"Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" -- AWESOME!!!!!!

[palehorse1301]

That's not a problem of how much yeast is in there, give it more time to rise, it'll get there.

I gave it about 4 hours. The white flour I used for half of the mixture was bleached though. Could that be part of the cause?

[NoAm]

I will be trying this soon! I will post the results.

[duodecima]

I gave it about 4 hours. The white flour I used for half of the mixture was bleached though. Could that be part of the cause?

Bleached shouldn't matter. 1/2 whole wheat is obviously going to be heavier than all white.

[Confucius]

That's not a problem of how much yeast is in there, give it more time to rise, it'll get there.

I gave it about 4 hours. The white flour I used for half of the mixture was bleached though. Could that be part of the cause?

That shouldn't be a problem, obviously 1/2 whole wheat bread will be a little heavier, but in my experience not by all that much.

You gave it four hours for the first rise, at that long it should have been very airy and full of bubbles when you punched it down, was it? If not, your yeast could be old. Also, was your oven heated all the way before you put the bread in? A screaming hot oven really helps a dough as wet as this to spring in the oven.

[palehorse1301]

You gave it four hours for the first rise, at that long it should have been very airy and full of bubbles when you punched it down, was it? If not, your yeast could be old. Also, was your oven heated all the way before you put the bread in? A screaming hot oven really helps a dough as wet as this to spring in the oven.

It was, it was about double the volume that it started at. The oven reached about 10 minutes before the 45 minutes I let it sit on the sheet after forming to "rerise" was up. The yeast I used is Red Star, with an expiration date of June 2013. The whole wheat flour had been sitting in the bottom of the fridge for almost a year; that may have something to do with it.

All in all, it wasn't bad; just not as fluffy as I was expecting.

[palehorse1301]

I tried it again last night with white flour, this is how it turned out.

[Shiloh]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

[duodecima]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

Maybe try to grease&flour it instead then.

[Confucius]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

Do you have a cookie sheet? That's what I usually do mine on...

[Shiloh]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

Do you have a cookie sheet? That's what I usually do mine on...

Yep, I can give that a try. No grease or pam or anything on it, correct?

[Confucius]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

Do you have a cookie sheet? That's what I usually do mine on...

Yep, I can give that a try. No grease or pam or anything on it, correct?

You'll need something. I like to use parchment paper.

[Shiloh]

Giant thread necro? AW YEAAHHHH!!!!

Wish me luck, I'm giving this a go tomorrow after I get home from finals.

Also, what if I don't have a pizza stone or cornmeal? How could I go about substituting something? I was thinking of using a glass meatloaf container, but I don't know if the bread will stick.

Do you have a cookie sheet? That's what I usually do mine on...

Yep, I can give that a try. No grease or pam or anything on it, correct?

You'll need something. I like to use parchment paper.

Alright then, will do! Thanks for the help.

[ajamesp51]

All right I have my first batch on the counter rising. If this works out I will want to try to make my own flour.

[duodecima]

All right I have my first batch on the counter rising. If this works out I will want to try to make my own flour.

I recommend it! I only did it the first time as a dry run for the zombies - and got immediately addicted to the taste of fresh ground flour. I'm not a gourmet or a real foodie - but even my stunted taste buds could tell a difference.

[Shiloh]

Dear God above.

The loaf looked like a deformed pumpkin when I pulled it out of the oven, and there were weird little bubbles on the surface of the crust, but my word it's AMAZING!!! Just a little dense (the way I like it), and even without the broiler pot I still got the awesome crumbly-crust, although it's hard as a rock. Honestly, though, I'm stunned that I got something that even tasted remotely like bread, let alone this awesome creation.

[ForumCrawler]

>de-lurk<
So I tried this, and followed Chantrea's instructions to the letter, but had a couple of problems.
1. The dough rose for four hours, and then I placed it in the refrigerator overnight and it collapsed. I could see the "high water mark" where it had been before.
2. The dough would not hold its shape. I balled it up and placed it on my baking sheet, and then it flattened like a pancake.
3. The dough didn't rise much when it was at rest or in the oven. It came out looking similar to a flatbread.
I proofed my yeast and found it to still be good, so it's not the yeast. I used King Arthur flour. This is my first time baking bread, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
ETA: Necro-post

[ZMace]

What kind of flour? Bread or all-purpose? (Hopefully not cake flour). It sounds like you need more flour in your dough for it to hold it's shape, unfortunately one cup of flour can vastly vary in how much flour it holds depending on how tightly packed it it. I don't usually refrigerate mine, so no help there.

[Weaver]

Okay, since I made a huge batch of bread on Wednesday (had to use up some flour that was getting a bit old) I feel qualified to offer some words of wisdom with regards to bread making. Despite what many people think, making bread is really easy provided that you have half-decent flour (the more gluten the better) and a fair bit of patience (rushed bread is bad bread). You just need the following: flour, liquid (about half a pint per pound of flour), fat (I prefer to use oil but butter or lard would work fine), salt (not too much), and yeast (which works better if you mix it with lukewarm water and a little suger and leave it to develop a head before using). Combine all ingredients, knead for at least five minutes adding more flour if it's too sticky, put it in a bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rise for a few hours. When it's risen enough to fill the bowl, knock it back, knead it a bit more, shape it, put it on a tray or in a tin, and leave it to rise again until it's doubled in size. Put it in the oven at about 180 degrees C and bake until it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

[Resolute]

I finally made some of this yesterday, and it tasted great! I think I had a little too much water to start off, but like someone said earlier in the thread, some time in the fridge for the second loaf has made the dough MUCH more manageable. Today after getting home from work I have worked together a jalapeño and cheddar loaf and it's hanging out on top of the fridge right now, rising, while the oven heats up.

Hopefully it'll end up good, if not better than the last one!

PS - I'm using a non-stick baking sheet. Seems to work just fine. Thanks for the recipe and the 8 pages of tips!