Math in Bread Making

Yup, there's math in bread making. The amount of flour used determines the ratio of all the other ingredients in the bread. There's an actual formula professional bakers use to figure out their recipes.

Until recently, I've always just made bread by "feel"--adding water or flour to the dough as needed, but after reading up on bread baking, I purchased a scale as an experiment. I wondered if this would take the fun out of bread making for me. I want bread making to be relaxing and enjoyable, not dogmatic.

What I learned is that I'm, generally, heavy handed with the flour. For example, my 3 1/2 cup of flour is quite a bit more than 16 ounces. I always wondered why I end up adding much more liquid to the dough than called for in recipes. I guess one of the tricks of really good bread is to use just enough yeast to make the dough rise effectively. Changing the flour and liquid ratios affects the yeast's ability to do its job. So, by weighing out the flour, liquids and other ingredients, my doughs are more consistent. I'm moving over to the "weighing the ingredients" camp. It doesn't take that much extra effort and I do think it's making a difference in the quality of my bread.

What do you think? To weigh or not to weigh? That is today's question!

Cheers!--Janyce

The Bread Shack

Look for a sunny yellow building on Rt 4. (Grabbed these pictures in the afternoon sun, so the colors are a bit washed out).

Managed to get all the way back to Old Town without digging into this olive loaf. So looking forward to din-din!

The variety of loaves, soups, sandwiches and baked goods offered at The Bread Shack  make it difficult to choose a favorite. Definitely worth the trip!

Ciabatta al Formaggio

Another foray into pre-fermentation! The recipe I used for ciabatta al formaggio called for poolish: a flour, water, yeast starter with the consistency of very thick pancake batter.

This sits in the refrigerator overnight bubbling away and fermenting slowly and, then is added to the ciabatta dough recipe the next day. I added cheddar, provolone and romano cheese to the dough first by layering it on top of the dough.

Then by folding it in. (The dough can actually be wetter than this and still work).

Here's the dough ready for its second to last rise (before it's shaped and ready to go in the oven.

The shape of this bread is supposed to resemble a dancer's slipper. I need some practice...but here's the dough ready to pop into the oven.

And...here are the finished loaves of ciabatta.

I think I worked the dough a little too much when I was getting it ready for the oven...This bread, characteristically, has large holes in it and I'm sure I popped some of the bubbles when I was shaping it, but, still I'm happy with the final outcome...a tasty addition to tonight's dinner. The cheese filled in some of the air pockets for a nice little burst of flavor. Definitely going to try this recipe again.

Enjoy!--Janyce

BTW, you can find the recipe I used in Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." This is the second recipe I've tried from the book...loving it so far! The instructions are clear and the illustrations make it easy to know what the bread's supposed to look like at various stages. 

Kaiser Rolls

For my birthday last year, I got Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" and have been meaning to make my way through the book. I unpacked it the other day and thought I'd give some of the recipes a spin.

I made these kaiser rolls yesterday. My first try at sandwich rolls. The recipe was kind of what I expected, but it did call for pate fermentee, something I'd never heard of before. It sounded a little intimidating, but it wasn't. Pate fermentee is, essentially, a bit of bread dough made ahead of time. It rises once at room temperature, then sits in the refrigerator overnight. The dough, then cut into bits, is added to the regular kaiser roll dough to give it a more mature, "aged" flavor.

I cheated and only let the pate fermentee sit for two hours (the recipe said I could, so I don't really feel that bad about it). Then I made the kaiser dough, let that rise for two hours (a lot of fermenting going on in this recipe!) and rolled the dough in balls.

I lost the sun before I could take pictures of the rolls cut and ready to pop into the oven (they proof for another hour and a half after the dough is ready to shape into rolls), but, I can assure you, these were well worth the wait! Next time, I'll plan better and let the pate fermentee mature. The rolls are really, really good now (BF did the happy dance when he ate one!). I suspect letting the first dough reach full maturity will give them that extra push over the cliff! (A Spinal Tap reference there). These are definitely an "eleven."

Cheers!--Janyce

Yay for 2012

In about 7 hours from now, a beach ball covered with lights will be dropped from a building in downtown Bangor, ME signifying the start of 2012. (Times Square has nothing on us, baby!). It's fun to reflect on the old year--all the great Madder Root milestones--and think ahead to 2012. Thank you all for your continued support and inspiration. We hope that you and your family have a happy, healthy and joy-filled New Year! --the madder root gang

A Heartfelt Thanks!

Christina, Andy and I give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who's made Madder Root a success this year. Your support and kind feedback truly gives us inspiration. We'll be taking Dec 22-27, 2011 off to be with our families and friends. Our Etsy shop will remain open. Orders placed during that time will be shipped starting Dec 28. In the meantime, we wish all of you happiness in this holiday season and success in the New Year!--Janyce

The New England Outdoor Center

We had a great time at The New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket, ME this weekend where we participated in the River Driver's first annual craft fair. We thank Sarah, all the people at NEOC, and the other exhibitors for showing us such a lovely time in a warm and cozy environment. The clouds even lifted a bit to show off the lake and Mt. Katahdin. What a view!

Here are some pictures from the event: