Bread or bread equivalent

I mean a slice of Dave’s killer bread is 110cal - I’d say that is lower calorie

lx1x wrote: »

freda78 wrote: »

Is there such a thing as "low calorie" bread?

https://schmidtbaking.com/products/647-2/

647 bread..

I recently discovered this bread and really like it.

just_Tomek wrote: »

@mjbnj0001 50g a slice or 25g a slice?

Interesting question. In these past couple of years, I've never weighed an actual slice. I've only done a thickness test to get a "number of servings" measure to use the recipe calculator. A 9" loaf pan should get 23 slices at 10mm; I claim "22" in my recipe so that I don't fret about each slice and just assume the average and higher values.

I'd think slice weight would be a tough measure for long-term exactness, having to do with varying resultant moisture content more than anything contributory from the dry ingredients. Plus my exactness with the bread knife, LOL. I'd have to weigh a few slices to get an average for any particular loaf, then do that for a number of loaves for a trend.

My loaves "feel" heavy - more than the Pepperidge Farm, for instance, and more like the Dave's Killer or any number of the artisan-type breads you'd get at a Whole Foods. I use a wet-dough "no knead" method mostly, on a 3-hr start-to-done-baking "turbo" schedule. I've been stepping up to other methods since this lockdown began in order to widen my range of bread products. Slowly.

So, I just weighed a sample slice. The loaf is a couple days old. You can see I wavered a bit in my cut, the top of the slice is 10mm and is about 8-10 through most of it except the bottom. This slice is about 30g. You can see the bottom of the loaf is a touch denser than the top; I think this means this one could have gone another couple of minutes in the oven, but I was reluctant to do that, as the included whey browns faster than the wheat and it was already nicely browned at the top. Moisture control. Tasty or not, it separates the amateurs from the pros, LOL.

They DO make low calorie bread. 45 calories per slice. I've also tried Sara Lee brand, but I prefer this one. Sara Lee's kind of tastes like cardboard, whereas this one tastes like bread.

just_Tomek wrote: »

At this point I am more interested in your herb growing device than your bread science and math that goes way over my little head

That's an Aerogarden hydroponics unit I got for Christmas. Didn't know what to do with it - actually, where to put it - until the inability to get fresh produce early on in this virus lockdown raised green things' priority and voila, we found a spot on the counter, LOL.

This is a small unit. Holds 3 "pods." I'm growing the starter kit, which they call "caprese salad" - a pod of tomatoes on left, and two of basil. The light bar raises to about 2 feet as the plants mature. Apparently if I am good at harvesting, I can keep them going for quite a while while they produce. Or, I can transplant to containers. Or, start something else growing. They have much larger units, you can go pretty nearly industrial, and lots of folks have many more than one running. I've seen pics on FB of people raising cucumbers, squash and other unlikely large items in these pods, as well as all manner of herbs. The little plastic cups (below pic) at left are protective covers during the initial sprouting stage, and the white bottle seen at right is their plant food. Hydroponics is "no soil," just water and nutrients.

In the pic from today (above), the plants have been growing for 3.5 weeks from seed. Simultaneously with my activating the unit, my daughter (in lockdown with us), started both an outdoor veg plot and indoor container veg/herbs. Here's a pic from the other day (3wk milestone) showing the Aerogarden and "regular" (intended for indoor plants) items side-by-side. She's hijacking some of the excess light from the hydroponics unit and it frankly seems to be better for the sprouts than the natural sunlight of our sunroom where she was growing them. Look how robust mine are compared to hers, and she is doing the correct, traditional approach.

The Aerogardens seem to be in high demand around the country (USA) right now. I'm lucky I got this one at Christmas before things went crazy (like toilet paper, flour and yeast shortages). There's a whole hydroponics subculture out there I was unaware of. If you can't get an Aerogarden unit, you might want to research either the "Kratky method" and/or "tower hydroponics." There's a spectrum of running a varying amount of DYI and improv engineering right up to buy-it-all gear. Since my other daughter lives in Ontario, I know Canadian Tire is the go-to store for lots of things. I just did a quick search on their site, and they have some Aerogarden products listed.

The drawbacks to our on-counter location are the brightness of the lights (and the harsh hue), and the fact they are on for 16hrs a day (timer). We might have to find another spot for the unit, especially as I continue raising the light bar and it reaches eye level. Can't put it into direct sunlight, as too much light isn't good for the plants.

Hope the above ramble was the type of info you were looking for.

( @just_Tomek ) I copied a pic off FB today. Here's somebody that isn't at the extreme part of the spectrum of growing things indoors. There are folks with veritable farms in their homes via these units. Don't worry, this is my least message on this topic. It's a minor obsession now, LOL.

swirlybee wrote: »

@mjbnj0001 what's your ww recipe. The crumb in your second pic looks fantastic!

