# HAND MIXING SUCCESS



## oldcoot (Sep 20, 2004)

All this talk about the problems of hand mixing caused me to give it another try.  [Being innately lazy, I preferred the KA]  But with a twist:

Since dough consisency seems the major factor in a successful loaf, I decided to forget flour measurments altogether and go with only a liquid measure - in this case, half and half milk.  One cup exactly.  And then add flour as needed to get a soft dough..  

So here's the recipe:  
\
1  cup Half-and-half, heated to 100 F (microwave)
1  tsp  Active dry Yeast
1  tsp  salt
Pour in about a cupful of flour right from the packeage., stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.

Continue stirring, and add flour, a little at a time, until dough "cleans" the bowl.  (Very soft, a little sticky)

LStick your hand in the flour sack and take out just enough to lightly flour the board.  Spread the flour evenly with the other hand.  This flours both hands.

Dump the dough onto the floured board and begin kneading - fold and press, fold and press.  Add flour as dough bigins to stick, and continue for a full ten minutes.

Wash bowl with hot water, dry, and spray with Pam.  Put ball of dough into warm bowl, cover with cloth, set in a warm place to at least double in bulk.
  (About an hour at 72F)

Again flour board as before.  

Punch down dough and form into roll the length of the loaf pan.  I used Pyrex (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 inches)  "Pam" the pan, put in the dough, and let rise until above the rim of the pan.  [Dough weighes 1.2 lbs]

Place in cold oven (center rack) and set oven for 335F and 40 minutes.

Turn out on rack to cool.

Here's my result:






Pillow-soft loaft, light, tender interior, good flavor.  Weight after baking: 1.1 lbs.

All th mixing and kneading used about 15-18 minutes, including cleanup.  This was delightfully easy, and for once I am truly proud of the result.  Sometimes I get lucky!


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## mudbug (Sep 20, 2004)

Old Coot, this is almost pornographic.  Bravo.


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## kitchenelf (Sep 20, 2004)

{{{{{{old coot}}}}}}  So good to see you.

Your bread looks awesome - thanks for the recipe too - I hope you and BW are enjoying the summer!!!!!  I miss you!


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## oldcoot (Sep 20, 2004)

Where ya been, "Elf?  I've been here right along.  Missed you!  Delighted to hear from you again.  Stay with us,l please!!!


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## oldcoot (Sep 20, 2004)

oops


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## MJ (Sep 20, 2004)

Nice loaf Coot.


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## kitchenelf (Sep 20, 2004)

Could you make some rolls old coot so I could say "nice buns"????


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## subfuscpersona (Sep 21, 2004)

I really like that you post pix of your efforts - in fact I like everything on your home page - neat!

yup - even tho most of us use a machine in our bread-making it's nice to know how to do it by hand - after all, this ain't  rocket science.

PS - I've been meaning to ask whether you used to post to pcmag discussion forum. There is  someone with the same user name as yours who posted there fairly regularly.


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## oldcoot (Sep 21, 2004)

Clever, 'Elf - very clever!  

subfuscpersona, thanks for the nice words.  It's high time I upgraded that page.  Info is not quite right.  Hey, I'm learning all the time!

No, I have posted only here as "old coot" - the one time I have been honest regarding a user name.

Today or tomorow I'm going to try another loaf using the same identical process but with water instead of half & half, and using a 24 hr sponge.  I'm curious as to what made the big difference in that loaf above.  I suspect it was both the consistency and the milk, with the half & half supplying just enough fat to tenderize the bread.  But I'm not sre.  This will be a baguette instead of a pan loaf, so that may make a difference, too.


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## oldcoot (Sep 21, 2004)

Ah - the things we men do to please the fair ladies....

Here y'are, "Elf:






Only problem is, I received not one, but TWO phone calls  just moments before these were supposed to come out of the oven.  Result, they remained baking for an additonal 15 minutes, so I am considering using them as cobblestones in my garden.  


[By the way, I also made  that bagette mentioned abov, and it, too, was overdone.  But the center remained quite soft, and it made a fine bruschetta for lunch, although I nearly broke my teeth on the crust.  Moral of the story:  Using a very soft dough improves the lightness and tenderness. . all other things being equal.]


