Bread

All allowed under the Dutch 'intelligent lockdown' guv.

In County Durham?

Needed to give the old eyes a good checkup so figured we'd drive over.

Save it for the judge.

They’re just not baguettes in any way, shape or form. The crust and crumb were exactly the same as my usual bread, just a different shape.

Set up to fail though as I didn’t have any of the all purpose flour which should make up 65% of the flour content and I made them far too chode like in their proportions to look like a baguette. The shaping instructions in the book are incredibly hard to follow too, I think I’ll watch a video before attempting them again

Interesting parameterised calculator here
https://makefastworkshop.com/hacks/?p=20200515#rid=0&weightForm=3&yield=2&salt=4&tempUnits=1&priFlour=2&secFlour=6&crustType=3&bakeWith=1&wetness=3&secFlourPct=0&sourType=0

Thanks for the pointers from those on here re. pizza. Embracing full covid-cliches I have a rye starter going great guns.

First effort following doves farm recipe was disaster - laborious ferment prove and then a really sticky dough - over proved and stuck to cloth. Knocked back and did another prove with (turns out) way too much flour . Then I forgot about it and baked it for 2 hrs. Much cross.

Any pointers on a good basic recipe / workflow for baking a sourdough - without it impacting a whole day !. Are there overnight options ?

After a bit of practice and experimenting you find what works for you. Early on I was really anal about following recipes but then started to notice what one baker said was a no no another would have as part of their recipe.

As such I am much less precious these days and enjoy the variability of bread. When I first started making a loaf was all consuming and I felt I had to keep a continuous presence to observe and interfere. A year later bread making fits into my routine. When I notice my starter is looking active I mix flour, starter and water together and leave to autolyse- this can vary from 30 mins to 4 hours depending on how absent minded I am. Then comes addition of salt. Stretch and folds if I remember and then once the dough window panes I’ll do an initial shape followed by final shape and generally retarded prove in fridge overnight. Writing it out sounds long winded and complicated but I can pretty much knock up a dough while making the evening meal and then use advert breaks or the credits in tv shows as the reminder to add salt or stretch and fold.

I have one large Lock N lock tub for white flour, another Lock n lock for smaller bags of interesting flours, Malts etc and one kitchen drawer with bread tools. Which all makes the process of getting ready to bake quicker and easier.

TLDR play around. Fuck up some loaves, but learn from your mistakes. And then develop a technique or routine that works for you.

Similar to DJ, I've gotten much more relaxed about precise timings etc; IME sourdoughs at 60+% hydration are much less fussy about precise timings. My normal routine is usually to feed my starter in the afternoon/early evening sometime, and when it's looking happy make up an overnight sponge (with about 40% of the flour and all of the water). Next morning add the rest of the flour and the salt, and mix together with a dough whisk. Give it a quick stir about every 15 minutes for the next hour or so, and once the gluten's come together do a stretch and fold every hour or two. Depending on how it's rising (which is very dependent on ambient temperature), I'll either shape it, let it proof in the banneton, and bake it in the evening, or do a couple of stretch and folds and put it in the fridge for a retarded overnight bulk proof. In that case I usually take it out first thing, put it in a banneton, and give it a couple of hours before baking it late morning/lunchtime.

It's a long process, but the actual hands-on time is maybe 30-40 minutes overall, and while the loaves aren't always brilliant, they're never less than acceptable (i.e. pretty darn decent) from a taste/crumb perspective.

Last night I had a zoom meeting to attend, didn’t want the dough to overprove before shaping so threw it in the fridge. Forgot about it until midnight when I pulled it out from the fridge, waited 40 mins and did preliminary shape and waited another 20 mins for final shape and returned it to the fridge for overnight final prove.

On paper this has been messed around with and the timings deviated hugely from normal.

However it has sprung up like a juiced athlete and am not at all concerned with how it turned out.

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Easy no knead loaf from this morning. Scored it too deep but otherwise pretty pleased.

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What a beaut

First attempt at a non round loaf.
Getting the hang of things and pretty happy with things (although could do with a bit more rise towards the edges).
However I feel like its lacking a bit of the sourdough tang/taste. It's there but just not as strong as other loaves I have had.

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Just been told by the missus that the 8grain flour I’ve been using of hers is white rather than wholemeal, so new loaf has less of that and more wholemeal and rye.
Hoping it turns out as nice as the last couple..:

So mixed white and wholemeal/rye loaf.
Bit disappointed with the tear, doesn’t seem like it’s getting the same rise in the oven as the round loafs I do in the Dutch pot do.
Straight out of the oven so gotta wait to slice it

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Finally nailed one. Crumb, crust, spring, flavour, shape. All bang on together for once.
And then lunched with rare beef that I bbq'd at the weekend. Delish.

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That looks awesome. Reminded me that I dreamt of brick lane bagels last night.

I made some bagels last night. Best batch yet.

1% diastatic malt has made a freaking enormous difference to them.

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In what way - colour, rise, etc? I bought a bag with my last Shipton order, but haven't actually got round to using it yet.

I didnt think the malt they sold was diastatic.

Colour, crust and flavour mainly. They smell and taste like bagels. Without malt, smell and taste like chewy bread rolls. Used my grandads recipe from his book.

Edit: just saw they sell diastatic malt. Couldn't find that last week!

Bakery bits sell it

But moving forward I got my Mockmill yesterday so will start making my own diastatic malt once this bag runs out.

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I'm very impressed, but I'm afraid I can't unsee that they look like puckered arseholes. Best not eaten with nutella.

You should have seen the last batch

Experimenting with hotter ovens at the moment.

I love the sound of the crust crackling when it cools down.

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I’d got out of the habit of baking my own bread but all this lockdown business and a lack of delivery slots has got me stared again. We get our flour from a local commercial food wholesaler who previously relied on schools and businesses so they started to sell to the public too. Their flour is super fine to the point where is barely needs sieving. It’s taken a few goes but I've got my mojo back on the bread (Chelsea buns seemed to work out fine). This warm weather certainly helps with the proving...
This is a 50/50 granary/white

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