The bucket collection (and the dough that lives within: day 5)

Bucket Collection (and the dough that lives within)

Several of you have had questions about the right type of bucket to be using. There are many that fit the bill beautifully, these are just a few! It depends on the size and shape of your refrigerator and how much dough you intend to make. There are a few basic guidelines to storing your dough in a bucket:

  1. Use one that is large enough to hold a full batch (5 or 6 qts), the dough needs plenty of room to grow! Obviously a larger one if you are doubling and smaller for half batch.
  2. Make sure that it has a lid, to prevent a tough skin from forming on your dough.
  3. Make sure that lid is not airtight, you want the gases from the yeast to escape or you will get a crazy alcohol smell building up in your bucket. If you have airtight seals on your bucket, just leave them ajar and it will be just fine!
  4. If you are using a large bowl, which I didn’t take any pictures of, but are just fine to use, either put a lid or plastic wrap over the top.

Now to answer the question about what my dough looks like after it has risen in the bucket and is storing in the refrigerator. These are pictures of the master recipe after 1 day in the fridge, I will try to update as the dough ages!

Bucket Collection (and the dough that lives within)

dough 1 day old

181 thoughts to “The bucket collection (and the dough that lives within: day 5)”

  1. Is the container in the lower right hand corner, which came from a restaurant supply business (?), considered airtight, if the lid is pressed down all the way around?

  2. Hi Biff, It is a cambro brand container, which is used in most pro kitchens, but available to the public as well. I think King Arthur sells them, as does a chain called storables. It comes in all sizes. The one in my picture is HUGE, big enough for 2 or 3 batches of dough.

    It shuts, but doesn’t have a rubber seal on it so it isn’t airtight.

    It is my favorite bucket!

    Thanks, Zoe

  3. Thanks for the info on the buckets. King Arthur is sold out (probably thanks to your book!) so I appreciate the other ideas. The rye and baguettes I made were delicious. I am looking forward to trying the brioche sometime this week.

  4. Hi Jennifer,

    Try the brioche dough! There are lots of recipes in the back of the book that will help you use it up in no time. It is one of the doughs that I am the happiest with. I look forward to hearing what you think!

    Zoe

  5. HI,
    I’ve been obsessing about buckets since I started using your book on a daily basis (about 2 weeks) I finally ordered 2 6 qt from KA, but couldn’t find the 10 qt. (and I have a large family of bread eaters) Finally I found a restaurant supply place in my town that welcomed me (and all my kids) in and there I found the much searched for 12 qt. food safe bucket. I bought the square one because it fits in the fridge with less wasted space. I would definately recommend calling your local restaurant supply place.
    teresa

  6. I was wondering if there was any way to use your style of making bread with a gluten free flour mix. My nephews are allergic to wheat, gluten and nut flours. We have a hard time with bread for them. Many of the breads are too dry and dense. Any ideas on how to make this work? They would absolutely be in heaven if they could eat bread with everyone else.

  7. Hi Nancy,

    There is good news and bad news. The good news is that Jeff and I are in the process of writing a companion book that will address gluten free breads, along with breads for other special diets.

    The bad news is it may take us a while to get this all together. Please stay posted and we’ll let you know when it is ready!

    Thanks, Zoe

  8. Bill and Zoe: One thing about the Cambro, at least mine, is that although there’s no rubber ring and it’s technically not airtight, I find that if I click it down all around that the seal is tight enough to distort the bucket during the initial fermentation– in other words, gas pressure is building up in there to some extent. So I always keep it open a crack for the first 24 to 48 hours. Jeff

  9. Hey guys,

    I suppose with my bucket being so big and the dough having ample room in there I’ve never had that happen?

    Zoe

  10. Zoe: I think that’s it exactly. I’m using the 6 quart Cambro, and yours pretty much can contain Lake Superior. Is that a 12 quart mark in your picture (far right)? My guess is that yours makes a pretty good seal too, but all that head-space gives room for extra gas without compressing it enough to notice. Jeff

  11. Hey Jeff,

    It is exactly double the size of yours and I use it for a double batch, so the mystery remains! Perhaps you got one with a tighter seal?

    I’d say lake Harriet, not Superior! Although I’m gearing up for that bucket too.

