Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 01:25:46 -0700 (MST) -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v103.n004 -------------- 001 - Jeff Dwork Subject: About the raffle Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:48:50 PST We have received some email expressing concerns about last month's HearthKit raffle. We want to address these concerns on the list as other subscribers may share them. 1) The favorable comments we made about the HearthKit were based on our experience with it and were made long before there was any idea of a raffle. 2) We assume the reviews written by others on bread-bakers about the HearthKit, both positive and negative, are similarly based on the experiences of the reviewer. We cannot imagine that our position for or against any product would influence any subscriber to post or not post a review agreeing or disagreeing with our position. 3) We used the words "generous donation of two HearthKits" to describe the actions of the makers of HearthKit. Of course, it is part of Hearth Kitchen's publicity expenses. We don't know how many HearthKits were sold as a result of the raffle and we don't know the Hearth Kitchen's costs, so we can't know if the advertising paid for itself or not. Advertising budgets are finite and we appreciate Hearth Kitchen allocating some of it to help support us rather than directing it in other directions. 4) The financial support for bread-bakers from the raffle was welcome but hardly crucial. We have always funded the list and web site from our personal resources - we don't sell advertising or accept promotional fees - and we intend to continue this way as long as possible. We have received review copies of books and equipment. We don't get very much of it and have been lucky in that nearly everything we have received has been of good quality and useful so most of the reviews have been positive. The reviews are based on our experiences, not whether the equipment was purchased by us or not. It's unlikely we will ever receive more than one piece of equipment from any one manufacturer, so being cut off for writing a negative review is of no consequence. 5) We don't censor negative reviews posted by subscribers. We do edit some posts for readability and sometimes cut off discussion of a topic that has gone on too long or become too personal. If anyone wants to discuss these or any other issues with us, please email directly to us at . Thanks for your continued support, Jeff & Reggie Dwork --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.2 --------------- From: "Russell J. Fletcher" Subject: RE: Memories..... Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 18:06:15 -0800 (PST) Shame on you for mentioning the Frisian Sugar Loaf but not adding a recipe - and it wasn't in the archives ;-) I found this recipe on the Internet and I will have to try it some day. Russ Frisian Sugar Loaf Ingredients: 1 cup sugar cubes 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 6 cups bread or all-purpose flour or bread flour, approximately 2 tablespoon sugar 1/3 cup nonfat dry milk 2 teaspoons salt 1 package dry yeast 2 cups hot water (120-130 F) 3 tablespoons shortening Baking Pans 2 medium loaf pans, greased or Teflon Preparation: (5 minutes) With the handle of kitchen shears, an ice cracker or a tack hammer, crack the sugar cubes. Don't crush them. Try to break them into halves or quarters. Place them in a small bowl and sprinkle them with the cinnamon. Turn with a spoon or fingers until all of the broken pieces are well dusted. By Hand or Mixer: (10 minutes) In a mixing bowl, place 2 cups flour, the dry milk, yeast and salt. Pour in the hot water and add the shortening. With a mixer, beat for 2 minutes at medium speed ~ 150 strong strokes with a wooden spoon if by hand. Stir in the balance of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is a rough mass. Kneading: (8 minutes) The sugar cubes are added gradually during the kneading process whether by hand of under a dough hook. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 2 minutes. Flatten the dough and sprinkle with about 1/4 cup sugar cube mixture. Fold the dough over the cubes and continue kneading. When the cubes have disappeared into the dough, add another 1/4 cup. Again work the sugar into the dough with a kneading motion. Repeat with the balance of the sugar cubes. Knead for 8 minutes by hand or dough hook. The dough will have taken on some of the cinnamon color but this is desirable. If some of the sugar bits work their way out of the dough during the kneading process, press them in again. If the surface of the dough becomes sticky with sugar, dust with flour. First Rising: (1 hour) Place the dough in a greased bowl. Turn to coat the dough completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and move to a warm place (80-100 F ~ a warmed oven works) until the dough has doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes to one hour. (If using the quick-rising yeast, the time should be reduced) Shaping: (15 minutes) Turn the dough onto the work surface and divide with a sharp knife. When the dough is cut, moist pockets of sugar will be