The Batch Bread, from 100 Great Bread Recipes, looked simple enough. And with only a couple of ingredients it should have been. Oh how I was wrong. I followed the recipe and the bread at first try looked like it was going to turn out great.I thought like most bread I was supposed to slash the top so that the bread would expand properly when baked. As it turns out, I was not supposed to. As soon as I made the first cut, I realized I made an error. The bread immediately deflated to about half the height.
Upon further reading instructions, no where in the recipe does it state to slash it. It baked up fine with a decent color and the flavor was excellent. It was light, but not fluffy, which I attribute to the whole cutting thing. Ok, back to the bread again two days later.
Second batch, pretty much turned out the same way, but this time I didn't slash it before putting it in the oven. This time I decided to prepare an egg wash. If you recall in previous posts, the egg wash used for the roles made them turn out pretty and shiny and perfect.Now if you remember from the paragraphs above this bread is supposed to light and fluffy. It's sweet, light and makes a great sandwich bread. What does that tell you? The bread being light and one loaf, being huge, is very heavy. This egg wash acted just like the slashing and just added to the weight.
The wash started collapsing the bread. What the hell?! Why can't I just freaking follow directions? Another two days later, I followed the directions to the tee (except for the extra water.) This one turned out absolutely perfect. The dough rested for an hour and came out like this.
After two hours of rising, you can see just how large this bread got. It's freaking huge. As previously stated I took this opportunity to follow directions. I didn't have any egg wash, and I didn't slash it. After baking, it turned out so good. It was freaking great. It baked up high and the crust turned out perfect. It was my most perfect bread.
3 comments:
hi, we've just gotten this book as well. would love to hear if you've figured out the "1 package yeast" measurement on the foccaccia bread recipe. the yeast measurements aren't exactly uniform throughout the book and are confusing. we'll be using instant yeast as well. a quick email would be great if you have any thoughts for it.
thanks,
gm
novelthinker@hotmail.com
Hi,
I just bought the book about a month ago and have been trying the different recipes to it. This one is by far a family favorite!!!
Hi - I don't think this is "batch bread". I think this is a boule. Anyway, the third one looks perfect :) I have the same bread book - great pictures but the recipes for the most part are not clear and the measurements can be vague. I avoid hassles by using basically 2 tsp instant yeast granules added to the dry flour for every 500g (1 lb) flour if it's a plain (not much fat or sugar) recipe. If the recipe calls for more fat or sugar, I increase the yeast to about 3 maybe 4 tsp, for the same amount of flour. Seems to work for me.
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