Joy of Cooking - Important Public Service Announcement:

[plantyhamchuk]

I am concerned that tonight's "bread" (aka Jabba the Hutt's lovechild) is about to come to life and start talking to me. Baking while fatigued people, it's a dangerous business...

Edit: Jabba is edible, but bland and unsatisfying... this is what happens when you stray from whole wheat/white whole wheat!

Comments

[spudmanson]

try adding a little bit of honey. I try to use half and half honey and sugar for whatever the recipe calls for in just sugar. It gives it a nicer flavor, and a little bit more moisture.

And yes, this is when I bake regular old white bread.

[plantyhamchuk]

Moisture was actually part of the problem, this stuff was super rubbery. Would the honey help with that?

[spudmanson]

if it's too rubberey, it was probably slightly over cooked. Try a slightly lower temp. or maybe 5-10 minutes less in that oven. Also, don't over knead!

[plantyhamchuk]

Yeah, I think things went terribly wrong with the kneading process... it's just so much fun!!

[tikimonkey]

"Jabba the Hutt's lovechild" made me LOL :)

[plantyhamchuk]

Yeah, I was actually intimidated.

[dragontdc]

What kind of flour were you using? Dana's allergic to wheat, so we've done most of the others. They range from not-so-great to absolutely horrible.

[plantyhamchuk]

Dude I was using "bread flour" - when I saw it in the store I thought it could do no wrong, right? I mean, I wanted to make bread, and this stuff was labeled ... YEAH.

Honestly I haven't played with the funky flours yet. I'd love to get into chickpea sometime, have you any experience with it?

[dragontdc]

No, but it's probably similar to soy flour in the way it behaves. When you get away from grass flour (wheat, oat, barley) you lose gluten. Gluten is what makes bread spongy, and allows those bubble to form and hold together enough to fill out and rise. Without it, there needs to be a substitute. We used egg, but that's out for you. I don't know about vegetarian alternatives.

[plantyhamchuk]

Yeah, there's a couple of tricks, but there's nothing quite like the original, of course.