sourdough, more bread and more questions...

Been working a bit on my sourdough and feel like I've worked my way past the starter issues at the least. :happymug:

But...new problems have arisen and figured maybe someone could offer some assistance? Any help/criticism welcomed.

I get pretty good spring most of the time but am curious how to get a nice loaf that is tall enough to make a nice big sandwich. Problem doesn't seem as bad when baking in a d.o. and guessing this is related to the small space with a big boost of steam. That said, I don't always get the best spring in the d.o. either...surely part of this is due to lack of technique when shaping, but curious if anyone adds either a bit of yeast or a bit of malted barley powder to get that added pop? As an aside, it seems as if I get much better spring with a rye mix than I do with white/wheat blends.

The first two recipes below are from the Girl Meets Rye blog. Rye loaf on left and City loaf on the right...both baked in D.O.




And a couple more rye loafs baked on a stone...




Oh, and this was a yeast recipe for a basic hearth bread that I converted to sourdough...





Crumb shots to follow...

I add malted barley powder, but it doesn't seem to do much aside from improving taste. I have not noticed any extra effects.

DamageInc said:

I add malted barley powder, but it doesn't seem to do much aside from improving taste. I have not noticed any extra effects.

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Thanks, I just picked some up to give a try. I also heard that potato starch may be of benefit?

Here's a follow-up crumb shot.



Still having pretty good success with using a DO with a much better la grigne though still trying to figure out which places to make the cuts.



And finally one on the stone that blew up in a bad way...was trying very hard to maximize the rise and wound up with an overinflated breadball. Had what I believe to be called the cavern where the breadmaker sleeps. Believe the main problem to be that the cuts were too shallow to allow the steam to escape? This one got a corn starch glaze to help with the finish, I liked the glaze but again, blew the bread.



Finally, a larger bag of flour which is incredibly cheap by comparison (<$16/50lb)

Regarding potato starch:
I tend to make a runny mash potato and add it to the dough.
It aids the proofing (or at least thet's what i heard), and the bread(crumb) stays soft longer.
Regarding SD:
The whole point is to not to rush with aanything just let the nature do it's work.
Let's say you want bread on the weekend. On wednesday you make the levain, on thursday you knead the dough, on friday you shape, proof and bake and on the weekend you enjoy the bread.

shownomarci said:

Regarding potato starch:
I tend to make a runny mash potato and add it to the dough.
It aids the proofing (or at least thet's what i heard), and the bread(crumb) stays soft longer.
Regarding SD:
The whole point is to not to rush with aanything just let the nature do it's work.
Let's say you want bread on the weekend. On wednesday you make the levain, on thursday you knead the dough, on friday you shape, proof and bake and on the weekend you enjoy the bread.

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Thanks, I'll have to give the potato a shot...not sure if I'll do the mash or just find some starch. Agreed about going slow with the process.

Here are few of my latest batch...multigrain.

Kind of surprised this boule made it at all...got stuck in the banneton and then got crushed while dumping it in the hot DO:



Batard also with some sticking issues (think I need to warm after pulling out of fridge before the bake):



And finally a birthay boule for my nephew (Hutson) who turned 9



and a couple of crumb shots...

boule:



batard:

Try again...batard...

Made these bad boys: http://m.imgur.com/H2DrDj2,D60sG3e,fMn3vyY

Bread flour, Rye, Whole Wheat, and Spelt.

2 year old levain was my starter!

Overnight proof.

Getting good oven spring is a combination of a couple things : properly preheating your D.O, Not overproofing, shaping and I find going cold from the fridge can help alot aswell. Sometimes you just don't have enough gluten strength and it just won't hold that nice airy crumb (for some reason I have best success with porridge loaves.) Hope that helps. (P.S higher hydration = more steam)

Example

I used to have issues transferring to the DO so I now do my final rise on parchment. That way I can lift the ends of the paper and not worry about deflation as I go into the DO. Your crumb looks awesome.

oh my gawd, your persistence is inspiring and everything looks delicious! How do you like the King Arthur flour? Recommend?

My latest effort, just out of the oven cooling.

Love seeing the bread shots...Reed that looks like you've been practicing for some time...

Slice, the flour is excellent (it's the ap, likely add a bag of bread flour next but for seems I've seen a few people recommend ap over flour)...maybe it keeps the loaves from being too heavy?

A couple of more from my recent bakes...










This one is done on a stone...



but I think I lost it a bit on the shaping here and wound up with some really big holes...



haven't cut this one yet, but the shape seemed to hold fairly well...



and a couple of white hearth loaves...

And my most favorite bread to date...

These are from FWSY...Pain de Bacon

So is it FWSYB??????

Reede said:

So is it FWSYB??????

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Well, technically yes but by weight I'm pretty sure it would be FWBSY (only yeast is natural in the starter). The bacon really does make it special...next time I believe I'll try adding a bit of blue cheese to the mix.

chinacats said:

Well, technically yes but by weight I'm pretty sure it would be FWBSY (only yeast is natural in the starter). The bacon really does make it special...next time I believe I'll try adding a bit of blue cheese to the mix.

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You still have my addy? :hungry:

daveb said:

You still have my addy? :hungry:

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I would honestly say that it is worth learning to make bread just for the bacon bread...

a few more today...

rye bread batards...first in DO:



second on the stone:



and a crumb shot:



and a couple of bran encrusted white sourdoughs:





and a crumb shot:

Yes to bacon, maybe even double what I see. The bread itself looked incredible without, but bacon makes everything better. Market and sell this!

NOOOOOOOOOOO to blue cheese. Why taste mold? and yes, I know that this is a definitive yes or no...I am a no!

Crumb shot! Luv the bread porn.

A lot of good loaves of bread here. I'm a member of some bread forums, and they'd be proud of you.