Comments on: BBA Challenge Bread #5: Casatiello

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:06:15 +0000

Ivete -

Great story and visuals. I made this over the weekend and my dough looked very similar to yours. My rise wasn’t as nice though. I used “reduced fat buttermilk” – the wife said that was the only buttermilk our large mega-grocer had. It actually had some lumps in it too – the heavy fat stuff tends to have this – I would just use my nose to see if it’s bad or not.

I used a large roll of summer sausage becuase it was the only thing in a roll that we could find and fried up small chunks as you did with the prosciutto. I grated the cheddar cheese – next time (if there is a next time, because this was a chore to make this bread!) I will just cube up the cheese as it melted a bit too much in the baking process.

I used a round, disposable aluminum pan we had laying around – about 10″ in diameter – this worked our really well as it fit very nicely inside and browned the top and the sides well.

I use one of those insertion digital thermometers sold for meat – when I go in to turn my loaf 1/2 way, insert the probe and have the wire just come out of the door to the little transmitter. That way you can carry the read-out unit anywhere nearby to monitor. The Oregon Scientific one I use, doesn’t go beyond 199 so I just set it to Celsius and do the conversion – i.e. it should register 97 C for the equivalent of 206 degrees Fahrenheit. This works very well.

Taste and texture were very good overall. I ended up using about 3-4 oz more of buttermilk than it called for as the dough just wouldn’t behave w/o it in my KitchenAid – nearly killed it.

By: Casatiello: a Savory Bread | Eating Out Loud

Casatiello: a Savory Bread | Eating Out Loud — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:43:45 +0000

[...] bread baker’s: Casatiello – A Stove With a House Around It Casatiello – The Barefoot Kitchen Casatiello – A Chef’s Daughter Casatiello and a Nest – Big Black Dog Read similar [...]

By: Cindy

Cindy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:54:15 +0000

In spite of your failed bread, you didn’t fail to make me laugh, so consider this week’s challenge a success! Try this one again. It really was delicious.

By: Devany

Devany — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:52:19 +0000

I too thought that your bread was going to come out perfectly! Usually the thermometer does not lie! I like the old “thump” test too. The pictures of the finished bread looked great. I like you “early birds” that are running ahead of me! I always learn something.

I think that a *hot* oven is the least of your problems. I have baked in a wood burning oven that was over 600 degrees and breads came out fine. Granted, I had to move them around a bit. Even now (till my new wood burning oven is built) I have a hearth insert that I bake directly on and I pre-heat it to 550, then turn the oven to the suggested temperature.

KEEP TRYING! Your pictures and stories are fun to read.

Devany, Hilo, HI

By: Shari

Shari — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:25:33 +0000

This is one gorgeous loaf of bread, in spite of the challenges you faced! Great job and I appreciate your honest assessment of everything! Good post! Have you done the bagels yet? I had fun with them!

By: Susie

Susie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:41:06 +0000

Hope you get things figured out. You put so many goodies into that bread.
Susie

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:52:57 +0000

Up until the end of your post. I was sure it was going to come out perfect. While I like the browning of the bread, I sort of liked the color of the dough and wanted something pale like yours.

Hope you can rein in the oven. I have two oven thermometers in mine because the temperature knob is loose and spans 30 degrees!