    Zoe

  12. Zoe: Hmm, very mysterious. I think maybe Cambro’s products just vary a bit… mine seems nearly airtight. I accidentally sealed it yesterday with a very full dough-load inside and threw it in the refrigerator. When I looked this AM, the lid was puffed out and the whole thing was bulging. When I broke the seal it sounded like a firecracker! Anyway, I leave that one cracked a bit. Jeff

  13. Jeff,

    You had a double batch in a 6qt container, no? That was destined to blow the top off! 😉

    Zoe

    ps I liked Chris’s suggestion to put a pin prick in the lid!

  14. You can find cambro containers at restaurant supply stores like Hockenberg’s which is open to the public. I bought my containers there and they are local to the Twin Cities.

  15. Zoe-I am so excited to try your recipes but the pizza stone I ordered from Williams Sonoma is on back order until Feb.6. Is there anyway I can bake successfully without a stone? By the way you live right across from my son and daughter -in-law- Trent and Cynthia. I would love to meet you sometime when I’m babysitting !

  16. Hi Claudia!

    Trent, Cynthia and I have been trying to get together for weeks. Funny considering they are across the street! We are all too busy! I’d love to meet you.

    You can certainly bake the bread without a stone, but you will not get the same crisp crust that will come from baking it on the stone. Try a batch without and compare to the one you bake with the stone.

    Have you tried Cooks of Crocus Hill or Kitchen Window? They may have them?

    I look forward to meeting you!

    Zoe

  17. Zoe: Can you use regular salt in the recipe or does it have to be kosher salt – what is the difference?

  18. Barbara: You CAN use regular table salt instead of Kosher (which is always coarse), but table salt it’s finer so it measures slightly differently. With any fine salt, decrease the salt volume by one-quarter (use only three-quarters as much salt), since it compacts more tightly than coarse salt. Jeff

  19. Just got your book. Fabulous breads–have tried the french boule and brioche. Made the stromboli with boule and it was splendid. I have recommended it to various friends and family. I even suggested it to my mom our favorite breadmaker who is weaker now and it is not as easy to knead a 5 loaf batch of bread anymore. She is interested. My comments on overall book though are following…

    Would prefer a list of all the dough types or gathering of all together and then the recipes indexed to all the dough types that can be used. Just find it difficult to find what I want when I want and know what dough is for what recipe.

    The second comment is having the removable cover. Not cool for cookbook. Curls up to much to use as page holder. Too easy to get damaged. If you remove it you lose out on the wonderful photos, etc.

    These are not criticisms as the book is amazing just suggestions for future treasures to assure a more pleasurable use and duration for your books.

    All in all the final products are amazing. Congratulations and Thanks for bringing some great bread back to the table.

  20. I’m really enjoying your book! In fact, it has inspired me to wax poetic. See my effort below. It won’t win any prizes for poetry, but I had fun writing it.

    ODE TO BREAD

    Some say that carbs make you pre-diabetic,
    But a life that

  21. Hi Joyce,

    Thanks for trying the bread, we are so glad you are enjoying it. Thank you for sharing it with your friends and family, in particular your bread baking mom!!!

    I think your suggestions are good ones. We actually had to fight get an index at all! Can’t imagine a cookbook without one but the publisher disagreed???

    The removeable cover is an issue I hadn’t considered! Very interesting idea.

    Zoe

  22. I made my first batch of the peasant bread in a 6-quart Cambro and it seemed way too big. I made my second batch in a 4-quart Cambro and it almost overflowed! I love those containers, though.

    My latest loaf is delicious on the inside, but has a very hard crust. I’m having issues with my oven temp but they should be fixed tomorrow. One thing I love about this is that it’s not a huge effort to keep practicing!

    One more note – you have a blurb in the book about flatbreads on the gas grill. I’ve been making pizza on the grill for many years. No stone needed, the dough goes right onto the grates. I just make sure there’s olive oil on the dough and grates.

  23. Hi Sheri,

    The different doughs seem to rise differently, some will max out your cambro and others won’t seem to rise as much. So it is nice that you have a variety of sizes. I find that the brioche dough will rise like crazy on the first day and then will mellow out and not be as bodacious for the rest of the storing time.

    Thanks for playing with the recipes and keeping us posted. It is very helpful for us to hear your feedback!

    Zoe

  24. Hi and thank you!!! I can not stop telling people about your master recipe (my book is on the way but won’t be here for another 3 weeks so I’m going off of a newspaper article).

    Anyway, do you have any tips/suggestions on using a pizza peel? I use a bunch of corn meal but the loaves seem to fight me when I try to put them on my stone. I’ve tried to copy the same movement that I see pizza makers do but to no avail.