exposed. Carefully close the cut edges, pinching the seams tightly. Shape the pieces into balls and let the rest for 3-4 minutes. Form a loaf by pressing or rolling each into an oval ~ roughly the length of the pan. Fold the oval in half, pinch the seam to seal, tuck under the ends, and place in the loaf pan, seam down. Second Rising: (45 minutes) Place the pans in a warm place, cover with wax paper and leave until the center of the dough has risen 1/2" above the edge of the pan, about 45 minutes. Preheat Preheat the oven to 400 F about 20 minutes before baking Baking: (400 F at 15 minutes, 350 F for 40 minutes) If desired, cut a pattern in the top of the loaf with a knife. Place the loaves in the hot oven for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 40 minutes. Midway through baking, shift the position of the pans so the bread is exposed equally to temperature variations in the oven. Final Step Carefully turn the breads onto a cooling rack. Allow the bread to cool before serving. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/3079/Bread.html#Frisian --- Russell Fletcher CCS-P Certified Coding Specialist gimplimp@effectnet.com Battle Ground WA USA --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.3 --------------- From: FREDERICKA COHEN Subject: bread knives Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 21:04:16 -0800 (PST) The contributors to this group take their bread very, very seriously. That's why I am coming to you with an "after-baking" request. I need a new bread knife. There are plenty of mediocre knives out there for mediocre bread, but I think something I created with the best ingredients and my best efforts deserves something better. The problem is the sticker shock! What I have seen begins at $75 and goes up. What I need is for some one to either justify such a knife for a one person household or recommend a lower priced knife. If you respond directly, I will get a faster answer. Fredericka Cohen cohenfs@prodigy.net --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.4 --------------- From: Harry Glass Subject: Re: SAF instant yeast Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 06:36:49 -0800 (PST) Sandy, I use the same yeast, and have found that I can have a perfectly risen bread with 1 tsp of SAF instant. I was trying to minimize the yeast flavor in the final product, so I kept reducing the amount shown in the recipes to see if it made any difference in the rise of the loaf. It didn't. The bottom line is that the amount of yeast you put in the recipe is not very critical. Experiment, and you'll see. Harry in Maryland --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.5 --------------- From: Epwerth15@aol.com Subject: Re: baking in gas oven Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 10:03:55 EST Karen Wolke asked about baking bread in a gas oven....Until 4 years ago, I baked in an electric oven and really liked it. When I was ready for a new stove, I looked at the dual fuel, but like you, did not want to spend quite that much money. I now have the GE Profile gas stove with the conventional/convection oven, and if anything, I like it even better than the electric oven I had. It bakes so evenly that I find I don't have to rotate my pans half way through the baking time. Evie Werthmann --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.6 --------------- From: "Greg and Heather Reseck" Subject: Orange-Date Pumpkin Muffins Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 21:35:47 -0800 In response to the request for a healthy muffin recipe, I'd like to share a recipe from my cookbook, Fix-it-Fast Vegetarian Cookbook. This make-ahead batter keeps in the refrigerator up to a week, allowing you to make muffins at a moment's notice. (The make-ahead batter is a time-saving technique that some bakeries use.) See the variations at the end for Orange-Cranberry Muffins, Cherry-Almond Muffins, Banana Muffins, and Lemon-Zucchini Muffins. Orange-Date Pumpkin Muffins Preparation Time: 15 minutes Baking Time: 12-20 minutes, depending on size Makes: 22 muffins or 54 mini muffins 15 oz. pumpkin puree (1 can) 1 1/2 cups chopped pitted dates 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate + 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped orange peel 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans 4 teaspoons baking powder, preferably aluminum-free 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup brown sugar or other sweetener 1/3 cup oil 1/2 cup cholesterol-free egg product (or 2 eggs) Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Stir first five ingredients together and set aside. Stir dry ingredients (next seven) together in a separate bowl and set aside. Stir sugar, oil and eggs together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in half of the dry ingredients. Stir in half of the pumpkin mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients in two batches, alternating the dry and the wet ingredients. Batter will be fairly thick. Scoop or spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Promptly refrigerate unused batter in a tightly sealed container. Label, date, and bake within 7 days. Bake for 15-18 minutes (11-13 minutes for mini muffins) until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Store muffins covered at room temperate up to 3 days, or freeze up to 3 months. Nutrition Facts per serving (1 muffin): 200 cal;. 