No sugar dough experiment - 24 hours along

[beergut]

The idea here is to make a simple dough without using sugar, and let the yeast feed on the flour itself. I'm doing a cold ferment for two weeks to see how that affects flavor and texture. This first loaf is after 24 hours, and tastes great.


Recipe:



3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tbsp yeast

3/4 tbsp salt

1.5 cups of water



Pour lukewarm water into mixing bowl or large container. Add yeast. Mix in salt, and then flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or stand mixer until all dough is uniform.



Let rise for 2 hours in bowl or container loosely covered.







Place bowl/container in fridge, and let cold ferment for 24 hours.



When ready to bake, turn oven on and preheat to 450. This will warm up your kitchen, which is ideal for helping the dough rise.



Remove dough from fridge, dust hands with flour, and put some flour on top of the dough so your hands don't stick. Take a grapefruit-sized piece of dough out of the container and cut it with a knife or scissors. Hold the mass of dough in your hands, and add flour as needed so it doesn't stick to your hands. Shape and stretch the dough around on all four sides into the bottom, rotating the dough ball as you do so. The shape of your ball should be smooth and cohesive. Shaping should take roughly 30-60 seconds, no longer.



Rest the loaf and let it rise for 40 minutes.





20 minutes before baking, place an empty tray in the oven to hold water. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, and slash the top of the loaf in a cross pattern. 

After 20 minutes is up, flour your baking tray, and put loaf on it. Pour 1 cup of water into the empty tray in the oven to produce steam, and place tray with loaf on rack above it in the oven.



Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is brown and loaf sounds hollow when thumped.



Let cool for 10 minutes, and then cut into and serve.

[Chocolate Lover]

Reminds me of the No Knead bread on Budget Bytes. Looks yummy!

[chiver78]

nice!

[beergut]

Dec 7, 2017 17:11:22 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Reminds me of the No Knead bread on Budget Bytes. Looks yummy!

 I may be getting too technical on terminology, but to me 'no knead' means you literally mix the dough to incorporate it, it into a pan, and then bake. There is often no need (pun! ha!) to let it rise because most no-knead recipes use baking powder to create the rise in the oven instead of yeast. 

 Because I do some kneading in that 30-60 seconds of shaping is why I wouldn't call this a no-knead bread. But like I said, it's a technicality. 

My goal here is just to see if I can make delicious tasting bread without using sugar. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

ExperimentArion is a good thing.

And sounds yummy!

[dee27]

Dec 7, 2017 23:28:12 GMT -5 beergut said:

Dec 7, 2017 17:11:22 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Reminds me of the No Knead bread on Budget Bytes. Looks yummy!

 I may be getting too technical on terminology, but to me 'no knead' means you literally mix the dough to incorporate it, it into a pan, and then bake. There is often no need (pun! ha!) to let it rise because most no-knead recipes use baking powder to create the rise in the oven instead of yeast. 

 Because I do some kneading in that 30-60 seconds of shaping is why I wouldn't call this a no-knead bread. But like I said, it's a technicality. 

My goal here is just to see if I can make delicious tasting bread without using sugar. 

Why is not using sugar important? Most bread recipes use small amounts of sugar like 1 or 2 teaspoons to promote fermentation of the yeast.

[Shooby]

Looks delish.  But what is the problem with a bit of sugar?  

[Chocolate Lover]

Dec 7, 2017 23:28:12 GMT -5 beergut said:

Dec 7, 2017 17:11:22 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Reminds me of the No Knead bread on Budget Bytes. Looks yummy!

 I may be getting too technical on terminology, but to me 'no knead' means you literally mix the dough to incorporate it, it into a pan, and then bake. There is often no need (pun! ha!) to let it rise because most no-knead recipes use baking powder to create the rise in the oven instead of yeast. 

 Because I do some kneading in that 30-60 seconds of shaping is why I wouldn't call this a no-knead bread. But like I said, it's a technicality. 

My goal here is just to see if I can make delicious tasting bread without using sugar. 

Yep. Getting too technical. Her recipe has no sugar or baking soda and an overnight room temp rise. I've made it several times, it's delicious. 

[beergut]

Dec 8, 2017 2:14:26 GMT -5 dee27 said:

Dec 7, 2017 23:28:12 GMT -5 beergut said:

 I may be getting too technical on terminology, but to me 'no knead' means you literally mix the dough to incorporate it, it into a pan, and then bake. There is often no need (pun! ha!) to let it rise because most no-knead recipes use baking powder to create the rise in the oven instead of yeast. 

 Because I do some kneading in that 30-60 seconds of shaping is why I wouldn't call this a no-knead bread. But like I said, it's a technicality. 

My goal here is just to see if I can make delicious tasting bread without using sugar. 

Why is not using sugar important? Most bread recipes use small amounts of sugar like 1 or 2 teaspoons to promote fermentation of the yeast.

 It isn't so much 'important' as it is an experiment. If I am in a situation where I have flour, salt, and yeast but no sugar, can I still make great tasting bread? That is the question I am attempting to answer. (Answer so far is 'yes'.) Plus, I wanted to see how much of a difference it makes in the taste if the yeast is forced to feed off flour instead of sugar. 

[beergut]

Dec 8, 2017 7:48:57 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Looks delish.  But what is the problem with a bit of sugar?  

