Someone who's an occasional baker might not use it, but it's as common as muck - my dinky local Kroger carries at least three brands of bread flour (Pillsbury, Gold Medal, King Arthur), and probably a couple of other brands that I normally don't notice.
This should rightly be called "Yesterday's Bread," because I made it then. I'm back to a name-brand flour and...POOF!...just like that, my bread is better.
Quick question: anybody know what causes that kind of splotchy, faded discoloration on top? I used to not get that very often, but now I'm seeing it a lot more frequently.
I don't think so, because by the time I shape it, there's no flour on the board. I guess it could be microscopic flour bits, but I don't know.
Sometimes I do use steam, but generally not for sandwich bread.
Ok, according to the internet, the answer is...a reaction between the bread dough, the cooking spray, and the plastic wrap.
Because every recipe I've ever used for sandwich says to cover it for both the first and second rise.
Because every recipe I've ever used for sandwich says to cover it for both the first and second rise.
A master baker I heard on the radio today spoke about this. He said never cover with plastic, slow down the first rise by lowering the temperature - overnight in the fridge is good. If the top of the loaf goes funny it's because the dough is too wet. All of this is way beyond my level of expertise, but he seemed to know what he was talking about.Because every recipe I've ever used for sandwich says to cover it for both the first and second rise.
Second rise is usually an hour. I don't like dusting flour on top if I can help it because, even though it makes a pretty picture and looks oh-so-rustic, it leaves the top tasting dry and powdery, to me anyway.
It occurs to me that I haven't noticed this until recently because I used to always do a milk, butter, or egg wash on all my loaves, but I'd stopped out of laziness, mainly.