5 gm total fat (0 gm sat. fat), 0 mg. chol., 220 mg sodium, 37 gm carbo., 3 gm fiber, 19 gm sugars, 4 gm pro. Daily Values: 60 % vit. A, 8 % vit. C, 10% calcium, 8% iron. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 bread 1 fruit, 1/2 other carbohydrate, 1 fat Orange-Cranberry Muffins: Replace pumpkin with 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce Replace dates with dried cranberries. Cherry-Almond Muffins: Replace pumpkin with 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce, replace orange juice with 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain nonfat yogurt, replace dates with dried cherries, replace walnuts with sliced almonds, omit orange rind, and replace vanilla with 1 teaspoon natural almond flavoring (or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.) Banana Muffins: Replace pumpkin with mashed banana (about 3 large). Replace dates with raisins. Omit orange peel. Replace cinnamon with 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg. Decrease sugar to 3/4 cup. Lemon-Zucchini Muffins: Replace pumpkin with grated zucchini, replace dates with currants, replace orange juice with 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1 cup milk, replace orange rind with lemon rind, replace cinnamon with 1/2 teaspoon ginger and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and increase sweetening to 1 1/3 cups. Heather Reseck, R.D. Author of Fix-it-Fast Vegetarian Cookbook (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2002) --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.7 --------------- From: "Ken Vaughan" Subject: Instant Oat Meal Bread Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 09:46:55 -0900 I needed a way to use packages of instant oatmeal that were accumulating. My wife is quite selective in which kind she will eat and her preferences change. This has been a good daily bread for the last few months, but I am about to move back to a hearth bread for a while. * Exported from MasterCook * KV's Instant Oatmeal Bread - 2 pound loaf for bread machine kneading Recipe By : Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Bread Bread Machine Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 cup lukewarm water 1/2 cup butermilk(* see notes) 2 packages instant Oatmeal 3 cups bread flour plus enough to fill cup with instant oatmeal 2 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon salt (non-iodized preferred) 1 tablespoon gluten flour 1 tablespoon dough enhancer (optional) 1 tablespoon dry yeast; instant preferred but Costco bulk works fine Add ingredients in the order per manufactures instructions. Mine starts with liquids, honey, and oil. I add the salt with the liquids. Put the instant oatmeal into a cup measure and add bread flour to fill the cup level (4 cups total oatmeal and flour) At the end of the dough cycle, turn the loaf into an oiled pan and gently shape avoiding degassing the loaf. Rise to pan level and bake in a preheated 375 F oven for 30 minutes or until 190 F internal temperature. If retarted under refrigeration, a couple of hours are needed to warm the dough back to room temperature and restart the rising before baking. Makes great toast and keeps well for several days. Description: "Designed to use instant oatmeal languishing in the cupboard" Yield: "1 " - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 1208 Calories; 64g Fat (46.9% calories from fat); 25g Protein; 139g Carbohydrate; 18g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 1638mg Sodium. Exchanges: 7 Grain(Starch); 13 Fat; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrates. NOTES : *This bread works well with either fresh buttermilk, or adding 1/2 cup water and a tablespoon of buttermilk powder. A good bread also results if buttermilk is omitted, but loses the buttermilk tang. Check the bread after it kneads to see if more water or flour is needed, The objective is a soft dough with moderate hydration. The dough starts off looking wet, but as the oats soak up moisture, the dough firms up I have always baked the bread in the oven and have not used the bake cycle on the bread machine with this bread. I use an instant read thermomenter to check the bread seeking 190 degree temperature for a soft crumb and a light brown crust. Taking the bread from the machine pan to the loaf pan carefully and avoiding deflating results in a nice texture and a fast second rise before baking. I have both baked the same day as mixing and have stored under refrigeration for up to 2 days. Best texture is with same day baking but flavors do improve with retarding the second rise under refrigeration. