Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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No Knead Rustic Bread -- back to top
I made No knead bread from America's Test Kitchen. I followed their recipe pretty closely. For the beer, I use "PBR Extra". I roughly measured the yeast; probably going a bit high. I also needed a bit more water to bring it together. I used King Arthur AP Flour
I really liked it though I also really struggled with the rise. No Knead bread uses a lot less yeast, but I think I would up it a bit next time. Interestingly, King Arthur Flour says to decrease the yeast! Anyway, I ended up letting it rise after shaping for nearly 4 hours.
The end result was very tasty! A bit dense still but I also think I should have gone to a slightly higher temp (they say 210°F which doesn't make sense in Albuquerque but I think the 196 was a tad low.
I've also looked at other recipes and they have you start with a hot dutch oven but less time. I was pretty happy with this and it was easier but I would consider that sometime too.
I think there is room for improvement and/or experimentation but I was, overall, very happy with this result. Only problem is that we basically ate the whole loaf with dinner
Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread -- back to top
I made "Almost No Knead Bread" again. This time, I tried to make it whole wheat by using 25% Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour. I also used bread flour since that is what I saw in another No Knead book.
I upped the yeast a bit (~1/2+ tsp) as noted last time. And it again needed more water; perhaps even more than last time too.
I also proofed it for about 22 hours before shaping. After shaping, I made a "proofing box" with the oven. I boiled a few cups of water and put that, with the pan and all, in the oven with the bread in the dutch oven.
I cooked to about 198°F. It came out pretty good. Had a nice crust and good texture though I liked the flavor of the white bread more for sure! This one also came out bigger.
Easy Sandwich Bread -- back to top
I tried to make the Easy Sandwich Breach from America’s Test Kitchen. I followed the recipe except it rose really fast and, despite the dire warnings, it let it hit the plastic wrap. See the picture.
It still seemed to rise well except it didn't dome! I cooked it to 201.6°F and I forgot the butter at the end.
When I cut it, I was surprised to see a super springy structure that is , not-at-all like sandwich loaf! It did taste pretty good but (a) is nothing like I was expecting1 and (b) was kind of rubbery. I do not think I would rush to try this recipe again. But if I did, I would be really careful about the plastic.
The batter-like dough
It is worth noting that a cut picture is not shown in the recipe so maybe this is what was expected? ↩
I did another batch of no-knead bread. I basically followed the directions except I let it rise too much before baking. And had a lot of trouble making the cuts on it. Tasty, though not as pretty as the first. I also may have added too much water? It was really sticky when I kneaded it but I also added a good bit of flour in order to be able to knead it.
Final temp was 197.2°F
Also had the bubble. Not sure how...
I want to see if I can make it more loaf-shaped next time. Maybe with the bigger dutch oven?
Pan-Grilled Flatbread -- back to top
I made pan-grilled flat bread from Bread Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen. I do not know if I added too much additional water (which I usually need) or if the dough is supposed to be super sticky and wet, but this was super sticky and super wet. I kept adding flour and working it by hand but I could not get it to a point of being grabbed by the dough hook. As you can see, it is just being mixed around:
I eventually just assumed that's what it is supposed to be like. I also could barely knead it out (again, adding a lot of flour). It also rose a bit faster than I expected so I lightly pressed it down about an hour into the rise.
I decided to make six instead of four. Because I was doing the tawook at the same time, I think they sat after being balled for about 30-50 minutes.
Rolling was hard but not the nightmare I expected based on the dough. I did struggle to shape, get them up, and then onto the pan. I also tried a few different ways to spray them. Some on the counter but it wet the counter where I needed to roll more. And some in my hand but that meant that (a) I only had one hand holding the dough and (b) I had to flip it on the pan.
Keeping the pan temp was not very easy but I think I did okay. They came out pretty good. Nice structure inside and an okay flavor. I don't think they were as good as restaurant naan but I am willing to try it again!
I made potato rolls from Bread Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen. I followed the recipe as stated but needed to add a bit more water (as seems to be usual).
They rose very fast (they warn you in the recipe but still). I divided into ten (instead of 9) and I let them do another rise. I had debated refrigerating and cooking tomorrow or just having it done and decided to just do it.
I think I let them rise a bit too long before going in the oven based on how big they were. I did the egg wash and then some black sesame seeds. I cooked them for 10 minutes, then rotated trays and another 5.