Thanks. Pretty simple: 3.5C flour (don't hate me, LOL, I'm a measurer, not a weigher), yeast, salt, water, plus additives, in this case, 2T honey, 2T vital wheat gluten. I (mostly) use a no-knead method, a fast approach, approx. 3 hrs from start to finished loaf. In this case, due to work I was doing in the house elsewhere, my first rise went 2hrs vs the usual 1.5hrs, and I had reduced the water from about 15oz to 14oz, per the posts above on hydration. Typically, my "whole wheat" over the past couple of years has been a mix of WW and bread flour or AP flour. With the Great 2020 Grocery Buying Panic, bread and AP flour got scarce, so I've been using 100% whole wheat, which was available to me, and experimenting with time, moisture and additives to get a loaf that isn't a "brick." The added gluten is one thing that helps, by the way. Oh, and mechanically, although I am doing "no knead," I've added some effort into the work by using something called a "spurtle" to more mix and draw the dough before first rise to help stimulate the gluten formation for improved crumb. The no-knead method also has an overnight version, which more better approximates a sourdough in flavor and crumb. Lastly, this WW dough is from Canada, part of a horde I bought while visiting my daughter in Ontario just as the border was getting ready to close. It is milled a little finer than WW here in the US.

swirlybee wrote: »

Aha! Vital wheat gluten! Thanks for the recipe. I bought vital wheat gluten right when the "Great 2020 Grocery Buying Panic" (lol, love that term) started but I lucked out and randomly found bread flour at Target and have been finding it at odd locations. I haven't used the vital wheat gluten yet but that'll probably be the key to ww. I'm currently at 50/50 ww/bread flour and still playing around with hydration levels prior to jumping over to whole wheat.

Yep, the gluten helps. Oh, and I just re-read my post, I made a typo, it should say, "... this WW FLOUR is from Canada ...".

50/50, 60/40, 40/60. I just got a shipment of 10lbs bread flour and 10lbs AP flour, so hopefully, we're over that hump for now. I've been focusing on basic breads and some other items, such as flatbreads (pita/naan-type and tortillas) and homemade burger rolls, that go with specific meals. My daughter has been perfecting her pizza dough for occasional weekend splurges. Now that I have a little flour supply, I think English muffins are next on the list. After a couple of months in lockdown, time for a little treat.

Good luck, and Happy Baking!

swirlybee wrote: »

Arrgh. Pizza dough has been thoroughly annoying me, specifically getting it from the table to the peel to the oven. I've resorted to using parchment paper but it's not getting the browning/charring that I want.

My daughter is doing the "spread it in the sheet pan" method of pizza crust shaping. We don't have a pizza stone, but we're trying a trick from Alton Brown or somewhere using an inverted sheet pan under your cook pan as an ad hoc version of a stone. Not sure if we like the effect yet. Perhaps tomorrow will be Friday pizza night here ...

swirlybee wrote: »

For that kind of money, I'd rather get a new stove/oven. We did buy an ooni 3. Much cheaper. We're still getting the hang of it, but like I said, my biggest problem is getting it from the table to the peel to the oven. I suspect that my problem is my dough, so I'll have to keep tweaking the recipe that I'm using and my technique.

We just got the new oven. Fortunately, before lockdown.

Just did my first Aerogarden hydroponics maintenance. As a result, have some fresh basil (our first from this unit) for tonight's homemade pizza night. Did a taste test (of course!) on the basil - smells great, tastes great! Looking forward. And a 100% whole wheat honey whey loaf rising now. Busy kitchen today.

So @swirlybee and @just_Tomek , it's been a busy bready day in the house today. Pizza night (pic enclosed), my daughter's creation (using the basil from our hydroponics), a fresh loaf of honey whole wheat whey bread (100% whole wheat and a little gluten, as before), and a midnight surprise: scones. Since we have a decent flour supply on-hand, after 79 days, we thought it was time for a treat. I thought English muffins, my wife jumped up, "scones, please!" So, "happy wife, happy life," and someone is getting a surprise for breakfast (it's 12:20AM here now).

I tried a new trick with the whole wheat. I've been brushing a bit of water on top since earlier this spring with the thought that it would help create crust. But I've also been thinking lately that some of that excess water must be seeping down into the loaf pan, making the bottom of the loaf wetter and denser throughout the bake. So tonight, I tried the French trick - I put a pan of water in the oven alongside the bread to add a little steam (this is some of the same effect a closed loaf pan [e.g., Pullman] or Dutch Oven has to give a good crust). Result seen below. One data point does not a theory prove, but it is encouraging. The loaf itself is nice and soft.

swirlybee wrote: »

I endorse the water pan method. I've done a back-to-back comparison of water pan vs. no water pan and the results are definitely noticeable. Make sure you take out the water pan around the half way point, otherwise the loaf might get too fluffy/loose. That's what happened with my last 100% ww loaf.

I did a sourdough pizza yesterday. Did not work out at all. During the rise, I just cover the dough with an inverted sheet pan and the hubby must've moved it enough that the top of the dough dried up and hardened. Then, because it was windy outside, the pizza oven was being super finicky. One thing that worked out though is that I've gotten the hang of getting the dough to the peel and into the oven. I've use cornmeal before but thanks to @lx1x whose suggestion made using a lot more cornmeal than I was previously using.

👍

Yeah.. depending how sticky the dough is.. I do test slide before adding the topping etc. It's all trial and error tbh.

If you're only worried about the calories consumption and not the ingredients, Nickels (35 cal), Sara Lee (45 cal) and Aldi (35 cal) have low calorie breads that taste pretty good. I'm sure there are some weird ingredients in them to make them so low calorie, but I don't worry about that.

Some people like making cloud bread, but I wasn't a fan.

I use low-carb tortillas & Wasa Crackers as bread replacements.

The interior of the above loaf during today's breakfast. Softer, fluffier bread with an artisinal tang and crispy top crust (produced via the water-pan-in-the-stove method). I doubt this one will last 2 days with the fam. That's both good and bad, LOL.