April 17, 2007 - 2:21pm
Out-takes Anyone?
Would it be fun to view some miserable failures in this forum? I've been thinking about this as I admire absolutely beautiful baking on this site. I regret that I have let some very entertaining photo subjects get away. For instance, last summer I choked a trout with a pumpernickle. What say?
I'm going to try to capture the best-of-the-worst baking from this day forward. (Wish I'd snapped a pic of that no knead sticking to the towel!)
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I've made several loaves that could have doubled as doorstops. I couldn't even get the birds to eat them. I have also never been able to get a loaf to release from a towel. I've taken to spraying with cooking spray and using plastic wrap.
I'd love to hear the story about the fish and the pumpernickel
Floyd has posted quite a few!
Heck, he never even updated the Irish Soda Bread recipe with a non-outake version of photos!
I should have taken a photo of the loaf he made this weekend - he made the mistake of leaving it on a chair to rise *withing the reach of our two year old* who took advantage of a momentary lapse of supervision to come and poke a large number of holes in the dough with her finger.
p.s. say what? Please at least tell us more about the pumpernickle story!! haha
in using trout and pumpernickle in the same sentence! I didn't think the bread was that bad but I had a houseful of guests that begged to differ. Ouch, those septugenarians don't pull any punches!
Adding insult to injury, this ignorant fish and his buddies ate up stale wonder bread with relish but spit out and then refused to even look at my bread.
Funny this thread should come up. With a 2 and a half year old son, I'm not quite able to attend to a good dough during the week, and usually bake on the weekend. But I decided to try a quicker bread yesterday, a whole wheat Irish Soda Bread from James Beard's 'Beard on Bread'. I've never made soda bread before, and I won't make this version again. It tasted like something you'd eat just to survive (hmm, maybe that's how it came into existence).
The recipe is simple:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt (too much, by the way)
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 cups buttermilk
Mix dry ingredients, add buttermilk, mix and knead only 2 or 3 minutes to make a soft dough. Place in an oiled casserole or cake pan (or do a freeform loaf), cut a cross in the top, and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. See the result: http://tinyurl.com/2goknn
Many of the breads I've tried from that book are too salty, but even still it was dense and sort of dog biscuity. I thought the buttermilk would lighten it up, but no. Maybe a recipe using unbleached vs. whole wheat would taste better. I looked at Floyd's recipe mentioned above, but with egg and sugar added, it seems more like a nice quick bread than a traditional soda bread.
Does anyone have a recipe they would really recommend? Is this anyone's favorite non-yeasted bread?
Longing for the weekend,
Sue
No Wonder! If adding up all the salt in the recipe: salt+ soda+baking pwd. it adds up to 3 3/4 teaspoons ! Mini Oven
I make soda bread for soups etc if I havent got the time or am using spelt flour as I cant seem to get a good rise out of my 100% spelt loaves.
I have made soda bread with wholewheat flour before and it really tastes terrible. I cant eat it. very crumbly and crappy. :S
I suggest you try some spelt soda bread. It is DELISHIOUS!
my recipe goes;
450g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt.
1-2 teaspoons baking soda.
1 cup of buttermilk with extra incase it is too dry.OR 1 heaped cup of acidopholis yoghurt. (extra if too dry)
preheat oven to 190 deg celcius or 375 deg F.
mix dry ingredients in large bowl, add wet ingredients and stir until all the flour is hydrated and well mixed.
heap it on a baking tray/sheet. Make sure it has been oiled. I usually oil the sheet and then sprinkle sesame seeds on it. I then place the dough on the seeds and shape it into a ball type thing then top it with more seeds. I cut it across the middle like an X but not too deep and put it in the oven for 30-40 mins.
Thats it.
Its sooo good!
thegreenbaker
Here's an example of my trying to do the NYT / Sullivan Street bread with all-whole wheat at 93% hydration. It ripped like the dickens comming out of the banneton, and never rose much. Nice big holes, though.
And here's a loaf of 85% hydration Desem that stuck something awful to the banneton. Looks like a cow patty from the top. Ick. Dense too. What's not to like?
I was so sure of my abilities that I just kept making brick after brick at 5700 feet in Prescott, AZ. My husband infuriated me by taking this picture, but I'm glad he kept it so I could share it with all of you. After he recorded my failures, I immediately threw all the bricks off the back deck into the canyon. The next morning they were gone and the javelinas must have had tummy aches!
High Altitude Bricks
Susan in San Diego
I've been feeding bread that looks something like that second loaf to family and friends on a pretty regular basis over the past year. Could that be why their visits are becoming less frequent?
