Any Bread Machine fanatics here?

[racine]

You can't beat the taste at all!

[brhoff]

Reading through this thread and chuckling av Joe as he adds new items to what is needed to support the bread baking endeavor...much like fly fishing.

Last week a stone was needed, a scale, the rooster is one the way for eggs...

Soon, I predict, you'll be raising 40-50 acres of wheat and later arranging wheat swaps and collecting esoteric sourdough starters from around the globe.

BTW, I bake thousands of loaves a year...I am a Baker.

[Joe Valencic]

Reading through this thread and chuckling av Joe as he adds new items to what is needed to support the bread baking endeavor...much like fly fishing.

Last week a stone was needed, a scale, the rooster is one the way for eggs...

Soon, I predict, you'll be raising 40-50 acres of wheat and later arranging wheat swaps and collecting esoteric sourdough starters from around the globe.

BTW, I bake thousands of loaves a year...I am a Baker.

Every hobby involves getting setup properly to maximize your enjoyment. Some like the old school ways and others like the more modern approach to hobbies. I'm a bit of a tech person, so I like the modern conveniences.

Out in the shed I have twelve chickens and one rooster (on Enzite) so as to propagate the flock. I named him "Bob" after the commercial. When he outlives his usefulness, he will become tying material, or perhaps I will just "prune" him as the need arises, and let him grow some new plumage. That could be a non-stop supply of hackle for years to come.

Not interested in raising wheat, especially with how the market fluctuates. Also, it takes time from fishing. I can bake bread in the evenings, but farming is mostly a daylight activity.

I'm not into the starter collection (yet!), but rather just make an overnight starter for a couple of my recipes. None of us is really crazy about the true sourdough breads.

The scale was a smart decision based on some research. Sure helps in the repeatability of recipes and accuracy. I use it for flour, liquids and even the yeast. Of course, this involves a lot of notes on the existing volume recipes, but a lot of them are already in my computer, and those have both volume and weight (in parenthesis) so anyone I share them with can use the recipe either way.

I would be interested in seeing some of your recipes and pics of teh final products. Tips are also very welcome, as I'm just a newbie at this.

Oh, I finally found that my local GFS store carries 1# bricks of SAF Instant Yeast. I picked up one this morning for $2.16. Sure is a lot cheaper than the grocery store where I pay exactly the same for 6 packets. That's a pretty good racket they have going on yeast for the home baker.

Joe

[MrsKneppPA]

Yes thats right, your "bread porn" has not worked on my Bill. He says I control the money, but if he spends it at on fly-tying materials, how can I possibly have it for bread machines, or even kitchen - aide. Alas I have found a recipe for manual bread making, that I may give a try, after this busy weekend.

Makes: 16 rolls
Prep: 10 mins Knead: 10 mins
Rise: 1 hour 1/2
Bake: 375 degrees for 20 mins

1/2 c. warm water
1 tbsp honey
1 env (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
4 tbsp flax seeeds (reg or golden)
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of skim milk
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Whisk together warm water and honey in small bowl. Stir yeast into the water. Let stand until foamy. About 7 mins.
Meanwhile, place 3 tbsps of the flax seeds in the mini chopper or spice grinder. Grind to med. fine. Transfer to large bowl and add all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Whisk to blend. Then make a well in the middle of the mix.
In, yet another small bowl, stir together milk, olive oil, and salt. Pour into the well. Along w/ the yeast mixture. Stir until dough comes together. Knead until smooth. 5 to 10 minutes.
Place dough into lightly greased bowl, turning to coat.Cover w/ damp, clean towel and allow to rise for 45 minutes. Punch down dough, then knead lightly. Divide into 16 pieces, then roll them into a ball, tucking any seams under. Place on a large non stick baking sheet and cover with the damp towel again. 45 minutes.
Heat oven 375. Uncover dough, brush with egg white then sprinkle remaining flax seeds. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly brown, and hollow-sounding when tapped lightly. Serve Warm.

Shari the Kitchen-Aide Less Mom from PA.

[brhoff]

Joe,

I would suggest keeping that yeast sealed in a glass jar or two in the fridge. I generally try to buy by the # for home use as well and have had it for a year or better if kept refrigerated and very well sealed to avoid moisture.

Also scaling your recipes is the way to go...each milling of grains into flour can produce slight differences in density as with all your dry ingrediants. Weighing is much more accurate and you can really save on clean-up if you have a scale large enough to hold a mixing bowl...zero it out and start adding ingrediants for the first mix...you can even weigh out the liquids and then you don't have to be measuring the dries and wets with seperate measuring cups.

As for collecting starters...it is sort of a scam in a way. "famous makers" sometimes auction off portions of their starters and guess what? As soon as you relocate the starter it changes...it adapts to the local microbes...that is why there will never be exact copies of say San Francisco sour dough.

If you get really slick, study up on the Bakers Percentage "system" it allows real accuracy that is scalable:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_percentage

As for pics and recipes... I rarely if ever bake at home and fortunatly the scaling and forming takes place in another facility where I work as I have no desire to be hauling 100 pounds bags of ingrediants into mixers taller than I am.

[ohiofly]

You should not have mentioned the seperate facility, Know Joe is going to add on to the house. I can see it now West Wing Bakery 100% commerical kitchen, 100# bags of flour, 1ton batch mixers, Super size oven, and I'm not touching the yeast thing-- nope won't go there. "SAINT PAUL" Help us all!!

[Joe Valencic]

brhoff,

Thanks for the tips, particularly the baker's percentages. I have some books that list baker's percentages for ingredients, so that will come in handy in the near future. I am already weighing almost everything, since my scale will display to two decimal places. This works well for small stuff like yeast. I have a large,lightweight plastic bowl that I use for flour. I have a TARE feature so I can zero out the scale with the bowl on it. It's only 4.25 oz.

I will be keeping my yeast in the 4 oz bottle that the first batch came in. It stays in the refrigerator and has a good seal on it. The balance of the 1# brick will go into a sealed mason jar in the freezer until it's time to refill the smaller jar.

I never thought about the local microbes overpopulating the transient microbes, but it just makes sense that they would. I like my overnight starters as I don't have to name my starter and worry about feeding and changing its diapers.

ohiofly,

I'm too cheap to add onto my house. I'll just use the neighbor's kitchen when they are not using it. A brick oven is a tempting idea for the patio. I wonder what Mama would thnk about that? Hmmmmmm....? NOT!

Mrs. Knepp,

I tried to make Bill feel bad, but it obviously didn't work. Just take a second mortgage on the cat and go get the KitchenAid. I just bought the KitchenAid Ultra 300 watt model for a friend on Friday for $120 at Lowes ($250 machine). It was a manufacturer's display model that did not have a box, and was dirty from sitting out on the shelf. That was a big time catch. They are rotating out old stock and getting in all new stuff. Might be worth the trip if you have one nearby.

Joe