Bread Thread

[CycleTex87 2965]

4 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

I did ciabatta last week and had the same issue of the top blowing up. Not sure how to prevent that.  @austingirl?

[austingirl 2191]

1 hour ago, DDD Dad said:

 

1 hour ago, CycleTex87 said:

I did ciabatta last week and had the same issue of the top blowing up. Not sure how to prevent that.  @austingirl?

Can you share the recipes? Or can you at least share if you used commercial yeast, starter, or a combo of both, and what kind of flour? (Not brand, but all-purpose, bread, etc). 

There are a few things that could be going on. At a glance, the big air bubbles on top combined with the really tight crumb leads me to think that this loaf was underproofed - how many rises did you give it before baking? Also, how did you shape the loaf? Sometimes poor shaping can manifest by fucking up the rise. The type of flour could also be the culprit - if you're using a sourdough starter and you make a loaf with AP flour, you may not get a great rise because the biological activity going on the starter can do a number on gluten and break down too many of the proteins. This is why most sourdough recipes call for bread flour and not AP.

[CycleTex87 2965]

For my ciabatta, I followed the King Arthur flour recipe.  Made a biga the night before, then let it rise for 2 hours with a knock down in the middle, then shape the loaves followed by another 2 hour rise.  I did not flour the top of the loaves however.  Everything else was by the recipe.  Tasted great, though.  So good to have home baked bread for breakfast and lunch all week.

[austingirl 2191]

1 hour ago, CycleTex87 said:

For my ciabatta, I followed the King Arthur flour recipe.  Made a biga the night before, then let it rise for 2 hours with a knock down in the middle, then shape the loaves followed by another 2 hour rise.  I did not flour the top of the loaves however.  Everything else was by the recipe.  Tasted great, though.  So good to have home baked bread for breakfast and lunch all week.

Did it at least double after the first 2 hour rise? Ciabatta is a tough one because the dough is so wet that it makes it harder to handle without deflating, so for that first rise after kneading, I like it to triple. This gives you a little wiggle room for some of the bubbles you'll inevitably lose while shaping. And speaking of shaping, I know the KAF recipe says to just lay the dough out in a rectangle, but I would gently push the sides together a bit after you've done so - this gives it a bit of structure that'll help the rise. Also, make sure you're adding steam when you first pop it into the oven. The easiest way is to have a baking sheet on the bottom rack while the oven is preheating, and when you open the oven to put the bread in, dump a handful of ice cubes into that baking sheet just before you shut the door. Some people recommend spritzing the bread with water, or spraying the sides of the oven with water when you first open it, but the ice cube method has always worked fine for me.

[CycleTex87 2965]

Baguettes - A poor effort, but should eat OK  

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by CycleTex87

[DDD Dad 14324]

Can you share the recipes? Or can you at least share if you used commercial yeast, starter, or a combo of both, and what kind of flour? (Not brand, but all-purpose, bread, etc). 

There are a few things that could be going on. At a glance, the big air bubbles on top combined with the really tight crumb leads me to think that this loaf was underproofed - how many rises did you give it before baking? Also, how did you shape the loaf? Sometimes poor shaping can manifest by fucking up the rise. The type of flour could also be the culprit - if you're using a sourdough starter and you make a loaf with AP flour, you may not get a great rise because the biological activity going on the starter can do a number on gluten and break down too many of the proteins. This is why most sourdough recipes call for bread flour and not AP.

I used Sarah Owens’ table bread recipe. From talking to an experienced baker friend we think the culprit was the starter being on the decline.

 

Mostly bread flour and then a smaller percentage of rye.

[AustinMT 952]

[DDD Dad 14324]

Second effort turned out much better.

[CycleTex87 2965]

1 hour ago, DDD Dad said:

Second effort turned out much better.

I'll be by for sammiches, thanks

[DDD Dad 14324]

I made one today.  Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 5/15/2020 at 1:16 PM, CycleTex87 said:

I did ciabatta last week and had the same issue of the top blowing up. Not sure how to prevent that.  @austingirl?

You're putting it in the oven too soon.  While baking is science when it comes to actually knowing when to put it in the oven is the art.  It needed to proof longer. Start feeling the dough gently. Is it cold to the touch? Not ready. Is it firm and not relaxed feeling? Not ready.

