low fat bread

Sourdough

1 cup water, at room temperature
2 cups (280 g) bread flour

“1. Days 1 to 4: In a small bowl, combine 1.4 cup off water
and 1/2 cup (70g) flour and stir until the water absorbs all of
the flour and forms a soft dough. Transfer the dough to a
lightly floured work surface and knead into a smooth ball. It
should be fairly soft and sticky (could be done in a bread
machine). Return the starter to the bowl, cover with plastic
wrap and set aside at room temp for 24 hours. The starter
should rise slightly and take on a faintly acidic aroma.
Repeat this for 3 more days, each day adding an additional 1.4
cup or water and 1/2 cup of flour. Eac day, the starter should
rise slightly and should become more acidic.

“Final Loaf:
3 cups water, at room temp
1 T fine sea salt (I sometimes use only 2 teaspoons)
5 1/2 to 6 cups (980g to 1 kg 120 g) bread flour

“2. Day 5: you are ready to make bread. Transfer the starter
to a large, shallow bowl, add the 3 cups of water, the salt,
and with a wire whisk, stir for about 1 minute to thoroughly
dissolve the starter. Add the flour, a bit at a time, stirring
well after each addition. After you have added about 5 cups
of flour, the dough should be firm enough to knead. **(I take it
up to this point on the dough cycle of my bread machine. I
find that I need to take it out to knead because of volume
after I’ve added about 800g flour–BTW, I always weigh rather
than measure the flour.)
“Lightly flour a large, clean work surface, and transfer the
dough to the floured surface. If your bowl is large and
shallwo enough, you can knead the bread right in the bowl,
reducing cleanup later. Begin kneading, at first ffolding teh
dough over itself to incorporate air–it may actually be too
soft to knead, adding additional flour until the dough is
nicely elastic and soft, but still firm enough to hole itself
in a ball. Knead for a full 10 minutes. Set a timer to be
sure there’s no cheating.

“3. Form the loaf and reserve the starter: Pinch off a handful
of dough, about 1 cup, to set aside for the next loaf.
Transfer this starter to a medium-size covered container–
see NOTE. Shape the remaining dough into a tight ball by folding
it over itself. Place a large floured cloth in a round,
shallow bolw or basket–one about 10″ wide works well–and
place the dough, smooth(top) side down in the cloth-lined bowl
or basket. Loosely fold the cloth over the dough. **(this part
of the technique has NEVER worked for me. I pam and flour a 9″
metal bowl that has 3″ sides at a right angle to the bottom. I
raise the dough in this. However, I plan to buy a French
linen-lined basket on my next trip over)** Set aside at room
temperature for 6 to 12 hours. You have a lot of flexibility
here. A 6-hour rise is the minumum, but I (the author is still
speaking) often prepare the bread in the evening and bake it
the next morning, allowing the dough to rise for up to 12
hours. I have even forgotten the bread, baking it 24 hours
later, and it was deliciously light and airy. The dough will
rise very slowly, but a good loaf should just about double in
size. **(My house is fairly cold, so I have made a proofing box
out of my oven. I put a heating pad on the bottom shelf and
the dough (covered with a damp cloth) on the top shelf, close
the door, and go away ffor 12 hours. If I need to use the oven
in the meantime, I just get the dough out and put it nearby,
then return it and the heating pad once the oven has cooled
thoroughly.)**

“4. At least 40 minutes before placing the dough in the oven,
preheat it–with a baking stone–to 500 degrees F. **(It will
cook adequately without a stone. Results are MUCH better
with one.)

“5. Lightly flour a baking peel or paddle, or a flat baking
sheet, invert the loaf onto it, and slash the top of the
bread several times with a razor blade to a depth of about 1/4
inch, so it can expand regularly during baking. With a quick
jerk of the wrists, propel the bread onto the baking stone.
Spray the bottom and sides of the oven with water. Spray 3
more times during the next 6 minutes. The spray will help give
the loaf a good crust, and will give the dough a boost during
rising. The bread will rise very slowly, reaching its full
height during the first 15 minutes of baking. ONce the bread
befins to brown nicely–after about 15 minutes–reduce the heat
to 425 and continue baking until the crust is a deep, golden
brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes
TOTAL time. Transfer to a baking rack to cool. do not slice the
bread for at least 1 hour, for it will continue to bake as it
rests. For best results, store the bread in a paper or cloth
bag once it is thoroughly cool. Plastic will tend to soften
the dense crust you worked so hard to create. The bread should
remain deliciously fresh for 3 to 4 days. **(I don’t have a
peel, and my baking sheet has a lip. Placing the baking sheet
directly on the baking stone works well, but I plan to borrow a
peel to see if it’s better before buying one)

“*NOTE: After you have made your first loaf and have saved the
starter, begin at step 2 for subsequent loaves. Proceed
normally through the rest of the recipe, always remembering to
save aboutr 1 cup of the starter. The starter may be stored at
room temp in a covered plastic container or in a bowl covered
with a damp cloth for 1 or 2 days, or refirgerated for up to 1
week. Reactivate teh starter every week by adding 1/4 cup
water and 1/2 cup (70 g) flour. do not use more than 1 cup of
starter per loaf. If you find you can’t bake bbread every week
and you end up with more than 1 cup of starter, offer the
excess to a friend, add it to a yeast dough, or as a last
resort, discard it. If refrigerated, remove the starter from
the refrigerator at least 2 hours before preparing the dough.
Although starter can be frozen, I find it takes so long to
reactivate, one might just as well begin with a new starter.”

