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The levain for my latest loaves overrose--in the fridge overnight. I've stopped worrying about finding a warm place to proof bread or to feed my starter, since I'm rarely on a deadline.Quote:
Originally Posted by snoboy
And there doesn't to seem to be any difference in how the first and second loaves bake in a dutch oven with the second loaf left at room temperature--which is usually cool in my house, except on sunny winter days. One less thing to worry about.
You can keep your starter in the fidge and feed it once a week.Quote:
Originally Posted by old goat
If you're having issues with drafts or finding a warm spot you can get one of these
Hah! My whole house is a draft. I can see through the walls. Front wall is all single pane picture windows. 26 degrees outside the other morning but my bread did pretty well despite the overproofing. It good have been a little more open and rose more in the oven but no disaster. My wife wasn't so lucky--she proofed in a warm over. Her challah rose nicely and then collapsed when she baked. Overproofed I'm sure.
I tried to buy one of those slow proofers a while back but they were sold out everywhere for a long time. I haven't tried lately because the beauty of slow cool or cold proofing for sourdough is that while it takes 2-3 days there's a lot of free time mixed in and the schedule is very flexible. Or maybe my bread would be better if I were more precise about it.
Yeah, my starter lives in the fridge and gets fed weekly, usually when I start a batch of bread. If the hooch is light instead of dark I might feed it once or twice extra before I bake. I like the bread as sour as I can get it.
Alright, forgive my ignorance. I've got a healthy starter in the fridge and I want to get a loaf of bread going.
How do I split the starter, what gets fed, what goes in the bread, what goes in the fridge?
Pretty sure I've been doing it "wrong", but pizza and bread has been coming out good.
My feeding pattern is to save 4oz starter and add 4oz distilled water plus 4 oz flour. I save/use the discard for bread or pancakes/waffles or whatever else I feel like.Quote:
Originally Posted by krp8128
Have you visited King Arthur's site?
Another vote for the King Arthur site.
One thing I've been finding is that 6000 ft in the Sierra flour dries out. I have to add extra water to both bread and pie doughs. If I use the standard equal weight of water and flour starter recipe it's like nearly set concrete. I use equal volume water and flour which makes a pretty wet starter but the extra moisture helps the final dough, which is a pretty dry recipe from KA for extra tangy bread. (Maybe the starter was too wet the last time--that could explain the overproof of the levain.
It's super hard to find the course, whole meal flour. I like Irish style like Odlums for making real Irish brown bread (the less soda-y kind), like you'd find in all the pubs over there. People say this flour helps keep you more "regular", but I can't touch that. Maybe just more insoluble or soluble fibre? I tastes different too, more depth, I like it better.
Old Goat, I think King Arthur has a course flour, but I can't find it in Tahoe or Reno. I was hoping that new Raleys would have it. The healthfood stores said they would need to order a big box of them, you'd think they'd have that.
you try New Moon in Truckee?--they have a lot of unique flours. some even have gluten.Quote:
Originally Posted by AEV
Looks like you can order Odlums online.Quote:
Originally Posted by AEV
You can buy from the KA site.
I really like Bob's Red Mill. I use their organic AP flour which keeps my starter happy (really noticed a diff when I switched to organic). KA makes an organic AP that is great for European hearth-style bread (protein 11.8) Stick to protein between 11 and 13.
Shepherd's grain low gluten flour is what Ken Forkish (Flour Water Salt Yeast) uses at his bakery for bread and pizza dough.
Bob's Red Mill
Unbleached White All Purpose Flour = 10-12% Protein
Organic Unbleached White All Purpose Flour = 10-12% Protein
Whole Wheat Flour = 13-15% Protein
Organic Whole Wheat Flour = 13-15% Protein
Unbleached White Fine Pastry Flour = 8-9% Protein
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour = 9-11% Protein
Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour = 9-11% Protein
Artisan Bread Flour = 12.5-13.5% Protein
Anybody bake on their grill? Tried ciabatta today and burned the bottoms...
Any hints/tips?
