WHEN IT’S BROWN IT’S COOKING – WHEN IT’S BLACK IT’S DONE

 

 

If I am making toast out of store-bought bread, I like it burnt, otherwise, to me, it is tasteless.

 

I knew an old man in Newfoundland who lived around the bay.   His wife made homemade bread almost every day.  He called the store-bought bread Bakers Fog.  

 

My wife and I started making homemade bread in a bread machine in 1985 while we were teaching in a Native village 150 miles north of Fairbanks.   It was a six-hour drive on a single lane road across the tundra, if the weather was good.  It was a potentially dangerous trip at the best of times.

 

Our first machine was made by DAK and looked like the R-2 D-2 robot in the early Star Wars movies.  

 

After that the Breadman was our choice of bread machine; but their quality went to crap along with a collapsible paddle that would pop lose during the breadmaking process.   We have even tried the expensive Swedish, two paddle machine which turned out inconsistent quality.   We now have a Cuisinart and I am extremely pleased with it.  (I like most Cuisinart products, but their toaster sux).

 

Bread making is so easy and the quality of bread is so good, I don’t know why most people don’t own a bread machine.

 

I think people that have tried bread machines, but found them inadequate, probably tried artisan and sourdough breads before mastering the basic white bread.  They ended up with doughy or grainy or just bad tasting results.   It is like signing up for karate classes and then jumping into a cage with a mixed martial arts fighter.   

 

The basic white bread recipe is easy:

1 1/8 cup of water

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast

In that order.  Exact measurements of flour, olive oil and water are critical.  Many recipes call for more than one teaspoon of yeast – but I have never found it necessary.

 

The next step is optional:  The Cuisinart beeps after the final kneed.  At that time, I pause the machine, remove the bread pan, dump the dough onto a floured surface, remove the paddle, reshape the dough and return it to the pan and the bread machine.   Otherwise, the paddle gets baked into the base of the bread and you end up with a hole in the bread when you removing the paddle. 

 

I let my bread sit for about four hours before sealing it in a plastic storage bag.  I let the bread sit on the counter overnight before slicing.

 

The hardest part of the whole process is slicing.  I have ended up with a bamboo bread slicing gismo that I like; but it has taken me many loafs of bread before becoming proficient.   

Just like karate, you need to practice.

 

You can not beat the taste of toast made with homemade white bread.

 

Did I run and

And am I tired?

the Ol’Buzzard

 

 

 

 

BAKERS FOG

 

 

I had a friend in Newfoundland that use to call bought bread, baker’s fog.   His wife made bread the old fashion way almost every day.

 

We started making our own bread about 1986.  We were teaching school in an Athabaskan Indian village about 150 miles north of Fairbanks. Alaska.   My wife and I together taught grades kindergarten through six.  The planning involved left very little time for bread making, or anything else, so a bread machine was the answer.

 

Our first machine was a DAK we bought before returning to the village for the second year. 

This was before the internet, so there was no buying on line.  The machine made passable bread, but the loafs were round.   We have always referred to that first machine as R2-D2. 

 

About eight years later, in the nineties, we bought our second bread machine, a Breadman Ultra, and it made great bread.

  We have gone through two Breadman machines, and last year our last one bit the dust.  We ordered another Breadman, but it was a piece of garbage and we returned it  

 

Now we have a Cuisinart and it is, in our opinion, the best we have owned.  

 

 

MAKING BREAD

Today’s society requires instant gratification.   People buy bread machines, and if the bread doesn’t turn out the first few times they use it, they declare the breadmaker is at fault. 

 

Making consistently good bread with a bread machine requires some amount of practice.   When the ingrediency begin to mix, you need to know what a good dough looks like, and make adjustments.  Eventually you will have your recipe down pat and will make consistently good bread. 

 

We make one-and-a-half pound loafs, because the two-pound bread slices are too big for the toaster. 

 

OUR STANDARD RECIPE.

Exact measurements are necessary.

1 1/8 cup of water goes into the bread pan

2 ½ tablespoons of olive oil are added

3 cups of all-purpose flower added (not bread flour.)

1 tablespoon of sugar on one side of the pan

1 teaspoon of salt on the other side of the pan

1 Teaspoon of Fleischmann’s yeast (not bread machine yeast or rapid yeast) in the middle of the pan.  

(recipes that came with our bread machine call for two or more teaspoons of yeast – this is not necessary – one teaspoon works great.)

 

We select the White Bread setting, 1 1/2 pound loaf

When the ingredients start to mix, wait a few minutes then scrape the sides of the bread pan to remove any sticky dough.   Our machine beeps just before the last kneading and we remove the bread pan, dump the dough on a flowered sheet and remove the paddle, kneed the dough a few times to shape a loaf and replace the dough in the bread pan and return it to the breadmaker. 

 

Cutting the bread is a skill I never mastered well and often resulted in slices too thick or too thin.  I have now found the solution

 

Bambusi bamboo bread slicer.

I am still working on perfection, but again anything done well takes practice.    

the Ol'Buzzard 

 

 

 

TRYING TO GET BACK TO NORMAL

 

 

Can you remember way back when every day was not about Trump?  There was a time when we had a normal life.   A time when we didn’t wear mask and idiots did not scream and rant about their freedoms.

 

Last week my thirteen-year-old bread machine (Breadman Ultra) finally gave up the ghost.   Yesterday I purchased a new Cuisinart bread maker

 

 

I would have gone with another Breadman, but they now have such bad reviews I changed brands.   The paddle system in the new Breadman machines is a bad design and a real headache, and the machine quality is not the same. 

 

Last night I made my first loaf of basic white bread and the Cuisinart works great.

 

  The machine beeps at the end of the second knead to remind you to remove the paddle, or allow you to reshape the dough for oven baking. 

 

Just like any other endeavor, baking bread in a bread machine takes practice.  The machines are fool proof; but to consistently turn out good loafs you have to learn to adjust the water and flower during the first kneed to reach the right dough consistency.  After that, the world of homemade breads is unlimited.  

 

Like planting a garden and heating with firewood, there is something about making homemade bread that is comforting: tying us back to another time before technology took over our lives – a time of stability and calm.    And home made bread taste better and is healthier than the ‘bakers fog’ they sell at the supermarkets. 

the Ol'Buzzard  

MAKING BREAD

My wife and I have been making our on bred for thirty-five years.  We have gone through numerous bread machines, but years ago settled on the Breadman Ultimate.

 

Our fall back recipe, the one we make the most, is wheat germ bread.   It has a great consistency, easy to slice and is delicious toasted.

Wheat Germ Bread

• 1 cup Buttermilk (we use the powdered buttermilk available in the baking isle of the supermarket.)
• 1 large egg
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour (we don’t use bread flour.)
• ½ cup if wheat germ
• 1 ½ tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of butter (not margarine.)
• 1 teaspoon of yeast 

The buttermilk and egg mixture goes in first, then the dry ingredients: the sugar on one side of the bread pan and the salt on the other.   The yeast goes in last in the middle of the dry ingredients. 

An hour and a half before the bread is done (just before the final kneed) we take out the dough and remove the paddle, then place the dough back into the machine for the final rise and baking.  This way you do not end up with a hole in your bread from having to remove the paddle after baking.

Note:

You have to bake a few breads to discover the best consistency of dough.  The biggest mistake most new bakers make is adding too much water and ending up with a wet, sticky dough.   If you measure carefully you should get the right dough.  If I still see flour in the bottom of the pan during the first kneed I will add 1 tablespoon of water – only one!

Better the dough be a little dry than too wet.

Homemade bread is a simple pleasure

the Ol’Buzzard