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.8 --------------- From: Jpalex@aol.com Subject: Recipe for Muffins Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 16:47:11 EST Carolyn requested muffin recipes and my husband and I find these muffins to be very satisfying. Hope you enjoy them as well. Joy Alexander FRESH APPLE MUFFINS (From 1984 Southern Living Annual Cookbook) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 tbsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped cooking apples 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 cup milk 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 egg, beaten Topping 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts 1/2 cup finely chopped cooking apple Combine first 8 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and make well in center of mixture. Combine milk, oil and egg; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon batter into greased muffins pans, filling two-thirds full. For topping, combine sugar and next 3 ingredients. Sprinkle over muffin batter. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes. Yield: 1 dozen. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.9 --------------- From: "Hazel Voris" Subject: Re: Muffin Receipe Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 21:01:03 -0600 Oat Bran Fruit Muffins 1 1/2 cup oat flour (In a blender, pulverize regular or instant oats.) 3/4 cup flour 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup skim milk 1/4 cup egg beaters or (1 egg beaten) 1/4 cup margarine (low fat) melted Any fruit - 1 apple chopped, 3/4 to 1 cup raisins, dates, blueberries, 1 banana, 1 peach, or nuts. Mix dry ingredients. Mix liquids together. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. (Do not over mix.) Add fruit. Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Makes 12 medium size muffins or 24 mini-sized muffins. These muffins are excellent!! Hazel Voris --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.10 --------------- From: "Don Bischoff" Subject: Re: Buttermilk Bread recipe Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 22:03:38 -0600 Jheri wrote: > Hi, Am brand new to bread baking. Do you have a copy of your recipe > with more explicit instructions? Sorry to be a pain - Jheri Hi Jheri, Believe me, you are not being a pain. We all have to start somewhere and the beginning is he best place. After all, we bread-heads need to help one another. I have rewritten the Buttermilk Bread recipe to expand the directions for you. Hopefully there is enough detail that you can now make the recipe. Please shoot me an email if you have any more questions. Let me know how it turns out and.... Happy Baking!!! Don Bischoff * Exported from MasterCook * Dede's Buttermilk Bread Recipe By :Bread Machine Magic - Book of Helpful Hints - Rehberg & Conway Serving Size : 36 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Breads: Yeast Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 cups water 1/2 cup buttermilk, dried 1/4 cup honey 2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons margarine, unsalted -- melted 6 cups bread flour 4 1/2 teaspoons dry Instant active yeast or dry active yeast DIRECTIONS 1. In your work bowl, put the two cups of water, the yeast and just a pinch of sugar. Mix it up and let it sit about 5 - 10 minutes. This is called "proofing" the yeast. It means that you are verifying that you don't have dead yeast. After about five minutes it should be foaming and that indicates it is active. If nothing happens the yeast is dead. Speaking of dead, the temperature of the water is critical. Between 100 and 110 F is optimum. Yeast dies at 120 F so be careful. Better too cool than too hot. While the yeast is proofing, get out the rest of your ingredients and utensils. The proofing step is not absolutely necessary. Many people don't do it they just add the yeast right to the dry ingredients. I buy bulk yeast two pounds at a time therefore I like to verify that the yeast is indeed active therefore I proof it. 2. Add in the oil, powdered buttermilk salt and honey to the work bowl and stir it up. 3. Add in two cups of the flour and stir it in. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time stirring it in until a shaggy mass begins to form and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. By that time you should have used about four to five cups of flour. Now's the time to get your hands dirty. Just reach into the bowl and start mixing it with one hand squeezing and pushing it with your fist adding more flour until you can no longer work it in the bowl. Lightly dust your work surface with flour then dump the whole mess out on top of it. Dust the top of the dough with flour and begin kneading the flour in using a fold, push, turn technique. It will probably take a total kneading time of ten to twelve minutes. When the dough has reached the proper consistency it will be tacky to the touch. Not sticky, not dry, just a slight tacky feel. When that point is reached, form the dough into a ball and set it aside. 