Insulatedl baking sheet. I bake oval loaves on a double wall baking sheet on second lowest rack in the oven (with a steam tray above) and the bottoms come out perfectly. The insulated sheet is great for cookies as well--the bottoms are the same as the tops. It's just 2 layers of metal with an airspace between.Quote:
Originally Posted by skaredshtles
Homemade Naan tonight. Easy as anything. Sugar, yeast, water flour, hog hurt and olive oil…Piping hot cast iron
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I tried the skillet naan last week. Easy enough but kind of bland. Need a better recipe I guess. At restaurants I usually order onion kulcha instead of naan. Maybe I'll try making that instead.
Man... my starter is LOVING this summer for whatever reason. Supposed to cool off on Thursday, so I'm prep'ing to bake a shitload of ciabatti.
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I'm about ready to start baking again myself. Highs in the mid-70s for the next couple of days. Woot!Quote:
Originally Posted by skaredshtles
(2nd best thread in the PR)
Holy shit. Made a double batch for some traveling loaves... and may be the best yet. I modified my technique a bit and MAN did these come out simply outstanding.
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Beautiful!Quote:
Originally Posted by skaredshtles
How to Revive Stale Bread
Bread stales due to a process called retrogradation, but it can be reversed—temporarily.
The staling of bread and other starch-based foods is due to a process called retrogradation. In the bread-making process, water hydrates the starches in the flour and then, as the loaf bakes, the starches gelatinize and soften. Over time, the starches in that baked loaf crystallize and incorporate water into the crystalline structure, leading to an apparently dry, stale loaf. The good news is that the water doesn’t travel very far: Most of it remains trapped within the starch crystals. This proximity makes the retrogradation process reversible, at least for a little while.
Toasting slices of bread is one way to release water from the starch crystals and thus revive the bread. But what if you want to reverse the staling of an entire loaf? That requires a more gentle touch because in order to avoid water loss due to evaporation, you need to gradually heat the entire loaf to the gelation point (about 140 degrees)—but without heating it to the boiling point of water (212 degrees). In addition, with drier crusty breads like baguettes and boules, you also need to supply water to the exterior of the loaf to ensure that all the starches can properly soften.
HERE'S OUR METHOD: If the bread is crusty, briefly pass it under a running faucet of cold water (for softer loaves, skip this step). Wrap the loaf tightly with aluminum foil, place it on the middle rack of a cold oven, and set the temperature to 300 degrees. After about 30 minutes (15 to 20 minutes for small or narrow loaves like baguettes), remove the foil and return the loaf to the oven for about 5 more minutes to crisp up the crust.
But note that because reheating a stale loaf doesn’t free the starches to move around the way that they can in a just-baked loaf, they recrystallize much more quickly. The effect lasts for only a few hours or so, so make sure to serve or use your revived bread immediately.
The weather is starting to cool and I can resume my weekly baking of a loaf of bread.
This one is 70% AP, 15% Rye, 15% Spelt. I've found that spelt makes the loaf prone to collapsing if over proofed. Rye doesn't help, so I tried to focus on not letting this one proof too much. It still ended up with a bit of a weak structure when I shaped it prior to the final rise and the shape ended up a little wonky out of the oven but the flavor is perfect.
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You are far too critical. That is a beautiful loaf.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buke
Agreed. If a slightly irregular loaf bothers him he should definitely stay away from the pizza thread, and from making pizza.Quote:
Originally Posted by KQ
Today’s work between COVID van booster effects and work. Still letting it cool. Hoping it is as light as it feels when I pick it upAttachment 390838
Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums
I need a new recipe.
I can make spot on great loaves using Forkish's recipes: Country Brown, Country Blonde, and any flour mix between those two, which is my favorite. Pic below is this morning's bake.
I love the time table of his recipe as it allows me to only do stuff in the morning before work or in the evening after work. It just takes so many days to get it all done. Here is my schedule:
day 1 AM or PM: refresh my starter
day 2 AM build the levain (don't worry I only build what I need not his super wasteful gigantic levain)
day 2 PM mix the dough, stretch and folds
day 3 AM shape loaves and put in fridge to retard for 12-24 hrs
day 3 PM or day 4 AM bake
Does anybody else have a recipe that only requires steps in the AM/PM? I just want to try something new.
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https://breadtopia.com/sourdough-ciabatta/
12-ish hours start to finish.
I really like this bread.
Still no base for skiing around here. :mad:
Baked these lovely loaves instead - loaded with toasted sesame. A bit light since you leave the cover on to keep the seeds from getting burnt, but they are pretty tasty!
