Quick Dinner Bread

Toast
Bake Skywalker on

Hello my Baking Buddies, I am totally new to the site, really enjoying the community and forums, I feel at home here :) I have a good topic to start a thread on so I though I would throw it out and see what hits.

I found myself in a situation over the weekend.  My fiance and I were invited over to have Halloween dinner by the parents of my ten year old sons friend ("Girl" friend).  Saturday afternoon I found myself wishing that I had started a batch of Pain A L'anciene the night before to bake off that evening to bring to dinner on Sunday.

Does anyone have a recipe for a really delicouse, quick dinner quality bread that can be baked in half a day?

I am just hoping that in the future if given short notice, I might still be able to whip up something immpresive.

Here is hoping

 

P.S. I did end up making fresh Pita Flatbreads and Fresh Hummus with Roasted Red Bells, which ended up being a huge hit.  But still, the expreice left me wanting a nice crusty dinner bread.

Toast

fancypantalons on Mon, 11/01/2010 - 13:30

I'm actually a huge fan of soda breads and corn breads for this precise purpose.  America's Test Kitchen has a wicked Irish Soda Bread that produces a lovely, crusty, dense loaf that's perfect with a little butter.  And how can you go wrong with a good corn bread?  And the beauty?  You can throw one together very very quickly (since they're chemically leavened, they don't require the time one needs for a proper yeasted bread).

Huh, wow I have never heard of a Soda Bread before.  I have to say they look very tasty, do you by chance have any savory recipes that you would recommend?

Cornbread it something I have not tried to make yet, as my fiance is not a fan.  It will have to wait for the right night, just me and a pan of cornbread, YUMM!

Both great starts, can't wait to hear others suggestions as well.

 

Edit:Only recipes from the current season are available at Americas Test Kitchen, all others you have to pay to be a member to veiw.  HOW WACK IS THAT!!!

Here's the ATK Irish Soda bread recipe, hand transcribed.  Your welcome. ;)

Ingredients

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3C - AP flour

1C - Cake flour

1.5 t - Baking soda

1.5 t - Cream of tartar

1.5 t - Salt

2 t - Sugar

2 T - Soft butter

1.75 C - Buttermilk

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Instructions:

0. Combine flours in a mixing bowl.

1. Work butter into flour with your hands, basically to just get it evenly combined with the flour.  At this stage, it's kinda like making a pastry dough.

2. Combine the rest of the ingredients and mix until hydrated.

3. Press into a loaf on parchment paper.

This step is worth a little explanation.  Basically, take the contents of your mixing bowl and dump it out onto the parchment paper.  Then gather the dough together and press it into a somewhat firmly packed loaf.  *Don't roll* or anything.  Just press it and form it into a round/dome-shaped loaf.  And don't worry if it has cracks or seams.  It's supposed to be rather rustic looking.

4. Dock the loaf.  ie, use the handle of a wooden spoon or something similar to impress a cross in the top of the loaf around a 1/4 - 1/2" deep.

5. Bake for 40 minutes at 400F.  Then brush the top with melted butter and let cool for 30 minutes.

Note, the original instructions have you bake this thing in a cast-iron skillet.  To do this, just take the loaf, parchment and all, and stick it in a pre-heated skillet, and then into the oven to bake.  This'll help form a nice crusty bottom. 

Of course, I'm too lazy, so I just bake on a sheet pan. :)

Bread (by Jeffrey Hamelman) includes a French bread which uses a 3.5 hour bulk fermentation and final proofing of around 1.5 hours (at 75F), which appears to meet your schedule.

I've made it and it's pretty good for a bread made without a pre-ferment.

While the formulas/techniques contained in books on artisan breads are copyright, I did have Mr. Hamelman's permission to post the formula [url=http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10682/mystery-page-249-solved#comment-57126][u]here[/u][/url] because earlier prints of Bread didn't contain the recipe.

BTW, welcome to TFL.  Are you in southern Michigan?

Just a quick warning on Hamelman's 3 1/2 fermentation bread: 

- High room temperature is important. I tried this formula with a room temp of around 16ºC and the result was not optimal, probably due to lack of sufficient fermentation activity. 

 

Tom

You might give it another go and stick it in a pilot lite oven during the bulk rise. It is getting pretty cold around here so I am definitely going to give it a warm loving environment to relax in (My Oven) thanks for the advice.