    Thanks so much,
    Nikki

  25. Hi Nikki:

    There are two possible explanations, ether it’s something with your “sliding” technique, or it’s something with your dough. So, first have a look at the videos on our website (click on the “Videos” tab and the very first one, at the Chicago Tribune is a good one, though you need to register for the site).

    If it’s not your technique, I’d ask you a couple of questions:

    1. Are you using a very low protein all-purpose (Pillsbury all-purpose is under 10% protein)? Those will yield a wetter dough that is prone to stick to the peel. If you want to use a flour like that, decrease the water by a quarter-cup and see what happens.

    2. Are you resting the formed loaves for a prolonged period? If so, try limiting rest time to what we specify.

    3. Are you talking about pizza? Make sure that your pizza round feels un-sticky when you place it on the “cornmealed” peel. If not, dust with more flour before dropping it on the peel. Also, have all your pizza toppings prepared in advance so the dough doesn’t have to sit around and wait while you slice mushrooms etc. The shorter the time period on that pizza peel, the more likely it will slide off beautifully when the time comes.

    Let us know if these don’t do the trick!

    Jeff

  26. Ann:

    I cannot believe that I almost missed your poem. YOU WROTE US A POEM? I feel like I need to write you a song to go with it. My cello playing will be worse than your rhyming, so don’t feel bad. Rhymes for Jeff? Deaf is about as far as I got, until I thought of “chef,” which I am not. Your poem might also work well as a rap.

    What can I say, I’m speechless. Thank you.

    Jeff

  27. Jeff and Zoe-

    I’m so glad you got a kick out of Ode to Bread! (Jeff, going with the music theme, all I could think of to rhyme with your name was “clef”! Darn, wish I’d thought of “chef”!)T.S. Eliot it ain’t, but it sure was fun to write. As a lawyer in real life, it’s good to use the right side of my brain once in a while. I cheated a little bit with pierogi, which is more like a dumpling than a sandwich surrounded by bread, but, hey, it’s artistic license, right?

    All the best and congratulations on the tremendous success of your book!

  28. Ymmmmmmmmmmm. I just removed a Pear only coffe cake made with brioche dough. I changed it by using the Chai Spice mix instead of cinnamon. It smelled wonderful when baking and was mouthwatering to eat.

    Earlier today I did the turban with raisins. Again–wonderful. Congratulations on these fabulous recipes. Look forward to another book.

  29. Hi Joyce,

    Wow that pear coffee cake with the Chai spices sounds amazing.

    One of our readers has made a list of all the recipes, like you had suggested earlier. If you want to check it out go to the Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry post and scroll down to the comments. I’m going to edit it and post it soon!

    Thanks, Zoe

  30. This is for Nikki, who was having trouble with her pizza dough sticking to the peel. This used to drive me crazy, and sometimes it would provoke such kitchen tantrums that my kids would see me preparing ingredients, and whisper nervously to my husband, “She’s not making pizza again, is she?” I finally gave up and now use parchment paper between the dough and the peel; the dough slides onto the stone like a dream. I remove the paper midway through baking.

  31. Anyone who hasn’t tried the chai spices should. They are a wonderful mellow blend. I have already compiled a table with page numbers, doughs and breads from each similar to the one you pointed out. If you have an e-mail and can figure out how to post it, I have it in a Word table. Another recipe and another hit. I am having so much fun. Oh course my hubby is threatening to shut down oven due to his lack of discipline. He is afraid he may have to remodel his wardrobe if I keep baking.

  32. I have a question about the Oat Flour bread on page 104. I just mixed up half a batch, and it is quite runny…more the consistency of cornbread batter. I was wondering if the water should be 3 cups instead of 3 1/4. I had the same problem with the Bran Enriched White Bread recipe on page 72 when I mixed it up. I really want my bread to have some extra fiber in it, if I am going to eat bread. When I mixed the Bran Enriched, I ended up adding extra flour and then it was too hard on the crust when I cooked it.
    I live in the south, and even though it is winter, I wonder if I need to adjust the recipe for the humidity down here.
    I have yet to try the Master Recipe, so I cannot tell you how than one worked.
    Thanks.

  33. Brenda: Assuming you don’t change anything else, yes, you should decrease the water in the oat flour bread recipe to 3 cups, and the bran-enriched white to 2 3/4. But let’s try to figure out why you’re getting such a wet result. Two things to consider:

    1. Are you using a bleached flour? Bleaching depletes protein and protein absorbs water. If so, switch to unbleached all-purpose.

