Bread

Better, admittedly a bit over this time, but at least it confirms I was probably looking at under rather than over proofed dough before. I think I need to practice more with wholemeal too, possibly over working it. Can't wait until I'm working close enough to home to properly manage proofing over the course of a day.

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Had a few months off baking sourdough, so I've spent the last week or so coaxing my starter back to life. So much harder in the colder months!
Anyway I'm very pleased with the first loaf back as I was concerned it wasn't going to rise too well.

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Thanks!

Phwoar. How did you bake it?

Wow, that looks fantastic. How do you get those blisters? Hot initial temp?

My starter is behaving a bit more lively again. This loaf went over whilst I was doing the bagels and this was within a couple of hours of shaping. Did those with the sourdough starter too this time, and shaped then differently. Need to work on my crimping technique.

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I always bake in a large casserole dish. Preheat up to 250c for 40 mins with the dish in the oven then remove the dish and turn the loaf into it. Slash as required then lid on and back into the oven for 30 mins.

After that I remove the lid and see how it's doing - with this loaf I reduced the temp to about 210c for 18 mins.

Looking good!

I'm not sure quite why blisters happen (it doesn't happen all the time) but high hydration % helps. This one was over 70%.
Anecdotally I find blistering happens more often when there's been a long proving period. Due to the cold weather this loaf had a 6 hour bulk proof then an overnight proof once I'd formed it into the loaf and stuck it in the banneton.

My friends Rick and Eve wrote this book about bread and butter. It's very good.

You might have eaten Rick's bread before. He runs the Snapery Bakery in Bermondsey and supplies many of the local restaurants in SE1 and Fortnum and Mason. I think he's on here, somewhere.

Bread & Butter: History, Culture, Recipes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1787131734/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_gOt6BbP3PH85N

Interesting... will see what happens next time I make a loaf with the cool temperatures

@Stonehedge I bought that book a few weeks ago. Very enjoyable! Pass my appreciation on.

Ordered!

I took my wife to Anglo for her birthday and the yeasted butter on sourdough was insane. Have thought about trying to make my own. Next project!

Bakes from yesterday's Brickhouse course, really happy with how they turned out and the course overall. Fergus is a great teacher and it's been useful to have his guidance around touch, feel and look of doughs etc ...

Hopefully I can now recreate this at home by myself!

• Rye tin bread
  
• Peckham Rye Sourdough
  
• Sourdough and Zatar focaccia
  

My bread isn't rising. Suspect its the old yeast I have used. Can I mix some other yeast with a bit of warm water and knead that into the dough to attempt to save it?

Can't see it doing any harm, give it a go

Seems legit

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Dunno whether this will be the case everywhere, but my local Aldi's clearing French T55 flour for 19p/1.5kg bag. Not massively strong, but produces nice loaves.

Had a crack at some rye bread. 50/50 dark rye & wholemeal. Pretty pleased considering I'd basically written it off at one point.

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Looks ace. I love the rye flavour, especially when toasted and you get that caramel - lush.

It's pretty nice, I've eaten about 1/3 of it already.

I made some croissants. I think I may have folded the dough one too many times. Any tips on achieving a bit more separation between the layers?

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frangipane filled

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Hard to tell. Could be they didn't chill enough between folds. Or final prove was too warm and the butter softened sufficiently to run through the dough?
Look pretty tasty though.

Yeah they taste great. Slightly bready croissants are no bad thing in themselves.

I don't think the butter was melting during the folding, but the dough probably spent too long hanging around while I was shaping the croissants, then the final prove ran a bit over time. Thanks for the tip I'll try and keep it colder next time.

Chilly morning but perfect for a bit of baking

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Probably the butter got too hot and melted - which would turn the layers into one large sort of brioche.

Pastry is so fickle.

i know it probably isn't the right thread but if you are buying a loaf from a shop try jacksons - yorkshires champion bread both white and brown loafs are really nice, and it's proper bread not like some of the shop bought stuff that shrinks to half the size when you toast it