They came out pretty good. Maybe a tad airy and a tad dry but really, pretty good. You could really taste the black sesame. They added a nice flavor too.
Rustic Bread Loaf -- back to top
I made Almost No-Knead Bread but followed the basic hearth bread cooking method in a pan. I again used about 1/2 tsp of year, not 1/4.
I liked it like this. It made it easier to cut and use for Croque Monsieurs and there was still a nice crust and flavor. I don't think not having the dutch oven caused too many issues.
I let it rise for about 25 hours.
I made no-knead brioche from America's Test Kitchen. I followed their recipe exactly. It seemed like it wouldn't make enough since it wasn't much flour but I think it was fine in the end. I started it on Thursday morning and cooked it Saturday. (I shaped it around 10:30 and cooked it around 1:15).
Final temp was 195.8°F which, while in line with the recipe, was a bit high for Albuquerque's altitude. It wasn't dry or anything so I guess that is good.
It also may have been slightly over-proofed as you can see in the cut slice. The whole were pretty big!
It was nowhere near as good or rich or soft or dense or buttery or sweet as the one from Trader Joes but it was still very good! Reminded me of challah more than the Trader Joes one. But I actually think theirs is the exception and this is closer to what I've had elsewhere.
The main use was for french toast
American Sandwich Bread -- back to top
I made American Sandwich Bread [Bread Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen] for the week. I followed the recipe basically exactly. I was trying to speed it along a bit so I did a "proofing box" with the oven and boiling water. I may have over proofed it a bit as you can see in the pictures.
The final result was very tasty and had a good structure. Not as dense as their pictures but not too far off (though mine came out a lot taller but less brown). When I took the temperature, it was 199.9°F which should be about right for Albuquerque, though that could explain the lack of browning.
It did have a very noticeable swirl from how I rolled it up. Not sure how that happened or how to stop it.
Update: I asked my dad what he think caused it and it makes sense. I need to be more careful:
It looks to me like the dough had dried out a bit and you rolled that dried part into the body of the loaf when you were rolling the whole thing. Otherwise your texture looks really nice. You have to make sure you either keep it in an airtight container or that you keep it well oiled
I made brioche from Bread Illustrated. Unlike last time, I measured out how much more flour I added and tried to be conservative about it. I ended up with adding 1.5 oz of additional bread flour.
This entire loaf was the story of letting it go too long. I started it on Saturday, 2021-03-20. I meant to cook it on Monday at the latest and kept forgetting until Tuesday (today). And then I formed it and forgot it for too long. Though, to be honest, it did not seem to have risen too much more than I would have wanted.
It did rise a ton in the oven. I do not know what happened?! When I took it out at 35 min, it was around 190°F, as I wanted for this kind of bread at altitude. It also kind of split which I think was from the roll tearing a bit (maybe from rising too much?).
The final loaf was around 1.375 lbs. It still tasted good even if it had more crumb than I would have liked.
We also had some Wenner Bread Products (which I think also made it for Trader Joes). See the photo below with the commercial on the right and mine on the left. I knew mine was over-proofed but even look at the last two (2021-02-13 and 2021-02-26), mine is clearly less dense. Also, the commercial one has a much smoother top
Taste and texture wise, the commercial is much fluffier, smaller/denser crumb, and also much sweeter. Mine is more savory and is reminiscent of croissant while the commercial is more like a cake. Mine is also more addicting! You just want to keep eating it.
I am glad I got to try them together. I think I actually like mine more but I would like the denser crumb of the commercial.
I made a double batch of No-Knead Brioche [Bread Illustrated by America's Test Kitchen]. Like last time, I measured out the amount of additional flour but this time I used 2 oz extra total so 1 extra oz each. I think I liked this more. Next time I made it, if this is what I find, I will add it to the recipe. You also need to mix (knead?) really well.
I made a double batch so one was in the slightly larger pan. On the recipe they say the times should be different; both rising and baking. I decided I didn't care enough about rising and when baking, they basically were both ready at the same time (or a bit late). Depending on where I probed, I got 190°F to 195°F. This is a bit too warm for Albuquerque altitude.
I tried really hard to have nice tops but they still came out wonky. I do not know what to do but it also doesn't matter much. I separated the larger one (larger pan, same amount of dough) since it didn't mash together as well and froze that. The other was good, as usual!
