AB5M Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread cheat sheet

100 Percent Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

• 1 1⁄2 tbsp granulated yeast (1 1⁄2 packets)
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 5 tbsp neutral-flavored oil, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 1⁄2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1 1⁄2 cups lukewarm water
• 6 2⁄3 cups whole wheat flour

Mix, let rise and collapse. Refrigerate. Grease 9x4x3 inch pan. Pull out one and a half pounds of dough (cantaloupe size) and shape with wet hands. Pan should be slightly more than half full. Let stand for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Slash top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes until deeply brown and firm.

Makes 3 1 1⁄2 pound loaves.

Short form instructions adapted from Mother Earth News  Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread - Print version

AB5M No knead white bread

Master Recipe for White-Flour dough quick reference.

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes

• 3 cups (24 oz) lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (can decrease to 1 tablespoon if you prefer the flavor of slower-risen doughs)
• 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt (adjust to your taste)
• 6 1/2 cups (32.5 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix, let rise and collapse. Refrigerate. Pull out one pound of dough and shape. Let stand for 40 minutes. Slash top. Bake at 450 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

Notes: 

Short form instructions adapted from Mother Earth News  Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread - Print version

Use about half as much table salt as kosher salt.

I find this basic version fairly bland. There are variations in the Mother Earth News article.

No knead wheat bread

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day~Whole Grain Master Recipe

From Former Chef:

A basic whole wheat no knead bread. Makes four one pound loaves.

• 1 lb, 9 oz whole wheat flour (5 1/2 cups)(720 grams)
• 10 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour (2 cups)(270 grams)
• 1.5 Tbsp granulated yeast (.55 oz)(15 grams)
• 1 Tbsp. Kosher salt (.55 oz)(15 grams)
• 1 3/8 oz  vital wheat gluten (4 Tbsp)* (35 grams)
• 4 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F) (2 lbs)(900 grams)

Stir it up and let it rise and collapse. Refrigerate. Pull out a pound and shape. Let stand for 90 minutes. Bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes. Detailed instructions at the link.

Kidney bean toxin

Kidney beans contain a toxic lectin.

You need to cook most beans, especially kidney beans to minimize the toxin. Boiling for ten minutes is recommended for kidney beans. Slow cooking without boiling can be worse than eating raw beans. The toxin doesn't appear to be fatal, but can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea.

From the FDA via Wikipedia:

Toxicity

The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many common bean varieties, but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as much toxin as the red variety; broad beans (Vicia faba) contain 5 to 10% as much as red kidney beans.^[3]

Phytohaemagglutinin can be deactivated by boiling beans for ten minutes; the ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C (212 °F)) are sufficient to degrade the toxin, but not to cook the beans. For dry beans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recommends an initial soak of at least 5 hours in water, which should then be discarded.^[3]

If the beans are cooked at a temperature below boiling (without a preliminary boil), as in a slow cooker, the toxic effect of haemagglutinin is increased: beans cooked at80 °C (176 °F) are reported to be up five times as toxic as raw beans.^[3] Outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with cooking kidney beans in slow cookers.^[3]

The primary symptoms of phytohaemagglutinin poisoning are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Onset is from one to three hours after consumption of improperly prepared beans, and symptoms typically resolve within a few hours.^[3] Consumption of as few as four or five raw, soaked kidney beans can cause symptoms.^[3]

Beans are high in purines, which are metabolized to uric acid. Uric acid is not a toxin as such, but may promote the development or exacerbation of gout. For this reason, persons with gout are often advised to limit their consumption of beans.^[4]

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Romancing the stone

I received a pizza stone for Christmas. I had considered acquiring one in the past but couldn't justify the cost. I don't do artisan breads with any regularity or pizza either. But now I have a stone. We are going through a period of adjustment.

I've done a couple of pizzas and a couple of bread baking sessions. I've read a good deal on the best placement of the stone.  I have tried upper third and upper quarter placement. The upper third has worked best so far. I tried a pizza screen with poor results. Parchment paper has worked best so far, as long as it is removed sometime after the dough has firmed up but before baking is done.

So what has worked? I did a boule of bread with a firm crust all around. It was a basic no knead white bread. These have always seemed pretty blah to me, all texture with little flavor. The bottom was much better than results I have had with a baking sheet, more on a par with a cast iron Dutch oven. I did a pair of pizzas using the Kitchen aid pizza dough recipe and an upper third oven placement. The crust was nicely crisp, probably the best crust I had ever done. I made some Poulsbo bread from a recipe I hadn't used in years.  I used bread pans on the stone. The crust was even all around, better on the bottom than I am used to getting with a bread pan alone.

What was the stuff that didn't do so well? I mentioned the pizza screen. This may be lack of experience, but it seems to be designed for failure by catching the dough in the screen. The upper fourth of the oven had the top of the pizza overdone before the bottom, and trying to fit a pizza to the 14"x16" stone with a 12" pizza peel was a mistake. I'll make one or two smaller pizzas next time.

All of the pizzas and the boule were done at 450 degrees. The Poulsbo bread was done at 350 degrees. I plan to try the pizza in a hotter oven later.