Experimented with aforementioned microwave bread recipe again. This time I added a packet of yeast.
Flavor leaves a ton to be desired(though I didn't add sugar or vanilla this time). The texture got better, though it's not fluffy in the slightest.
After cutting it open, I noticed some air pockets had formed, which I thought was peculiar. After having tasted a piece, I went back to it and had a mental image of a pot pie.
Perhaps I can try and use something similar in the future to make a microwave pot pie with a can of soup as the filling????
I tried a second piece with butter, and it made it a lot more tolerable.
@lucifargundam How long did you let it rest in a warm place between addiny yeast and baking?
@admitsWrongIfProven
for this recipe? not at all. I've been attempting a quick/easy method of baking bread.
Traditional bread-making requires oven and several hours.
Not everyone has $ for an over, or time to wait around.
I'm trying to figure out if there can be improvisations to accomplishing something similar to traditional bread. So far i've accomplished 3 minute bowl-shaped microwave biscuits.
@lucifargundam Maybe that is a corner that cannot be cut. Of the parameters money and time, time cannot be reduced beyond an hour i would guess. Because yeast needs time to work its gassy magic.
The pizza dough i made always needed something like an hour to rise. Turning on the oven for a minute and then turning it off again was enough, just to get a bit above room temperature.
@admitsWrongIfProven
My failures will only confirm the obvious.
Any success will be enlightening.
Fortunately, my attempts haven't financially cost me much. But that is also partially the point. At the very least, if i walk away from it all at this point- i've learned how to make microwave biscuits.
@lucifargundam If you post a recipe (and the components are available here, not much availability of non-wheat flour for example), i can try to replicate. For (amateur) science!
@lucifargundam So i mix it and bake it, anything on how many watts of microwave power (i have 1000 and 600 settings) for how long?
I found a conversion from freedom eagle truck and gun units to grams here: https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cups-grams.php
By this, i will use 125 grams of flour, and 122 grams of water. I hope that is right: the conversion says weight would be about equal, and the "double as much flour as water" would be by volume.
I will have lunch soon, will try it out then.
@lucifargundam Oh and another thing: you said you added yeast - did you accidentially list baking soda instead of yeast or did you add both? Thinking on just adding yeast and seeing where that takes me.
@admitsWrongIfProven
I read somewhere that adding baking powder(not soda) can help substitute 'self-rising flour'.
I'm being sparse with yeast as I have less of that than all else. I've tried it with both yeast, powder, and combo.
@admitsWrongIfProven
the original recipe I found online suggested to use the microwave for 1 minute- i found better results with 3; it's 700W
the ratio of flour --> water is 2:1, so you can focus on that instead if that helps.
coincidentially, for boiling rice- its also a 2:1 ratio, but more water instead(so 1:2 instead of 2:1)
@lucifargundam Oops... just mixed it by double volume, not double weight. Now i know why what i made was way too wet to be considered "bread dough".
Luckily, i just made a small batch with 50 grams instead of 120, so not much will be lost.
I used just about 1 gram of dry yeast and baking soda each (hard to measure small quantities).
Lets see if it ends up edible.
@lucifargundam Generally what i did:
- Sieve flour to have an easier time mixing (i was able to knead it with two spoons, so bonus for not getting my hands dirty)
- Generally sprinkle a little bit of baking soda and dry yeast, should be around 1 gram
- Use sugar to make the yeast rise, but not so much to actually sweeten the bread
- Use warm water and premix yeast, sugar
- Use a pinch of salt
- Mix, then let rest in a warm place
- Note: my dry yeast might have gone bad, it is quite old.
Batches:
50+g flour, 50g water:
- 10 minutes, no results
- 15 minutes, no results
50g flour, 25g water:
- 5 minutes, no result
- 10 minutes, no result
- 15 minutes, no result
Results: (Baking = Microwave at 600W)
Baking for two Minutes: not much happened
Baking for another two: Starts to taste like half-cooked bread
Baking for another two: Tastes like bread, feels like rock
Conclusion: something is needed to improve consistency. Maybe i might try some milk products like i read in some recipes or try to get viable yeast instead of my expired batch.
@lucifargundam So, since this sparked my interest, i went and found another recipe.
It was strangely wrong, in that it specified so little flour that it made a soup, not a dough. I added flour until it was a proper dough and got rewarded with bread that tasted like bread, was not overly hard (at first) but was dry like nothing i ever made. When it cooled, it got hard, but i think that is just a result of dryness.
So what i guess went wrong was that i added more flour, but not more eggs.
The recipe states that yeast would not work as well in the microwave, so it is more like a cake minus the sugar.
The recipe is in german, but google translate should work well (i checked on ingredients, looked fine).
https://de.wikihow.com/Ein-einfaches-Brot-in-der-Mikrowelle-backen
If you try this (with added eggs and flour), please let me know so i know if i should try or not.
@admitsWrongIfProven
Currently:::
=======
1cup all-purpose flour
1/2cup water
----------
1tsp baking soda
1tsp vanilla
1/4cup sugar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been adding/subtracting/playing with the second half the the ingredients.
I've also made notes on how to measure using other kitchen items, instead of conventional measuring cups.