Week 6 Lab Data Group 2: Bread

Simple Bread Loaf (Cato’s #74 “Kneaded Bread Loaf): Flour, Salt, Water

We started this loaf by mixing 5g of salt and 250g of flour in a bowl. Then we added 175g of water slowly into the flour. After about a minute of kneading it in the bowl we added another 15g of water. Another minute after that, we moved the kneading process to a flat surface (cutting board) rather than the bowl. We sprinkled the cutting board with more flour so the dough wouldn’t stick to it. After 5.5 minutes of kneading we added more flour to the cutting board. We spent 7 minutes kneading the dough. The dough sat untouched for 12 minutes while we waited for the pot to heat up. When it was time to take the dough off the cutting board, it was really sticky and difficult to peel off the cutting board. Luckily I have “slime hands”, so once I got it off I made sure it wouldn’t stick to my hands (slime hands means that your hands are cold/dry so slime won’t stick to them as easily). It did stick to the bottom of the pot too but we got it off. 

Time	Pot Temperature	Bread Temperature	Notes
7 minutes	420°F	x	Pot warming up, bread not in yet
10 minutes	510°F	x	Too hot so we took coals off the top and then put the bread in
18 minutes	395°F	x	Bread looks crispy
24 minutes	360°F	x	Looks the same as 18 minutes, added more coals to the top to warm the pot up
26 minutes	x	x	Edward says he is “the only one who is really stressed”
30 minutes	460°F	x	Took pot off the coals to cool down
44 minutes	x	188°F	Off of a heat source for 14 minutes
46 minutes	x	x	Took the bread out of the pot, bottom burnt
60 minutes	x	x	Cut into the loaf

This loaf weighed 375g. The texture was sticky. We didn’t mind the burnt bottom, it added extra flavor but it was bitter. We decided the burnt texture was actually preferable to the unburnt. 

Flour and Cheese Loaf (Cato’s #75 “Libum”): Flour, Feta, Egg, Bay Leaves, Honey, Poppy Seeds

For this loaf, we mixed 375g of feta, 168g of flour, and an egg. Kneading this dough seemed easier than the simple loaf but maybe that was because we were getting used to the bread making process. After shaping the dough, we decorated it with a wheat design on the top by carving in using the pointy metal part of the thermometer. We stuck bay leaves to the bottom. 

Time	Pot Temperature	Bread Temperature	Notes
0 minutes	460°F	x	Placed loaf in
10 minutes	230°F	x	Added coals underneath the pot and on the pot lid
20 minutes	450°F	90°F	Took the pot off of the coals
35 minutes	x	170°F
43 minutes	x	x	Took bread out and decorated it with honey and poppy seeds
58 minutes	x	x	Cut into the loaf

We discovered that the bay leaves helped with our sticking to the pot problem but not burning the bottom of the loaf problem. After we took the loaf out, we drowned the top of it with a thick layer of honey. Then, we poured poppy seeds to stick into the honey. After letting it rest for about 15 minutes we cut into the loaf. It was beautiful, soft, and delicious. The feta created little white dots throughout the bread. 

Sourdough Loaf

The sourdough loaf was already prepared so all we had to do was place the loaf in and tend to the pot temperature. Even with those “simple” instructions we had trouble managing. The dough must have been really sticky and the pot really hot because I was not able to just place the loaf in nicely. I ended up kind of throwing it in and it stuck to the side of the pot. Then I moved it to be more towards the center and unstuck to the sides. We liked the bay leaves for the cheese bread so we decided to use them for the sourdough loaf as well. They wouldn’t stay to the bottom of the dough so we lined the bottom of the pot with them to place the dough on top.

Time	Pot Temperature	Bread Temperature	Notes
0 minutes	450°F	x	Threw loaf in
12 minutes	700°F	x	Way too hot, took pot off the coals
14 minutes	475°F	x
18 minutes	265°F	x
20 minutes	x	206°F
22 minutes	x	209°F	Took bread out
38 minutes	x	x	Ripped bread open

This loaf felt the most rushed out of the three since we made it towards the end of the lab. It cooked faster than the other two probably because of the high temperatures the pot reached. It turned out cooked, the least burnt out of the three, and it was yummy.