Help..my recipe doesnt work?

[Ironclad]

I dont like to mess up my counter with flour and kneading and rising.
Forgive me, I know this is sacrilige to all you chef pro bread bakers.

so Ive been trying to follow a recipe I found, as follows, but it doesnt work, its too flat, wont rise, its just thick and heavy and gooey?
Any ideas how to make a quick and easy "dutch oven baked loaf"?

Mix all ingredients in big bowl... 3 cups self rising flour, 3 T sugar, one pkg of yeast, one can beer, half a chopped saueted onion, chopped olives and chopped jalepenos, one cup shredded cheese, one T mesquite seasoning.

Take preheated greased dutch oven out of 350 oven, just spoon it all in, listen to it sizzle, cover and cook for about one hour.
Reduce heat to 300 for about one and a half hours.

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas? I still hope I am going to figure out how to just mix and bake, with no "counter" time, if I can?

[AlchemyAcres]

I dont like to mess up my counter with flour and kneading and rising.
Forgive me, I know this is sacrilige to all you chef pro bread bakers.

so Ive been trying to follow a recipe I found, as follows, but it doesnt work, its too flat, wont rise, its just thick and heavy and gooey?
Any ideas how to make a quick and easy "dutch oven baked loaf"?

Mix all ingredients in big bowl... 3 cups self rising flour, 3 T sugar, one pkg of yeast, one can beer, half a chopped saueted onion, chopped olives and chopped jalepenos, one cup shredded cheese, one T mesquite seasoning.

Take preheated greased dutch oven out of 350 oven, just spoon it all in, listen to it sizzle, cover and cook for about one hour.
Reduce heat to 300 for about one and a half hours.

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas? I still hope I am going to figure out how to just mix and bake, with no "counter" time, if I can?

Assuming that the self-rising flour that you're using is fresh and its baking powder still highly active, it's my guess that the onions, olives and jalapenos added too much moisture to your bread. Their quantity certainly isn't very exacting in that recipe.

I'd start with an easy basic recipe.

I like Esther Shuttleworth's Beer Bread recipe, which I got from TMEN back in 1979.

Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar into 3 cups of self-rising flour, and then add a 12 ounce bottle of beer (stir well while you mix in the brew, and only add about 4 ounces at a time). Pour the batter into three well-greased 3" X 6" pans (use two if you'd like thicker loaves), and "drizzle" 1/2 cup of melted butter over the top. (The butter should form a 1/ 8" -at least-layer over the dough.) Bake this bread for about 50 minutes at 350°F.

Here's a more recent beer bread recipe in TMEN.
As you can see, it's basically the same.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Dutch-Oven-Beer-Bread-Recipe.aspx

Good Luck!

~Martin

[Aamylf]

MEN has had several issues recently with no knead breads in them,you might want to go on their website and see if they have anything posted. Me? I find kneading to be relaxing, but like quick breads, too.

[Ironclad]

Martin and Aamy,
I do appreciate your advice! Ill give it a try. I had no idea that self-rising flour had a "shelf life"? Makes sense! Mother Earth News is a real treasure. Its never received the praise that it deserves. Guess Ill give away my age if I say I can remember when it first came out.
...anyway, thanks again

[CarolAnn]

Ironclad -
No-knead breads are usually not like the regular kind - they're more cake-like, tender & moist - just in case you were expecting something closer to regular kneaded bread. What I can't figure out is why your recipe calls for yeast, since it'll be killed instantly in the bake! There's no time for it to grow and "out gas" which is how it adds bulk to the dough.

(This is something we don't like to think about: Risen bread gets it's light texture due to yeast flatulence - and honey is really bee spit!)

[NCLee]

FWIW, I make "beverage" bread quite a bit. Beverage because I use either beer or lemon/lime soda depending on the flavor of the bread that I want.

Basic recipe is:

3 c self-rising flour + 12 oz lemon/lime soda
or
3 c self-rising flour + 1 tbsp sugar + 12 oz beer
+
all sorts of optional ingredients.

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add liquid. Stir (I do this with my hand) until just combined (don't over mix), then immediately pour into a greased (or Pam) pre-heated skillet. Bake at 450 until golden brown. Time varies by the size of the skillet or if I use a loaf pan, instead. Time can range from less than 30 minutes to about an hour.

Some thoughts that may apply.....

Your recipe may need to start out with a cold pan. Like others, I'm surprised at the addition of yeast with no allowance for it to be active.

