Bread and Cheese Making

[beerfish]

Anyone here bake bread regularly, or make cheese? Since I can't brew beer all the time, I've recently gotten into making bread and cheese. I have a French Boule resting now, which will go into the oven in a couple of hours. Just wondering if anyone else has good bread recipes or cheese ideas. I'm only doing soft cheese right now until I get myself a press and some molds, but I'm really getting into it!

Here are some pics of my pretzel loaves and some fresh mozzarella I made. The basil is from my garden, but the tomatoes aren't ripe yet, so they were store bought.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

You need to get a food and beverage booth at the next swap...

 

[beerfish]

You need to get a food and beverage booth at the next swap...

Lol... I've wanted to open a brewpub for a long time now, just need the investment capital for it! I love the idea of rustic, artisan foods and drinks, and I'm a big fan of fermented foods (and drinks). Next up are sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles. I'd also like to try making skyr at some point (Icelandic yogurt).

 

[Widdy]

:wow: That looks so good! I tried baking bread before, came out okay; problem getting rid of it -- can only eat so much

I have some Madeleines in the oven right now though

 

[lfsmarineguy]

I bake/make cheese vicariously through my gf who is a chef. I'm spoiled.

 

[tentacles]

Mozz is pretty easy to make, but it seems you've already got that down . You could experiment with different milks (if you ever see buffalo milk at whole foods USE THAT PLEASE!) I used to make a lot of my own breads a lot when I was vegan (soft pretzels are always coated in butter, so I started making my own. I made a lot of donuts and bagels too! Non vegan would be a little easier, but they were a ton of work.

I still make bread regularly- lots of different focaccia depending on what's ripe in the garden (I like doing a simple garlic focaccia, then roasting tomatoes, onions, zucchini, peppers, etc. and putting that on top with olive oil and balsamic reduction). If you grow jalapenos, you should try out a jalapeno corn bread.

 

[beerfish]

Mozz is pretty easy to make, but it seems you've already got that down . You could experiment with different milks (if you ever see buffalo milk at whole foods USE THAT PLEASE!) I used to make a lot of my own breads a lot when I was vegan (soft pretzels are always coated in butter, so I started making my own. I made a lot of donuts and bagels too! Non vegan would be a little easier, but they were a ton of work.

I still make bread regularly- lots of different focaccia depending on what's ripe in the garden (I like doing a simple garlic focaccia, then roasting tomatoes, onions, zucchini, peppers, etc. and putting that on top with olive oil and balsamic reduction). If you grow jalapenos, you should try out a jalapeno corn bread.

Funny... I thought as I posted this "I bet tentacles has made one or both!"

I'd love to try different milks, and I really want to do some hard cheese once I get some molds and a press (or make them). I'd love to try buffalo milk. I'll have to keep my eyes open for it.

Got any good focaccia recipes? I haven't tried making any flat breads yet.

I have jalapenos blooming now, and I've made jalapeno cornbread for my annual crawfish boil a few times (I use different coarseness cornmeals for a really nice texture, and usually use white and yellow cornmeal).

I'm planning a molecular gastronomy style version of jalapeno poppers when these grow. I'm going to juice them and add some melted gruyere cheese, then spherify them. Once they're spheres, I'll freeze them, bread them and deep fry them. If they come out right, they should be olive sized poppers that actually pop in your mouth when you bite into them.

 

[tentacles]

Gruyere poppers!:eat:

Focaccia is really easy to make, I'll send you some good recipes after this whole hurricane business dies down. They're all basically the same "base" and then different seasonings.

Since you're of the bread and cheese making type, this might interest you
http://www.redskygrilling.com/ , a pizza stone made for your grill. Homemade dough and cheese with tomatoes and basil from your garden? Amazing. I use it at least once a week.

 

[johnny roastbeef]

This is from last weekend's batch. 10 lbs of mozzarella so soft and creamy it will make you weep.

 

[beerfish]

More bread

I had some time this weekend being stuck inside during the hurricane, so I baked a bunch of bread.

In the first picture are small french boules made with a pate fermentee and poolish the night before. The second picture is a fairly plain, quick and easy baguette. The last picture are a couple of loaves of lightly sweetened white bread for sandwiches during the week.

 

[prattreef]

Eric you are killing me! I love bread and cheese more than just about anything. If you ever need a taster.......

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Yeah seriously Randy! Beer, cheese, bread, whatever you need, I'll sacrifice my time and figure if you need testers.

 

[beerfish]

Finally made a cheddar, which should be ready in about a month. The wife made the label. Just picked up some mold spores, so I'm hoping to make a camembert this weekend.

Haven't done much bread lately, but I've made a few pizzas and I've been working on getting the crust down. Below is a taco pizza that I made. It's basically a standard crust, with taco sauce instead of tomato sauce, beef seasoned with taco spices, and a few different cheeses.

Eventually, I'll open my brewpub, and all of these things I make will come in handy.

 

[Mattl22]

Wow beer fish u got some skills!!! Did u go too culinary school?? I've worked in restaurant business most my adult life as a br tender part time! The one thing I can tell u is this the places I worked with great food always did well! If ur on the fence on opening a place go for it !!!!

 

[beerfish]

Thanks!

I didn't go to culinary school, but I dated a girl for years while she did. I learned a lot from her as she went through school.

I'm not on the fence about opening a place, I'm 100% sure that I want to. My problem is, if I'm going to do it, I want to do it right, which means a minimum of about 1m for the type of place I want to open. If you know anyone who has some cash to throw around, send them my way!

 

[Mattl22]

I wish I knew someone with a M to throw around!

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Is there a business plan?

 

[beerfish]

Is there a business plan?

I've had one in the works for awhile now, but need to complete the pro forma.

 

[beerfish]

So after hard cheeses, I decided it was time to move into some moldy cheeses. This was my first camembert, and it turned out amazing. I made two of these and everyone that tried them gave me rave reviews.

Right now I have two more camemberts aging, and a barleywine (one of my homebrews) washed rind camembert.

Here's the first camembert:

 

[dubs]

beerfish that last cheese looks tasty look like brie i see u have alot of time on ur hands huh?? u have a few vertures all the time i like itsomeone that do stuff other than reefing