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This weekend, I learned that kneading bread is done gently... even if the dough is pretty stiff and requires you do do things to your fingers that you really would rather not.
They say to "push it down with the heel of your hand" while folding it, with no mention of putting any weight into it... but every time I tried to press down with the heel of my hand, well, I kinda go into "I'm supposed to crush this, right?" mode. So, instead, I started using my fingers, folding the dough and stretching it, more than squishing it, and it worked out a lot better, in most ways.
My pizza crust ended up a lot puffier than my last - probably because it was kneaded better.
Oh, and the bottom was really nicely toasted, because I was using a baking stone and a pizza peel. You don't need a lot of cornmeal, or oil, on a peel, but you *do* need to be awfully careful that you don't put any pressure on the dough while it's on the peel
I also made the final recipe here:
http://www.sodabread.info/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm
I actually halved it, because I'm eating *way* too much bread these days. It worked out really well, though I used a bit too much flour, and needed to add more buttermilk. But I'm really starting to consider waiting until I have more people living in the house before I keep up with the bread experiments... it's far too easy to make, and eat, far too much bread.
For example: tomorrow, I just have to try out the white version of the soda bread - I have to use up that buttermilk, after all! And then, well, soda bread isn't the kind of thing that lasts forever, you know... you gotta use it up! And...
Anyway. Those are some good soda bread recipes for anyone who's interested - they were the first I found that didn't include baking powder. I was *not* going to buy buttermilk and then use a recipe that included baking powder!
(Um. For those who don't understand - baking soda requires an acid to activate - like, e.g., buttermilk. Baking powder is baking soda, plus an acid (I think the original was cream of tartar). Soda bread is intended to rise with just soda - adding baking powder just didn't seem right.)
They say to "push it down with the heel of your hand" while folding it, with no mention of putting any weight into it... but every time I tried to press down with the heel of my hand, well, I kinda go into "I'm supposed to crush this, right?" mode. So, instead, I started using my fingers, folding the dough and stretching it, more than squishing it, and it worked out a lot better, in most ways.
My pizza crust ended up a lot puffier than my last - probably because it was kneaded better.
Oh, and the bottom was really nicely toasted, because I was using a baking stone and a pizza peel. You don't need a lot of cornmeal, or oil, on a peel, but you *do* need to be awfully careful that you don't put any pressure on the dough while it's on the peel
I also made the final recipe here:
http://www.sodabread.info/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm
I actually halved it, because I'm eating *way* too much bread these days. It worked out really well, though I used a bit too much flour, and needed to add more buttermilk. But I'm really starting to consider waiting until I have more people living in the house before I keep up with the bread experiments... it's far too easy to make, and eat, far too much bread.
For example: tomorrow, I just have to try out the white version of the soda bread - I have to use up that buttermilk, after all! And then, well, soda bread isn't the kind of thing that lasts forever, you know... you gotta use it up! And...
Anyway. Those are some good soda bread recipes for anyone who's interested - they were the first I found that didn't include baking powder. I was *not* going to buy buttermilk and then use a recipe that included baking powder!
(Um. For those who don't understand - baking soda requires an acid to activate - like, e.g., buttermilk. Baking powder is baking soda, plus an acid (I think the original was cream of tartar). Soda bread is intended to rise with just soda - adding baking powder just didn't seem right.)