I didn't know that keeping people away could be that simple!!! I will remember that for future reference! :-D
It all started when we got one of those Food Savers they had been advertising on TV. Why, it even had one of those delicate settings for "fresh" foods, so's not to squish them. Or so it said. While I had the extra time, I made extra french bread. I usually wrap it well in Press-n-Seal, then tin foil, and then freeze it till I need it; which usually ain't long. So anyway, I leave my fresh loaves out to cool, and go to the store. My family wants to try out the new food saver....you can see where this is going can't you! IT TAKES THE AIR OUT OF STUFF PEOPLE!!!! What part of this wasn't clear to my family, I'm not quiet sure. When the first loaf went COMPLETELY FLAT, and would not re-poof, why did they continue on, trying different settings till ALL the bread was FLAT!!Was there an UH-OH, she's gonna kill us? I guess I'll never know. After I got over it, I don't know what was funnier, the flat bread, the look on their faces, or the excuses they tried to come up with to explain what happened and who's fault it was. They all agreed that my son Quaid was the guilty party. He' 14 months old. I guess I'd rather not know.
audra
That's a photo op that got away!
I only found ya'll a few weeks ago, and until this "out takes" started, I was too embarrased to tell anybody! I'm sure every body has better luck than I do, but everytime I tell my friends I'll do them some bread something goofs up. No one ever see's the loaves that turn out like their supposed to. So I have started taking pictures. My poor friend Linda gets bomb barded with those, instead of the pictures of the kids! HUM... You know she is coming over less often...Happy Baking!
Audra
That recipe looks more promising. I'm going to try it soon, and I think I'll add currants or raisins too. I'll let you all know how it comes out.
Sue
Here is why I stick to bread
The cake was delicious, but it looked like it'd been through the blender.
-but this poor cake looks like you built it with garden tools. Focus Floyd, focus!
laughed out loud at this comment. Usually he lets me do the cake decorating around here. ;)
It TASTED really good though :)
with chocolate frosting..it has to taste good!! I'd like to dig my spoon in right now!! YUM
it had a layer of raspberry sauce in the middle too! Leftovers from the crepes he made us earlier this week!
my very fav chocolate combo is with raspberry!! LOL
It can even be planned that way!
http://www.germandeli.com/droecami.html
Never worry about a cake that falls apart. It is the perfect excuse to make trifle. break it up, even with frosting. Fold in some whipped cream, strawberries and in the case of white or yellow cake maybe some lemon curd and voulet! A grander desert than was planned in the first place. This saved me when I planned on bringing a 6 layer lemon torte to a party and the layers slid over and broke when I was trying to assemble it on a cake stand. :-( But then I remembered the trifle trick and added the whipped cream and raspberries and the guests couldn't quit raving. We call that "kitchen secrets" at my house :-D
Tania in Boise
and that cake looks like several GIANT crumbs under the dreamy frosting...so really it's perfect. (Is this the other side of the let's-all-pat-Floyd-on-the-back coin?)
the label says it all
I live in a large city and attempted to scatter the crumbs from this loaf to the pigeons. Even they wouldn't eat it.
Hey All
I'm not seeing a whole lot of pictures, just allot of words, whats the deal? Well for those of you feeling self-concious about swowing your mistakes let me lower the bar a little bit. This is what happens to ciabatta that you don't dimple before baking. This loaf attacked both of my kids and the cat before I could put it out of it's misery.
Da Crumb Bum
.
this is the Winner..I love it! What can we fill it with..Italian sausage & peppers?
I've been rolling around on the floor, laughing! Not at you, Crumby, the bread just made me laugh out loud. Amazing!! Sausage? You could put a whole piglet in there! Thanks. Love it.
Susan
That's the photo I've been wanting to see!
this was an attempt to make Reinhart's "Country Bread" recipe with whole wheat flour - it is supposed to have lots of nice holes. I count 2 in this one. I named it Quasimodo.
Because his ears are too big.
to behave! That looks like something to hang on your front door.
combining tension and oven spring. I think that putting really cold high gluten dough into a 500 degree oven will give me a variation on "sad loaf" every time. The next try will be to bring the final proof back up to room temperature before baking.
I tried Floyd's bagels and they were delicious, but hidious looking, lol. Weren't as pretty as his turned out. They didn't seem to rise properly. Were flatter but still delish!!!!! I am from the north, living in KY. Can't find any good bread around here so I have started making my own. Not as hard as I thought, but it is an art form I am trying to master. My husband has always said I can't bake, well, I have proved him wrong, even if they aren't as pretty as I would have liked.
Jerseygirl in Kentucky
Okay, Crummy, it's your turn to laugh! I tried making Eric's beautiful bread and THIS is what I end up with. Obviously not enough gluten development. Back to the drawing board.