No problem with it, this is an experiment. 

[beergut]

Dec 8, 2017 12:06:32 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Dec 7, 2017 23:28:12 GMT -5 beergut said:

 I may be getting too technical on terminology, but to me 'no knead' means you literally mix the dough to incorporate it, it into a pan, and then bake. There is often no need (pun! ha!) to let it rise because most no-knead recipes use baking powder to create the rise in the oven instead of yeast. 

 Because I do some kneading in that 30-60 seconds of shaping is why I wouldn't call this a no-knead bread. But like I said, it's a technicality. 

My goal here is just to see if I can make delicious tasting bread without using sugar. 

Yep. Getting too technical. Her recipe has no sugar or baking soda and an overnight room temp rise. I've made it several times, it's delicious. 

If you're using this recipe, of course she doesn't need to use baking soda, she uses yeast to get the bread to rise. 

The only thing I don't like about her recipe is the requirement to have a Dutch oven. If you don't have a Dutch oven, using the heated pan with water to create steam gets the same effect, and you don't have to bake it for 45-50 minutes like she recommends. 

[Chocolate Lover]

Dec 10, 2017 1:22:52 GMT -5 beergut said:

Dec 8, 2017 12:06:32 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Yep. Getting too technical. Her recipe has no sugar or baking soda and an overnight room temp rise. I've made it several times, it's delicious. 

If you're using this recipe, of course she doesn't need to use baking soda, she uses yeast to get the bread to rise. 

The only thing I don't like about her recipe is the requirement to have a Dutch oven. If you don't have a Dutch oven, using the heated pan with water to create steam gets the same effect, and you don't have to bake it for 45-50 minutes like she recommends. 

I've never used the dutch oven on hers. I have one but I don't feel like having the extra crunchiness from that. And as far as I knew, you were also using yeast to make yours rise.

She does have notes about not using the Dutch oven somewhere (within the original way down at the bottom or in a 2nd version, I don't know which. Not going there before lunch to look, I'm too hungry). 


At any rate, I just said it reminded me of hers. I hope you've enjoyed the bread you made.

[beergut]

Dec 11, 2017 12:20:04 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Dec 10, 2017 1:22:52 GMT -5 beergut said:

If you're using this recipe, of course she doesn't need to use baking soda, she uses yeast to get the bread to rise. 

The only thing I don't like about her recipe is the requirement to have a Dutch oven. If you don't have a Dutch oven, using the heated pan with water to create steam gets the same effect, and you don't have to bake it for 45-50 minutes like she recommends. 

I've never used the dutch oven on hers. I have one but I don't feel like having the extra crunchiness from that. And as far as I knew, you were also using yeast to make yours rise.

She does have notes about not using the Dutch oven somewhere (within the original way down at the bottom or in a 2nd version, I don't know which. Not going there before lunch to look, I'm too hungry). 


At any rate, I just said it reminded me of hers. I hope you've enjoyed the bread you made.

 After replying to you, I read all the way to the bottom. She does have a solution for people without a Dutch oven.    I've just never seen a reason to make the investment. Knowing me, though, at some point I'll get one and get on a real kick over everything you can cook with a Dutch oven.   

[Chocolate Lover]

Dec 11, 2017 19:25:57 GMT -5 beergut said:

Dec 11, 2017 12:20:04 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

I've never used the dutch oven on hers. I have one but I don't feel like having the extra crunchiness from that. And as far as I knew, you were also using yeast to make yours rise.

She does have notes about not using the Dutch oven somewhere (within the original way down at the bottom or in a 2nd version, I don't know which. Not going there before lunch to look, I'm too hungry). 


At any rate, I just said it reminded me of hers. I hope you've enjoyed the bread you made.

 After replying to you, I read all the way to the bottom. She does have a solution for people without a Dutch oven.    I've just never seen a reason to make the investment. Knowing me, though, at some point I'll get one and get on a real kick over everything you can cook with a Dutch oven.   

Mine is just plain old cast iron, so like all my cast iron, I decide how I'm feeling about hand washing it once I'm done with whatever I'm cooking. Some days lazy wins. I've done roasts and stuff like chili in it. Mine isn't big enough for roasts AND veggies together  

[beergut]

Same dough, this is from a small loaf I made yesterday, December 13, so 8 days cold ferment.




You can see that it is slightly less dense than the 24 hour loaf, but not appreciably much. The taste was fantastic, though. I would have a picture of the finished loaf, but I had a friend over, and she sampled it after it cooled down, and liked it so much she decided to eat the whole thing (other than a small crust I nibbled on to check the taste). I managed to get this portion in the photo. 

[Chocolate Lover]

Stick a fresh loaf of bread in my face and I might eat the whole thing too! This thread makes me hungry every time I open it. 

[beergut]

I just put two loafs in the oven after letting the dough cold ferment for 14 days. 

We'll see how they turn out. 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Are the loaves getting progressively more tart?

[beergut]

Dec 21, 2017 22:01:01 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

Are the loaves getting progressively more tart?

 No, but I have noticed the bread is getting less and less dense.

 The results of the 14 day loaves are excellent. 

 It had the crunch and texture I associate with sourdough bread, without having to make a sourdough starter. 

 





I used the open loaf to make a hot Italian beef sandwich for dinner last night (used ground beef since I didn't have a roast), and it turned out amazing.