Hey guys,
I tried my hand at that other use for yeast: bread. Here’s the recipe I used:
The flavor was pretty good, but the crust was lighter than I wanted. The bread was denser than I was hoping, but the crust texture was good.
Any advice? I was planning on baking it hotter next time, to help with the color, but I’m not sure what happened to make it not-so-fluffy on the inside.
I think it uses the same concept of a pate fermentee, but all of the bread ferments, instead of a portion. It turned out much better than the first one. I still need to work on getting the oven hot enough though. I built a brick oven in the backyard, but my fire wasn’t big enough, and it cooled off too quickly.
Hey Nateo, did you use a dutch oven for baking the bread? I use the Jim Lahey “no knead” method all the time, and it makes a perfect crust with a very light fluffy interior. I’ve never used a brick oven in the back yard, so forgive me if that was a stupid question. It does seem to me that a brick oven would essentially be the same thing as using dutch oven in the house stove. Nonetheless, it makes a world of difference in my bread.
I started the bread in the dutch oven, inside the brick oven, then took it out toward the end to try to get color on the crust. We have a small oven and it doesn’t keep its heat very well. So our house gets really hot but our oven doesn’t, which is why I built another oven outside.
I find that my flour, which I don’t use as often as I should, dries out in the winter time. A recipe that suggests 64% hydration needs more water than it normally would. This could contribute to the denseness.
If you aren’t getting a good crust on the outside, you might need more moisture in the oven. A cast iron pan in the oven with water added right as you begin baking helps.