Last December, my mixer broke while making a new bread recipe. This recipe was for brioche bread.
Today, I have a new mixer that is stronger than my old one. Even though it is stronger and far more reliable than my old one, I still was worried about how well it would do making brioche. A few weeks ago, I decided to try to make the bread again.
In a previous post, I talked about how my mixer had died and that I purchased a replacement for it. The mixer problems forced me to reconsider posting about my baking progress for a while. Now that I have a new mixer and it works very well, I decided to start talking about some of the foods I made using it again.
While browsing my copy of The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion, I discovered a recipe called Amish Potato Rolls. It looked similar to an old and nearly completely lost potato bread recipe I grew up eating (And not liking very much because it was always over baked, dry, and the top of the buns were brunt.) I always thought the recipe was good, but the baking of it wasn’t. Since the original recipe was destroyed and can not be found anymore, I decided to give this new recipe a try and see if I liked it.
Continue reading “Making Potato Rolls- How They Turned Out and Opinions of the Recipe”
In October 2023, I announced I will begin learning to make my own bread from scratch. Since then, I struggled to learn how to make bread. Part of the problem was new baker mistakes while the other problem was my mixer.
When I started making bread, I was using an almost 30 year old mixer and it had major problems. Earlier this year, I replaced it with a new mixer. Even though the new mixer is smaller than the old one, it runs much better and does a better job at mixing dough and kneading the bread. This was further improved when I purchased a different style dough hook from Amazon. The dough hook is not from the same brand as the mixer (Kitchenaid) but it was designed to not allow the dough ride up the dough hook while mixing. It works really well and is very easy to clean. It is stainless steel too!
Today, my white bread looks really good! I am now able to make it the same way consistently without any abnormalities from loaf to loaf.
Continue reading “Making Homemade Bread Progress Report: One-ish Year Later”
A while ago, I talked about my intention to make bread from scratch as well as why I’m doing it in a post. Now that I have had some time to bake bread over and over again, I can honestly say that I love how my bread tastes! It isn’t like the store bought breads, but I still like my bread more. It is heavier and denser than the store bought bread. Even though this is natural for the type of bread I make, it does require me to cut thinner slices. I still haven’t master cutting the right size slice, so the bread is still larger than I want it to be.
Even though the problems I’m currently having with my bread isn’t a big deal, I’m still struggling mastering the recipe. My goal is to eventually become good enough at making the recipe that the only thing I need to review in the cookbook is the exact measurements for each ingredient. I still haven’t made it that far. Because of this, I have made many mistake loafs of bread.
Continue reading “Update on Baking Homemade Bread: The Good, The Bad, and The Tasty Mistakes”
I have realized for the past few years that finding bread made without my allergens is becoming harder to do. This problem has become worse over the past year. I have noticed my favorite place to buy bread at (a bakery in a specific grocery store) has changed their recipe to include an ingredient that I am allergic to. Fortunately, it is an allergy I have a tolerance for. Yet, after weeks of eating the bread, it became difficult for me to consume it anymore without getting sick.
This has lead me to acknowledge that the area where I live is somewhere where is too difficult to find food I’m not allergic to anymore without cooking it at home. I tried to spread my shopping range to other stores, but, sadly, these stores are usually too far away from where I live (About an hour or more drive) without it becoming a major hassle.
Since I’m not moving to a different area right now (I won’t go into reasons why), I decided to start making my own bread from home. It may be time consuming, but, after taking into consideration my allergies, travel time, and expenses, I am sure it will cost me less money, and possibly less time, to do this.
The problem is I haven’t made my own bread in years!
Continue reading “Baking My Own Bread and Why I’m Frustrated With Ingredients in Store Bought Bread”