It Smells Better Than It Tastes

[cabinetman]

I don't know about you guys, but my taste buds get perked by certain smells. There's even a different connotation between the words...aroma, smell, odor. LOML brought home a sliced loaf of Italian bread that just had a great aroma...even in the bag. So, this morning I decided to try it as toast, and it fell flat on taste.

I will say that some breads really have a punch in both categories for me. One is onion rye bread. In fact, I think I'll take a drive up to the store.
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[pecker]

There is a commercial bakery nearby that fills the neighborhood with a great scent when they are in operation. But the bread they produce is about as flavorful as Wonderbread.

[Knottscott]

The great equalizer...

...butter





...also works well to stop leaks in your blood vessels!

[dbhost]

I have an aunt that used to have a bakery in Oregon, that specialized in Sourdough breads. (The bakery is still there, the aunt sold it and moved away...). I loved the smell of the place, and they had a French Onion sourdough roll that would knock your socks off...

On the other hand, the local Kroger baker always smells great, but that is as far as it goes.

[scmhogg]

When I make my Dutch Oven bread, the whole house smells wonderful. It's hard not to drool. And, it tastes as good as it smells.

Steve

[TB Roye]

We had a commercial bakery nearby, It use to smell great. No more the State of Ca in it's infinite wisdom made them put some pollution control device on the smoke/exhaust stack. Now no more good smell. Can't even smell The Cambell Soup factory down the road any more either. Used to be able to tell what the they were making.

Tom

[Mr__Bill]

When I make my Dutch Oven bread, the whole house smells wonderful. It's hard not to drool. And, it tastes as good as it smells.

Steve

No recipe didn't happen


Bill

[cabinetman]

No recipe didn't happen


Bill

Wouldn't posting the smell suffice?.
.

[Mr__Bill]

Wouldn't posting the smell suffice?.
.

Well I did get one of those new scratch-n-sniff monitors so a few photos may do the trick for the smell part, but the tasting still requires eating.......



Bill

[sparkeyjames]

I have worked close to two food industry facilities in the last 30 years. The first was a dough nut bakery. Every morning I had the sweet smell of baking dough nuts as I got out of my car. The last 8 years has been across the parking lot from a Little Caesars pizza distribution and test kitchen facility and the smell of cooking peperoni wafts around sometimes. Yeah sometimes it makes me want pizza. Little Caesars pizza does smell better than it tastes.

[Black wallnut]

No recipe didn't happen


Bill

Ditto that!

[Bruce Cohen]

Hey,

Why don't we do a "tastes better than it smells".

Vietnamese fish sauce, Haggis and head cheese.

Bruce

[scmhogg]

OK, OK....

Almost No-Knead Bread

An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy stockpot. (See the related information in "High-Heat Baking in a Dutch Oven" for information on converting Dutch oven handles to work safely in a hot oven.) Use a mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser (mild non-alcoholic lager also works). The bread is best eaten the day it is baked but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.

Makes 1 large round loaf
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Step-by-Step: Almost No-Knead Bread

1. MIX: Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula.
2. REST: Leave the dough to rest for eight to 18 hours.

3. KNEAD: Knead the dough 10 to 15 times and shape it into a ball.
4. LET RISE: Allow the dough to rise for two hours in a parchment paper-lined skillet.

5. BAKE: Place the dough in a preheated Dutch oven and bake it until it's deep brown.
Step-by-Step: Bread Sling

Transferring dough to a preheated Dutch oven to bake can be tricky. To avoid burnt fingers and help the dough hold its shape, we came up with a novel solution: Let the dough rise in a skillet (its shallow depth makes it better than a bowl) that's been lined with greased parchment paper, then use the paper's edges to pick up the dough and lower it into the Dutch oven. The bread remains on the parchment paper as it bakes.

I recommend weighing the ingredients if you can. Using measuring cups has a huge margin for error. Also, be generous with the flour when you take the dough out of the bowl. Heavy on the board and your hands. The dough will be very sticky.

Steve

[OpaDC]

Coffee... LOML loves the smells of different coffees and always wants me to try this kind or that kind, so I do. She can't stand the taste of it though. Good thing I like it.

[eccentrictinkerer]

Back in the 50's my mom baked bread every Tuesday. My sister and I would run home to get the first slices of hot bread slathered with butter.

I'd give most anything for one more slice of her wonderful bread.