First Attempt At Pressure Cooker Bread

[Captain Smollett]

For those of you on the chat last night who are waiting with bated breath...the bread experiment was a SUCCESS!!  

(I know for some of you this is old hat, so please forgive my naive excitement).

Followed the simple white bread recipe from The Joy of Cooking with a couple of modifications.  I used 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour instead of all white and used Splenda instead of sugar (the yeast activated just fine).

I used the "pressure method" out lined here {broken link}.  Worked like a champ.

Couple of comments/observations:

• I was wondering how long it would take to heat up the water to boiling and then to pressurize.  The Fagor PC we bought is stainless, but has an aluminum thermal pad bonded to the bottom.  It took a surprisingly short time to boil the water.  Pressurization soon followed.  I don't know how this compares to all-stainless versions and would be interested to hear others comments.  It MAY be worth the extra bucks for the Al pad for savings in time and in fuel used over the long haul.
• I was surprised at just how little heat it took to maintain the pressure in the cooker for the 20 minute cooking time.
• I probably rushed the second rising of the first loaf a little bit.  The second loaf had longer to rise (while the first cooked) and came out a little less dense.  Lessons learned.
• Test #1: I tried a piece of each loaf as they came out.  Hmmmmm, warm bread fresh out of the oven.  Does it get any better?
• Test #2: Becky wanted a piece!  Now, you have to understand something.  My wife works a LOT of hours and cherishes her sleep time.  I got a late start on this project last night, and she had been in bed two hours (or more) before I was done.  Yet she woke up and asked for a piece of fresh bread (her first bread on over two months, mind you).  She approved of both flavor and texture - and that is the REAL test!!  (she has no hesitation being critical...   )
• Test #3: Both children had toast from the PC bread at breakfast this morning.  Both approved.  Looks like a pretty good start!!  

[CharlieJ]

kewl- I had a pretty good idea it would be a success. Works pretty neatly huh?

I know Luara has turned out some great stuff, baking in our pressure cooker

[skylark]

looks good...

which one was the first batch? 

[Captain Smollett]

looks good...

which one was the first batch? 

The one on the the right.  If you look close, you can tell it's already been sampled (while the second one was cooking).   

[AdriftAtSea]

Very cool... I wonder if the Splenda is the reason the crust didn't brown more...  Do you know if Splenda carmelizes like sugar does??

[Captain Smollett]

Very cool... I wonder if the Splenda is the reason the crust didn't brown more...  Do you know if Splenda carmelizes like sugar does??

Someone else may have to chime in here for a more authoritative opinion, but I'll offer my understanding.  The sugar is present to activate the yeast, which Splenda seemed to do just fine.  I did not think the sugar had anything to do with crust formation. 

The various 'how-tos' I have read on doing bread in a pressure cooker have mentioned that you typically won't see the type of crust usual with regular baking.  The cookbook I have says if you want that 'storebought' style crust, coat the dough with milk for the last few minutes of baking...

Also, I did this in a ceramic bowl as that's the only vessel I had that would fit in the pc.  I need to get some steel, handleless pots or bowls, and I bet that would brown up the edges a little better.

Who knows?  I don't need the crust, so I didn't worry about it too much.

[skylark]

The sugar is only there for the yeast.  You don't need it at all, because all yeast sold today has more than enough capacity to grow without sugar.

Try adding a cup of raisins and a cup of sunflower seeds to the recipe, yummy. 

[BobW]

Sounds like a very successful effort!  Gives me encouragement to make good on my threat to get a pressue cooker and start my own experimenting!