4. Select a large bowl for the dough to rise in. Remember it is going to double in bulk. Lightly grease the bowl using Pam, veg. oil, margarine, shortening etc. Roll the dough ball around in the bowl to cover it completely with the oil then cover the bowl with cling wrap or a linen dish towel and set it in a warm place to rise. No hotter than 85 F and allow it to double. I like to let it ferment at room temp which is about 72 F. Now, get a cup of coffee and read your morning paper, this should take about an hour. 5. Generously grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans with shortening and set aside. When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and remove it to your work surface. Knead the dough a few times to get the gas out of it then form it into two loaves and place it into the greased pans. Loosely cover it with cling wrap or the linen towel, and let it rise in a warm place. Again, not above 85 F. Better low than high. 6. Begin preheating your oven to 350 F. Now get another cup of coffee and read more of your paper you've got another 45 minutes to an hour. 7. When the dough has once again doubled it will have pretty much filled up the pans and the domed top will be about two inches or so above the tops of the pans. Carefully remove the cling wrap or towel and place the pans on a rack in the center of your preheated oven to bake. 8. Now here comes the tricky part. Since all ovens are different it's difficult to give a time frame for baking. My oven will bake a loaf in 25 minutes. This recipe tends to brown quickly so keep an eye on it. When it is sufficiently browned, drape a piece of aluminum foil over each pan to reduce the amount of heat reaching the top of the loaf. It will now bake primarily from underneath. There's one sure fire, lead pipe cinch method for telling when your loaf is done. Use a remote reading internal thermometer such as a Polder, Pyrex or whatever brand is available. They are readily available in cooking stores such as Williams Sonoma but for your best price look at Wally Mart or Target. The remote read thermometer consists of a temperature probe on a cable about 30 inches long and it plugs into a little electronic gizmo that accurately reads the internal temperature of whatever it's stuck into. After the loaves have baked about twenty minutes, stick the probe into the very center of the loaf, run the wire outside to the readout device and close the oven door. When the internal temperature of the bread is between 190 and 200 F your bread is perfectly done. 9. When the loaves are baked, remove the pans from the oven and carefully remove the loaves by inverting the pan and dropping the loaf onto one hand that is covered with a pot holder or oven mitt. Place the bread on a wire rack to cool and get another cup of coffee. It will take about an hour to cool. 10. Some people like to slice the bread as soon as it comes out of the oven. DON'T!!! The baking process has not yet completed and the cooling portion is important for maximum development of flavor and crumb. If you cut the loaf after waiting about an hour or so it'll still be slightly warm inside and at its absolute peak flavor. YUM!!! --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.11 --------------- From: Robert Turnbull Subject: Bread Dry when Baked in Machine compared to Baked in Oven Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 00:02:12 -0500 I've got a West Bend two pound horizontal loaf bread machine. A while back I had a short power interruption and had to finish the bread in the oven. It turned out much better than normal - much more moist. I had baked the bread at 345 F for 35 minutes. The machine normally bakes for about an hour. Suppose the improvement in the bread is due to the shorter hotter bake time. Since that time I've been using the machine's dough cycle and baking the bread in the oven. Is this a problem with all bread machines or do some machines have a shorter hotter bake cycle? --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.12 --------------- From: "Leigh Davisson" Subject: Muffin request Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 14:58:14 -0800 Hi Carolyn - I made this last week to take on a road trip; had to make it a second time because the first batch disappeared the day I made it. I did not peel the apples, and used 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice and 1 teaspoon ginger. Original recipe calls for 1 cup nuts, but that adds a lot of fat calories. I substituted white whole wheat flour for half the flour shown. I also omitted the glaze because it was very moist and didn't need it. 4 cups (24 ounces) diced, apples* (about 6 medium apples) 2 cups (15 ounces) brown sugar 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon ginger 1/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup cider, boiled cider, apple juice, or milk 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla *This would also be delicious with pears, or a pear/apple combination. Glaze 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar juice and grated rind of 1 lemon In a large bowl, mix together the apples and sugar. Let rest for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, till the mixture becomes syrupy. Whisk together the flour, salt, soda, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, cider (or other liquid), eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients, the apples, and the nuts into the dry ingredients, stirring just till everything is well-mixed. