Results of bread-soaking/machine experiment #3, the low-yeast slow rise. And... how would this method fit into my day?

So in my last post I told you of my experiment of making bread soaked (for something like twelve or thirteen hours) in the bread machine, all mixed up except for the salt on top, with a small amount of yeast.  Check this out:

Oooh!

Aaah!

Mmm!  (It needs more salt, but that's the recipe, not the technique.)

This is by far the nicest-looking, nicest-textured bread that's ever come out of my machine.  (I don't much mind gnarly tops and open crumb, so I haven't bothered to troubleshoot my recipes so they always come out perfect, nor am I usually around to check the dough condition during the knead cycle.)

If I were to do this every day or every other day, how would that work out?  

Well, let's see.  Suppose I want the bread to come out for breakfast:  that means the machine finishes at 6:30 a.m.  Breadmaking takes four hours, so it would come on around 2:30 in the morning.  I could set the timer no sooner than 5:30 p.m.  The minimum soaking time is 7 hours and what I tested was about 13 hours, so to get bread that's risen no more than this I'd need to mix the bread between 1:30 in the afternoon (setting the timer in the evening) and 7:30 p.m.  I could let it rise longer, beginning as soon as I got up in the morning, or as soon as I got the pan cleaned out from the previous day.

In other words, a one-loaf-a-day, fresh-bread-at-breakfast baking schedule would look like this:

6:30 a.m.  Take the bread out of the machine, let it cool in the pan while I start the coffee, shake it out of the pan and leave it to cool on a rack.  Fill pan with soapy water. Go upstairs to shower and dress while bread cools.

7 a.m. Slice bread for breakfast, if desired.  Clean bread pan.

Between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.  Mix recipe in bread machine pan and knead for 5 minutes.  Reset bread machine.   Turn on the bread machine and set the timer to produce bread at 6:30 a.m.

Optional longer soak:  Start the bread any time, but don't forget to set the timer in the evening!

You bet I'm wishing I had a 24-h timer on my machine. 

If I wanted fresh bread for dinner, I'd want the bread to come out of the oven around 5 p.m.  So the machine would come on around 1 p.m. and I could set the timer no sooner than 4 a.m.  Seven to 13 hours soaking time means mixing the bread between midnight and 6 a.m. Not gonna happen!  On the other hand, I could let it rise longer (probably --- I would have to test it to be sure) and that would mean mixing the bread in the evening and setting the timer in the morning.  Do-able as long as I remember to set that timer.

So a one-loaf-a-day, fresh-bread-for-dinner schedule would be:

5 p.m-6:30 p.m.  Take the bread out of the machine for dinner.  Let it cool ten minutes in the pan, then shake it out of the pan and soak the bread pan.  Let bread cool 20 min before dinner.

8 p.m. or so.  Wash the bread pan and mix the new bread.  Stick it in the machine.

Morning.  Set the timer.

That's not too bad either.

We typically eat less than one loaf per day, so if I got one more bread box I could save extra and then just skip a day whenever we had too much bread.

One disadvantage to this method is that the bread machine pan would be occupied for much of the day, which means fewer opportunities for spur-of-the-moment pizza dough or cinnamon rolls.  If I baked bread on a morning schedule, I could still use the machine to make dough for lunch, and I could decide in the afternoon to make something else for the breakfast bread.  There's also time to bake an (unsoaked) extra loaf of bread if necessary, in time for dinner!  If I baked bread on an evening schedule, lunch pizza could not happen unless I planned ahead and soaked the bread first in a separate bowl.  I suppose I could transfer the dough to a separate bowl if I suddenly decided to use the bread machine in the middle of the day.

I'm thinking the morning schedule is a lot better.  

Comments

[Cathie B]

Beautiful loaf, Erin! Let me know when you are ready for some publicity from my blog...

It's amazing the change in the texture with the soaking, isn't it?

[bearing]

Mark has gotten so used to the fairly coarse texture of my usual bread that he wasn't sure he liked this one! It does remind me a little bit of "store bread."

I have come to prefer a coarser texture by now... I will have to monkey around with the recipe. I'm thinking less gluten to start.

[bearing]

Oh, yeah, Cathie, you can go ahead and mention this now that I'm starting to get some decent bread pics.

[Valerie]

mMM...looks good! For spur-of-the-moment pizza dough, it's not too hard to mix up without a machine. Do you happen to have a stand mixer w/dough hook? That's my go-to appliance for pizza and bread dough these days.

Anyway, perhaps you could plan into your schedule to make a larger than normal batch of pizza dough and then break it into smaller portions to freeze. We actually like working w/dough that has been frozen as it is definitely more pliable. Just a thought.

[bearing]

Hi Val,

I do have a stand mixer, but as I rarely use it it doesn't have a spot on my counter, and therefore I rarely use it! I often make pizza dough in the food processor. But I'd sort of gotten addicted to the bread machine for lunch pizza, because of the timer -- I can set it up in the morning or even the night before and the dough is ready at lunch time.

I've figured out a way around this though...

[Bev]

Hi

I know this post is from a long time ago, but I just have to thank you for this immensely helpful series. I have just followed the instructions for the first time and my son is eating the most beautiful sandwich bread I've made so far.

Thank you

[bearing]

You're welcome Bev.

Life got more busy and I haven't been doing the soaking thing, but I will add that I bought an extra pan for my bread machine some time ago and that simplified matters because then you can use the machine for something else in between. If your machine manufacturer has extra pans to sell you might check that out.

[Mrs. Logan]

Thank you! I have been thinking about how to achieve this very thing for years! I am so glad I can use my bread machine again. This is great. Thanks for taking the time to experiment and to post such wonderful detailed instructions. I can't wait to eat my breakfast loaf.
Thank you Thank you Thank you