About Cam



gribbly.org* is the online home of Cameron Brown. Creative director, designer, musician, mediocre programmer, caffeine addict. Seattle

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2009-05-02

GF Soda Bread 002

Reduced amount of baking soda. Mixed cider vinegar with water before adding.

Baked at 400F trapping steam in new casserole dish (heavy cast iron, $10 at Sherman Oaks yard sale =]).

1 cup millet
1 cup brown rice
1 tsp xantham gum
1/2 tsp dough enhancer (lecithin, ascorbic acid, tapioca, ginger)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cider vinegar
3/4 cup water

* Dough was fine. A bit sticky but that's normal I think. Was able to make nice round roll very easily.

Results:

* Appearance: pallid brown, with a grainy appearance. Could use some whole grains as aesthetic enhancement.
* Smell: a touch of that soapy smell. Underside of roll smelled good - rich and earthy.
* Texture: a touch crumbly, but overall OK.This is a dense bread.
* Slice test: good. Minor crumbling at edge but nothing to worry about.
* Taste: OK! Much better than Soda Bread 002. Still bland, but soapiness is mostly gone. Still a hint - could reduce soda more? But this bread is OK by itself, and will likely be just find with toppings. Good progress!




UPDATE: Tried this with peanut butter (good, but everything is good with peanut butter), and with a honey/pecan mix we had in the fridge. Was pretty tasty with the honey... offset the blandness and weight of the bread nicely. Overall this is not a spectacular bread. If you got it in a restaurant you wouldn't say "wow, that's great bread!" In fact you might say "hmm, this bread is kind of sandy and bland... but it's edible with butter on it"

So... acceptable, but not great. Next time I'll adjust the soda/vinegar ratio some more to eradicate all soapiness, and experiment with different flour combinations to see if we can get some more flavor in there. I don't want to add flavorings until I've gotten the basic bread to be tasty by itself.