Bread

Yep, I use mine for dough at least as much as I do for bread, but I love it. Also the ability to whack ingredients in last thing at night, set the timer, and wake up to fresh bread is a godsend.

i really fancy perfecting a doughnut recipe in it.

incidentally, the breadmaker recipe book specifies a really small amount of yeast. like 3/4 of a tsp for 400g flour where a "normal" loaf would have a full 7g sachet for a 500g loaf. anyone know why that is?

black olive, feta cheese and rosemary focaccia...the house always smells so good when a focaccia is cooking

1 Attachment

another cranberry loaf, always a good for weekend breakfast toast

1 Attachment

Nice looking loaf! think my ear game has peaked

2 Attachments

My best loaf so far happened by accident.

Left it to autolyse for an hour. Added salt then left in airing cupboard for an hour. Forgot to add starter so added that. Then accidentally left the dough in the cupboard overnight. Knocked it back this morning. Left to rise on the counter top and then baked.

Any opinions on how this worked when it should have died

1 Attachment

Any opinions on how this worked when it should have died

Sourdough is slower acting than packet yeast so microbial activity will continue for longer, allowing you time to realise your mistake and recover with a fine specimen of a loaf! Tell anyone who asks it was all part of the process 😉

Nice. I've been doing a fruited sourdough too. When do you add the cranberries?
Here: On the last fold before leaving overnight, I add flame raisins and cranberries that have been steeping in the grated peel and juice of an orange (which seems to boost the rise - ascorbic acid??).

yeah, last fold for me too

Sunday bake day...

1 Attachment

Any thoughts on stiff starters? I’ve mostly seen recipes of 100% hydration starters but among the social media influencers 65% hydration starters seem to be all the rage. Who’s tried it?

I gave it a go, it was active after an overnight ferment on the counter and 90 minutes at 28C made it very lively. Already getting bubbles in the dough 15 minutes after mixing it in so it seems promising. From what I've understood idea is that the lower hydration makes it take longer before the starter 'collapses', which is good as it seemed my overnight ferments were well beyond their peak when I mixed them in in the morning.

Curious what it'll be like, happy to revert back to 100% hydration starters if it disappoints because I've been getting decent loafs recently. 15% wholemeal, 85% strong white (German 1050 flour), 82% hydration. Wouldn't mind a bit more ovenspring though.

1 Attachment

The stiff starter loaf looks virtually identical, but I think it’s easier to work with so I’ll keep it for a while.

1 Attachment

cinnamon raisin bread, tighter swirl on this one due to a bit of tweaking with the proving

1 Attachment

Where am I going wrong so I can fix it

Followed different recipes and methods, Tartine, Full Proof Baking, The Perfect Loaf, and 9 times out of 10 my end product is something like this; no real oven spring, no ear, anything. This was from Full Proof Bakings' basic recipe, and proved to be incredibly sticky to work with and didn't ever feel particularly strong despite a few more folds in the process.

It makes me wonder if, I should just be dropping hydration on everything I do? I'm never keen on diverting away from a recipe too much, but it seems to be a troubling factor whichever one I do.

Also with scoring, every time I go in (usually around half an inch), it just seems to spread out even more and produces a pancake like result, like the above.

All in all, I'm just starting to get bummed out, as if there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of being satisfied with something I've made; I've got all the tools (proofing oven, cast iron dish etc), but the end product disappoints me 9 times out of 10.

Possibly over proved. Also it could be how you are incorporating the water. I add about 80% for autolyse and then add the rest in approx 50ml stages when I knead in the salt.

Ways to reducing proving could be- shorter proving time, less starter or colder ingredients or colder proving location. Also different flours absorb water differently so blindly following a recipe may not always work as it was specced for different ingredients.

Or it could be a shaping issue, there are times when I over work the shaping before placing dough into the proving basket, the skin gets over stretched and loses tension. Sometimes I watch videos and bakers have a light, deft but purposeful handling of their dough. After shaping does it hold shape on the worktop, or does it immediately start to sag?

Have you stuck with one recipe or method and nailed it or do you keep trying different methods and recipes? Stick with one method and only adjust one variable with each bake.

The above had 253ml water at the start of a 5 hour autolyse with 255g strong bread and 70g wholemeal. Levain was around 6 hours, incorporated that first, then dimpled in the salt half an hour later. Then did a fold on the counter, then lamination. After that, 4 coil folds spaced 45 minutes apart, then 90 minutes before shaping. Spent around 12 hours in the fridge...

As for recipes, have generally stuck with a method for several months before wanting to throw the towel out...

5 hour autolyse sounds very long, and you are adding all the water at the beginning.

Think I'm just gonna go back to one method and try sticking with it religiously; I think my starter is OK (I normally remove from the fridge two days before and go feed twice each day before building a levain), but I might look at leaving out for the week with a reduced amount...

Cheers for the advice...

Another loaf turned out alright. I’ve been proofing at room temp and for about 12 hours for each proof. I actually think I’m going to proof for longer next time.

1 Attachment

Ooh that looks good, what flour is that?

http://www.maudfoster.co.uk/

5050 whole meal and white

There’s definitely bigger air bubbles with the longer proof

1 Attachment

And this. £18 from John Lewis

1 Attachment