Bread

First go at English Muffins, happy with how they turned out. Taste great

DE razor blade is good enough.

As for bannetons - quick Nisbets as mention up post slower I was thinking either wish or ali express.

Cute bread

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This came out better than expected. Got impatient and just chucked it in a much hotter oven than usual. Bam, ears.

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Had a few fails lately, but this one came out good! White with sunflower seeds mixed through and pumpkin seeds on top.

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A quick and dirty loaf in a cast iron pan, turned out really good considering I had to tear it away from the kitchen towel at some points.

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First decent proper sourdough for me today, tastes great too. Oven spring limited only by the pit lid. All this hot weather is doing good things to the fermentation

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Decent results today with dropping the hydration down to 65% from my usual 75%. Much easier to shape at the minor cost of a slightly less open crumb.

Going to try the Tartine baguette recipe in the next day or two

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First try using the spun iron cloche that came from Bakery Bits this week. Not sure it's that much easier than a cast iron casserole; though it weighs ~2.4 kg vs the ~4.4 kg of the casserole, and it's easier to get the loaf onto the base, it's more of a faff to get the cloche on and over the loaf, especially as the base has a lip. I was trying to do this in the oven, mind; it would be much easier if taken out and done on the stovetop. Will have to try again with a loaf I haven't cocked up - this stuck to the banneton and then to the board I'd turned it out onto, hence the crap shaping etc. Decent crumb and a good taste, mind.

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I used a much thinner enamelled tin and lid the other day and my results were as good as with the heavy cast iron casserole I use as well.

It was this: https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/robert-dyas-enamel-self-basting-lidded-roaster or a Lidl copy

I guess a heavier-gauge material helps keep the temperature up while opening the oven, and potentially with immediate heat transfer to the dough, but the sealed environment is I guess most important for oven spring etc.

I was browsing Serious Eats and found this piece about starter biochemistry, which I thought was interesting (but then Serious Eats usually is): https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/05/sourdough-starter-science.html

Have also been recommending their 'Bread 101' series from a few years back to friends; I recently re-read them and thought they were (mostly) a really good refresher of the whys and wherefores of techniques. I'm impressed that they recommend a 70% hydration load for an intro to bread baking! Haven't actually made this in ages, so might give that a go again next week.

Also thought this recipe for English Muffins looked intriguing:
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/04/no-knead-english-muffins-recipe.html - when I make them I just use a fairly high-hydration yeasted bread dough, but the use of milk and egg white has made me think I'll give those a go. Would cut the sugar massively though - 100g honey would surely make that incredibly sweet, even for a US palate?

I have a mockmill arriving in a couple of weeks time.

Where is best for bags of organic grain - spelt, emmer, rye, einkorn, wheat ?

Bastardised Peshwari naan with cashew nut butter, palm sugar, toasted coconut and raisins (don't hate, I didn't have any sultanas).

First time achieving the proper naan lightness.

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Recipe pls

125ml water, 7g instant yeast and 1tsp of sugar.

Let it get going then added 300g strong white, 150ml yoghurt, 25g ghee, and about 5g salt.

Bulk ferment took a couple of hours, then divided into 2, rest, stretched out a bit and filled with the cashew goo, folded like a calzone and rolled out and final proof for about 45m.

Baked/grilled on a steel then brushed with more melted ghee.

Crappy pic, best spring in loaf since Lockdown begun. Can't claim any credit myself.

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Overproofed mess but with the magic of a pan it turned into a decent loaf it seems. I really need to get one myself.

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So many great loaves recently! Here's my usual 50/50 rye/white moon loaf.

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Went for the criss-cross top this week, don't like it as much as the single long cut on top. Still tasted good though!
Ordered a new bread knife - mine has hardly been scratching the surface of these sourdoughs!

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Tartine baguettes were a failure, unless I do a bit of ambition reframing and say they were meant to be ciabattas, in which case they’re not too bad

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Look pretty good, what are you criticising yourself for? Could be a tad pointier but from here look good.

Happy with the crumb too, just ordered a 24cm Staub Cocotte. Ideally I'll quickly get to the point at which the dough no longer touches the sides of the pans but I'm enjoying the foolproofness for now.

(Messy countertop not mine.)

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Visiting somebody else's home are we? ;)