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## Brooksy (Sep 25, 2004)

Your loaf looks brilliant OC!  Magnificent! Jealous as hell, but I'm closing in.

Your pics are of great benefit as we plebs can see that to which we aspire.

Brooksy


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 26, 2004)

Made my own best-ever bread tonight.  It wasn't in a bread loaf though.  Let me explain.

I had a hankering for recreating those wonderful gradeschool wonders from my childhood - pigs-in-the-blanket.  I've heard many variations of foods that have carried this name, but to me, it represents a hot dog rolled in fresh bread dough and baked to a light, golden-brown perfection.  The bread must be soft and moist, slightly sweet, and slightly yeasty with just a hint of salt.  It came out perfect.  My success came after reading the success story in this thread.

I measured two cups all-purpose flour into a large bowl.  I added three level tsp. or 1 tbs. dry yeast to the flour, along with 6 tsp. sugar, and 1 tsp. salt.  I stired it with a wire whisk until all inredients were equally distributed.  I then added 2/3 cup hot water and 6 tbs. cooking oil.  I stirred it with a wooden spoon until it came together as a dough.  It was just a tad dry so I drizzled a splash more water into the bowl and kneeded it by hand for no more than 7 miinutes.  The dough was elastic and I didn't want it tough so I spread butter all over the dough surface and placed it is the microwave for 15 seconds on high, to heat the dough to a good rising temperature.  I let it sit for 30 minutes and checked it.  It had doubled.  I  rolled it out on a floured surface and wrapped the hot dogs in the dough, after cutting dough sections to the right size.   Iput them on a microwave safe plate and heated again for 15 seconds.  AFter 15 more minutes, I moved the pigs to a dookie sheet and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  They came out sooooo good.  My family wants me to get this recipe down because they loved the bread portion.

I believe the success came from not developing the gluten to its fullest, and making sure the dough was elastic, and slightly sticky.  Teh rest was basic ingedients.  Big success tonight.  Gotta love it when your improptu recipe goes well.  Gotta try this as a small bread loaf, maybe a free standing loaf, like grinder bread.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## oldcoot (Sep 27, 2004)

Those pigs-in-a-blankett sound great, *Goodweed of the North*  I'm pleased and flattered that you think my post may have helped.

You really surprised me with the use of the microwave to warm the dough.  Never heard of that, and I'd presumed the microwave radiation would tend to destroy yeast cells.  Big surprise!  Gotta try it.

The more I get into this bread thing, the more I am convinced the long held and wide spread belief that bread making is time-consuming, tedious, and a chore is really an old wives tale.  Personally, I think it is very easy, and kinda fun.  Now, if your microwave idea speeds up the rising time, tat will further simplify the process.


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## mudbug (Sep 27, 2004)

I agree, oldcoot.  Don't make much bread myself, but the few times I have I found it enjoyable and relaxing, with usually pretty good results.

Just think back to the pioneer days. With all the other stuff those women had to do in and out of the kitchen, they still managed to crank out the daily bread.  No worries about moisture content, right amount of yeast, etc.


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## Audeo (Sep 28, 2004)

Just a note of thanks here.  Goodweed, OldCoot...I have really gained a lot from you in this post.  I make bread often (3-4 times a week) and you have helped me more in this discussion than you know.  Thank you!


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Sep 29, 2004)

In the short time I've known and shared recipes on this site, I have found extraordinary people with open and quick minds.  I do well with bread, but am not as good as I'd like to be.  Sometimes, as with the pigs in the blanket, the bread comes out very good.  Other times, I have been stuck with very heavy, even plastic textured bread (expecially when trying to make low-wheat varieties).

Multi-grain breads come out pretty good.

And as I stated in my post, the key part of the process for me was the stickiness of the dough.  That textile feel ldt me know that there was enough moisture in the doug.  Also, I measured about three tbs. oil per cup of flour to insure a moist final product.  The raw dough texture info was given me by Old Coot in his posting.  At one time, I knew that.  But over the years, I forgot.

And Audeo, you are very welcome.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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