Bread

I have a soft spot for the River Cottage bread book, but +1 for Dan Lepard.

Is anyone else's bread turning out crap and they want to blame it on the heat? Feels like if I try to shape it for more than thirty seconds the bread florps into a sticky mass with no tension and falls through my fingers when I try to put it into the banneton. I was getting fine results a month ago and it is pretty hot in my kitchen (Maybe about thirty degrees)

Should I just halve all my timings or something?

Bread can over prove quite easily in the higher heat.

Keep an eye on it and test for window pane. Yesterday the combined effect of freshly milled flour and heat meant proving time to window pane was half what I’d expect in normal conditions with pre milled flour.

I had some rather disastrous pizza dough last week, it had turned nearly to the consistency of melted aero bar by the time I wanted to cook.

Very hot today so proving was pretty quick. Happy with my rough knife work, probably the best separation I’ve achieved.

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one to keep, one to give

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Mini loaves for our lunch with home made boerewors

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You and @campervangogh are both on strong form

I would pay good money for these!

My loaf today was a bit of a disaster; I guess it may well have over-proofed in the warm. Good crumb and taste, but the bottom burned/stuck to my cloche (which I noted some rust spots on, so that will need re-seasoning...), and the loaf itself was rather wonky and flattish.

i'm going for loaf the fourth today. Three was a big success but this morning's effort was retarded in the fridge overnight and is currently doing it's final rise while the over pre-heats. Bit worried it has stuck to the tea towel...

For the record, these first attempts have been based on a mixture of the easy no-knead recipe someone recommended upthread and the Tartine country bread method. Guess it's basically a sourdough but made with yeast. Wet dough, long prove, turning rather than kneading, shape, final prove and cook in a dutch oven. It's dead easy and seems to be working well so far while I work on my starter game.

Wasn’t the final rise the overnight retarded prove in the fridge? If so letting the dough warm up while preheating the oven will probably make it more sticky and less likely to come out from whatever it has been proving in, also I tend to get better oven spring putting the dough straight into the oven from the fridge.

Have ordered a banneton as well.

Under baked. Damn. Guess I should have added 10 mins to compensate for the relatively cold temp of dough only half an hour out of the fridge.

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When you think it’s cooked tap the underside, if it sounds hollow it’s done. Or use a thermapen, I reckon somewhere above 92 C is done temperature.

Can also confirm that letting my dough come back to room temp after o/n fridge prove does something unusual to it - tried this last week, looked good out of the fridge - nice skin tension / good shape, and within an hour it looked like a saggy week-old balloon - hardly any rise in the oven & bread came out really dense & chewy (was tasty though...)

I did make a good 'un shortly after that which resembled a crash helmet, so I got that going for me...

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Struggling with the high temps, everything seems to be overproofed.

This one stuck to the banneton which didn’t help either, I switched to a round one that doesn’t have a fabric liner. Covered it with plastic wrap which kept the condensation in, rookie mistake I guess.

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Reduce proving time, prove in your larder or pantry, use cool water and possibly reduce hydration.

You could also try standing the bowl with the dough in a bowl or tray of water. As the water evaporates it will reduce the temperature of the water that remains.

Hi latest loaf. I'm assuming the ripping down the middle comes from the scoring not being deep enough.

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Nice!

This morning’s effort. With absurdly delicious salty butter.

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prove in your larder

No larder but the basement is good alternative.

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Got some nice blistering on today's bake

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I've found rice flour in the basket is by far the best for no sticking, speculatory guess at the lack of gluten in it (?) - either way works great!

Going for an overnight prove in the fridge has been a game changer for me. Currently working on a mix of strong white, wholemeal and rye flours. This one was probably a 40/40/20 mixture. I really don't like working with rye but it makes such tasty bread. It sucks the therapeutic mindfulness out of it for me, with its sticky, biscuity texture.

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What bread knives do people recommend? My old bread knife just isn't cutting it with all these crusty loaves.