Comments on: Bread Baking Month: Multigrain Boule

By: Chocolate Bread | Bread Wise

Chocolate Bread | Bread Wise — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:29:01 +0000

[...] that would work with my sourdough starter. The recipe I used is by Michael Ruhlman, who has been baking bread in earnest since the New Year. I ignored his instruction to, if using a starter, use equal parts bread flour, [...]

By: Oat Soda Bread | backlin1

Oat Soda Bread | backlin1 — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:48:07 +0000

[...] before, give it a go. Or if this doesn’t look up your alley, you might find some ideas on Michael Ruhlman’s blog right now. It’s a great time of year for bread baking. Thanks again for the inspiration [...]

By: Peggy

Peggy — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 02:59:18 +0000

This is my 1st visit to this blog & I have very little experience baking bread but would like to learn more. I have never weighed my ingredients for baking. Can someone explain a bit about this? What is the advantage over “measuring”, if any? Is it about accuracy? Any info or suggestions would be helpful to me.

By: Bread Baking Basics App For iPad | Michael Ruhlman

Bread Baking Basics App For iPad | Michael Ruhlman — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:51:45 +0000

[...] A Mulitgrain Bread recipe generated by the app [...]

By: Caraway rye bread | Kayahara

Caraway rye bread | Kayahara — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:20:20 +0000

[...] “cook it yourself” advocate Michael Ruhlman has dedicated the month of January to the topic of home bread baking. I’ve dabbled in bread in the past: there’s something so romantic about the idea of taking such [...]

By: the good soup

the good soup — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 05:19:19 +0000

It’s a shame it’s so hot here in Australia, otherwise I’d rally for this bread month of yours, sounds like a lot of fun, and exactly what I need to get back into bread making. I’ve even got the perfect pumpkin and lentil soup recipe to match! http://www.thegoodsoup.com/recipes/soups-2/pumpkin-and-lentil-soup/

By: Shifting out of the gate

Shifting out of the gate — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 14:01:31 +0000

[...] intended to participate in Ruhlman’s bread baking month, but I need to continue this detox, and baking bread every few days, while awesome for Chris and [...]

By: stuandgravy

stuandgravy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:01:22 +0000

Second the recommendation above for Peter Reinhart’s book ‘Whole Grain Breads’. Great techniques for getting more flavour & ‘airiness’ out of whole grains. The steps all add time and complication, though, so it’s the usual trade-off. White flour makes things much easier!

By: Tom Burkholder

Tom Burkholder — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:40:13 +0000

Snow day in New England so it was perfect for baking bread.

I substituted toasted flax seeds and some Trader Joe’s rye, barley, wheat and oats hot cereal for the oats and garnish. I needed about 15 g more water than the recipe called for.

Found 30 min at high temp produced too thick a crust for my taste; we had trouble slicing the loaf.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1ojBGUPWRptDISw9_VB78TUuGScSvCPLCTN8g5o9P9E?feat=directlink

By: Oat Soda Bread | mariaman01

Oat Soda Bread | mariaman01 — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:38:22 +0000

By: Oat Soda Bread | Salad Creations

Oat Soda Bread | Salad Creations — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:42:58 +0000

[...] bread before, give it ago. Or if this doesn’t look up your alley, you might find some ideas onMichaelRuhlman’s blog right now. It’s a great time of year for bread baking.Thanks again for the inspiration [...]

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:28:43 +0000

Thank you for the reply Michael. I used my Kitchen Aid to mix and knead for more than the allotted time and put the dough in the fridge overnight to rise, pulled it the next day, brought it to room temp and even used the oven proofing setting to try to proof but had no success (first attempt) maybe 5 to10% rise after a good 18 hours. The second attempt was much better (same process and ingredients, other than adding the yeast to the water before mixing), though soaking the millet I believe would have improved the overall texture.

By: ruhlman

ruhlman — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:24:46 +0000

interesting. I’ve never had a problem with yeast hydrating no matter when I added. I was going to say you didn’t kneed sufficiently but sinxe your second effort succeeded, i suspect your analysis correct.

By: Fuzzy Chef

Fuzzy Chef — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 04:16:59 +0000

Michael,

Not bagels, but bialies (bialys?):

http://fuzzychef.smugmug.com/Food/Cooking-Adventures/MiscFood/IMG20110108201914/1152336273_X5MNp-M.jpg

Feel free to use.

By: Christina

Christina — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:16:54 +0000

I have embarked on the January Bread project as well. My first attempt at the Multi-grain failed. Here is my hypothesis. I followed the directions to the letter, except I subbed Rye flour for Buckwheat and Millet for the Flax seeds. I believe the failure was 2 part. A) I added the yeast directly to the dry ingredients. and B) I did not soak the Millet as suggested in a later post. I got very very little rise. I went back to “Ratio’s” and read up on what Michael said about types of yeast. I believe because I didn’t add the dry active yeast to the water the coating on the yeast dissolved very little, and because of the addition of Millet it removed some of the available hydration to the yeast. I tossed it before I even baked it. Tried again, this time adding the yeast to the water first (still didn’t know about hydrating the Millet). Success! (Used the cast iron dutch oven method to bake) I have posted the pic on Michael’s Facebook page. I will definitely do this bread again.
If anyone has lnfo on which grains should be soaked, how much water and time is needed to do it I would appreciate it.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:39:02 +0000

That’s a great Idea, except our Micro-Nuker went out about 6 years ago and we’ve found that it works as a lovely bread box (as well as being a clock). My Ciabatta proofed in the still warm (i actually set it on the open oven door) oven from the failed Multi-Grain Experiment.

I’m pretty sure my failure was due to the cold…Thanks for the idea, though.

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:05:56 +0000

Dave,
My house is a little on the cooler side. When I make bread, I use my Microwave oven as a makeshift proofing cabinet. I take a bowl with about two cups of water and microwave it for about 10 minutes. This creates a warm moist envrionment for the dough. I also leave the bowl of hot water in the oven along with the dough.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:04:24 +0000

Michael:
This weekend was dedicated to baking bread (with mixed results). the multigrain bread was an abject failure…never wanted to rise (we keep the house really cold–could that be it?). I kneaded with both stand mixer and by hand, but it seemed really dry. I added a little warm water to try and help, to no advantage. I kept at it and tried to place it in a warm oven and got a little rise, but it wasn’t really working. I baked anyway. It was hard, dense and dry. It had a nice flavor, but was more like hardtack.

As an aside, the dogs were wild for the failed multigrain. I broke off pieces and they gobbled it up. So when your bread fails…it’s good for the dogs, a nice alternative to tossing it out.

The Ciabatta, on the other hand, worked splendidly and we’ve been enjoying little bits of that warmed up and buttered.

I haven’t given up on the multigrain, it’s on the schedule again.

By: Discovery « Consumed by Food

Discovery « Consumed by Food — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 23:25:04 +0000

[...] The recipe is here. [...]

By: Jacob Burton

Jacob Burton — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:45:04 +0000

Http://TheFreshLoaf.com is a great resource for both beginners and advanced bread backers.