Bread turned out pretty good for a first attempt. Here it is fresh out of the oven... Bottom of the loaf with the "Le Creuset" hallmark...
Hold on...you got a stand mixer and you still knead by hand??? ¡Chica! ¿Por qué? Dios friggin' mío...
Sometimes I just like to have my hands in the dough, KWIM?? Seems like lately all I make are the no knead type, but this recipe called for 8-10 minutes of kneading. Today's recipe (from Le Creuset) isn't as good as the recipe with the Kitchenaid ceramic bread bowl, but it's pretty good. The KA bread was softer with a chewy crust instead of "crusty." I "knead" to cruise over to Amazon and find a razor-type dough slasher. My knives don't make a clean cut in the dough for the top slashes. That should wrap up my bread baking gadget hoard.
I'll have to check those out. I keep single-edge razor blades on hand for stuff like that (my Italian bread), but even the new blades drag 'n tear. Perhaps the single-edge blades are too thick. You should check out diastatic malt powder since you're placing an Amazon order. It gives you a fuller rise, a deeper flavor and a browner crust. I imagine this has likely crossed your path before. Here's a brief story on the King Arthur blog regarding the use of malt powders and malt syrup. I never make a yeast-based product without it. I've been using Hoosier Hill Farm brand with great success.
I've heard of the diastatic malt but usually in bagel recipes. I have never made bagels. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion but I don't really want any more ingredients to try to keep up with expiration dates. I'll just stick with the recipes as written which seem to turn out pretty well. I'm surprised you don't have a lame. Don't you make sourdough bread? I've used a single-edge razor blade but it drags as badly as a knife in the dough.
There's a diastatic malt power (active enzymes [cold processed] make the sugars more available to the yeast) and a non-diastitic malt (dead enzymes [heat processed] so it only adds to the browning of the crust for unleavened stuff like bagels.) I hear ya on the expiry dates. I buy large containers because they are cheaper, then try to share whenever possible, but very few folks bake bread anymore. I go generous on my interpretation of "Best By" for most stuff except yeast. If the malt powder does not fully do its thing, the bread is still fine...but I've yet to have it fail. I have never made a sourdough bread...just white & wheat loaves and the Italian bread. And of course a broad array of buns, rolls & pizza crusts. I am still seeking a good ciabatta dough recipe...one that's loose enough to taste yeasty, but firm enough to not spread out like a pancake.
For some reason I thought you were a sourdough maker. I almost hate to admit this, but I think my favorite homemade bread is an easy bread-machine French bread. I enjoy the novelty of the artisan loaves but somehow they don't taste so great after a few days. I should try making croutons or something with the leftovers. I need to go dig through my cookbooks and see what bread discoveries I can uncover.
It's funny, I usually make my slow-rise pizza dough...3 days in the fridge for the flavors to develop. Last time I made pizza I wanted it that night so I made a one hour rise dough that was actually just as good. I've not made calzones in a long time...those are a nice change and leftovers freeze/reheat real well for a fast meal. And they seem fancier than they really are. The one thing I've not made that I want to try are bread soup bowls. Those are pretty good when filled with chili.
One of the no-knead loaves would hollow out well since the crust is thick. May need to be a bit smaller but the general idea would work I think.
The one recipe for these that I have kneads for 6 minutes, rises once for 40, then the bowls rise for half an hour. I can't recall where I used to have these. Perhaps Sir Walter Raleigh's (if you ever ate there), or maybe one of the chain restaurants served their White Chicken Chili in them.
Getting old is for the birds, people. Today was a gorgeous spring day... absolutely perfect weather-wise. So the hubby and I trotted outside after having morning coffee to attack the new shrubs. I got them situated for planting by measuring, pacing, and a lot of walking to the curb to "eyeball" the layout from the street. Hubby left to run an errand while I raked up old mulch, and our next door neighbor walked over to see what we were up to. (Yes, it was cowboy-boots-and-shorts-guy, but at least he had a shirt on today. ) We chatted and got caught up on the past year or so, since we mostly have waved from car windows and haven't done much visiting. I told him about my cancer treatment and he told me about his cancer treatment (he had colon cancer). Then he went back to edging the sidewalk and I went back to raking. Hubby got back home and dug holes with the post-hole digger. The shrubs were 5-gallon size so pretty heavy. This evening my back is absolutely killing me. The shrubs look nice but the front foundation planting still looks kind of sparse... so I guess it's back to the garden center we go! I'll need to wait a few days so that I can walk upright and not all stooped over.
I'm right there with you. My neighbors and I rented a skid loader to clear out our right-of-way so there's space to move stuff when the next storm rolls around. I had my tractor to move the stuff I could with it. We cleaned up the road, downed trees in everyone's yard, the power line, spread 20 tons of gravel, then took out some trees and cleared out a few overgrown areas at my place. I also stacked a cord of wood I bought. Between all that work, manually hauling stuff too small for the tractors, and changing the implements on my tractor, I'm not feeling 20 years old. And I was glad to see yesterday get rained out. I was sooo disappointed. Not.
I just took a long soak in a hot Epsom-salt bath. Nice, until I could barely get out of the tub. Thought I might be trapped in there for a while.