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further kitchen adventures
Oct. 13th, 2011 08:07 pmFor the most recent bread attempt, I decided to do something unprecedented: follow a recipe exactly as it was written. Specifically, the no-knead bread recipe I've been borrowing bits of for the last few loaves.
Okay, by "follow exactly" I mean "I substituted active dry yeast for instant yeast (using half again as much) because that's what I had, and I let the bread rise for about twenty hours and then had to refrigerate the dough for a few hours while I was at work, and my pan isn't as heavy as the recipe calls for and also is 5 quarts, not 6-8, but other than that I did EXACTLY what it said."
The result: best bread I've eaten outside of France. Gorgeous crust, gorgeous light interior with lots of holes, and a beautiful full flavor that I assume came from the long rise. (And remembering to add the salt.)
So, if you want to make a good simple French-style white bread, use this recipe. I am not a gifted baker, and I have made great bread with it, so I assume it'll work for anyone. My only big suggestion is to use bread flour rather than all-purpose flour (the recipe calls for either).
There will come a point, probably when you're trying to pry the dough off the towel and into the hot pan, when you will despair. You will feel that nothing good can come of this, and that you've wasted $1.50 in ingredients and a certain amount of your time. But do not despair! The bread will be good. And you can put more flour on the towel next time.
(Oh, also, I think using a smaller pot than 6-8 quarts is a good idea. My loaves come out pretty large and flat in a 5-quart pot, so in a bigger one you're going to get ciabatta. Which is fine, but I'm inclined to get hold of a 4-quart pot and try to make a higher loaf.)
On the cooking front, tonight I made another try at pork with preserved vegetable and edamame, which I ate in a Chinese restaurant a couple of months ago and have been yearning to replicate ever since. This time I came closer to getting the right kind of preserved vegetable (leafy, not tuber-y or stalk-y, and dark colored--at the restaurant it looked almost like seaweed), but I should definitely have soaked it in water for a couple of minutes, not just rinsed it. It was delicious, but a bit on the gritty side, and some of the thicker pieces were hard. Still, the dish was easy (brown some thinly sliced pork, remove from pan, put a little more oil, some frozen edamame, and the chopped preserved vegetable into the pan, stir-fry for a couple of minutes, add ginger, garlic, sliced chile, and soy sauce plus the pork, stir-fry for another minute, deglaze the pan with a teensy bit of water, serve with rice and a drizzle of sesame oil) and tasty, if not quite what I had in the restaurant.
Okay, by "follow exactly" I mean "I substituted active dry yeast for instant yeast (using half again as much) because that's what I had, and I let the bread rise for about twenty hours and then had to refrigerate the dough for a few hours while I was at work, and my pan isn't as heavy as the recipe calls for and also is 5 quarts, not 6-8, but other than that I did EXACTLY what it said."
The result: best bread I've eaten outside of France. Gorgeous crust, gorgeous light interior with lots of holes, and a beautiful full flavor that I assume came from the long rise. (And remembering to add the salt.)
So, if you want to make a good simple French-style white bread, use this recipe. I am not a gifted baker, and I have made great bread with it, so I assume it'll work for anyone. My only big suggestion is to use bread flour rather than all-purpose flour (the recipe calls for either).
There will come a point, probably when you're trying to pry the dough off the towel and into the hot pan, when you will despair. You will feel that nothing good can come of this, and that you've wasted $1.50 in ingredients and a certain amount of your time. But do not despair! The bread will be good. And you can put more flour on the towel next time.
(Oh, also, I think using a smaller pot than 6-8 quarts is a good idea. My loaves come out pretty large and flat in a 5-quart pot, so in a bigger one you're going to get ciabatta. Which is fine, but I'm inclined to get hold of a 4-quart pot and try to make a higher loaf.)
On the cooking front, tonight I made another try at pork with preserved vegetable and edamame, which I ate in a Chinese restaurant a couple of months ago and have been yearning to replicate ever since. This time I came closer to getting the right kind of preserved vegetable (leafy, not tuber-y or stalk-y, and dark colored--at the restaurant it looked almost like seaweed), but I should definitely have soaked it in water for a couple of minutes, not just rinsed it. It was delicious, but a bit on the gritty side, and some of the thicker pieces were hard. Still, the dish was easy (brown some thinly sliced pork, remove from pan, put a little more oil, some frozen edamame, and the chopped preserved vegetable into the pan, stir-fry for a couple of minutes, add ginger, garlic, sliced chile, and soy sauce plus the pork, stir-fry for another minute, deglaze the pan with a teensy bit of water, serve with rice and a drizzle of sesame oil) and tasty, if not quite what I had in the restaurant.