Also wondering if there are just too many additional ingredients, especially if they are all mixed and none are simply added to the bottom of the DO??? Experiment by cutting back, considerably on those ingredients. Add just a bit for flavor. Also experiment by adding just one ingredient at a time. For example, try a batch with just the onion. This should make a good bread without the other ingredients.

In order to get the lift you need, you may need to add 1/4 cup onion, 1/2 c cheese, and just a dash of the other ingredients. (Just an example.)

If you want to keep all the ingredients as listed, another option is to leave out the yeast and add more salt and baking powder. Again, experiement, as I don't know how much of those two to add to get the lift you need.

Finally, I'm surprised at the baking time. Especially when starting out with a hot DO. Seems to be too low in temp and far too long for this type of quick bread.

Give the basic recipe with either beer or soda a try. Then use that as the basis for your experiments. It'll give you a "standard" to use to compare results.

I'm not an expert in bread making, by any means. So, please consider these to be just some observations on my part that may be useful.

Hope you end up with a good tasting Beer Bread. Just keep on trying.

Lee

[BonnyLake]

Martin and Aamy,
I do appreciate your advice! Ill give it a try. I had no idea that self-rising flour had a "shelf life"? Makes sense! Mother Earth News is a real treasure. Its never received the praise that it deserves. Guess Ill give away my age if I say I can remember when it first came out.
...anyway, thanks again

I make my own self-rising flour as I need it for recipes, that way you know it's the best you can do..

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 TbL baking powder
1 tsp salt

always works lik a charm - love beer bread, but not so good the next day :confused:

[Ironclad]

OK, Carol Ann...you have me scratching my head and laughing my rear end off (about yeast flatulence and bee spit)...all at the same time!?? Why do you do this to me?
I try so hard to be a cranky old man, and you make me laugh like this?
No, seriously...I think I understand? Yeast must be a living organism? It dies in the oven? Of course it does. It's for the rising and outgassing only. I think I understand.

[Ironclad]

[QUOTE=BonnyLake;256411]I make my own self-rising flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 TbL baking powder
1 tsp salt

Bonny,
Im just learning here. This is amazing!
All Purpose plus baking powder plus salt equals... self-rising!?

Bread is the Staff of life, but learning how to bake it is the Stress of life.

[Ironclad]

Lee,
you have really gone out of your way to analyze this!! Im going to have to re-read this over and over. You say youre not an expert, but I think you have a really good grasp on this beverage bread issue!! Thank You so much for the ideas
Ironclad

FWIW, I make "beverage" bread quite a bit. Beverage because I use either beer or lemon/lime soda depending on the flavor of the bread that I want.

Basic recipe is:

3 c self-rising flour + 12 oz lemon/lime soda
or
3 c self-rising flour + 1 tbsp sugar + 12 oz beer
+
all sorts of optional ingredients.

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then add liquid. Stir (I do this with my hand) until just combined (don't over mix), then immediately pour into a greased (or Pam) pre-heated skillet. Bake at 450 until golden brown. Time varies by the size of the skillet or if I use a loaf pan, instead. Time can range from less than 30 minutes to about an hour.

Some thoughts that may apply.....

Your recipe may need to start out with a cold pan. Like others, I'm surprised at the addition of yeast with no allowance for it to be active.

Also wondering if there are just too many additional ingredients, especially if they are all mixed and none are simply added to the bottom of the DO??? Experiment by cutting back, considerably on those ingredients. Add just a bit for flavor. Also experiment by adding just one ingredient at a time. For example, try a batch with just the onion. This should make a good bread without the other ingredients.

In order to get the lift you need, you may need to add 1/4 cup onion, 1/2 c cheese, and just a dash of the other ingredients. (Just an example.)

If you want to keep all the ingredients as listed, another option is to leave out the yeast and add more salt and baking powder. Again, experiement, as I don't know how much of those two to add to get the lift you need.

Finally, I'm surprised at the baking time. Especially when starting out with a hot DO. Seems to be too low in temp and far too long for this type of quick bread.

Give the basic recipe with either beer or soda a try. Then use that as the basis for your experiments. It'll give you a "standard" to use to compare results.

I'm not an expert in bread making, by any means. So, please consider these to be just some observations on my part that may be useful.

Hope you end up with a good tasting Beer Bread. Just keep on trying.

Lee

[Ironclad]

UPDATE and THANK YOU...
Ive just finished up some new loafs and...
You people are brilliant!
You people are great!...my loafs are much better...almost delicious!
Thank You Thank You
--Ironclad

[NCLee]

Great!

Glad to hear that you're making progress. Often it's simply a matter of experimenting until you find what works best for you.

Do keep us updated as you fine tune your recipe and technique.

Lee