Tricks of the trade

"But how, Brian"?

"But how what"?

"But how do I get those blisters on my homemade bread"?
"You do what I did. I mixed my dough 'til maximum gluten elasticity and then I put them on a piece of parchment paper and then I put my balls (dough balls, that is!)                                                                                       

in a covered container, say a "Dutch oven", and then straight into the fridge. 24-36 hours later they have risen to the right size and are thoroughly cold (important!!) all the way through and then they go straight from the fridge (without the container) into a hot oven. (See the "dirty little filthy SOB tip" in bottom, right above the pressure cooker picture). If you do that, magic will happen.

Ok, to get the best bread, you always want maximum gluten elasticity in your dough: As much "bounce" as possible. It's about mixing your dough enough, without over-mixing it. Developing your gluten structure versus trashing it. But how to test for that?

When your dough is ready for the oven, poke it with a finger, and if the imprint sticks around after you remove your finger (see picture), it's over-mixed. Your gluten is trashed and your bread won't rise properly when baking (or it's not mixed enough, in which case your dough will be lumpy).

If the imprint bounces back out and disappears,  your dough is "developed" just right and your bread will rise beautifully.

It should be said that over-mixing your dough (and trashing your gluten) is really, really hard to do if mixing by hand (always recommended, for a whole host of reasons)...and super easy to do (over-mixing) if using a food processor or other machines.  (The "pro's" at my work baked these guys and they went straight into the garbage once baked. All 300 kg of them)

Stay away from commercial multigrain mix. It's overpriced & poor quality (something that looks and tastes like it was blown in by the wind during the 1930's prairies dust balls). Make your own instead, using any kind of seeds, grains, nuts and dried fruits you have in the  house. But use something that is visually pleasing (bring some colour in there) and anything that actually has some flavour. In terms of flavour,  here is a little tip: If you are using, in particular pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds, roast them in the oven first. You will be amazed of the wonderful nutty flavour they add when roasted. Throw them in a bowl, mix it up and spread in a thin layer on a baking sheet that you pop in the oven @ 400 F for a few minutes until golden brown.

If you are using entire, unprocessed grains (kernels), you want to make sure you soften them up before using them. They can potentially crack a tooth if not softened up so take all your multigrain mix and pour it over with plenty of boiling water and then leave it for at least six hours (or overnight) or until the grains (kernels) are soft to the bite. The excess water when you drain your grain, you use as the liquid in your recipe because it's full of flavour and nutrients as well.

The mix you see on the picture is my own homemade and contains a shooting gallery of things: Almonds, dried apricots, sliced coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, cranberries, multiple types of whole kernels (spelt, farro, wheat, rye and others), rolled oats, rolled spelt, sesame seeds, flax seeds and fennel seeds and everything except raisins, cranberries and apricots are roasted. 

When you proof (leave your dough to rise) your dough, put it in a bowl that is twice as big as your dough. This bowl you want to either oil very thinly on the entire inside, with a few drops of oil so you can get the dough out easily, later on, or you want to put your shaped dough on a sheet of parchment paper that you then put in the dry bowl. Then you either put a larger bowl upside-down as cover, or you can use a plastic bag/single-use shower cap (dollar store). Either one is to prevent your dough from drying out. If you go for the plastic thing, just make sure the plastic does not touch your dough, or it will stick like crazy. Now, when your dough has risen to near double size, you just slide your bread on the paper right out of the bowl, directly onto your baking stone, or, if you went for the oiled bowl, you hold your bowl in one hand, turn it upside down over the baking stone and your dough will gently fall right onto your baking stone, maybe with a slight little tap or two of the bowls edge on the baking stone, itself.


It's always a good idea to immitate the effects of a stone hearth, a deck oven, a brick oven when you bake breads because it will bring more 'lift' to your breads when you bake it on stone. That being said, please do not go out and waste $ 50 on a 'professional baking stone'. You might as well flush your money right out the toilet. What you want is a cheap piece of glaced tile (think regular bathroom wall tiles or floor tiles) that is not too thick. Leave this tile permanently in the bottom of your oven (see picture) so that it starts heating up the moment you turn your oven on. The difference between the thick 'professional' ones and the regular glaced tiles is that the thick ones do not heat up fast enough, because of their thickness, so they are not hot enough, all the way through, by the time you put your loaf in to bake (which is better baked free standing, directly on the tile). This means you don't get the full effect of the hot tile, whereas if you have the regular, thinner, glaced tile, it would be fully hot by the time your oven has the right temperature. This brings a much better result to your breads in the end.

...and...

Here's a dirty, little, rotten, filthy SOB (son of a baker) trick that's going to help you get that yummy, crispy crust that keeping your bread in a plastic bag will destroy in no time: 
Plug vent holes and other leaks in oven when you turn it on and throw in 50-75 ml of water into oven immediately after you put your bread in oven. Close oven door immediately and don't open until halfway through baking process at which time you unplug all holes and leaks you covered previously.

From baking to cooking: As any real lifer will acknowledge, there are good things and bad thing about anything in life. In fact, life itself is a seemingly endless tirade of trade-off. When it comes to pressure cookers, there is exactly one bad thing but three good things. The only bad thing is that you are "cooking blind" (why on Earth hasn't anyone invented a glass pressure cooker?), but "cooking blind" is not really a big problem, once you get used to it. Once you get some experience, it's just like riding your bicycle. You will understand how wonderful it is and you will never again forget how to do it.

The three good thing? Well, for starters, you save yourself a bunch of money because cooking under pressure you need less heat. A lot less. And then you save yourself even more money, because you cook things considerably faster than you would do in a normal pot where a lot of the 'energy', in form of steam, is evaporating right into the proverbial thin blue air. Finally - and this is my own major reason I bought mine - your food will taste better and it will taste better because you retain more flavour. It doesn't just get sucked right out with the steam, into your hood or fan. So, why haven't you gotten one already?  You have no interest in saving money and getting food that tastes better? Well! I do. And now...I'm off to do my African goat stew with cous-cous.

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