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased tube pan, bundt-style pan, angel food pan, or muffin tins. Bake the cake in a preheated 350 F oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 F, and continue to bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean; allow slightly less time for muffins. Remove from the oven, allow it to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and remove it from the pan. Drizzle with the glaze (or melted caramel), if desired. Glaze: While the cake is baking, mix together the lemon juice, grated rind, and sugar, stirring to melt the sugar. SOURCE: King Arthur Flour, www.BakingCircle.com, December 3, 2002 --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.13 --------------- From: Paige_Everhart@rge.com Subject: Communion bread resource Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:31:45 -0500 "Susannah Ayres-Thomas" wrote: >> I have a couple of questions for Ngozi Osuji: First of all, for which church is the communion bread to be made? The reason I ask is that different churches have different standards for that bread. << I'm straying rather far from the original inquiry, but anyone interested in Communion bread is bound to find this site interesting: http://www.prosphora.org/ - "The only place on the World Wide Web devoted exclusively to Orthodox Christian Holy Bread." It has links, recipes and all kinds of information on making Communion bread for Eastern Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, etc.), including sources for the special stamp or seal (prosphora) for imprinting the top. Also recipes for Western forms of Communion bread or wafers (http://www.prosphora.org/page35.html), as well as discussion of the theology of why various ingredients are used or not used. Paige Rochester, NY --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.14 --------------- From: Tarheel_Boy@webtv.net (Tarheel Boy) Subject: SAF Instant Yeast... Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 12:02:35 -0500 (EST) This is for Sandy Krause: I think you will find that you can use less SAF instant yeast than regular active dry yeast. This is because more of the yeast cells are alive in the instant yeast. When a recipe calls for a package of active dry yeast, I have been using one rounded tablespoon of instant with excellent results. With less yeast and a longer rise, I get great structure and taste in my breads. Bob the Tarheel Baker --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.15 --------------- From: "Mark A. Strobel" Subject: Re: Communion breads Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 08:22:46 -0600 For a small collection of ecumenical communion bread recipes, check the following link from the Benedictines at St John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN http://www.osb.org/liturgy/altarbread.html A larger collection of communion bread recipes, about 100 or so, along with some religious reflections on bread, look for "And He Took a Loaf of Bread..." published by Campanile Press. They have a web site which I don't have at hand, but it should be easy enough to find via Google. Mark --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.16 --------------- From: Ed Okie Subject: bread baking ovens Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:09:06 -0500 Does anyone on this bread-list have bread-baking experience with the Wolf brand of ovens? Are they a good value and durable? Do they deliver consistent performance... or just another example of glossy-catalog advertising hype? Comments appreciated. - Ed Okie --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v103.n004.17 --------------- From: "David A Barrett" Subject: Proof Box Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 09:51:19 -0500 Pat said: "For bread dough to develop well, it is important that it be left to rise in an area that is not only fairly warm but also draft-free and moist." I used to think this too, and I would turn my oven on for a few minutes and then off again and use it as a proof box. Peter Reinhart has changed my opinion on this, and I now prefer long cool rises to fast warm rises. The reason is that the longer the dough takes to rise, the more the other flora naturally present in the flour contribute to the flavour of the bread. Some years ago, the best bread that I had ever made to that time was by scrupulously following Julia Child's recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". This recipe uses only flour, water, salt and yeast and takes all day to prepare since it uses very long, cool rises with (I think) a relatively small amount of yeast. Interestingly enough, Peter cites that same recipe of Julia's as a significant event at the beginning of his own investigation into bread. The bread that has the most complex "bread" flavour I have ever tasted is Peter's "Pain a L'Ancienne" which, once again, uses only flour, water, salt and yeast but starts with ice water! This recipe has only one rise, and the first part of that is done in the fridge. Dave Barrett --------------- END bread-bakers.v103.n004 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2003 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved