Bread

Looks good

Now finally have a starter that’s doubling and collapsing at about 6 hours and floats in water. Organic rye flour ftw

I often use organic rye to give oomph to my starter.

I thought I’d fucked it again after 4 days of no action then on day 5 just popped right up.

baked just in time for zombie Jesus day

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After a rubbish no knead sourdough attempt, my second one with some stretch and fold turned out OK.

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Repeatability

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Bread

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Impressive!

Didn't photograph the no-salt loaf I made for my son as I forgot about it and burnt it badly, but crusts come off anyway so all good. Went down a storm as eggy-bread today.

white no knead sourdough with a bit of hemp flour

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Three in a row now, but what's causing the crazy paving effect on the crust when it cooled?

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burnt it badly

I left the oven on “grill” setting by mistake, and had an unpleasant surprise when the timer went off.

Has anyone got the starter pikelet recipe?

No idea on the answer, but those last three loaves look great.

Same old baker, same old bread

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Hey bakers, was there a consensus for the best option of storing bulk flour? What's the actual volume of 20kg flour?

Those big blue waterproof food drums you get on eBay are fine. The 30l version will hold a full sack of flour and costs around £15-20

As the bread cools it "deflates" slightly causing the crust to crack as it contracts a little. If you think what's happening when it's in the oven, the crust forms but the water in the bread is still heating and turning to steam which increases pressure on the crust, pushing it up and out. When it cools the steam condenses and the water is re-absorbed into the bread, reducing the pressure on the inside of the crust so it contracts slightly.

Ok, seems sensible but have never seen my loaves do it till this one. It did crack during cooling, was 'normal' out the oven.

It’s bake day at the Weald and Downland Living museum. Picture of the wood well alight inside the bread oven and the results of applying all that energy to our dough.
Then a bloke turned up who used to bake 2000 loaves a day on HMS Bullwark in the 60’s. Now that’s a tough gig.

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Flour can sweat a little so airtight containers can be problematic. We used plastic wham boxes for flour and grain, as it appears the lids are snug enough to keep mice out but also not airtight to allow a little breathing.

Large batches (biggest bag is 16kg but there are over 20 of them at a time) are left in the bags but are stored in a vermin and moisture protected store. Enough for a couple of days is decanted into airtight containers for storage in the dough prep area.

a couple of 15% wholemeal sourdough, the one on the right has more spring and a better ear

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