Always feel to dough very gently with your finger tips every now and then starting at least an hour before putting it in the oven and remember how those checks on the dough felt to how it came out. You'll learn pretty quick.

When you starting kneading you'll learn to go by how to dough feels for that as well.

Edited May 22, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 4/15/2020 at 8:32 PM, austingirl said:

 After you first knead it, before letting it rise, is the dough smooth or does it look like batter? If you tried to pick up a piece of it, would it come away easily from the rest of the dough, or try to stay in one ball with the rest of the dough? One thing to use when determining if you've kneaded long enough is the windowpane test - you should be able to pick up a small piece of dough and gently stretch it enough so that you can see light through the other side, without the dough tearing. If it tears, it needs more kneading.

This is what we taught new bakery employees to do, until they had the experience to go by feel, when I was baking for Central Market 20 years ago.

Really weird to be relearning a skill, 20 years later, that I let go dormant. I made some ugly loaves that first week.

Edited May 22, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[DDD Dad 14324]

Third attempt about to go in the oven. I did great through the initial shaping. After the bench rest the final shaping fell apart. Dough wouldn’t cooperate and just started falling apart into a sticky blob.

Managed to form it into something resembling a ball and dumped into the banneton overnight.

Will see how it turns out.

[DDD Dad 14324]

Looks ok. Will be curious to see how the inside looks.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

I’m using Billy Parasi’s no knead recipe.
 

 

You can throw a couple ounces of your starter remains in it without issue.

If you read the comments on the recipe video some are holding it overnight in the fridge to develop more sour flavor.

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

^^^

I put my starter remains in after a few folds of the salt and yeast into the dough.

The above loaf has no starter as my starter was thrown out, last week, when I went to check on our mountain cottage that has been vacant for 3 months. Conversion was something like, 

'I can't find my starter.'

'I didn't do anything with it'

'It isn't where I put it in the fridge'

'Why would it be in the fridge? You always keep it the butler's pantry.'

'Because I was going to be gone and not able to feed it.'

'Oops. Sorry.'

 

At least I found 6 bags of bread flour in the small-town grocery store while in the mountains.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[Anastasis 23457]

Man I just tried my first pass at making some sourdough.  It's proofing in the fridge at the moment, and will see how it cooks up in the morning.  Mad props to you guys for turning out the products you are making and posting here.  I think mine is going to turn out a disaster.  It was just too sticky for me to create nice ball and looks like a total mess.  We'll see. 

[DDD Dad 14324]

Here is the inside. Gave it to my BIL who came over for youngest’s MPA Virtual graduation from McCombs last night.

[AustinMT 952]

5 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Here is the inside. Gave it to my BIL who came over for youngest’s MPA Virtual graduation from McCombs last night.

Congrats on the MPA

Bread looks good, too

[dcbc 14465]

Doing a pair of country white loaves today.  They're rising in the loaf pans at the moment.  I received, as a gift from work many years ago, the Salt Lick Cookbook.  This bread recipe is the only one I ever have made from it because I'm not trying to recreate their BBQ.  But the bread recipe, which isn't anything mind blowing, turns out well every time.

Edited May 24, 2020 by dcbc

[DDD Dad 14324]

10 minutes ago, AustinMT said:

Congrats on the MPA

Bread looks good, too

Thank you.  Felt bad for him that his brother and sister couldn't be here.  He really wanted to wear the master's regalia.

3 Longhorns, 4 degrees.  Hook 'em.

[dcbc 14465]

Not sure why the one on the left went so ape shit. But they sure did taste good.

Edited May 25, 2020 by dcbc

[Anastasis 23457]

I got a ways to go with this, but was not a total disaster.

[DDD Dad 14324]

I got a ways to go with this, but was not a total disaster.

How did it taste? Because that’s all that really matters.

[DDD Dad 14324]

Also, I did some discard crackers tonight.

200 g starter discard
20 g butter
Salt
Rosemary and dried herbs

Mix butter and starter discard with salt and herbs. Spread onto parchment paper.

Put in 325 oven for 10 minutes.
Pull and score to create crackers. Cook another 40 minutes.

Profit.

[Anastasis 23457]

18 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

How did it taste? Because that’s all that really matters.

pretty pretty damn good.  Used a starter we got from jester king. 

