A Bread Thread

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mine goes right into the fridge after shaping, but it was mixed 6 hours before that and it'll see the fridge for the next 31hrs or so. if I wanted to bake the next day I'd probably let it sit for another hour if possible.
 
New recipe - Altamura style bread. 70% whole grain (semolina & durum), 82% hydration. Those percentages are lower than anything else I do, and worth fiddling with next time. A very dense bread with no large holes in the crumb, 3mm thick crust, true to the requirements of its designation/origin.
Recipe called for sourdough starter then levain.
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kinglukas38 said:
I ran out of rice flour earlier in the week so I decided to play with different methods of preventing stickage. In order, rye flakes, oats, a whole bunch of seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax, millet, and poppyseed), and finally cornmeal.
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Late-breaking thanks, @kinglukas38, for your comment long ago describing rice flour, with its zero gluten, as being the best material to line the final proofing cloth. I had previously been using a mix of AP flour and granular semolina, which did stick with wet doughs.
 
After several failed loaves with a new starter even after allowing for like, 7 hours of bulking, I have come to the conclusion that estimates of a starter being ready in 5-7 days cannot have been made in Boston Massachusetts.

Anyway my new one after some babying is making real loaves of bread. Lot of pain in this learning though.

Two unrelated questions:
Anyone using 2.5% salt? I have always stuck with 2% but I'm curious what impact that extra 25% salt would have.

Anyone got thoughts on Central Milling Old World Bread Flour? Im thinking about acquiring some but it's a big investment since Id need to get a huge bag to make the shipping worth it.
 
tcmx3 said:
After several failed loaves with a new starter even after allowing for like, 7 hours of bulking, I have come to the conclusion that estimates of a starter being ready in 5-7 days cannot have been made in Boston Massachusetts.

Anyway my new one after some babying is making real loaves of bread. Lot of pain in this learning though.

Two unrelated questions:
Anyone using 2.5% salt? I have always stuck with 2% but I'm curious what impact that extra 25% salt would have.

Anyone got thoughts on Central Milling Old World Bread Flour? Im thinking about acquiring some but it's a big investment since Id need to get a huge bag to make the shipping worth it.
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I'm around 2.2% total, with 20g of salt into 900g of flour (800 dry, 100 from starter). I find it really helps with rye heavy doughs. For yeast driven doughs I find 20g to be a bit much, would end up at 2.5% as I only use 800g flour total.
 
Bit the bullet and got 25lbs of the Old World Bread Flour from Central Milling. With shipping this works out to about the same price as King Arthur organic flours around here in 5lb bags which you know, oof.

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Word is this stuff is pretty good though and I expect I wont have to blend this with anything so we shall see. Still cheaper than JNats at least.
 
tcmx3 said:
Bit the bullet and got 25lbs of the Old World Bread Flour from Central Milling. With shipping this works out to about the same price as King Arthur organic flours around here in 5lb bags which you know, oof.

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Word is this stuff is pretty good though and I expect I wont have to blend this with anything so we shall see. Still cheaper than JNats at least.
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If you haven’t already, check out Barton Springs Milll sometime. Their bread flour selection appears to be all unsifted whole grain, so maybe not for that, if you want white. But their products are great and $10 flat shipping up to 25 lbs.
 
Seemore said:
If you haven’t already, check out Barton Springs Milll sometime. Their bread flour selection appears to be all unsifted whole grain, so maybe not for that, if you want white. But their products are great and $10 flat shipping up to 25 lbs.
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those do look good. but tbh I really prefer my loaves to be more towards fluffy/mild. Ok sure, 100% unmalted white bread flour is too plain, but even the 90-10% KA bread/whole wheat blend I typically use I sometimes think "you know I wouldn't have hated a few percent less".

this is why I ended up going for the type 80 over cairnspring's trailblazer, another highly recommended option.
 
tcmx3 said:
those do look good. but tbh I really prefer my loaves to be more towards fluffy/mild. Ok sure, 100% unmalted white bread flour is too plain, but even the 90-10% KA bread/whole wheat blend I typically use I sometimes think "you know I wouldn't have hated a few percent less".

this is why I ended up going for the type 80 over cairnspring's trailblazer, another highly recommended option.
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Oh, I though maybe you also used whole flour for other projects.
Yours Truly,
The Fiber Police😁
 
Seemore said:
Oh, I though maybe you also used whole flour for other projects.
Yours Truly,
The Fiber Police😁
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I use it in my starter.

TBH I only really make a few kinds of bread and mostly make pastry. Baguettes, for which I don't like much whole wheat at all (though since Ive been making half sourdough baguettes some gets in) and country loaves where I'm settling on like, maybe 7 or 8% mixed in, plus what I have with my starter as my perfect amount.
 
I have a question re scoring

So I have heard some speculation that getting this big single ear may allow for more expansion during cooking. Is there any truth to that?

something like this from elsing
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TBH I prefer the more split look with two sides aesthetically but Im not willing to give up spring/expansion for it. But I'm curious if this is just bro science or if there is truth behind it.
 
NameAlreadyTaken said:
Wow, never thought to put citrus in a rye blend, how did it go? Is it mainly just the smell / aroma when warm? Or does it change the taste / flavour when cold too?
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While it’s baking, it’s fairly intense smells in the house. Once done, it’s pretty fleeting. I use only fractions of what my recipe calls for, because I like it fleeting. Aroma only, I’d say.
 
Alright how do the wise bakers of this thread judge this effort? Am I good enough to join the club yet? Still feel like I have a lot to learn.

This is 85/15 KA Bread/Whole wheat, 78% hydration. Pretty warm proof, I kept the dough temp at 80F.

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This one is not as pretty. In fact, you could call it a failed loaf. But, it’s my first levain, so I learned a lot in that process.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Timing on the bulk ferment was off and I had to cut the proof short. I also missed a couple of folds. So, I ended up with a very dense loaf that’s a bit under cooked.

On top of that, I was pressed for time when baking and did both at the same time.

Pluses, flavor was really nice, far more than the straight doughs that I’ve been doing. Also got to try out my new bread knife. Going to make a big pan of strata and try again next weekend!
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AT5760 said:
This one is not as pretty. In fact, you could call it a failed loaf. But, it’s my first levain, so I learned a lot in that process.

Yesterday was a crazy day. Timing on the bulk ferment was off and I had to cut the proof short. I also missed a couple of folds. So, I ended up with a very dense loaf that’s a bit under cooked.

On top of that, I was pressed for time when baking and did both at the same time.

Pluses, flavor was really nice, far more than the straight doughs that I’ve been doing. Also got to try out my new bread knife. Going to make a big pan of strata and try again next weekend!
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Freakin awesome, man! Firsts are the best breads. Looks tasty!
 
Started baking bread again. I killed my original starter which was very robust. Then I got a SF starter that was supposedly 150 years old. Did not work well for me.
I recently went to my local restaurant supplier for some flour and luckily they have a baker. I asked him if he has a starter and Lo and behold he pulled something from the fridge. A student has brought it from France 15 years ago and he ended up giving me some. It does excellent job. I feed it with rye and white.
The loaf on the left is a sourdough and the one on the right is with instant yeast.. 73% hydration for both…
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