Very Basic Bread

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Alton Brown does it again for this relatively simple basic white bread, but be warned you need to abandon the shackles of volumetric cooking. Being precise in measuring is key to consistency (although temp, humidity and barometric pressure also adds a bit of variability. Just follow the recipe pretty carefully and you will have a loaf that has a nice crunchy (but not hard exterior with a very light flavorful interior with well distributed and even bubbles. We even left the dough to rise overnight in the oven (with the hot water so we could bake it in the morning and seemed to even give it more flavor. Definitely Two Yum's Up! on the recipe and on the bread it produces.

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After reading these reviews it seems people are trying to figure it all out without weighing ingredients. If you want to do any kind of yeast bread baking, you really need to weigh. What you think is a cup of flour can vary by ounces every time you scoop meaning you will get inconsistent results from your dough. So quit complaining and BUY A SCALE.

Now for the bread: fabulous. I think the directions are clear however it helped greatly that I just caught this episode the other day, especially for the rolling of the dough when it is in a ball. Great crust, great crumb, but cooking time only took me 40 minutes. Start checking early or your bread may be toast.

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Don't have a scale (will purchase one when there's some wiggle in the budget, but after some research decided to use 3 1/3 c. flour. I think it was a little too much, because after the first mix things seemed a little dry (the dough was leaving lots of crumbs at the bottom of the mixer bowl. I added some water (about 2 T and then decided to add another little bit of flour (1-2 T. Kneading took a very long time (30 minutes and although I got close didn't really seem to get the see-through look on the small ball of dough without it splitting open. Shaping the dough into a ball at the end, everything was kind of splitting open (I didn't add any flour at this point. My surface is far from smooth. It's rising as I write, so I'm not sure how good it will taste. Aside from measuring the flour and not using a scale, what else did I do wrong? Too much flour? Not enough? Too much kneading? Thanks for any help!

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I want to live just down the road from Alton the rest of my natural born days.

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I won't comment on the recipe itself, which makes a great and easy bread dough. I will describe a little trick that you can do with the dough once you've put it together and risen. I learned it from my grand-mother who in turn knew it from her father who was a baker. He used to make these little treats, but they were for family only - they never made it to the shop mostly because they were getting eaten right away. :

So here's what you do: after the dough has risen, instead of shaping it into a loaf roll it in a sheet 1/2 inch thick - or if you want you can stretch it by hand like pizza dough. Take a pizza cutter and cut it into 1-1/2 in squares. Separate the squares by at least 1in. Cover with a damp towel and let rise again for 15-20 min or until their thickness doubles. While waiting, fire up your deep fryer - you see where this is going now. You won't be actually "deep" fry them since the dough is so light, it floats on top of the oil. I usually do it in a pan with an inch of oil. drop the squares in, don't overcrowd - no more than 5-6 at a time. They will puff up considerably while frying. Only need about 1 minute per side. Turn over once when they're golden brown on one side, let go for another minute until the other side is golden. Remove, drain, sprinkle with plenty of kosher salt. Eat right away. :

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Ok, not that this recipie needs any more people "raving" about how good this bread is, but oh man....so easy!! Yet yeilds bakery like results. I pay Bel- Air $4 for bread like this!! The ingredients are cheap!! Only 1 tsp! A teaspoon of yeast!! You CAN skip on the time by a few hours for the pre-ferment and the final rises and still come out with a great product!! Also great to add cheese in the final rise. Kids LOVE it!! I saw that a lot of people were worried about the sticky feel of the dough but don't worry about it. When you knead the dough you add a small amount of flour. Also it is meant to be sticky. It turns out great. Making this bread makes you feel like a great cook!!!

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Absolutely the best bread I've ever made. Great texture and worth the bit extra to make the preferment. Actually I'm sold on the preferment...poolish.. idea and will be making all my breads this way. Only problem I had was I had the loaf in the middle of the oven and it rose to the point it was only a couple of inches from the top of the oven so it got a bit brown on top. Next time, I'll move it down one. It did cook quicker and mine took 45 min. I had an oven thermometer to check the temp. The bread was 200 deg at that point. I also let the preferment sit on the counter a couple hrs before I made the bread, so the yeast could further develop. Worth the time and effort from now on I'll take Sandra's advice and make several batches of the starter so I'll always have it ready to go.

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You will certainly be tempted to make this bread daily! Take it from an experienced bread maker (as well as someone who has lived in Europe for years, where bread is still the staff of life this is as basic as it gets and easy as well.

Try this for making your prep. time shorter. Make several batches of starter and store it in the refrigerator until needed. I hold it for no more than 1 week. This is also the point to try other grains, such as spelt, whole wheat or rye.

When ready for a fresh loaf, weigh the flour into your mixing bowl, add the yeast and salt, and dump in the starter. Mix as directed. I let my dough rise on the counter top and often let it triple in bulk (for even better flavor, but the room temp. should be on the cool side. I shape the loaf, and let it rise as before, but on parchment, until doubled. When ready to bake, I preheat my oven and place the dough on the ever-present pizza stone with the pizza "shovel." Fifty minutes is usually all it takes. I really appreciate the thermometer reading. Who can tell by thumping?

The important thing is to be flexible; bread is very adaptable to suit your available time. You will spend less and eat better.

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My first try came out like I was making Clay...I think my water to flour ratio was off. The second time I added more ater and it came out perfect. This is a BIG loaf.

On You Tube you can find the eposiode for this recipe (Dr. Strangeloaf. I found it very helpful.

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Amazing!

This was my first time baking bread but I'm glad I picked this recipe. I can't imagine how good it must taste baked by someone with more expirence and all the right tools. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, except:

-I don't own a mixer (since I'm a recent college grad and broke so I kneeded the dough by hand.
-Used a pizza stone
-It was done in about 35 minutes.

This bread taste so much better that store bought chemical bread, and it's cheaper too!