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[Miggy]

Yeah, I know. I just mixed the dough and it's doing its final sitting for an hour or two before it's put in the oven. I should have thought about that when putting in the flour and ingredients though, as the recipe doesn't account for taking some of the dough away. It got a lot drier than it's supposed to, but I improvised with some water until I got the composition I was looking for.

I'm a bit leery though. There's a whole lot of grains and seeds in this, and I know some of the grains at least are supposed to sit in water before use, and I didn't do that to all of them. They'll obviously all get roasted in the oven, but I'm using split rye grain, sesame seeds, linum seeds and sunflower seeds. The rye grains were definitely supposed to sit overnight in water, and they did. But I added the linum seeds just now and they should possibly have been moistened up before entry. Oh well, I guess I'll find out when the stuff's baked.

[Osmosis Jones]

Just out of curiosity, what do you do for the crust? I usually just spritz it with water before it goes in, and again at the 5 min mark, but I've heard throwing icecubes into a hot pan under the loaf works well too.

[Miggy]

For the crust? Uhh, I do... Nothing.

With the flour mixes I'm used to, I simply add it to the mold (the mold is lubricated with butter though, the more the merrier) and straighten it out with a wet dough-scraper (not sure that's the official term, but it is when directly translated from danish. A thin but sturdy rectangular piece of plastic with two rounded corners). I have heard of a lot of tricks to add more water to the dough though: Nearly every recipe mentions putting the bread under a wet tablecloth whenever possible, and I heard of the water-in-oven trick as well. I did try it out, but I can't say I was overly impressed, I didn't really see any major difference from what I'm used to.

Anyhow, I like my crust crispy and crunchy and the butter in the mold does that very well.

[Osmosis Jones]

Ahh, okay. The spritzing/steaming thing is explained here.

Incidentally, I highly recommend everyone checks out that site... their pretzel recipe is god.

[Miggy]

Yeah, it makes sense.

I tried putting a pan of water in there while one of my loaves were baking, but I think it just ended up not heating up. It didn't boil and I never actually saw any steam in the oven. I think I'll try heating up the pan first, then adding the water while it's in the oven, as that's sure to create lots and lots of steam.

I baked the bread and now it's sitting and cooling. Its crust is cracked along the length of it, but it smells pretty much like a solid load of bread. I'm going to have to wait to test it first though, as it's always impossible to cut proper pieces of the bread when it's in that state. Such a shame too, as a good warm piece of freshly baked rye bread with just a thin topping of butter can be eaten like candy.

EDIT: It's cooled down now, and I had some tastings. It's mediocrely good. It's got a decent texture, a fine crust and a so-so taste. But there's definitely something missing.

For my next loaves I'm definitely going to add more salt (this 1½L bread had 2 teaspoons and it's not tastable. Need to make sure I don't kill the sour dough though...), let the sour dough get more sour and I'll try out the steam trick. But this is definitely a managable recipe.

[Solifuge]

Oh man, now I want to bake bread, but I don't have the necessary pans, and today is a long day. When I get home, biscuits it is.

[Miggy]

Hmm, that website you linked to is really interesting Osmosis, but I'm having trouble deciding what kind of kneading technique I should use.

The rye bread dough is, and should be, soggy and wet. It's not a dough that you take out of a bowl to knead. For my bowl mixing and/or kneading I generally scrape around the edge of the bowl, making a sort of bowl of dough in the center, then push it down and repeat. However this is pretty labour intensive, and from what I can gather about bread kneading, all of this should be done over a very long stretch of time. All of the bread I bake is very dense, so I can imagine I'm not ideally kneading it together.

But most of the prescribed kneading techniques on that website work with some kind of "ordinary" bread dough, and this rye bread is most definitely not ordinary. I'm not sure what kind of technique I should employ to get the best mix.

[Osmosis Jones]

For really wet doughs, the only thing I've found tha comes close to working is using the fold and turn method, but doing it in the mixing bowl, with the dough scraper e.g.

• Scrape the dough into a rough rectangle shape,
• Fold in half, and press the dough down with your fist (wet it first)
• Turn the bowl 90^o
• Fold in half, and press the dough down with your fist
• Turn the bowl... etc etc

It's an absolute bastard, I'll admit, but it seemed to work. That said, I've never cooked a rye loaf, and I hear they give a very very sticky dough, so honestly I'm not sure it will work.


EDIT:

Oh man, now I want to bake bread, but I don't have the necessary pans, and today is a long day. When I get home, biscuits it is.

If you get a dryish dough, you can actually make a self supporting loaf and cook it on a flat pizza pan.
Outlined here, though I'll admit that the pictures at the end aren't actually a very good example of a shaped boule, but the technique is what you want to aim for.

Alternatively, make a foccacia; it's dead easy, (it's what got me into bread making) and only needs a flat pan. Doesn't even need kneading.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

2 smallish loaves or one big loaf
 
In a LARGE mixing bowl, add
1 kg Plain Flour
1 tsp dry yeast (or 3 tsp if using compressed)
3 tbsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
2.5 cups warm water

Mix & cover with glad wrap (or cling, plastic or saran wrap, whatever it's called in your respective countries ) and leave for at least 20 hrs.
Preheat an oven to ~250 C and oil up a baking tray. Spread the dough out flat, and dimple the surface with fingers. Drizzle with olive oil (it will flow into the dimples, making tasty bits).
 
