...it can be a little messy.

I made a great foccacia a month or two ago...rosemary olive oil

Love sour dough bread bowls for chowers and bisques.

Mom makes an amazing high-yeast type bread too

I haven't baked bread in a looooooooong time. I should do that. Whole Foods has really good bread baked on-site. I like their semolina bread and their little French and Italian boules (only $.99 ea and just enough for one person - goes great with fresh mozarella, tomatoes and basil). You can also special order Irish Soda bread. Mmmmm.

one of the main things i miss about living in idaho is the nearly free delicious maple bread at winco. its white bread with maple something (syrup?) baked in. fucking awesome. no idea what the recipe would be though.

Where is Winco? In Boise? My daughter is stationed in Mountain Home, I'll tell her about it; if it's close enough she'll probably get some.

Where is Winco? In Boise? My daughter is stationed in Mountain Home, I'll tell her about it; if it's close enough she'll probably get some.

winco is a grocery store chain. mine was in moscow, but presumably they have some down that way
...
aha!
http://www.wincofoods.com/locations.htm#Idaho

Ohhhh, goodness, you're speaking my language!
I went to the California Culinary Academy's baking & pastry course and bread was my best subject. Having a bread genius teaching the class helped a lot, but bread turned out to be my forté.
I've kept my chops up even though I haven't found employment at a bakery yet, and I don't let a week go by without baking something up. Perennial favourites being: focaccia, ciabatta, sourdough, pain d'epi, broa, gingerbread and struan, though I like to play around with recipes as I find them. My friends swear I could make a living doing nothing but focaccia and selling it at the farmers' market.
So has anyone gone over the edge and named their sourdough culture? Mine's called "Dubhe" after the pointer star.

I have a couple of great recipes I'll post. My mom makes good bread. I suck at it. Pastry is my thing, but bread is an entirely different species I don't understand. Mine always comes out dense.

So, lately I've been on a bread kick. Part of that was a recent trip to Panera, and it made me realize just how many different ways there are to make bread. So, I figured I'd make a thread about it. If you have a good bread recipe, know of a good type of bread, debate the pros/cons of thin or thick slices, or just want to talk about the awesomeness that is bread, go for it.

Personally, I've tried Panera's Honey Wheat, Sour Dough, Tomato Basil, and Whole Grain White (so far IMO, not a loser in the bunch :D ). In the past, I've had homemade cinnamon swirl bread, banana nut bread, and homemade white bread. I don't currently have any good bread recipes (although I finally got parts for my grandmother's ancient DAK breadmaker), and I'm leaning towards thick slices for sandwiches.

My wife makes home-made bread all the time, and loves to try new recipies. She makes an Asiago cheese bread to die for. Recently, she made a Parmesian and sun-dried tomato bread that was absolutely fantastic. Made buns out of it and had cheeseburgers on them.

Tomato basil is great. chabata, foccacia, and whole grain honey dusted is amazing as well. My favorite is using a sourdough mix and making baking a baguette style bread. It is perfect for pasta and marinara sauce.

I have only just started making bread, so I don't really have anything to share other than how enjoyable it is.

only bread i know how to make make is good old plum bread

Grøvbrod with Kaviar pwns.

I love a good sandwich. Anything with either ham or mustard goes well with me. But English mustard, not that odd, foul American stuff. It's like watered down mustard. Yuck.

I love a good sandwich. Anything with either ham or mustard goes well with me. But English mustard, not that odd, foul American stuff. It's like watered down mustard. Yuck.
My dad used to only eat Coleman's English but now only eats French's Ameican stuff.

Yucky yuck yuck.

Some wheat bread with Blue Cheese and mettwurst(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettwurst) Absolutely wonderful.

I have coeliac disease so I make my own bread from scratch or eat brown rice bread.

Coming from Germany I'm a little spoiled when it comes to bread. That said, when I was in the States, the thing I missed most was our bread.

There are a only few types of White Bread (=Weizenbrot, "wheat bread") (90+% wheat flour) I like - usually the stuff has a consistency as if someone forget to put it in the oven,
Mixed White Bread (=Weizenmischbrot) (51-89% wheat flour) is a little better but not much,
Mixed Rye Bread (=Roggenmischbrot) (51-89% rye flour) has a wonderful taste and consistency, especially the Gersterbrot (a type of bread with high heat for a short time so the crust is solid and dry and the inner part keeps the moisture - rarely spoils),
and among my favorites is Rye Bread (=Roggenbrot) (90+% rye flour).