Susan
it doesn't know whether it wants to aim for the gold standard pretty bread or the gold standard disaster bread. Susan, I've made that exact same loaf- I call it turtle bread! Guess why. I'm sure redivy could do something for it.
for the kind words. I've brushed off the flour and just finished getting two batches going. Hehe, I was wondering when someone would start shooting for the Worst Loaf honor!!! I enjoy your sense of humor. Red's breadman is a hoot! What did I do for bread entertainment before I met all of you?
Go for the Gold Standard Pretty and Tasty Bread!
Susan
Susan,
Frankly, it doesn't look like such a bad loaf to me! It might be a little flatter than you'd like (Lord knows, I've made my fair share of unintended "flatbreads" that were much, much thinner than this), but the trick to getting a nice poofy round loaf is surface tension.
How are you shaping your boules?
After the lllloooonnnnggggg bulk fermentation, try this:
- Fold it once.
- Wait 30 minutes.
- Fold it again.
- Wait 15 minutes.
- Shape it into a boule.
That might help increase the dough strength and give you a better shape. You could also try pre-shaping a boule instead of folding the second time, so that you essentially shape a boule twice.That help?
Will give your good advice a try.
I will be starting another long fermentation this evening.
In response to your question: I generally have no trouble shaping a boule, but I have some gluten to work with. I just had a grainy mass that never came together. I'll try again this evening with, say, 30% KA WWW rather than the freshly-milled Prairie Gold--after I re-read Eric's notes. Thanks again!
Susan
I hope all the pictured less than perfect loaves at least got the opportunity to be tasted before being pitched. Otherwise, the birds might be eating too well........!
Sue
Wouldn't kill anybody, which is not saying a lot. The birds think they've hit the jackpot. I know you're enjoying your beautiful loaves, Sue!
Susan
Hello to all of my dough abusing bakers
Susan I am still trying to recover from the laughter. I can still hear it echoing from my Ciabatta cavern. By the way your loaf did not look all that bad. Any of us who have baked a while have ALOT of out takes. What does it say about those of us who photograph the good the bad and the ugly? I'm sure a mental health professional would have a hey day with me. I actually need a few of these out takes to avoid "oven springs" ugly cousin "ego spring". My guess is I will have a few more pics in the future that will feel right at home here.
Da Crumb Bum
It's good for us to get smacked down once in a while. (Please, just not when I've promised to bring my bread to a pot luck!) The loaf after this one could hardly be called a loaf--I dubbed it The Pancake--tho it looked more like a lava flow. You get the picture. Then made my regular loaf to assuage my ego. We're so fragile...and tenacious...I've another bowl of goo resting on the counter. Night-night, I'm off to dreamland.
Susan
I havent got any photos, but I KNOW I have had many pancake loaves and bricks. :S
I could almost build a god kennel with the bricks my oven has birthed and only the unintentional flatbreads outnumber the bricks.
I am so glad I have moved beyond that point. Thank goodness for gluten flour!
"I could almost build a god kennel with the bricks my oven has birthed"...what religion this is?
Dog..some of us are smitten with God's canine creatures : )
lol typo!
Dog kennel. *laughs*
I always do that when I am talking about gods and goddesses it usually come out as dogs and doggesses.
lucky the divine has a sense of humor....or at least I hope so. :S
arf, arf, arf arf..woof!! AMEN
*laughs loudly*
:)
*watches for bolts of lighteneing*
*makes a faint smile at no one in poarticular and begs not to be struck down*
lol. My gods wouldnt do that :D
*hopes*
remember Medusa? She was a HOOT! And nobody likes a good joke better'n the Sphinx.
lol!
Medusa! he he he!
Well yes I suppose if you lived half your life with out a nose you'd HAVE to have a sense of humor!
:D
I'll definitely take pictures in the future. This whole thread has been too fun!
A photo wouldn't do justice to the chocolate cake I made - it looked fine. I love a bit of chili pepper in chocolate, so decided to add some to the cake. Well, I used chipotle. The combination of smoky chili taste with a slightly burned cake didn't go over well at all with DH. Though a confirmed chocolate-lover like me still managed to eat quite a bit of it.
...to find that SOMEONE forgot to put the dough in the fridge for the night. Here's what happens to fermenting sourdough after 8 hours at room temp.
Susan from San Diego
Been there, done that! Woke up one morning with two containers that overflowed, onto the counter and over the edge onto the floor. Looked like a waterfall.
Luckily I got it cleaned up before the boss lady woke up.
And the bread turned out well!
Bob
Well, I was surprised again! Thanks for the commiseration, Bob. Glad your bread turned out okay, too.