For toppings, I suggest any of the following
Black pepper/Basil/Oregano/Mixed Herbs/Chilli flakes/Shaved Parmesan Cheese/Olives/Bacon/Salami/Sundried tomatoes/egg.
 
Cook for ~30 min
 
Take out when golden brown (if cooking in a deep pan, make sure dough at centre is fully cooked and risen).
 
Serve hot or cold, lasts for several days in a standard dry environ, as long as you glad wrap up any cut areas.

[MaximumZero]

...bacon, salami, chili flake and shredded Parmesan cheese bread!? I'm so in.

[Shades]

The rye bread dough

All of the bread I bake is very dense, so I can imagine I'm not ideally kneading it together.

Rye bread is generally pretty dense I think. Or at least it's seemed that way whenever I've had it. Or did you mean dense even for rye bread?

[Miggy]

The rye bread dough

All of the bread I bake is very dense, so I can imagine I'm not ideally kneading it together.

Rye bread is generally pretty dense I think. Or at least it's seemed that way whenever I've had it. Or did you mean dense even for rye bread?

Yup, I meant for rye bread standards. I think I'm just going to mix the rye bread for longer than usual in order to get some more air into it. That, and my sour dough has been standing for longer this time 'round, so it should rise more.

For the flour mix-rye breads I've made, the mixing instructions do prefer to mix them incredibly well. That is, a machine mixer on a busy setting fluffing it about for 5-10 minutes. My mixing definitely doesn't compare to that, partially because I can't be too bothered (might have to force myself to, though) and partially because the dough is pretty tough to mix around, and my arms are slim and pale nerd arms. I usually just mix it around until it's a homogenous mass, then a minute or two for good measure. For the next batch, I'll try and add 5 minutes or more for better measure.

I'll see how my next 2 loaves turn out, they should be done later today.

EDIT: Loaves are done and partially eaten. I think I got the taste pretty spot-on to what I want it to be. However, the texture is still lacking. It it extremely dense. Not to the point of where it's difficulty to eat, but to the point where you feel full after a single slice, and the bread itself can be used as a weapon.

I think the key is to just let the loaves sit and rise for stupidly long amounts of time. I keep seeing a trick in recipes that says after the dough has risen, I should poke it with a fork and brush it with water. I don't see that as a way to get a better texture, if anything the fork poking will let air get out of the dough, instead of staying in.

[Osmosis Jones]

*BUMP* (Yes I know there is another, active, cooking thread, but this one was here first, and doesn't have nationality restrictions on the recipes!)

I bring to you guys the grand-daddy of all ribs recipes. Melt in your mouth, music on your tongue, and fire in your belly (in a good way!), these things are worth killing for.

ULTIMATE RIBS

2 kg of pork ribs (in slabs, not individually)

1 cup tomato sauce (ketchup to you americans, I guess)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Hot Mustard
1 cup water

2 tbsp Black pepper
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Paprika
1 tbsp Dried Oregano
2 tbsp Dried Thyme
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp Cayenne powder

In a saucepan, mix the first set of ingredients over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. This is a BBQ sauce, it will keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside, run it through a mortar and pestle if it's too chunky.

Slice the thin white membrane on the back of the ribs with a knife (this will prevent them curling when cooked) and lower the ribs into boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain on kitchen paper.

At this point you can do one of two things; either leave the ribs as a slab for an easier time cooking, or cut them up individually for a tastier end result. Whatever you choose, coat the ribs in the spice rub, being sure to get an even coating. Next place the ribs into a preheated oven at 225 C for 30 minutes, on a rack over a drip tray.

At the end of the 30 minutes, take out and paint the bbq sauce onto the ribs with a pastry brush, and return to the oven. Repeat this every 5 minutes for the next 15 minutes. Finally, if you haven't already, cut up the ribs and serve with more of the bbq sauce to the side.

Enjoy!

(Note, ribs keep really well, and can be reheated easily)

[Neonivek]

Dang those arn't any ordinary ribs... they are the ULTIMATE RIBS!

Ohh and they are BBQ flavored too! (I can tell because of the sugar and Paprika)

[SirHoneyBadger]

Peperoncini are a really good food product: They're really cheap, and easily found in most supermarkets. They come pickled in a jar, so they last forever (The Greek ones are a golden color, not green, and are a little sweeter and nicer, in my opinion, than the Tuscan variety).

They're juicy, thin-skinned peppers with a spicy, sour flavor, and go really well with meat. I especially like them cooked with beef, such as a steak or a roast. They aren't terribly hot, the Greek ones are pretty easy to eat raw, but their heat is enough to add a nice kick to meals, without being overwhelming. They mix well with most other Italian ingredients, and are fantastic on a sub or in a Greek salad, but they're interesting enough by themselves to just eat along with bread and olive oil, with maybe a handful of olives and some feta, for a quick  lunch.

As a pickled whole pepper, they naturally have a lot of healthy aspects, as well, and you can eat the entire pepper, including the stem, as well as use the liquid, which is a very nice ingredient in peanut satay.

[Neonivek]

Hey I wonder

I am not against lemons but dislike its taste in anything desert related. Afterall Lemons have low sugar content of the citrus fruits.

However you would be hard pressed to find recipes that don't call for lemon juice or anything lemon related.

Is there anything you can use as a substitute for lemon juice? What do you have to also do when you replace it?