Combine the dark, yeast-free rye bread with 3, 4, or even 5 types of whole grain baked into them (=Vollkornbrot "full grain bread"; aka Dreikornbrot, Vierkornbrot, or Fünfkornbrot), and a prison diet of "only" water and bread doesn't sound so bad after all. ;)

Among the more common types of bread (and also among my favorites) is Graubrot ("Gray Bread"), a dense sourdough bread, made from rye or a mixture of rye and wheat flour.

For breakfast I usually have Graubrot, at noon it's a hot meal (sometimes with bread as a side-dish), and at night I usually have Gersterbrot, or some kind of Vollkornbrot or Roggenmischbrot.

Toppings in the morning inlcude all kinds of jams, jellies, or marmalades (made from berries! No lemons or oranges or such for me, please! Yuck!!!), honey, or my favorite spread, Zuckerrübensirup ("sugar-beet syrup") aka Golden Syrup. I'm not that big a fan of Nutella and other chocolaty spreads made from hazelnut-nougat. As a basis I prefer butter, margarine, or peanut butter.

At night, my toppings are less of the sweet type. Mostly cheeeeese, "Leberwurst" (liverwurst? liver sausage?), "Teewurst", or some salami. However, I have reduced my meat consumption and it's mostly cheese now.

I like my bread like I like my beer and chocolate. Dark.

Living at home and having a mother acting like a child about her new bread maker, I've eaten a different loaf every week, if not more than once a week. I'm really going to miss it once I go back to uni.

Not a lot beats making your own bread(umm perhaps beer, wine or mead) easpecily if you have kids and you make pizza's, or kebabs!

I like my bread like I like my beer and chocolate. Dark.

I like my bread like I like my women. Fresh, hot and white.

This (http://www.leipatiedotus.fi/files/1113-suomensininen-ruisleipa.jpg) and this (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Rye_and_Potato_rieska_-_1.JPG)

(former is rye bread, the latter has certain type of barley & potato bread)

I'd like to try to make some bread at some point, using freshly ground wheat berries, or maybe cracked wheat (for extra texture). That will require me purchasing a grain mill and wheat berries, though.

I like my bread like I like my women. Fresh, hot and white.

You leavened racist! ;)

Beer bread is awesome.

Beer bread is awesome.

You got a recipe for it, that we can try?

I'd be willing to bet I've made more bread than everyone else posting on this thread combined.

Well... sort of. I had a litle help.

I did 7 years in the commercial baking industry, I worked all areas of both bun and bread lines but most of the time was spent in the mixing rooms.

On the bread side we'd kick out a dough every 9 minutes. A typical mix weighed between 1200 and 2000 lbs. When the line was cranking. we'd but out over 10,000 loaves an hour. Here's a couple of things I learned in the industry.

Don't count on the higher priced, high end breads being any better than the bargain brands. It's often the exact same bread. Our bakery probably baked 80% of what was found in the local stores. We ran 4 baggers and often there'd be a different brand on each machine, all bagging the same run of read. I'd laugh when I'd go into a store and see three different types of say, cracked wheat bread with a difference in price of about a dollar a loaf between the cheapest and most expensive, knowing they all came from our plant and that they all came from the same run.

Most 'wheat' bread, including the cracked wheat varieties, is dyed brown. We use carmel coloring to get the darker color. Without it, it'd be pretty much the same color as white bread. The exceptions to this are your whole grain and '100%' whole wheat varieties. Yeah they typically cost more but trust me they're worth it. After my time seeing how it's made it's what I buy and eat.

I'd be willing to bet I've made more bread than everyone else posting on this thread combined.

Well... sort of. I had a litle help.

I did 7 years in the commercial baking industry, I worked all areas of both bun and bread lines but most of the time was spent in the mixing rooms.

On the bread side we'd kick out a dough every 9 minutes. A typical mix weighed between 1200 and 2000 lbs. When the line was cranking. we'd but out over 10,000 loaves an hour. Here's a couple of things I learned in the industry.

Don't count on the higher priced, high end breads being any better than the bargain brands. It's often the exact same bread. Our bakery probably baked 80% of what was found in the local stores. We ran 4 baggers and often there'd be a different brand on each machine, all bagging the same run of read. I'd laugh when I'd go into a store and see three different types of say, cracked wheat bread with a difference in price of about a dollar a loaf between the cheapest and most expensive, knowing they all came from our plant and that they all came from the same run.

Most 'wheat' bread, including the cracked wheat varieties, is dyed brown. We use carmel coloring to get the darker color. Without it, it'd be pretty much the same color as white bread. The exceptions to this are your whole grain and '100%' whole wheat varieties. Yeah they typically cost more but trust me they're worth it. After my time seeing how it's made it's what I buy and eat.
The dad of a friend of mine works in a bread factory over here - seems that it's all the same everywhere. ;)