Ross's Maryland Bakery

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sawhorseray
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Post by sawhorseray » Sun Mar 09, 2014 09:44

I screwed up the shaping, I tried to use my pizza stone and wrecked things on the transfer from the counter to the oven. I do now know that all this baking is a learning experience with much thanks to what Ross has taught me. The flavor was great even tho the presentation left something to be desired. Bob K's recipe is a all-time winner, I'll bake the whole loaf next time, I was kind of a stupid-ass smarty-pants without knowing my next step. A wise man once told me the best thing about baking bread as opposed to being a carpenter is that most all mistakes are edible. Boy howdy, is that ever true! All props to Bob K, great recipe and the batch has already been gobbled up even tho I screwed the shaping. All props to Ross for just being Ross, Obi Wan. RAY
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Post by Bob K » Sun Mar 09, 2014 13:25

Ray-

Transfer the dough from whatever you let it rise in to a piece of parchment paper on a pizza peel. Just invert the bowl/basket onto the paper, and don't try to reshape. Then put in the oven on your preheated pizza stone. You can remove the paper after 5 minutes or so ...before it starts to burn.

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Post by jscarbo » Sun Mar 09, 2014 13:33

Great photos and great looking bread, Bob! I assume the cast iron skillet is for adding water to create moist heat, correct?

Ray, when you're making free-form loaves, the dough needs to be fairly stiff and tight or it will settle out when baking. I've been making bread for almost 50 years and still run into this problem from time to time. You might get better results using loaf pans or some sort of molds while you're learning. If you want a large round or oval loaf rather than sandwich loaves, casserole dishes work well.
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Post by Bob K » Sun Mar 09, 2014 17:31

jscarbo wrote:Great photos and great looking bread, Bob! I assume the cast iron skillet is for adding water to create moist heat, correct?
Jim -
Yes that is what the cast Iron Pan is for. The original post is on page 15 of this thread
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Post by jscarbo » Sun Mar 09, 2014 17:52

Thanks, Bob. I'd looked for the original post but hadn't found it until you gave the page number. Your bread is gorgeous and I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks. Thanks for the recipe and photos, particularly the photos. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and anyone who sees the photos will know this is a very high-quality artisanal bread.
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Post by Carpster » Sun Mar 09, 2014 18:46

I wanted to chime in because I was inspired by these old boys on this site to make bread :wink:
Here are a couple pics of my adventure!!!

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The good thing is they were very tasty. Bread has become a new journey for me....but I will need a bucket to mount my walking horse!!!

I made these a couple weeks ago during a snow storm.


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Post by sawhorseray » Sun Mar 09, 2014 19:19

My wife and I were talking about getting a pizza peel yesterday before this all went down, I'll go get one tomorrow. My pizza stone has a tiny lip on it which gives me some doubt as to how well it'll work, I tend to get nervous fiddling around with the stone in a 440° oven. I did find my iron skillet in the garage yesterday, and my wife has some loaf pans in a kitchen drawer. Thanks for the advise, picking up more little tricks each batch. RAY
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Post by ssorllih » Sun Mar 09, 2014 21:08

I have a scrap of granite counter top that I am going to try this week as an oven stone. It is about an inch and a quarter thick. Probably take an hour to get it hot.
Ross- tightwad home cook
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Starter Question

Post by sawhorseray » Sun Mar 09, 2014 22:02

I saved the leftover rye starter in a mason jar and put it in the fridge. I understand before I use it to replenish with equal parts rye flour and water 24-36 hours in advance. My question is that once the starter is replenished does it stay out on the counter to warm till it's being used, or go back in the fridge? RAY
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Post by sawhorseray » Sun Mar 09, 2014 22:22

ssorllih wrote:I have a scrap of granite counter top that I am going to try this week as an oven stone. It is about an inch and a quarter thick. Probably take an hour to get it hot.
And maybe three hours to cool down to where you can touch it. I've got a pair of oven mitts rated to 500° but I still get uncomfortable fooling with a hot oven. I cook a lot of steaks by searing them on the stove and then tossing the pan into the 350° oven for 7-8 minutes, can feel the heat on the handle thru those gloves. The whole prospect of sliding stuff on and off a 450° stone kind of seems like a accident waiting to happen. I'm going to the pizza peel shop tomorrow but it's going to take a little practice to feel better about all that on and off. RAY
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Re: Starter Question

Post by Bob K » Mon Mar 10, 2014 16:15

sawhorseray wrote:I saved the leftover rye starter in a mason jar and put it in the fridge. I understand before I use it to replenish with equal parts rye flour and water 24-36 hours in advance. My question is that once the starter is replenished does it stay out on the counter to warm till it's being used, or go back in the fridge? RAY
Ray-

You can do it either way, but if you refrigerate it is best to bring back to room temp before using.


If you are afraid of the 450 temp....you will never make it as a Pizza Guy. :mrgreen:
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Post by sawhorseray » Mon Mar 10, 2014 17:09

Thanks for that Bob! What I've been doing is grabbing the pizza on the stone out of the oven with those mitts on and sliding it onto my work board, slice with a large meat cleaver. I'm gonna have to up my game I guess, I've been cooking them at 400°. Once I get the pizza peel I'll have plenty of opportunity to overcome the fear of burning my arms off while flinging hot pizza all over the kitchen. :wink: RAY

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Bread isn't the olny thing that gets stale.

Post by ssorllih » Tue Apr 22, 2014 13:34

geez, I don't post here for a month and the page almost falls out of the book. ;-)
For Easter dinner I wanted very good very fresh rolls. Accordingly I mixed a preferment on Friday night with 8 ounces of flour and 7 ounces of water and a pinch of yeast. On Saturday I added to the preferment 2 eggs and 8 ounces of water to this mixture I added 4 ounces of whole wheat flour and14 ounces of all purpose white flour a teaspoon of yeast and a half tablespoon of salt. I made the dough adding 3 tablespoons of melted butter. I let it rise once and put it in the fridge. Sunday after church I shaped it into rolls and baked them about mid-afternoon. Supper was about 6PM. By Monday morning I could tell the taste had slipped and they were not as fresh and this morning toasting definitely helps them.
When a local bakery offers day old bread at a discount they know what they are selling.
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Post by sawhorseray » Tue Apr 22, 2014 17:12

I've taken to keeping the rolls and bread I bake in one gallon Ziploc bags in the freezer, then taking out what I need and thawing it for a bit in a one quart bag on the kitchen counter. A little blast in the micro seems to bring back that nice soft texture too. After slicing some sandwich material I've started a double batch of split pea soup this morning. The bone is already in the pot and later I have a good five pounds of ham meat to add. I was thinking of taking another shot at a loaf of rye bread tho I was unhappy with my last effort, heavy, dense, and dry. I really liked the look of Bob K's rye bread but that requires ordering "clear #1" flour thru the net, haven't seen it for sale anywhere. If I'm going to spend $16.50 to have three pounds of flour delivered I'm better off going to the store and just buying a loaf of Orowheat rye. RAY

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Post by Bob K » Tue Apr 22, 2014 17:27

Ray-

You need the First Clear for the Crem de la Crem of NY Deli Rye.

It is the old traditional way.

Any High Gluten flour will work well.

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