Some more notes from Michele:
***See my previous post re freezing. It worked for me.
**Never add commercial yeast to this dough or starter. It will
kill off the natural yeast.
**I’ve read that sourdough starter becomes rancid if not used.
That’s why you should give away excess starter.
**If you decide to add other ingredients as you experiment,
remember to do so after you have saved the starter ffor the
next loaf, so you don’t “contaminate the starter” or add
something which will make it spoil. I’ve read cautions about
not adding any sugars, other starches, etc.

Provence french bread

2 1/2 c Warm water
1 pk Dry yeast
2 tb Sugar
1 tb Salt
2 tb Herbes De Provence
7 c Flour
1 Egg white, lightly beaten

Stir the first five ingredients together to dissolve the yeast, sugar
and salt. Stir in the flour. Knead 10 minutes. let rise, covered,
until doubled in bulk. Punch down, knead three or four times to
remove air, then divide in four equal pieces. Shape each piece into a
long loaf and place in a well greased French bread pan; slash the
top. Brush the loaves with the egg white and let rise until doubled.
Bake 1o minutes in an oven preheated to 400, then reduce the heat to
350 and ake 20 minutes longer, or until the loaves sound hollow when
tapped. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on racks. Wrap in
aluminum foil and freeze if desired.

Source: Mary Ann Miller, Jacksonville, Fl. The Herb Companion
12/94-1/95 Typed by Carolyn Shaw
Joell’s notes: Your fav combination of dry herbs may
be subsititued for the herbes de provence for variety.
Collected from Fido Cooking Echoes 95

Pineapple Cottage Cheese Bread

1 can (8 1/4 ounces) crushed pineapple
1 carton (8 oz.) small curd nonfat cottage cheese
1 package active dry yeast
2 egg whites (or egg substitute)
3 T sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 t grated lemon peel
3 1/2 c sifted flour (or substitute 1/2 c flour with whole wheat flour)
1/4 c applesauce
1/2 c nonfat yogurt

Drain pineapple well, reserving syrup for other uses. Turn cottage
cheese out onto doubled thickness of paper toweling to absorb excess
liquid. Heat drained pineapple in a small saucepan to lukewarm (110 to
115 degrees). Stir in yeast and let soften 5 minutes.

Combine cottage cheese, egg whites, sugar, salt, and lemon peel. Stir in
pineapple-yeast mixture. Blend in half the flour, mixing well. Stir in
yogurt, then work in remaining flour, using hands, to make a stiff dough.

Turn out onto lightly floured board, and knead smooth, 3 to 4 minutes.
Spray a medium size bowl with Pam. Place the dough in the bowl and turn
once to bring the bottom side up, and cover. Let rise in warm place
until light and doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down and shape into a ball. Spray a 1 1/2-quart round souffle
dish, glass casserole, or tube pan lightly with Pam. Let rise again
until doubled, 40-45 minutes. Bake below oven center at 325 degrees,
about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in pan 5
minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool.

OATMEAL BREAD

Modified from a recipe in Beatrice Ojakangas’ Great Whole Grain Bread book
(a really great book. all the recipes use lots of butter and milk but they
all work well–so far–without it)

mix:

4 pkg (8 t) active dry yeast
1 c whole wheat flour (room temp)

stir in:

1 c water at yeast-growing temperature (105-110 F)
1/4 c sweetener (room temp)

let stand for about 10 minutes to make sure the yeast is working

stir in:

6 c. cooked oatmeal
2 t. salt
1 c. uncooked oatmeal

add by cupful, while stirring (or use a mixer if you’ve got weak arms

~10 c. bread flour (need the extra gluten. Whole wheat + gluten flour might
work but I’d use at least some unbleached white or bread flour)

let rest for 15 min and then knead until it feels right (smooth will not quite
apply because of the oats, but it should mostly stop feeling sticky)

let rise until double

punch down

let rise again if you’ve got the time, shorter rise this time

divide into four balls and place in nonstick bread pans

let rise until doubled

bake at 375 until a tapped loaf sounds hollow. the top will not brown too
much, you can rub it with eggwhite/water if you do that kind of thing and
maybe that’ll help

Anadama Bread

I have been making this since 1945. I believe I got the recipe out of
an old Betty Crocker Cookbook.

1 cup yellow cornmeal stirred into
2 cups water

Boil 5 minutes over low heat. Stir in:

2 Tablespoons applesauce
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup molasses

1 pkg dry yeast dissolved in a little sugar water
5 cups flour

The amount of flour varies with the variety used.
I am assuming you will know by the feel of it under
your hands while kneading it when it has picked up
the right amount of flour. The original recipe used
white flour. I use half whole wheat, half unbleached.