[DDD Dad 14324]

Not many of the crackers survived last night. Here’s what’s left.

[DDD Dad 14324]

Not many of the crackers survived last night. Here’s what’s left.

[DDD Dad 14324]

And here is a link to the full recipe.


https://littlespoonfarm.com/sourdough-discard-crackers/#sourdough-discard-crackers-recipe

[Pato del Muerto 52485]

Best sandwich bread so far yesterday 

 

[futureman 22441]

via @ImissWallyPryor in one of the lulz threads 

[DDD Dad 14324]

This turned out pretty well.

[PantsTent 2002]

Focaccia with dinner tonight. Probably should have left in oven a minute or two longer but it was damn good with some oil and pepper.

[AustinMT 952]

Today, with roasted garlic, rosemary and thyme

Edited June 8, 2020 by AustinMT

[DDD Dad 14324]

Going to toast some pine nuts and incorporate into a loaf this week.

[blacklab 11926]

are you going to use the big green egg to toast?

[Beantown Express 2.0 6559]

So this thread got me to try to bake the first thing I have ever baked in my life. New York Bagels! First I had to order high gluten flour and yeast from nuts.com.



Made the sponge and let it sit 3 hours.





Then I kneaded the dough by hand. Watched some videos on how to do this but not sure I did it right. Formed into bagel shapes and let them rest in the fridge overnight.




This is the bagels after boiling in water and topping them with sesame seeds and everything bagel spice.




The final product after boiling them you bake them at 425 for 20-25 minutes. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I didn’t measure each bagel correctly so some are bigger and some are flatter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CycleTex87 2965]

Fathers Day present for me:

Edited June 21, 2020 by CycleTex87

[CycleTex87 2965]

Just out of the oven, a combination of recipes and techniques from "Flour Water Salt Yeast", Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, and King Arthur Flour.

[Deej 76751]

if you place an order with Easy Tiger today, they give you free sourdough starter.

[DDD Dad 14324]

I made a loaf Mon-Tuesday. Kitchen was warm and I was doing folds during work breaks. Dough was a sticky sloppy mess that wouldn’t shape worth a damn. I think it got over proofed during bulk fermentation.

Still tasted good but did not get any significant oven spring and there were tunnels through the crumb.

Didn’t take any pics of it.

Working on a new batch this afternoon.

[AustinMT 952]

5 hours ago, CycleTex87 said:

Just out of the oven, a combination of recipes and techniques from "Flour Water Salt Yeast", Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, and King Arthur Flour.

This is a great book (Flour Water Salt Yeast), the basic recipe is pretty foolproof and the bread tastes great

[DDD Dad 14324]

5 hours ago, DDD Dad said:

I made a loaf Mon-Tuesday. Kitchen was warm and I was doing folds during work breaks. Dough was a sticky sloppy mess that wouldn’t shape worth a damn. I think it got over proofed during bulk fermentation.

Still tasted good but did not get any significant oven spring and there were tunnels through the crumb.

Didn’t take any pics of it.

Working on a new batch this afternoon.

 Dough shaped up much better tonight. Will take some pics tomorrow post bake. 

[Hank_Hill 18789]

 

First attempt, not bad but learned some things

[AustinMT 952]

The Ken Forkish method is idiot-proof.  As an idiot, I can confirm:

[Continental Op 3934]

My maiden voyage into homemade bread.  King Arthur basic white sandwich bread recipe.  Tastes good and my house smells awesome. 

 

[Hank_Hill 18789]

[Post Oak 20205]

Made sourdough tonight.  It was a learning experience.  Wasn't very sour.  Think I need more starter.  I guess I didn't score it well enough because it didn't peel.  

Anyway crust was good and overall not bad for a start.  Will make some more next weekend.

[DDD Dad 14324]

Made sourdough tonight.  It was a learning experience.  Wasn't very sour.  Think I need more starter.  I guess I didn't score it well enough because it didn't peel.  
Anyway crust was good and overall not bad for a start.  Will make some more next weekend.

If you want it more sour let it retard in the fridge for at least 24 hours after proofing and shaping.

[DDD Dad 14324]

That’s a good looking loaf there. My last outing didn’t go so well. Under proofed and I did a shitty job shaping.