Great size/roundness/spring
A Bread Thread
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I’m late to this conversation, but I’ve read back through it. The breads in this chart show loaves that are significantly lighter than your bread in your original post. You may be using more whole grain than in the chart, and you can expect less loft if that’s true.
Last nights bake:
Rye sourdough with soaked and cracked rye grains.
Not quite as sour as I was hoping for, but the texture turned out well. Anyone got suggestions on things to try to increase the sour taste?
I’ve found an increase in sour taste with the cold proving that I’ve been doing, but this bake has me stumped as I did all the same stuff as last time, unless it’s because my starter was too hot (we’ve had a bit of a heat wave here in Melbourne recently)
Rye sourdough with soaked and cracked rye grains.
Not quite as sour as I was hoping for, but the texture turned out well. Anyone got suggestions on things to try to increase the sour taste?
I’ve found an increase in sour taste with the cold proving that I’ve been doing, but this bake has me stumped as I did all the same stuff as last time, unless it’s because my starter was too hot (we’ve had a bit of a heat wave here in Melbourne recently)
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Wait longer between feedings? Replace less of it? Put the starter in the fridge sometimes? Add more whole grains to the starter?
Looks awesome. Never made bread with a large percentage of rye before.
Thanks Ian. I’ll have to give those variations more of a controlled trial.
I have had a couple of bakes that were bang on the money, but this last one is a bit of a mystery, as clearly I thought I had the variables controlled, but hey, a good excuse to try again and do some trial and error to find what I was missing.
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This doesn’t strictly count, but we don’t have an enriched doughs thread as far as I’m aware…
Despite eating one of these from one local bakery or another pretty much weekly for the past few years, I’ve never made them myself as I refused to do enriched dough by hand - anyway one stand mixer later and here’s my first attempt at Kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon and cardamom buns).
My knots are… interesting, but they taste good and it’s no fun nailing a recipe first time anyway.
Despite eating one of these from one local bakery or another pretty much weekly for the past few years, I’ve never made them myself as I refused to do enriched dough by hand - anyway one stand mixer later and here’s my first attempt at Kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon and cardamom buns).
My knots are… interesting, but they taste good and it’s no fun nailing a recipe first time anyway.
Wow, awesome!
Sonora wheat loaf - great flavor on this one and really tender crumb
Nice. 100% whole Sonora?
25% I ground from berry myself and 75% 00 grind. Got it from Barton Springs up in Austin. I love the flavor of this flour and the dough was crazy extensible, almost annoying so
that’s glorious. Great shape and crumb
The loaf looks beautiful. I also like a more sour loaf. I’ve found that the longer the fermentation (as a dough), the more sour. That can be from—
- Less starter in the dough
- Starter which is less ripe
- Cooler conditions generally, including refrigeration during dough fermentation.
I keep an all rye starter, which hangs in longer than a wheat starter before needing renewal. I used to make my bread before I refreshed the starter; so it was an old starter, and the bread came out quite sour because it necessarily needed a longer proofing time in every part of the cycle. Plus it spent an overnight in the fridge pre-bake.
Thanks mate. That’s a good tip.
I’ll need to play around!
OMG that looks good.
I’ve got a soft spot for a hot cross bun. Where do you stand on the peel vs no peel debate?
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They’re currently undergoing a renaissance in the trendy bakeries here in London, but they’re dead easy to make really!
I am a big peel enjoyer - it’s all extra flavour
However I used a combo of grated apple, fresh orange zest, and dried raisins, cranberries, and apricots for this batch.
Oh yeah, I’m big on the peel wagon, but it seems quite divisive. Cranberries and apricots are interesting, how did they go in the dried fruit mix?They’re currently undergoing a renaissance in the trendy bakeries here in London, but they’re dead easy to make really!
I am a big peel enjoyer - it’s all extra flavour
However I used a combo of grated apple, fresh orange zest, and dried raisins, cranberries, and apricots for this batch.
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It’s not really a hot cross bun if it has anything other than dried fruit/peel in my opinion!
I was shocked to discover that some people don’t like panettone however, so these people must exist.
The cranberries and apricots were a fun inclusion that paired well with the apricot jam glaze, but I think I’m still team raisin/sultana and peel overall.
MrHiggins
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I promised my British mother in law that I'd make her hot cross buns for Easter. Mind sharing your favorite recipes with me?
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Here’s the one I used for this batch.
If I was making this specific recipe again I would probably add another few spices like nutmeg, clove, allspice etc, and I would use a much lighter amount of glaze after baking.
I’ve seen lots of recipes where you steep the milk with earl gray or similar tea at the start. This adds a nice flavour and might give you some British brownie points, but I’d keep the other spices more low key for that variation so the flavours aren’t all fighting each other.
Make sure your gluten development is on point! HCB’s should have a dense, bouncy and chewy texture - they are an enriched bread dough after all. I would go with a very strong bread flour - no idea why some recipes call for AP.
I would also personally recommend proofing and baking in quite a tight formation as below; your HCB’s will be easier to cut in half and (in my opinion!) the texture on the sides is superior as you get nice crispy bits when you toast them.
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Yesterday’s bread, 15% WW and 15% spelt. I quite like this combination.
Michi
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MrHiggins
Senior Member
I ended up mashing up a few recipes to come up with what sounded good to me. Unfortunately, the dough never really came together (remained super wet and sticky even after an overnight rest).
The result? Ugly hot cross buns with a great deal of wonderful flavor (including from the homemade candied peel!).
Anyway, hopefully the mother in law understands that it's the thought that counts...
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Homemade candied peel sounds excellent! Was it a super noticeable improvement on shop bought?
They’re not the most uniform, but if they tasted good then that’s clearly the most important thing
I bet they were great cut in half and toasted. How was the gluten development? I have been learning that enriched doughs can take far longer to knead than the bread doughs I am more familiar with.
Most importantly though, what was the MIL verdict??
MrHiggins
Senior Member
The homemade peel was definitely worth it. Really easy to make and very fresh tasting.Homemade candied peel sounds excellent! Was it a super noticeable improvement on shop bought?
They’re not the most uniform, but if they tasted good then that’s clearly the most important thing
How was the gluten development? I have been learning that enriched doughs can take far longer to knead than the bread doughs I am more familiar with.
Most importantly though, what was the MIL verdict??
I kneaded the dough in a stand mixer, so gluten development was no problem. Problem was that I soaked my raisins overnight, which added a lot more liquid than I expected, so the dough was too wet when I tried to form them into balls. They remained sticky and very difficult to deal with.
MIL loved them, though! Whew!
sumis
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first bread in … ages. can’t remember the last time but probably six months. starter woke up fine in just a as couple of days. loaf is one ugly puppy, but it rose well. messy cut and pointy ear. gave it to my mum and forgot to document the crumb. it was even, moist and soft, if not that open. nice taste. 100% local wheat. 80% hydration. starter is 50/50 wheat/whole grain rye
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