My daily bread

[serenecooking]

	NYT bread Baked 1/8/07
	NYT bread with Earth Balance (Earth Balance is at http://www.earthbalance.net )

It's no secret how much I love my NYT bread. Today, though, I bothered dragging out the camera. Yum. Bread.

Comments

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

That looks good!

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love!

Off for my "morning" walk, then gonna get some work done today. (Which of course also means some housework, if only because the house gets cleaner when I'm supposed to be sitting my butt down at the computer and working.)

[skywhisperer.livejournal.com]

Everybody I know was making the NYT bread, but I hadn't tried it, until I went to a party New Year's Eve, where it was served.

I was instantly converted, and after a quest for the perfect cast iron dutch oven ($22 on amazon), I made my first batch last weekend, and batch #2 is yeasting at home as we speak.

It's the most amazing bread I've ever had. I may never turn the bread machine on again.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I didn't even worry about the really heavy pot -- I'm using a soup pot that can go in the oven, and it's working great.

[skywhisperer.livejournal.com]

My soup pot is oven-safe, but limited to 500F. I considered using it, but finally decided it was worth $22 to not have to worry about messing up the handles on my good soup pot.

And I've been looking for an excuse to buy a cast-iron dutch oven for years, anyway.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of these days, I'll get a La Creuset or something just for this bread. My soup pot's base is a little too large, too, I think, so I'd like something with maybe an inch less diameter. But still, yummy bread is nothing to complain about, so I'll soldier on. :-)

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

i've heard that the lid knob on le creuset pots of recent vintage (not sure for how long) is some kind of resin, and only good to 450F or so.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Good to know, thanks.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

(I do this bread at 450F, but still, I like my ovenworthy pots to be completely ovensafe.)

[kake]

I should give this a go at some point; I was put off by how much it's been hyped, but really, that's a silly reason not to try something.

I'm not expecting it to be better than my usual bread, but it does look easier to fit into a schedule that doesn't involve working from home, so I'd like to try it out to see if it's worth recommending to people.

How fresh is the bread in the photos? As in, did you leave it a few hours for the crumb to set, or is it pretty much straight out of the oven?

[kake]

Oh, and have you tried it with other flours? My current favourite bread is a mixture of white flour, rye flour, and toasted barley flour. I also like spelt bread.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I've made it with 100% whole wheat (a friend of mine doesn't do refined flours) and it was good but not great. Still, better than most 100% whole-wheat breads I've tried.

I grind my own wheat and rye. I should try it with some of each thrown in. Now that I know how it should look (how wet it should be), it should be easy to adjust the water content.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

I almost always let bread sit before cutting it. The bread in the photos was baked last night. I've read in so many places that the best crumb is had from letting the bread cool for at least half an hour that I don't even bother cutting until then most of the time.

(I've cut this when it's warm, though, and it's just as delightful.)

[kake]

Thanks for the replies! I'll give this a go next week. I'll try it with all white flour to start with.

I do wonder though why he bakes it seam-side up. Do you do it that way too? Or is that a mistake in the recipe?

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

In the video, he says that's where it splits. I imagine it serves the same purpose as slashing the loaf would, if it were solid enough to take a slash.

[kake]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks. I missed that on the video, probably due to all the drilling that was going on outside while I was watching it.

[marci-ny.livejournal.com]

That looks so delicious! I'm dying for a slice! Could you post that recipe? I'm sorry if you did it before! I really need to start baking my own bread again! :::drooling:::

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

The recipe is here (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?ex=1168491600&en=b338eaf7d8fe2aa0&ei=5070), but I use 1 1/2 cups of water, not 1 5/8.

It's really really super-easy. I really recommend watching the video (http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a28ed9693:10fdc5ff116:4f4&fr_story=35eac03d90314ffed6a0c0ae143ab87b1474fb89&st=1167637797240&mp=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=8&fr=010107_024949_28ed9693x10fdc5ff116x4f5&rdm=373759.06320996064) to get the "feel" for it.

[marci-ny.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely making this! Do you think this would work well with whole wheat pastry flour?

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

No, pastry flour is no good for bread -- it's too soft. You need the gluten of hard wheat -- bread flour, all-purpose flour, or plain whole-wheat flour. If I were you, I'd try it once with just bread flour or all-purpose flour, and then experiment after that. I did make it with whole-wheat flour, and it came out better than 100% whole-wheat breads usually do, but it still wasn't as awesome as it is with bread flour.

[marci-ny.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I have all purpose flour that I'll try first and then experiment after that. I also have spelt flour that I can play with too. Thanks again! I love when you post what you make - everything is always sooo yummy! :)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

I am thinking of trying the whole wheat again but this time with a couple of tablespoons of gluten flour to help things out a bit ;)

N.