    2. Are you using a very soft all-purpose (like Pillsbury) with protein less than 10%? If so, switch to something like Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose, or any other unbleached all-purpose with protein level above 10%.

    If neither of these are the explanation, just decrease the water by about a quarter-cup and try again. If you make it too dry, it won’t store well, so that’s the balance you have to do.

    Humidity the explanation? Could be, if it’s not one of the above.

    Was the stuff so wet that it would not hold its shape as a freeform loaf? If it does hold it’s shape, well, you might just be experiencing the surprise of our method, which is based on very wet dough. Have a look at the picture in Zoe’s post above… that’s how wet it’s supposed to be.

    Jeff

  34. Jeff, Thanks for your comments. I believe I am going to have to throw this batch out because it is definitely too wet. It is just slightly heavier than cake batter, and I don’t think I can make any loaf out of it. But, I may try throwing it in a loaf pan and see what happens.
    I am using unbleached all-purpose flour. But, it is not a popular brand with a wet feel to it, anyway. I intended to change to King Arthur, but was trying to not waste what I had and use it up first. Oh, well, so much for that idea!
    Where do you find out about protein levels, anyway? And what does that mean? Is that on the bag and I just never noticed? I almost always take my flour home and transfer it to a tupperware container, so probably never bothered to look for that.

  35. I am a fan of America’s Test Kitchen and they did a version of no knead bread. The chef started with a recipe he got out of the NY Times a couple of years ago but was unhappy with. One of the things he did to improve the flavor was to use beer and vinegar as part of the liquid to get a sour dough starter taste to the bread. Have you tried this?

  36. Hi Brenda,

    All is not lost yet! You can just add more flour to your already made dough.

    The protein/gluten content will change how much the flour absorbs water. So a low protein flour will be kind of pasty and a high protein flour will suck all the water and feel tight and dry. The gluten is what gives bread it elasticity and chewiness.

    Some brands have the protein content right on the bag, others it takes some investigating. The web is a great resource for that. If you go to the website of the brand you use, it may be there?

    Thanks and keep us posted!

    Zoe

  37. Cheryl: We haven’t tried the CI method with our stuff, but we mean too. We’re guessing that the beer might give some nice flavor notes, but we’re a little worried that the acid in the vinegar might break down gluten a little more than we need, especially at the end of our batches’ lifespans. Jeff

  38. Their receipe was about 1/2 the size of the master and a lot dryer (3 c flour to 1 c liquid) and they put in 1 tbsp of white vinegar and 1/4 c of the beer. They used a mild flavored lager so it wouldn’t get a beery flavor. I might just have to try adding some beer next time. We are fans of sourdough. Maybe I’ll try just the 1/4 cup and see how it tastes.

  39. I just discovered this bread making method via the Chicago Tribune and have ordered the book…can’t wait to get it. I have only made one batch, the other is in the refrigerator now. I’d like to respond to a couple of other comments from previous days….for Claudia who’s waiting for a pizza stone from Williams Sonoma…I’ve purchased a couple of stones at Target (round) and Bed,Bath and Beyond (square) for a very reasonable price. For Nikki and others who have trouble sliding their pizzas off the peel onto the stone. What I’ve been doing for awhile is sliding an untopped pizza dough onto the stone for just 2-3 minutes. It “sets up” enough to remove from the oven…put toppings on and then it doesn’t fold over onto itself when you’re trying to put it back onto the stone. This is such a fun method for making bread.

  40. Hi Barb,

    I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipe and look forward to hearing what you bake from the book.

    Thanks for all the tips about the baking stone and pizza!!!

    Zoe

  41. Cheryl,
    I’ve been baking the no knead bread from Cooks Illustrated for the past 2 months and am really impressed. They improved the original recipe by adding a short knead and also by raising the dough on a parchment hammock that gets put into the pan with the dough. The crust is impressive. However, now that I have my copy of Artisan Bread I’ve put the CI recipe aside! Brioche this weekend.

    Regarding the dough sticking to the peel, I use stone ground cornmeal and it does the ball-bearing trick very well.

  42. Thanks Phi! One other thing Cheryl, if you use a quarter-cup of beer, better decrease the water by that amount or you’ll have too-wet dough.

    Jeff

  43. Hi Phi,

    I look froward to hearing about your brioche! Please come back and let us know how it goes and what you made with it.

    Zoe

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