Checking in

Hi all.

This is Krung-Kore from la [FAM]ilia, reporting for duty.

Thank you Doxis for this initiative. I suppose we should think of this forum as our intracranial implanted communication device.

Remind me to post the recipe for this amazing potato salad my science officer likes to prepare from time to time.

K.

Hey Krung-Kore - I've seen where your science officer sourced some of those ingredients. Be very careful when eating anything he prepares..

Viva la familia!
fishboy

Brothers and Sisters of Arms, I salute you!

Now let us get down to plotting taking over the Universe!

Patarranoch of Patarrani
Captain of Patarramor Cerxs II (Crsr2)
Enginner [FAM]

Greetings Cousins,

Bombze has been talking about bread making in the SB, and thought I would post what I do here so that others can see it as well. It may not be as . . . remarkable . . . as the potato salad, but here it is. I have only given it a cursory proof-read, and I am doing most of this from memory, so I give no guarantee. It would probably be best to use it in concert with another recipe, and hope that together they fill in all the gaps. Now, does anyone have a recipe for Naan?

Most important note: Do not forget the salt. Unsalted bread is nearly a complete loss, although I suppose you might be able to fry it in salted butter.

Makes 1 moderate sized loaf.

General recipe:
350 ml (1.5 cups) warm fluid (water/milk/?)
15 cc (1 Tbsp) of instant yeast (1 pkg active dry=1 cake compressed=15 cc=1 Tbsp)
30 cc (2 Tbsp) of sugar/honey/molasses. Or would that be measured as 30 grams?

5-10 cc (1.5 tsp) salt
800 cc (3.5 cups) flour (about 400 g, I would think)
30 cc (2 Tbsp) butter/oil

Flour: I usually use 50:50 whole wheat and unbleached. You want relatively "hard" wheat for bread flour, and some brands will designate some of their flour as for bread (rather than cakes and pastries). My sister-in-law found it hard to find good bread flour in New Zealand (South Island) when she moved there 12 years ago. So, that might be an issue depending on your location.

Most of the ingredients are 1 cc = 1 gram (1 fluid oz = 1 oz weight), but flour is about half that density.

Preparation:
Get the fluid just above 40 C (110F) and add the yeast and sugar. I use loose active dried yeast and just sprinkle it on the top of the water after stirring in the sugar. I add a thin layer (it spreads out nicely) and wait for it to wet and stir it in before sprinkling more on. I am just trying to avoid clumping. You might be able to make a paste and add water slowly to thin it smoothly. Probably not really a big deal.

The temperature is important. It needs to be hot enough to "kick-start" the yeast without killing it. I put my fluid in the microwave and hit it for 1/3 the time it would take to boil. Since my California tap water is around 60 F and boiling is 212 F, 1/3 of the way is about 110. You can check with a thermometer. The yeast should have a bad fever, but not fatal. Above 45 C (115 F) is probably bad. About 5 minutes after adding the yeast you should get a froth of little bubbles rising to the surface if everything is okay.

Next, I usually add the grease (helps the bread keep longer without going stale), toss the salt in with about half the flour and stir it in. Once it is difficult to _stir_ flour in, you turn the dough out of the bowl and knead it in. The amount of flour is an estimate, you should be guided by how the dough feels. Do not force in more flour than the dough can take. It should still be moist and elastic. Knead it for a bit to allow the flour to integrate and to develop the grain of the bread a bit.

Then I cover it and let it rise about 2x in a warm place. 2x in volume is only 25% in each linear dimension, or 40% in each of two (e.g. if it is mostly spreading out while rising on a board rather than in a bowl) so it isn't that much.

After it has gotten bigger, pummel or smack it down a bit, knead it a bit more, and shape it into a loaf (or loaves if you doubled the recipe or want smaller ones). You can use flour to keep it from sticking, but I think you are not trying to add flour. I usually use a flat sheet or a "23.5 x 13.3 x 6.99 cm" ("9.25 x 5.25 x 2.75 in") pan. Yes, they label it down to the 0.1 mm in depth, but I am sure 7 cm would do. Mine are non-stick coated, but I still butter them.

Then, I let the loaves rise in a warm place. I have used my oven for raising, but I think you want about 25-30C, not 50C. I once used a 25 W lightbulb in a cardboard box. Do not jostle them toward the end of the rise and when transferring into the oven. They aren't like souffles, but I am still careful. 2x rise is sort of the standard statement, but that is still pretty dense bread. I think I go for 2.5 or a bit more. Store bought (Wonder and the like, but even "good" sandwich bread) is probably more like 3-5x.

I do not know that you need to preheat the oven. I think I have just turned it on the times I was raising the bread in it. Usually the baking temp is 175 - 200 C (350-400 F) and a lot of recipes call for a higher heat at the beginning and then a reduction (a change of 15-50 C or 25-100 F) after 10-15 minutes. I do not always bother with that. Bake times are 40 minutes or so, but I quote the _Joy of Cooking_ on "Testing for Doneness":

To test for doneness, notice if the loaf has shrunk from the sides of the pan. Or test by tapping on the bottom of the pan to release the loaf and then tapping on the bottom of the loaf; if a hollow sound emerges, the bread is done. Otherwise, return the loaf to the pan and bake a few minutes longer.

Don't forget to use oven mitts if you do that! I think that bread is pretty tolerant of baking time variations. A bit too short, and you can toast it to make sure the middle is done. A bit too long and you just have a heavier crust.

Pagangod, thanks for the detailed bread baking recipe.

The precision is exactly what I was looking for, and it answered all my tangential questions too!

I used it today, and my bread is smelling pretty good I think I goofed up a bit with the yeast (too hot liquid), but I hope the bread isn't too dense.

Naan is super common here (India) but I haven't made it at home yet. Will give you a shout when I do!