I used 400F because my wife said that's what my our friends were using and it comes out well. But there was some misunderstanding because when we checked again, our friends were using 450F. The 3 cups of water was my mistake - wasn't paying attention (it was early in the morning before coffee). The hot water was my interpretation - the recipe called for 'very' hot water so to me that meant close to boiling. I didn't guess that it meant something around 100F.

In any case, SUCCESS!! Well, not exactly but pretty close. This time, using 100F water, the dough rose and had the texture as in the video. And after 3 hours of rising, it had the little pores in the dough just like the video.

After baking for 35 minutes, it smelled great, looked great and was 2x the size of prior attempts.

The bread looks awesome outside. Unfortunately, it was still a little underdone inside. I'm going to buy an oven thermometer and a thermapen. I'll add a little bake time for now - maybe another 5-10 minutes.

Thanks guys!!

At this point, I think JAllen is expecting a pic.

The part of the bread that is not quite done, (the lower 1/3 ?) that is where you want to make sure you get the tip of your temp. probe.

The Thermapens are great, but if they are a little much, check out the Thermapops.

Yummy. It tastes great. A little toasting was good. The crust is not hard but it's crisp. Perfect!

The not quite done part is in the center. It's mostly done just a tad dense. I'd like to figure out how to make the bread less dense. Maybe a lighter protein flour?

That might be because you didn't follow the water temp. for the recipe. I would try again w/ the correct temp. water before making changes.
Warmer temp means more yeast activity, means less dense, possibly.
There are several variables, that's why I like to keep a log.

Oh, and nice job, looks great.

Jenny called for ‘very’ hot water. She didn’t specify a temp in the video. What is the typical temp for this? The bread is pretty tasty.

Ya gotta start somewhere!

I suppose a generous slice overnighted is too much to hope for.

This got my attention after the long term anguish I endured trying to make cornbread. I tried various mixes. All were fiascos, because they would not rise. After baking, the cornbread would be 3/4” thick in the bottom of the pan, dense, tasteless, inedible.

I thought maybe the mix package was old. Nope. New mixes were just as lousy. I tried each one in turn. I consulted two home economic professors who taught cooking skills. No ideas or solutions. One of my old girl friends had a recipe she had used for decades. When I tried that I used whole milk which her recipe specified. It came out perfect! We were using 1% milk here at home.

Anyway congrats on the success thus far. Just think how much you have learned in the process!

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Jenny called for ‘very’ hot water. She didn’t specify a temp in the video. What is the typical temp for this? The bread is pretty tasty.

The water needs to be around 100-105F. At "very" hot water, you'll kill the yeast.

Linky.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Jenny called for ‘very’ hot water. She didn’t specify a temp in the video. What is the typical temp for this? The bread is pretty tasty.

The water needs to be around 100-105F. At "very" hot water, you'll kill the yeast.

Linky.

Read the thread.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Jenny called for ‘very’ hot water. She didn’t specify a temp in the video. What is the typical temp for this? The bread is pretty tasty.

I don't know, it's your post. lol
She's calling for about 125-130 degrees, which when it's all mixed in w/ the flour, will be lower than that (safe for the yeast). Relatively, this is quite hot but since you're doing such a short ferment/rest/rise, that's this temp. makes up for it.
http://www.jennycancook.com/re...ster-no-knead-bread/

Okay - I'll try 130F water next.

Jallen - I'd overnight a slice but it's not really worth the stamp yet. I'd be happy to send a loaf for your critique once I've perfected.

I love cornbread and would like to try to make it in the cast iron skillet. It's the same diameter as the dutch oven so i can use the same cover if needed. But I'll try that once I get more advanced - I'll perfect this 'simple' bread first.

I learned a lot here and over the past couple of days. Thanks again all!

Now, I've got freshly made bread, some EVOO/balsamic dip and a nice prime grade NY steak with a nice maillard crust from my cast iron skillet waiting for me.....

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
The not quite done part is in the center. It's mostly done just a tad dense. I'd like to figure out how to make the bread less dense. Maybe a lighter protein flour?

You can make light, fluffy bread with higher protein flour than you are using.

If your bread is too dense, it almost certainly didn't get enough rise time.

Cooler water (and possibly a cooler proofing area) than intended in the recipe will make the rise take a lot longer. If you mix two identical batches of dough but keep one 15 degrees cooler than the other it will take about twice as long to rise. 15 degrees isn't a lot.

Rising for an exact amount of time depends heavily on the starting temperature of the dough and the temperature of the proofing area. Small temperature differences can mean big changes in rise time. It's hard to do rise by time rather than by feel in a home kitchen, especially with an unfamiliar recipe, because it is hard to control the temperature precisely enough.

Also... Good news/bad news... Cornbread (at least traditional southern cornbread) has almost nothing in common in terms of process with the bread you are making now. It's leavened with baking powder rather than yeast and there's no fermentation or development or rising or anything. It also starts out so thin I'd call it batter rather than dough. You just mix it up and cook it. It's more like a thick pancake than yeast bread.

There are some tricks to make it come out better - the big one is preheating your iron skillet on the stove with a bunch of oil in it and then sprinkling some cornmeal in the oil a minute before you pour the batter in and stick it in the oven.

There are some yeast bread varieties that have cornmeal in them, sometimes a lot of it, but they aren't what people in the US think of as "cornbread."

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
I learned a lot here and over the past couple of days. Thanks again all!

Well, I hope you're happy. I just got back from the store with some flour and yeast!

quote:

love cornbread and would like to try to make it in the cast iron skillet. It's the same diameter as the dutch oven so i can use the same cover if needed.

You won't use the cover with cornbread.

Keep up the practice. Someday you may be turning out the stuff we teach in the advanced class.

Nice! Someday.....

Mod29 -- pics when ready