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Foodgeek's Sesame sourdough
Food for thought - literally. :biggrin:
The power of adding commercial yeast to your sourdough bread
I have been trying some of the recipes in the new 3rd edition of Hamelman’ “Bread”. Per my above post, looking at recipes with time schedules based around AM/PM activity and long ferments and retarding to fit around work/skiing/kids. Fun to try new recipes and techniques.
First is his sourdough “workday 100% whole wheat”. Written with that schedule in mind. Really good, hearty, and almost European tasting. Next time I will up the hydration just a smidge.
Next is a straight dough oatmeal loaf. My kids loved as a sandwich bread. Only change will be slightly larger loaves next time.
Third is a Swiss braided bread. Similar to challah but with milk and butter vs water and oil.
House has smelled wonderful lately and thankfully no one in my fam has celiac!
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My 19yo daughter has decided she wants to become a baker. She applied at numerous bakeries throughout the valley. She interviewed and was hired to become an assistant baker at Kneaders. She’s been there for several weeks now, I’m starting to reap the rewards of their policy of letting employees take stuff home to appreciate the nuances…
I have a feeling it’s only going to get better from here.
I've been playing around with enriched doughs.
First up Cinnamon Rolls from The Perfect Loaf (https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourd...innamon-rolls/) I refrigerated them overnight and then put them straight from the fridge into a cold oven so they would do the final proof while the oven heated. Worked perfectly and if I recall they baked for about 35-40 minutes.
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This last weekend, feeling emboldened by the Cinnamon Roll experiment I made the same dough on Friday only this time I filled it with an almond filling and shaped it into this wonky loaf. The inspiration and filling came from this source (https://www.fixfeastflair.com/home/swedish-almond-bread). This had some problems. The main one was that it took way longer to bake than I anticipated and I had to leave to go skiing before it was quite done. I cut the end off and ate it in the car and left my wife in charge of taking it out of the oven. My 10 year old daughter really liked it so maybe I'll do it again but shape it like cinnamon rolls and glaze it.
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I also made these brown butter sourdough chocolate chips cookies with some discard and they were easy and absolutely fantastic. No pictures.
https://www.theboywhobakes.co.uk/rec...te-chip-cookie
My gluten intolerant wife is getting less tolerant of all of the stuff I cook so I made some gluten free almond cookies for her yesterday but for some reason I didn't take any photos.
Those all look incredible!Quote:
Originally Posted by Buke
Re: the almond loaf - maybe try adapting a Stollen recipe?
Next up in the adventures of sourdough baking things that are sweet(ish), Swedish Cardamom Buns.
I used this recipe (https://www.theboywhobakes.co.uk/rec...uns-with-spelt).
I didn't have any pearl sugar to sprinkle on top, which would have been a nice touch. The buns probably didn't rise long enough after I shaped them. They came out a little dense. Also, the dough was not particularly sweet and, probably due to the spelt flour, tasted almost whole wheat. My kids were 50/50 on them. I think there's potential here, and I really like the cardamom flavor, but I think if I do it again I'll use a sweeter dough and scale the cardamom back a little bit. I dig the shape though.
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"Sugar In the Raw", which I get at Safeway, is very similar to pearl sugar. I use it when I make Liege style Belgian waffles.
Damn. I think I need to go back and read this whole thread.
Some recent attempts. Not sourdough, although I’m debating trying a starter. My wife used to make this a bunch and hadn’t for awhile so I took a swing at it. Pretty simple and delicious.
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Gave this pizza bianca a go. Not bad. Pretty tasty.
https://www.seriouseats.com/no-knead-pizza-bianca
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And more loaves…
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Good looking loaves!
I keep doing 2 of these at a time about once a week…
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My daughter decided she wanted to enter the culinary field, specifically baking. She applied at most every bakery in town and got a job at Kneaders as an assistant baker. She’s been there a few months now, brings us home tasty stuff on the regular. Our dogs love her, she comes home floured up from head to toe, they start licking her shoes and pants as soon as she walks in the door.
She had extra baguette dough today, so she decided to experiment and make shapes, behold the Turtle!
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She’s now “head baker” at her store. I kinda like the moniker. I really like the leftover dough…
Raisin/walnut tonight. Peanut butter and jelly are out of this world.
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Bumpin
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Wtf is that? Looks like you fucked up the proof.Quote:
Originally Posted by SB