For the bakers amongst us!

Oh. I wonder if I read his post wrong haha. We were talking about Pacific Pie Company in Portland though who sell pasties and savory and sweet pies. They just opened their second location. At least that's what I thought we were talking about hahaha!

 

I recall something like that when I was reading... I can't recall it being lye, but it was something that made me sorta scratch my head... ammonium sulfate dilution, maybe? The main thing was to steam or boil them prior to baking them, much like you do with bagels.

 

You are correct, a lot of older recipes state lye as the ingredient in the water for boiling. Newer recipes, for example Peter Reinhart's books, use a baking soda solution instead.

 

I lived in the UK from 2009-12. Now live in Oregon. I think a pasty chain would fly in the US. It works well in the UK, anyway, as there are two thriving national chains there. I've yet to try Pacific Pie Co., but I plan to soon. Their stuff looks great.

Pretzels are definitely going to be my next project!

 

Try this. Not a bad recipe.

Soft Pretzle’s

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.
_________________________________________________________________
Alternate dipping method.
Dissolve 1/3 cup baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes, for a slightly lighter colored crust.

 

My wife just said the other day that she's never had a soft pretzel and I couldn't believe it. I think I may try this recipe this weekend for her. Thanks!

 

Here in Philly, soft pretzels are a religion, and often take the place of bagels as breakfast when eating on the run.

Pierre, that looks very similar to the KAF bagel recipe I've used. They ain't real bagels or pretzels if they ain't boiled.

 

I can't take credit for the recipe, but after researching, this seemed most authentic. Very nice flavor

 

Hallelujah, preach on brother!

 

Thanks a lot Pierre! I'm going to try out that recipe as soon as I can.

 

Ok now it's time for me. I am baking bread's since a month but I will show you anyway
















And another two are in the oven right now

 

Looking good!

 

+1. Very nice cell structure on all of those!

 

Pierre, you must have delicate touch, I mean a baker who also makes knives

Me too bakes his own bread. I saved loads and loads of money the last two years on baking my own loaves, and its fun!
Recently started on reading bread bible and, ofcourse, I made every single mistake possible.

Heres my most recent ones








Also managed to capture myself a bakers help


And since Im reading the book it works out better

 

Great breads Bieniek. How can you save money on baking breads? You must but flour, use your oven and a lot of time.

This one is from yesterday.



I have a problem with flour at the moment. I am not sure what you can get in USA for example but in Poland, country where I come from, one can get 8 types of wheat flour and 5 types of rye flour. This is giving you many options of experimenting. Now I am living in UK and it is almost impossible to get white rye flour (in Poland it is type 720).

 

Bieniek. Great looking loaves! Are you doing sourdoughs? Or pain a l'ancienne?

I Also have "the Bread Bible". Haven't got into it yet, still working through "the Bread Bakers Apprentice" and "Artisan Breads Everyday" by Peter Reinhart. I recommend them if you can get them.

I'm working on resurecting my sourdough starter at the moment. I left it out of the refrigerator when I was working foe a few days, and didn't feed it. Its coming. Will do some english muffins today, and start some pain a l'ancienne, no knead baguettes.

 

Cheers Pierre, yours are even better, and in plenty flavours. Im still in the savoury.

If we're using the fancy words, all of mine are au levain This gives them the flavour and structure, but has its own drawbacks. One of them is, it almost always takes two days in preparations, thats why I started some talking with the French bakers working next door about how to make decent yeast dough.
Again, many things was I wrong about. As usual...
One of them, I always thought that one should use more dried yeast than fresh. FAIL.
The other, 50 grams per kilo of flour, which is plenty too much, and the consequences are fatal, the dough grows very rapidly but its just gass, theres no flavour development.
Other thing is, I made the no-kneading-baguettes before, so was kind of familiar with the concept of up to 90% of water to flour content, but 70 % in bread that makes me learn kneading again.
The next thing is autolise, that is totally twisted.
And I think what is most amazing, the folding of bread dough, during the pre-fermentation. The results are just phenomenal.

Damn the subject is soo deep I bake the bread two years and still dont know nothing about it.
Basically the whole process of making bread was totally replaced in my case.

 

Thanks to some of these awesome looking loaves I'm very keen to have a go at making a starter. Should I just do it or get a commercial starter to begin with?

 

I'm sure others will pipe in. From what I have read and found during a couple years of trying to do it "authentic" is this... You can buy say a San Francisco starter, activate it and start making very nice, flavorful loaves. Over time, continually feeding, and refreshing the starter, you will notice that the flavours will change. Your starter will pick up wild yeasts from your home region. Your starter will not be the same any more.

So your choices. If you are looking to achieve a certain flavor, say an authentic Alaskan sourdough, you will likely need to keep buying starters prepared from the region. If it is a "sourdough style" you are after, then there are detailed instruction, or very simple ones, to make a starter at home, and get right into it. You can be making your first "Paradox Sourdough" in about a week.

Let me know if you could use any help making your own.

 

Should you prefer to buy a starter, I recommend these. Unless you have connections from a friend who can give you some of their starter.
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/starter-cultures.html